Samsung NC20 review

At first sight, the white Samsung NC20, available for around £390, looks more like an ultra-portable than a netbook, an impression reinforced by its elegant exterior, size and weight. With a 12.1-inch screen and weighing in at 1.5kg without a power supply, the NC20 is significantly larger and heavier than standard netbooks with 9- or 10-inch displays.

The NC20 also excels in areas where most netbooks fall down -- notably, performance and screen resolution. Most netbook makers base their systems on Intel's Atom processor, but Samsung has used Via's Nano U2250, which runs at '1.3+GHz' -- the '+' signifies that the CPU has more to offer than its nominal clock speed suggests.

The Nano uses what Via calls 'adaptive overclocking' technology, whereby the clock speed of the processor is automatically increased within certain temperature limits. This technology allows for a maximum clock speed of 1.6GHz in the U2250, but the NC20's cooling system caps the maximum frequency at 1.5GHz.

Samsung's NC20 is the first notebook to use the Via Nano processor, a direct competitor to Intel's Atom

Because the Nano processor is new, and because Samsung is the first manufacturer to use it in a mobile device, this review partly focuses on performance differences between the Intel Atom and the Via Nano. For comparison purposes, we have used an LG Netbook X110, equipped with a 1.6GHz Atom N270.

Performance
In our tests, the Nano came out ahead of the Atom, particularly as regards Internet performance. That superiority is evident in the area of JavaScript processing. More and more Web sites and modern Internet applications, such as Google Mail, use computationally intensive techniques. So performance in this area is crucial for a satisfactory Internet experience. Image-zooming and JavaScript animations are noticeably smoother running on the Nano than on the Atom.

Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), 1GB RAM; milliseconds (shorter bars are better)

The JavaScript benchmarks illustrate the Nano's superiority in this area. The X110's Atom took nearly twice as long to complete the SunSpider test (above) as the Nano-powered NC20. It's noticeable that the performance differences depend on the browser used. Under the slowest browser, Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1, the Atom took 32 per cent longer than the Nano. It took 42 per cent longer under Firefox 3.1, and more than twice as long using the fastest browser, Safari 4 Beta 1.

Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), 1GB RAM; points (longer bars are better)

SunSpider isn't the only benchmark where Intel's Atom comes off badly. Google's V8 test also makes the Atom look sluggish.