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Samsung netbook goes Nano
2009-02-27 Article Rating:  / 0
Samsung has finally announced its much-anticipated netbook based on Via's Nano processor. The NC20 has a 12.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution, up to 160GB of hard disk storage, and a six-cell battery that lasts 6.5 hours, Samsung says.
(Click here for a larger view of Samsung's NC20) We write "finally" above because news of the NC20 has been buzzing around the blogosphere since Janary, when a manual for the netbook was first discovered on the Samsung UK website. And earlier this month, an "unboxing" and preliminary benchmarking of the netbook was performed by a writer for the German website www.netbooknews.de, as we'll detail later in this story.
Nano netbooks apparently have the potential to outperform those based on Intel's ubiquitous N270. According to third-party comparisons of the Atom and the Nano, using desktop versions of the CPUs, the Nano can outperform the Atom by up to 30 percent. Of its new NC20, Samsung merely says vaguely that the device "offers the ideal blend of powerful performance and energy efficiency." With a standard six-cell battery, the NC20 offers up to 6.5 hours of cordless operation, the company claims. We'll return to the performance question later in this story, but there's more to the NC20 than just an alternative CPU. For example, Samsung's 10-inch predecessor, the NC10, has been lauded by reviewers for having the best netbook keyboard and is also -- we're bound to point out, even if it's outside our bailiwick -- apparently a popular way to run Moblin, the Intel-sponsored Linux distribution. A larger keyboard and screen Now, the NC20 offers an even more generous keyboard, with not only a standard 18.5mm key pitch, but also an "anti-bacterial" coating, according to Samsung. The device also has a 12.1-inch display, sporting a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels rather than the netbook-typical 1024 x 600. The NC20 teams its Via Nano U2250 CPU with 1GB of RAM, installed in a single SODIMM slot. The device's memory is upgradeable by removing the factory-installed module and replacing it with another, according to the manual mentioned above, but Samsung doesn't state maximum capacity. For mass storage, the device also comes with 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB SATA hard disk drives spinning at 5400rpm, according to the company.   Samsung's NC20 (Click either image to enlarge) The device also has all the other typical ingredients in the netbook recipe, including 802.11b/g wireless networking, Bluetooth 2.0, a 10/100 Ethernet port, a VGA output, and three USB ports. In addition to a microphone input and headphone output, the NC20 has a 1.3 megapixel webcam, stereo speakers, and a 3-in-1 (SD/SDHC/MMC) memory card reader. However, if the netbook has an internal PCI Mini Card slot, Samsung isn't saying. Features and specifications listed by Samsung for the NC20 include the following:
According to the third-party comparisons mentioned earlier in this story, Intel's Atom and Via's Nano have similar power consumption when idling, but the Nano drinks significantly more juice when under load. Via says its mobile-oriented, 1.3GHz Nano U2350 -- used by Samsung in the NC20 -- has an idle power consumption of 100mW, and an eight Watt maximum TDP. Meanwhile, Via's VX800 integrated northbridge/southbridge, also found in Samsung's netbook, has a five Watt max TDP. For comparison, Intel's 1.6GHz N270, 945GCSE northbridge, and 82801GBM southbridge, have an overall TDP of approximately nine Watts. So far, the only test we've seen of the NC20 is the one performed by www.netbooknews.de earlier this month. According to reviewer Sascha Pallenberg, the NC20 outperformed its NC10 predecessor by 12 percent in a "PC Mark" test of CPU performance, by 33 percent in a "3D Mark" test of graphics performance, and by five percent in an "Cinebench" test of video encoding. As for battery life, the NC20 lasted for just 137 minutes in a worst-case test -- the screen at maximum brightness, WiFi on -- but was able to provide 5.5 hours of Web browsing with its display set at medium brightness, Pallenberg says. Adding that the smaller NC10 provided an additional two hours of operation in the latter test, he notes that the NC20 has a larger, higher-resolution screen, so the playing field wasn't level. An unboxing of Samsung's NC20 netbook Source: www.netbooknews.de (click to play) Further information Samsung has not released pricing and availability information for the NC20, but the device appears to be on sale now in the U.K. for approximately 380 pounds ($541). More information on the NC20 may be found on the Samsung website, here. To download the manual, see here [Samsung offers the manual in the form of an .EXE file that uncompresses into a Macromedia Flash-formatted document]. To see the www.netbooknews.de review of the NC20 by Sascha Pallenberg, see here. Related stories:
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