Mark Gibbs looked at the Samsung NB30 and decided it needed a better OS.
I recently received for review a Samsung NB30 netbook computer.
If you have been living under a rock, Wikipedia defines netbooks as a “category of small, lightweight, and inexpensive laptop computers suited for general computing and accessing Web-based applications,” which is to say they don’t have powerful anything and they’re cheap.
Rise of the netbooks
The NB30, built around the low-power 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 system-on-a-chip (SoC) with integrated memory controller and graphics core with 1GB RAM, is pretty inexpensive at $379.
The device comes with a 160GB HDD (and has a Free Fall Sensor to park the heads to prevent disk damage if the computer is dropped), a 10-inch LED backlit display, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, a 0.3MP Webcam (which is surprisingly good), and a six-cell lithium ion battery that provides up to 6.5 hours of run time. So far, not bad.
But what did Samsung do? It decided the device should ship with Windows 7 Starter edition. This is like taking a Ford Explorer and swapping out its 4-liter V6 for an Edwardian steam engine. To say that Windows 7 sucks the life out of the product is an understatement. And heaven forefend that you should want to actually connect to wireless if you don’t have endless patience. Why does Windows do such a bad job with Wi-Fi?
Whatever value Samsung might think Windows brings to the netbook party is irrelevant in the face of what, at least to my jaundiced eye, results in lackluster performance.
So, what could improve on this situation? I think you know where I’m going with this … yep, good ol’ free and open source Linux, and specifically Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Netbook Edition.
Ubuntu Netbook Edition uses the GNOME window manager with the most excellent custom Ubuntu Netbook Edition interface and includes pretty much every application you might want on a general purpose, portable system.
But here’s what makes Ubuntu Netbook Edition so great: It is ridiculously easy to install and knows about a huge range of peripherals; it’s easy to configure; it isn’t a resource hog; and it runs really, really fast even on the 1.66GHz Atom N450.
I downloaded UNE, installed it onto a 4GB USB drive ($10 from Fry’s!) using the Universal USB Installer, stuck the USB drive in the NB30, restarted the NB30, went into the BIOS set up and moved the USB drive above the HDD, told the BIOS utility to save the configuration, and, voila! The whole process (other than the download) took minutes and, on reboot, Ubuntu Netbook Edition was up and running in seconds.
I clicked on the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar, configured the Wi-Fi subsystem, and, another voila! I was on my network in seconds. None of that noodling around Windows does whenever it connects, just straight online.
Running the OS from a USB drive is great for testing to make sure everything works right (on the NB30 everything did; camera, mouse, keyboard, Bluetooth, WiFi … I didn’t find one problem) and there’s also an option to install Ubuntu Netbook Edition to the hard drive if you’re satisfied.
The bottom line is that Ubuntu Netbook Edition makes the NB30 a very attractive device. Under UNE the NB30 boots fast, runs fast, has a great user interface, is incredibly easy to configure and makes the machine a pleasure to use.
I can only award one rating per column so I’m going to award the combination of the Samsung NB30 and Ubuntu 10.4 Netbook Edition a 5 out of 5. With Windows 7, I think I might be able to stretch to maybe a 3.5. Maybe.
Gibbs stretches in Ventura, Calif. Tell him how flexible you are at gearhead@gibbs.com.
