News Bits: Samsung Laptops In The US, Toshiba Netbook, Target Sells Eee PCs

Samsung entering US notebook market

Samsung yesterday announced that it will be entering the US notebook computer market. It will have five lines of notebooks with screen sizes ranging from 10 to 16 inches: Premium Thin & Light, All Purpose, Business, Desktop Replacement, and Netbooks. The lineup is as follows:

• N-series: 10-inch netbook, $499
• Q-series: 13.3-inch, $1,200 - $1,350
• X-series: 13.3-, 14.4-inch, $1,700 - $2,500
• P-series: 14.1-, 15.4-inch, $1,200 - $1,300
• R-series: 16-inch, $1,050

Full Story (Blog.LaptopMag.com)

Toshiba Satellite netbook uncovered

Image credit: Trusted Reviews

Toshiba unveiled its NB100 netbook at the company's first "Mobility Conference" in Zurich. Trusted Reviews comments it is "reminiscent of the Eee PC 901" and is made of matte black plastic with silver accents. It has typical netbook specifications including an Intel Atom processor, and surprises like a three USB ports, a 2.5-inch hard drive and DDR2-800 memory.

Full Story (TrustedReviews.com)
Via (Engadget.com)

Dell Studio 15 gets Centrino 2

Dell has finally refreshed one of its notebooks with the new Intel Centrino 2 platform. The Studio 15 with Centrino 2 starts at $999 with a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2-year warranty, 15.4-inch WLED WXGA screen, 256MB ATI HD 3450 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive.

Dell Product Link
Via (Engadget.com)
NotebookReview.com Review for the Studio 15

Nvidia's new GeForce 9400M integrated graphics

Apple introduced its new MacBook notebooks yesterday with Nvidia's new GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor. The 9400M boasts impressive specifications for an integrated GPU, including a 128-bit memory bus and 16 stream processors. Nvidia claims it has 5x the performance of Intel's GMA X4500.

Expect to see the Nvidia GeForce 9400M appear in notebooks from other companies shortly as the 9400M-G (the 9400M is exclusive to Apple).

Nvidia Press Release (HEXUS.net)
Full Story (HEXUS.net)

PC market grows thanks to low-cost computers

Even though PC shipments have risen 15 percent over last year, a significant percentage of that growth came from low-cost netbooks. Netbooks, which typically sell for less than $500, have small profit margins and some makers have been slow to adopt them. PC sales growth was unimpressive this year at 4.5 percent.

Full Story (NYTimes.com)

Target now selling ASUS Eee PC

Target is now selling the ASUS Eee PC. Two 8.9-inch models are available; one features Linux and a 4GB SSD for $299.99, and the other Windows XP and an 8GB SSD for $349.99. 7-inch Eee PCs are also available from $269.99.

Product Link
Special thanks to forum member Djheartbreak831 for submitting this bit

 

Samsung: Another electronics mfgr. starts making notebooks! Who knows? Maybe we'll see other companies like Sanyo, LG, and/or Motorola come out with their own notebooks! Notebooks are hotter than ever!

Toshiba Netbook: Another mfgr. starts making netBooks! Who knows? Maybe we'll see other companies like Sony, LG or Samsung come out with their own netBooks! NetBooks just might be hotter than notebooks now!

Dell Studio 15: About time it gets updated to Centrino 2!

GeForce 9400M: It looks like nVidia's opened that can of whoop-*** on Intel as promised!

PC Market Growth: I'm telling you, netBooks just might be hotter than notebooks now!

Target sells eee pc: Did I mention that netBooks just might be hotter than notebooks now?

 

LG and Samsung have been producing notebooks for quite awhile now, they're just not available in the U.S. with the exception of Samsung's recent entry.

LG and Samsung already have netbooks planned (LG X110 and Samsung NC10).

 

Welcome, Samsung!
I'll have to familiarize myself with Samsung's offerings... but I definitely welcome more choices. I hope LG starts selling their notebooks here too soon.

 

I've got to admit, I've always liked the styling of the Studio 15. If I was in the market for a notebook, I would've considered it as something I'd likely get. Problem is, I'd hate to hear myself bi*ch about this again, the lackluster GPU. Why the Radeon Mobility HD 3450? All current-gen integrated graphics chips (X4500HD aside) are just as fast (if not faster like the 9400M) as the HD3450. Funny enough, ATI's own integrated HD 3200 is less than 15% slower than the so-called dedicated HD 3450. Aren't ATI set on releasing the HD4xxx line sometime this quarter? Why would Dell even settle with this? Wouldn't something along the lines of a HD 4450 (or better, 4470) be a better choice?

 

I always wanted a Samsung X50 before.
Glad to see they finally enter the US market.
The X series' 15" is the only one that could be as light and thin as MBP at that moment, and the Q30 was also a very popular ultra-portable, which was brought by Dell to the US.
I am surprised an experienced member here didn't know about that.

 

you're right, id love to see at least a 3470 in the studio 15 i dont know whats taking them so long. A 13inch Vaio has one im sure they can do it as well.

 

Many people often forget that 'netbooks' has been around for longer than Intel and Asus would have like you to believe. The only characteristic that Asus brought to the industry is by making them cheap (though the price in newer models seems to be creeping upwards to full-size notebook price level, at least in the UK).

Sony's (very) old Picturebooks for example shares very similar characteristic to current netbooks like low voltage processor and smallish form factor. Their Mylos can also be considered netbooks - cheap, small and optimised for web browsing.

Even today I find their ancient C1 models with trackpoints a much more appealing design than modern netbook rivals. Sony re-entering the market will hopefully shake the (design) industry up. Most netbooks are just plain ugly.

Toshiba's old Libretto series were also netbook like. The U100 (released in 2005) had a 7" screen with ULV processor.

IBM's ThinkPad S6x series had 10 inch screens and battery life of 5 hours.

And let's not forget the mighty Psion netBook announced in 1999 and various Windows CE devices by HP.

BTW, Samsung has been making notebooks since like forever. I remember playing with one back in 2000/01 before deciding to buy an Inspiron 800x instead. Bizarre that they are only now making inroads to the US market. IMO, their notebooks are ok.

 

When Dell rebadged whatever Samsung notebook it was and sold it as the Dell X1, it is said that Samsung had to agree to not competing in the US. That agreement recently expired.

John

 

9400m vs 8400GS?

 

9400M mGPU Question:

Is this the integrated nvidia chipset that we can expect to see used with the Via Nano processor?

 

looks like nvidia crammed a 8400gs and made it intergrated. 5x better that x4500 sounds even better than a 8400m gs, and even better than current 9 series low end dedicated like the 9300m gs. good way to kick yourself in the low end nividia. who is going to want a 9300m gs now?

 

Thanks for the info', Chaz!!!

Target selling netbooks?? Wow!


Cin

 

Apparently, according to the following picture posted by Apple, it is 6.2x more than previous genenration's MacBook which has a x3100 instead of x4500. So, go figure

Here's the fine print & URL:

1. Testing conducted by Apple in October 2008 using preproduction 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo–based MacBook units with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. MacBook systems with 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and Intel GMA X3100 were shipping units. MacBook continuously monitors system thermal and power conditions, and may adjust processor speed as needed to maintain optimal system operation.

http://www.apple.com/macbook/graphics.html

 

When you say planned, do you mean planned for US release? Because the NC10 has already been tested by some Europeans (battery life was dismal apparently). I don't think the LG has been released out in the wild yet.

I lol'ed at your last point. It did seem like a bot haha.

 

I think I should have used a different word. My meaning for the word 'planned' simply means the product is still in Research & Development stage, and has not made it to retailer inventories. I didn't realize the NC10 was already available in Europe, but that's a shame about the battery life, because I really like the keyboard layout/design on it.

 

I owned a Samsung notebook, well technically a very large 486-based laptop, back in the early 90s. Samsung has been manufacturing PC products for a long time, quite often not marketed under their name.

 

Its not surprising the 9400M integrated graphics will beat Intel's X4500 graphics. But what is the heat output and power consumption comparison between the two?

 

I could only find TDP numbers, but the MCP79 mobile variant is stated at 15W, and the GM45 at 12W. So for an extra 3 watts, you get a five-fold performance increase - at max TDP. If they're idling, they should be similar.

Seems worth it to me!

 

So, in what country do you think Samsung's tech support (I don't mean warranty service) for U.S. customers will be based?

 

After returning a new HP dv7t after only a few days, I ordered my Dell Studio 15 to replace it. I've had it for almost a month now and couldn't be happier with it.

The 256mb ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3450 is sufficient for my needs, but I agree a bit more graphics horsepower (at least as an option) would broaden its appeal to casual/moderate gamers. The Studio 17 offers the HD 3650, which is a significantly better performer than the HD 3450, but only with 256mb of dedicated memory in this application. In most iterations, the HD 3650 has 512mb of memory and ASUS even uses a 1024mb (1GB) version.

According to the benchmark results I've seen, the HD 3450 outperforms the integrated HD 3200 by 33% on 3DMark05 and 22% on 3DMark06. Not a great performance increase, I agree. BUT- the HD 3200 is only available as part of AMD's "Puma" platform (along with the requisite AMD processors). The dedicated ATI graphics cards are compatible with either Intel or AMD platforms.

The HD 3450 is a subsantially better performer than the Intel 4500MHD- more than doubles 3DMark05 score and 70% better 3DMark06. It also performs better than the nVIDIA 9200M GS and is evenly matched with the 9300M GS.

 

im sure eventually they will go to 3470 or the 4350 when it comes out

 

I had no idea that Samsung and LG were producing notebooks/had netbooks planned already, so pardon my ignorance.

 

There are a few new netbooks introduced every week, so who could possibly keep up? If Tandy was still around, I'm sure Radio Shack would already be selling a netbook of their own by now.....boot-up disk and all!