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The Samsung N120 has a nice big keyboard, decent speakers, and a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. One thing it does not have out of the box is the ability to decode 1080p HD videos smoothly. But SammyNetbook forum member lilydreamy craked open the case and discovered that the laptop has a spare PCIe slot which means you can install a Broadcom HD Decoder without removing the WiFi module as you need to do with the Samsung NC10.
You can pick up a Broadcom HD decoder from eBay for under $30. It looks like the installation process is pretty simple. Just open up the Samsung N120 case, slap the Broadcom card into the open slot, and close up your case. Windows should detect the new hardware the next time you boot your system. I make no promises for other operating systems.
The results pretty much speak for themselves… which they do in the video after the break.
via SammyNetbook
The place that appears to sell them on eBay claims there’s an ExpressCard version of this. Anyone know of a supplier for the ExpressCard 54 version of this?
Is there a PCIe video card that does more than just HD decoding?
Hey i was wondering if the samsung’s n120 HD is easy to replace with an SSD?
I think this easily makes the Samsung NC120 the best ‘netbook package’ you can buy for $349 + $30. For less then $400 total you can have a great 10″ netbook that does HD decoding. Also ist a proven platform…no worries about quality.