Lenovo today jumped on the 12-inch netbook band wagon, with their IdeaPad S12 netbook. Rumors broke over a month ago about this model coming and today we have all the juicy details to share.

The good news here is that the IdeaPad S12 is coming with a lot of sweet features. Let’s start with the platform: you have three, that’s right three, choices. Well, sort of. Lenovo is offering the choice between an Intel Atom with GMA graphics, Intel Atom with NVIDIA ION graphics, and VIA NANO 2250 with Chrome HC3 graphics. However people in the U.S. won’t have a shot at the VIA, that’s for overseas only.

The display is a standard 12.1-inch WXGA (1280×800) with LED backlight and all models will come with a 160GB 5400rpm SATA drive, 6-cell battery, 1GB RAM, and Windows XP Home. Notice that neither Vista nor Linux are even offered with this model, a sign that Vista is a bit heavy for 1GB RAM and consumers don’t want to learn to use Linux. Check out the rest of the key specs below:

• Intel Atom 270 (1.6GHz) or VIA NANO ULV 2250 (1.3GHz)
• 1.14-inches thin and 3.7 lb with 6-cell
• Available in black or white
• Full size keyboard
• VeriFace facial recognition
• Multi touch touchpad
• Lenovo Quick Start (pre-OS media boot partition)
• ExpressCard/34, 3xUSB 2.0 ports, 4-in-1 card reader
• WiFi, Ethernet, VGA, headphone output, built-in mic, 1.3 MP integrated camera
• HDMI only on NVIDIA ION platform

I’m especially excited about the ExpressCard slot and HDMI output on the NVIDIA platform. You can read a bit more about NVIDIA’s ION platform here, but the gist is that it brings the GeForce 9400M GPU which adds at least some gaming capability and full HD streaming. You wouldn’t be able to even start most games on Intel’s GMA chip and forget about playing HD video, but the NVIDIA ION makes both possible. The HDMI output is another bonus there, making this a convenient solution for playing video on your HDTV. Hulu anyone?

Pricing for this model is set at $449 on the Intel/Intel models, but upgrading to Intel/NVIDIA will ring up at $499. No estimate on availability just yet, but expect a bit of a delay.

Our friends at LogicTV were able to snap some pictures in person of the S12 in black and it’s smaller S10-2 cousin, check them out below.