Not too long ago the news got out that mobile phone company Nokia was about to enter the netbook market with its Booklet 3G. Specifications were unavailable then, but today at Nokia World ’09 the company announced all the details around this slick netbook.
The specifications of Nokia’s first foray into the personal computer market are both impressive and a massive letdown. Here’s a rundown:
- Intel Atom Z530, 1.6 GHz
- Intel Poulsbo US15W, fanless design
- 1GB DDR2 RAM 533 Mhz, soldered down
- 120 GB HDD, 1.8″/5mmH/SATA, 8 MB cache, 4200 RPM
- 10.1″ display, 1280×720, glass window
- 16 cell, 56.8 Wh, Li-Ion prismatic, removable design, 12 hours (!)
- 802.11 b/g/n, 2T2R
- BT 2.1 + EDR
- Inbuilt 3G modem (data calls only). Different variants: WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 or WCDMA 900/2100 or no modem.
- All modem variants have GSM and GPRS
- Assisted-GPS
Design-wise, it’s built out of a solid block of aluminium, 19.9mm thick. The Booklet 3G weighs 1.2kg, and comes in three colours (black, white, and blue). Port-wise, it has HDMI 1.2, three USB ports, headphone out/audio in, an SD card reader, and a SIM slot. It also comes with a suite of Nokia software, and the operating system it ships with will be Windows 7.
While most of these specifications sound pretty impressive, the big problem that everybody is falling over currently is the RAM. It only has 1GB, which, while technically enough to run Windows 7 relatively comfortably (I tried), is simply not enough for a netbook of this class. Sadly, it seems as if there will be no expansion slot for RAM on the Booklet, meaning you’ll be stuck with 1GB of RAM.
The Booklet 3G comes with a relatively hefty price tag for a netbook: EUR 570. Nokia did emphasize it will be subsidised by carriers, but it’s still a lot of money, especially for a machine limited to just 1GB of RAM.
It all looks like a very solid device, but the RAM is the breaking point for me – and I assume for many of you as well.
I guess they figured with 12 hours of battery time, people would be completely willing to waste it opening and closing apps and waiting for Hdd swaps
Edited 2009-09-02 23:45 UTC
I read somewhere that the Intel Atom Z530 wasn’t good enough to push HD content…is this true?
That said, it really does not matter for me.
1 Gig of ram is too little, atleast for me. If not for that I would have gotten it for sure
Edited 2009-09-03 00:36 UTC
It’s pretty weak, being the actual x86 ARM competitor, and poulsbo is a dreadful chipset (and the drivers are 2D only).
Regarding Puolsbo + Linux:
http://mjg59.livejournal.com/111853.html
(Executive summary: Poulsbo sucks, a real blunder by Intel).
I would prefer Toshiba NB200 over it. Why should we pay that much high price just because it contains 16 cell batter
It’s a good machine for those for travel a lot or who use netbooks on battery most of the time.
The Euro price puts this device at over $800 USD without a carrier subsidy.
Even with a subsidy/markdown from a major carrier, I can’t imagine any of them going more than $200.
– Good – A data capable devoce with very nice specs.
– Bad – 1GB Soldered RAM with no slot to add more.
– Good – Windows 7 (tailored) is a plus. Maybe.
How will 1GB of RAM run Windows 7, even tailored, with efficiency over time with patches & hot fixes?
It seems to me that Nokia, while well intentioned, missed the mark with this one.
Even with a subsidized price from a major carrier, anyone looking for a Netbook will quickly see that an Eee PC or Acer Aspire One will have greater expandability and a larger Hard Drive (160G instead of Nokia having a 120G) with an approx $300 USD sticker price; not over $800.
No thanks.
Windows 7 supports ReadyBoost. Buy a cheap 2GB USB key and it might make a difference.
Edited 2009-09-03 01:27 UTC
Heh, so one either has a 3G modem sticking out of a USB port, or a ready boost USB drive sticking out of a USB port… Either way, it’s something you have to hook up. Stupid really, when all Nokia had to do was include 2 gb of ram from the beginning. As for me, if I need 3g on my netbook, I’ll opt for the external 3g modem. I don’t always need 3g, but I do always need 2 gb of ram.
The interesting question is why Nokia would decide to enter the Netbook business. Why ship a Windows machine when their grand new strategy is ‘Maemo über alles’?
Most likely they intend to use it as a vehicle to get their Ovi stuff (and Qt) on people’s desktops.
Can’t wait to see how that works out.
At EUR500+ not well without major subsidies from carriers. Given carriers are already giving away cheaper netbooks with some plans (and that the more-money-than-sense crowd would want an Apple sticker on lid) I don’t see the demand for this.
1GB RAM soldered down is a nonsense. And, so many bells and whistles but no Firewire? Nokia could be the first to include it in a netbook and thus make it appealing to professional musicians and photographers… 12hr battery is nice though.
Perhaps the soldered 1gb has something to do with Win 7 license?
Regarding firewire – just let it die already…
Some people are completely warped. Why on earth do you need more than a gigabyte of RAM in a netbook? Since when does Firefox and Flash Player demand this much RAM? It’s a NETbook, not a NOTEbook.
And Firewire? Are you freaking crazy? Atom processors are too slow to do any meaningful video editing. You want Firewire, you buy a notebook with a mobile Core 2 Duo. It’s a NETbook.
What’s next – demanding a netbook with dual HDDs in RAID?
Typed happily on an Aspire One with 512mb of RAM and 8gb SSD.
1GB is OK if it’s upgradable. Soldered down is what I call nonsense.
Heavy video editing with Atom is problematic, but to cite a pro, Firewire port is required for high-quality DV transfer from camcorders. Also, audio editing and recording are entirly possible with Atom (probably with not many real-time effects used, but that’s not most important thing on the go.) And Firewire is *the* choice for reliable outboard audio.
Because Win7 runs like crap in 1gb once you open a few things, that’s why. If it were a slimmed down Linux or even a slimmed down Windows it wouldn’t be so bad, but try running a full Win7 in only 1 gb of ram and use it regularly for a while, then ask again why 2gb is necessary in this netbook. Ram is cheap, it consumes negligible power, and it’s always better to have more especially when running the latest Windows. 2 gb is basically the sweet spot.
Nice machine, but windows pollution kills it for me
Please nokia:
1 – Up the RAM
2 – Offer either Maemo or Moblin
3 – Consider an ARM version
4 – Support OpenSolaris (i’m dreaming) 🙂
What a waste of of good beer cans. Management must have been making hardware choices instead of letting someone who knows something decide
Looks nice, but glass (read glossy, mirror) screen is fail and is an auto no-buy for me, be it desktop LCD or notebook, but especially notebook.
Heres the reasons i wont buy
1 gb of ram (soldered in?)
intel atom
windows 7
and to get it for the price it SHOULD BE anyway you need to have a contract.
Netbooks like that should cost no more than $250 with NO contract. Considering a 15.6 in notebook can be had for 400 new/shipped