I just got word from Samsung that the company plans to start shipping the Samsung N510 laptop in the US in September. The laptop packs an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, HDMI output, and it uses the NVIDIA ION platform, which bundles a low power Intel Atom processor with an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor. In other words, you’ll be able to handle HD video, including Blu-Ray playback on a machine that barely uses any more energy than a typical netbook.
Those extra features will come at a price. The Samsung N510 will have a suggested real price of $599 at launch, which is significantly higher than the typical netbook price tag. But you know as well as I do that retailers will probably begin undercutting the MSRP almost immediately, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see this laptop go for $569 or less before the end of September.
Sounds delicious. Served with a side of chianti and fava beans.
This looks like a fantastic system, depending on the operating system choices.
Will this be available with Linux? The nvidia chipset is the only one that supports media acceleration (VDPAU) so I am very excited. However, I will never buy a computer that comes with a Windows license – please offer a non-Windows version Samsung.
Samsung will be releasing this netbook with Windows 7 sometime in
October or later.
That’s too bad; I won’t buy it if Microsoft gets credit for a sale. Maybe they’ll have a Windows delete option or something, here’s hoping.
Just because customers demand a better configuration doesn’t mean you can charge them a higher price. Bad on Samsung!
Compared to the N510, the NC20 initially cost $549 (http://www.liliputing.com/2009/04/samsung-nc20-now-available-in-the-us.html). This means Samsung is charging $50 for the ION, 1 GB more of RAM, and 90GB more HD space. When you tally it up, it’s not a bad deal, but when compared to other products now in the category, $599 won’t be able to compete.
On a different note, I hope Samsung got rid of the glossy screens. I also hope Nvidia worked out the kinks in the ION to play Adobe Flash (not just BluRay) fullscreen without stuttering.
Note: My N510 specs are coming from the LAPTOP Mag article
(http://blog.laptopmag.com/samsungs-ion-based-n510-coming-next-month-for-599) which says 2GB ram, 250GB hdd.
Good news Brad, thanks for sharing. Looks like no chance of shipping with Win 7 but I think we knew that. I look forward to seeing what a ION powered netbook can deliver!
No matter how good this unit is, with that price it is going to sit on the shelves.
$600 with a CULV, sure. $600 with an Atom? Tough sell.
Likely battery life notwithstanding, though, sounds like a good system.