The Mobinnova N910 is probably the first Tegra smartbook to hit the U.S market. The “when” is still a little fuzzy but we’ve been told by Nvidia that it is imminent. If you don’t know what a Smartbook is: it’s basically a small computer that uses cellphones components (processor…). The idea is that performance is now good enough to do basic tasks (web, web video, email, social networking…) but the power usage is so small that the battery life is much longer. It can also be turned off and on like a cellphone. In fact, it should never be shut down completely (again, like a cellphone). So, how does it feel to use this smartbook?
During the short time that I played with it, I felt that the *perceived* performance is, at best, on par with the first generation Netbooks (it’s probably slower, if you benchmark it). The only exception is the video playback capabilities: Nvidia has made sure that Tegra can play 720p HD movies without a hitch. That was certainly not true for early Netbooks and even now, many still struggle with HD Flash video content (YouTube, Hulu).
How much you would like it largely depends on your own usage pattern. If you are mainly on the web and Email it could work great. If you do something that require some CPU muscle other than video decode, you should check if it is fast enough. If you need to install Windows applications, then this is not for you. This Smartbook runs on Windows CE. Nvidia thinks that the user experience is what tanked the Linux-based Netbooks adoption. Microsoft of course, says that people “want” Windows, because it’s familiar. We will soon see who’s vision will pan out. In my opinion, it’s not so simple to find the ideal usage pattern – at least in developed countries.
As for power consumption. Processing has become quasi-irrelevant: even at full load the processor and the graphics unit consume only 0.5W. At the same time, the display consume two to four times the power. In short, your battery life is now mainly limited by your screen, and that will be an interesting test because it is the real limit.
The keyboard is very small, but that’s quite obvious from the photos. I hope that 11″ and 12″ models will come out soon.
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