Samsung NC20 Review

The Samsung NC20 is the successor to the hugely popular Samsung NC10 ultraportable netbook released last year. While Samsung was quite late with its netbook launch, as there was too much competition by the time the Samsung NC10 was launched, it did manage to garner great reviews and also a decent amount of market share. It offered good performance, a superb keyboard and the best battery life at the time of its launch. Now, Samsung is out with the new NC20 which is the bigger sibling of the NC10 with some of its hardware changed – it is powered by the VIA Nano U2250 instead of the standard Intel Atom N270 / N280 and a bigger 12.1 inch display. In this review, we check out the new Samsung NC20 and see if it can measure up to the high expectations set by the Samsung NC10.

Samsung NC20 Specifications:

• Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Processor: 1.3 GHz VIA Nano U2250
• RAM: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
• Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA HDD, 5400 RPM
• Display: 12.1 LCD Display, 1280 x 800 pixels
• Graphics Card: VIA Chrome9 HC3 with 128 MB VRAM
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home
• Ports: 3 USB v2.0 ports, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out, 3 in 1 card reader

Design and Build Quality:

The Samsung NC20 sports a simple yet stylish design, very similar to the Samsung NC10. It is just as slim as the Samsung NC10 at just 1.2 inches. The other dimensions are 11.5 x 8.5 inches. It weighs about 3.4 pounds which is quite good for a 12.1 inch netbook. The white design is very appealing and suits all kinds of users. It should easily fit into an office as well as in a casual environment. The build quality is very nice and the netbook feels sturdy and durable. There is minimal flex around both the display and the keyboard areas. The NC20 has a very nice finish and feels great.

Display and Speakers:

The Samsung NC20 sports a nice 12.1 inch display which supports a native resolution on 1280 x 800 pixels. The display is the main improvement over the Samsung NC10 and has nice and crisp display quality. The extra pixels and display size largely improve the viewing experience when browsing or watching movies. The brightness and contrast are almost perfect. The display despite being a glossy one, has good sunlight legibility. It also has wide vertical and horizontal viewing angles and should easily accomodate an audience of about 3-4 people. The Samsung NC10 also comes with a 1.3 MP webcam which has nice capture quality. The built in microphone also works pretty well.

The dual stereo speakers are located at the bottom of the laptop and produce clear, loud sound. The sound quality is decent and is good enough for serious music playback. We would recommend that you use earphones though, if you are a hard core audiophile. The sound quality is slightly better than in the Samsung NC10.

Keyboard and Speakers:

The Samsung NC10 had amongst the best keyboards in its class, and the Samsung NC20 actually manages to improve on that. Most netbooks go wrong with the keyboards, but the Samsung, thanks to its size, manages to fit in a regular keyboard. The keyboard is spacious and has nice key spacing and travel. It is perfect for touch typists and takes jsut a couple of seconds to get used to. The key positioning is standard, unlike many netbooks who have awkward ones. The keys have a nice feel and provide nice tactile feedback.

The Samsung NC20 also sports a much larger touchpad than the Samsung NC10 which is very nice as you can cover more screen space in a single swipe. The mouse button is located just below the touchpad. It doesn’t sport separate left and right buttons, just a single bar. The touchpad offers optimum sensitivity and responsiveness. The touchpad surface is smooth and offers a decent grip. It also features a vertical scroller to the right.

Performance:

The Samsung NC20 is powered by the new VIA Nano U2250 processor clocked at 1.3 GHz which is a huge deviation from the normal trend of using a Intel Atom N270. It also uses the VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics with 128 MB VRAM instead of the standard Intel GMA 950.
All other hardware specs are almost standard – 1 GB DDR2 RAM, a 160 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM etc. The VIA Nano U2250 offers decent performance, more or less the same as the Intel Atom N270. It fares slightly lower than the Intel Atom N270 in almost all everyday tasks and some benchmarks. The clock speed (1.3 GHz) is a bit low but can easily handle all basic stuff like word processing, movies, music, light gaming etc. It is perfect for an office setup. The Samsung NC20 with the VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics fares slightly better than most netbooks with the Intel GMA 950 in the graphics department, but the performance increase isn’t much to speak of. You wouldn’t feel the difference between the normal Intel setup and the VIA one atleast in terms of performance. The 160 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM is a bit slow when it comes to data transfer. The overall performance is quite decent, just what you would expect from a netbook.

Battery and Other Features:

The Samsung NC20 is powered by a 6 cell battery but offers much less endurance than the Samsung NC10 which topped the netbook record at about 7 hrs. The NC20 offers just about 4 hrs and 30 mins with moderate usage. With some restricted usage and by following common battery saving tips, you can easily reach about 5 hrs. The fall in endurance can be attributed to its better, bigger display which consumes more power.

The Samsung NC20 comes loaded with all the standard expansion ports you would expect – 3 USB v2.0 ports, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out and a 3 in 1 card reader. The Wi-Fi reception is pretty nice and offers good speeds and a decent range.

Pros:

• Nice Keyboard
• Superb Display

Cons:

• Lower Battery Life

Final Words:

The Samsung NC20 is a superb option if you need a 12.1 inch netbook with adequate performance for basic tasks at an affordable price. It does meet the huge expectations generated from the successor of the Samsung NC10.

Our Rating: 4 / 5.