Ion-packing Netbooks: Samsung N510 finally arrives next month
Arriving in September for $599, the N510 will be one of the first U.S. laptops with an Nvidia Ion processor inside. Is it worth the wait?
We feel like we've been waiting a long time for this, but Netbooks running Atom processors alongside Nvidia's Ion GPU are finally coming to the America...soon.
Reports from Liliputing.com claim that the Samsung N510, an 11.6-inch Netbook, is on its way next month. Included in the N510 will be HDMI out and an "ability to handle Blu-ray," though we're not sure how that will apply in a laptop without an optical drive. We're still waiting for the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Ion version to arrive--we reviewed the
On the other hand, those Nvidia processors better hurry up--CULV thin-and-lights are spreading with costs in nearly the same range, and new Intel Atom processors with greater power are coming out sometime in the next year. While beefing up the graphics and HD capabilities of a Netbook is a fine idea--especially since the Ion in theory should have the power of a GeForce 9400M (the graphics in the
Our biggest questions at this point: will Ion Netbooks be more competitively priced? Will the Ion significantly drain battery life compared to existing Netbooks and thin-and-lights? And just how good are they as gaming machines? Stay tuned.
So, sound off: for the cost, would you rather have a graphically-boosted Netbook, a thin-and-light, or a budget laptop with a better core processor?
(Source: Liliputing via Engadget)