Samsung NC20 stands out

The Samsung NC20 is now available in Australia and PC Authority has taken a look to see how it stacks up against its biggest rival, the Dell Inspiron Mini 12. Like most reviewers, the screen quality and size and the keyboard are all great draw points, as is the performance and battery life.

"Whichever way you cut it, the NC20 blurs the line between ultraportable and netbook with impressive aplomb. The higher screen resolution is a significant step up and this, coupled with good performance and great battery life, makes the NC20 an ideal travelling companion. A netbook success for Samsung's first entry."

VIA: Second largest processor supplier

Oooh, what a headline! Now, no, VIA has not toppled AMD off the second spot on the shelf and they're not likely too soon, or maybe not in the desktop space but they're making huge headway in the netbook and notebook space. Lenovo has just placed a huge number of orders with Taiwanese manufacturers, including VIA. The US$3.255 billion dollars worth of orders this week included US$50 million with VIA, making VIA the second largest processor supplier for Lenovo, second only to Intel. One of Lenovo's IdeaPad S12 models features a VIA Nano processor. - TradingMarkets

More Shanzai-nanagans

The Asus Eee PCs have probably been a bit of a thorn in VIA's netbook side really. All that mighty Asus/Intel marketing, touting their little netbooks as revolutionary, while at the same time, VIA's NanoBook reference design churned out masses of similar devices in China. It's in the great PC manufacturing giant that is China that we find ourselves again today with news of an ironic turn of events, an Asus Eee PC clone which features a VIA Nano processor.

"Incidentally, the VIA Nano processor is touted to perform better than the Atom under selected circumstances, and when priced lower, it does make for an alluring replacement. No idea on whether the knockoff will sell similar to the Eee PC 1002HA's price range, but we're probably looking at something more wallet-friendly."

VIA Nano in Shanzai clone

A netbook that looks just like an Asus 1002H but isn't, features not only a VIA Nano processor but the VX855 chipset which makes it HD playback capable, unlike the real deal. Shanzai.com have a whole bunch of photos of the copy-cat and suggest that the VIA Surfboard platform is an attractive option for brand cloners in the China manufacturing scene, because of the 1080p support it provides.
"It's been a year now since VIA Technologies launched their GMB alliance, a project that brings together key manufacturing and infrastructure partners players in Shanzhen. The idea being that by working closely with the manufacturing base in China, VIA will see improved up take of its processors, luring the shanzhai crowd away from Intel. One of the tempters that VIA is using to achieve this is it's HD capable VIA VX855 chipset, featured on their surfboard reference design (below), a specially designed netbook mainboard that is being offered to partners in the GMB."

HP 2133 a "brilliant product and a top-buy"

It must be at least a year now since the HP 2133 Mini-Note was released. At least it feels like a year. It was the first really major netbook design, from a household brand name manufacturer, for VIA's C7-M processor. It's still impressing and making headlines.
"The 8.9″ WXGA display of this business notebook comes with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution. The image quality is something that I can’t miss mentioning. The color is rich, the back-light even, and the contrast crisp; add all of this together you get an awesome picture quality. The display is scratch-resistant and also features a protective coating that keeps glare away."-bestminilaptopreviews

Lenovo IdeaPad S12: solid is the word

Netbooks are still often referred to a mini laptops and the word mini brings with it connotations of flimsiness, breakable even. People who've had a chance to play around with the Lenovo IdeaPad S12, which features a VIA Nano Processor, think it's pretty tough:
"If you are looking for a solid and a strong laptop, this is the right laptop you can opt for. It has a solid battery too. It has solid hinges. Everything is good on it. Even the frame of the laptop is good. So, it is a durable laptop. It is not easy to break it or cause it damage. Besides, there are white laptops which look good, but you will face some problems when it comes to cleaning because white laptops get dirty very quickly. Black laptops, on the other hand, are not that bad when it comes to cleaning since they don't get dirty very easily."-Ultimate Product Reviews.

VIA dominates netbook choice

It's a good thing to see that in a round up of netbooks being trialled by jkOnTheRun's daughter, the majority feature a VIA Nano processor. It seems that the netbooks he recommends usually feature the cool CPU.
"It was good to hear her thoughts on all of the netbooks. She ended her visit convinced that a $400 netbook is all she needs, and she’ll consider that next time she plans to purchase a laptop."