VIA Nano Hits Netbooks in Samsung's NC20

Intel’s Atom processor rules the roost when it comes to netbooks. While AMD isn’t even trying to go head to head with Intel’s miserly CPU, VIA’s hoping to capture a piece of the pie with its Nano processor.

It appears that the VIA Nano will be making one of its first appearances inside the Samsung N20 – a netbook of notebook proportions. With a 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) screen, the N20 is beyond the commonly accepted 8.9- to 10-inch realm of nearly all other netbooks. In fact, Samsung says its product is a “full size netbook,” which makes us wonder what the smaller models are (sub-netbooks?). At least with the larger form factor, touch typists will get the full sized keyboard with a standard 18.5 mm key pitch.

Inside is the VIA Nano U2250 processor, running at 1.3 GHz to 1.6 GHz on an 800 MHz bus. It all sits on the VIA VX800 with 1 GB RAM, which is shared with the VIA VX800 Chrome9 HC3 DX9 3D engine for graphics. The rest of the hardware is more standard netbook fare with a 1.3 MP webcam, card reader, LAN, b/g Wi-Fi, and hard drive options of 80, 120 and 160 GB.

With the six-cell battery, the whole netbook weighs 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs).

As for the most important detail of all – price – that’s something Samsung has yet to reveal.