As a bit of background, Samsung did a deal with NewEgg, allowing them to have the NC20 exclusively at first in the states (not a bad thing as NewEgg is a really good seller & usually has very competitive pricing).

Over on NewEgg there are already a few reviews from customers and, at the time of writing, 67% of buyers give it a full 5 stars and the rest give it a solid 4 out of 5.

Here’s what one of our readers, Kao, had to say about his experience:

It was my first order from Newegg and they did a great job of packaging my order the same hour and getting it to UPS immediately since I paid extra for next day.

Each review has a set of ‘pros’ & ‘cons’ which makes for a nice balanced feel – take a look if you’re still not 100% sure about buying: Check out the reviews over at NewEgg.

Check out our ‘where to buy’ page for an update and go purchase your USA spec Samsung NC 20 today!

We’ll keep you updated when more suppliers are added, and of course when the US stock of the Neon range is made available

The new range contains the following colours:

• Electric green
• Miso Red
• Aquatic
• Clockwork orange
• Snow camoflage

It’s hardly suprising that Samsung would make some strange coloured NC20’s as it’s smaller brother the Samsung Nc10 was also available in some pretty weird colours.

These new colors, which complement the existing white and black versions will be on sale shortly in UK, Europe and will be coming to the US at the end of the month.

Personally the ‘Snow Camo’ is my new favourite!

You would have thought that the retailer would have tonnes of information and promotion on their website, but in the lead up this week’s release… Nothing.  If we we’re the exclusive US retailer for this awesome  12” netbook we would be wading the streets with our URL painted on our faces carrying signs reading “We’ve got the NC20 !”.
Some web sources are saying “early April” but till we hear it from a reliable source it remains strictly a rumour.
For those of you that simply cannot wait and need to get hold a decent netbook, there is always the machines ultra portable 10” brother the NC10 which is available in  Blue, Black, and White.

Whilst the review is for the Korean version, the article does have a few interesting points in there:

The battery
The Korean version comes with the 5200-mAh battery, which lasted a respectable 4 hours 17.  The USA NC20 will have an even larger capacity battery at 5200-mAh.  Our guesses put this just under 6 hours.

The price
The price will be somewhere between $500 – $600.  As we’ve seen so far prices of the NC20 have been slightly higher than the NC10, so we’d expect the price to be closer to the $600.

The review conconcludes with fantastic praise for the NC20….

“The Samsung NC20 blurs the line between netbooks and low-cost ultraportables. While the VIA Nano processor isn’t as powerful as a mainstream Core 2 Duo CPU, it provides similar if not slightly better performance than Intel’s current Atom offerings. And the NC20 offers better performance than the Dell Inspiron Mini 12″

In fact all reveiws  so far have praised the NC20 over the rest of the competition and with the laptop expected to be released in the US next monday (16th March) we expect the NC20 to be a bigger sales hit than the NC10.

As always we’ll keep updating our suppliers page with stockist updates in the US and around the world.

As always we’ll keep updating our suppliers page as soon as we hear of any more changes.

A quick search returns no information about the NC20, as ever we’ll be keeping our eye on the site to see if the rumours are true.

In the meantime there is a solution.  eBay!  A few NC20’s have been put up on sale on the auction website eBay.  With some sellers offering to ship to the USA, like this one for example, however this is only for those those who cannot wait and have money to burn, as the cost to get that one delivered is roughly $740.

We’ll keep updating our suppliers page as soon as we have news on the the release of the Samsung NC 20 in the USA and other regions.

£419.99!!! We’ve had a few typos lately, but i’m afraid that isn’t one of them.  Play must have not seen the competition selling this machine much cheaper!  If you’re a U.K shopper after the Samsung Nc20, go to Amazon instead, as they are selling the machine £40 quid cheaper !

How did Play think they’d get away with this?   I suspect they hoped you wouldn’t notice the price, take one look at the photoshopped race car and hit “Add to cart”.

1. The Bigger Screen

The NC20 packs in a lovely glossy 12.1″ display, with a relatively big 1280 x 800 resolution. Samsung lead the world with the quality of their screens and, in this case, they have made no exception. This is a slick LED panel with vibrant colours.

BUT… should we really be celebrating a BIGGER netbook screen? We think yes: While most netbooks come in at 10″ and below, the NC20’s 12.1″ screen means you actually have enough space to play around with photos, put together a spreadsheet, or play games at a decent resolution.

It DOES takes extra space in your bag, and some will prefer to stick with the smaller screen of the older Samsung NC10. But if you want something to do anything other than surf the web or watch movies, a couple of extra inches goes a long way. If you’re worried about size, the actual dimensions of the NC20 are 292mm x 217mm x 31mm.

2. The Weight

When was the last time you saw a 12″ laptop at 1.5kg? There are some Toshiba Portégé models that match that, but they cost at least twice as much. The NC20 may take up a couple of extra inches over a 9″ or 10″ netbook, but it doesn’t add any extra pounds.

3. The Battery

OK, so the battery lasts less than the NC10 battery did, but: 5.7 hours! That’s almost as long as an iphone battery! (well, maybe not, but it’s great anyway). The NC20’s closest equivalent is the Dell Mini 12, which ‘boasts’ a measly 3 hours.

On the NC20: Yes, the screen might be bigger, but No this doesn’t mean the stunningly good battery life of the NC10 has been thrown out of the window. Early tests show the NC20 gives 5.7 hours battery life in average conditions (average brightness with a web browser running, a document open, and wi-fi running).

4. Microsoft XP Home

It sounds silly to be happy about a 7-year old operating system, but we’re REALLY glad Samsung decided to stick with XP after its success in the NC10.

Vista just doesn’t work in a netbook. HP gave it a try with some of their Mini-notes.

Ubuntu & other Linux operating systems are great in terms of speed and simplicity – but they lack the compatibility and “office friendly” standards of a Microsoft OS.

XP is tried and tested, performs well even with low memory, and is compatible with the vast majority of software on planet earth.

5. The Processor

Yay! When we heard that Samsung were moving away from the Intel dynasty, we were slightly worried. However, when we heard this was a shift UP to the mighty VIA Nano U2250 we LITERALLY croaked with delight in the manner of an 18th century dickensian chambermaid.

The Nano cruises where the old Intel Atom may have stumbled. It sits in the fast lane, cackling as its older half-cousin trundles along checking its mirrors. Lower heat consumption, faster performance and greater efficiency all help push up the battery life too.

6. The Storage Space

Do you remember we mentioned the Dell Mini 12 earlier? The Dell is about as close in spec as you get to the NC20. It’s a ‘direct competitor’. Yet the top of the range Dell offers only an 80GB hard drive while the Samsung plumps that up to a nice juicy 160GB.

A few years ago, you’d be lucky to get a 40GB hard drive in a laptop. Today you get 160 without compromising on weight or price. And, because this is a Samsung drive.

7. The Build Quality

We loved the quality of the NC10. Have you held one? They feel like an upmarket restaurant: So smooth you almost don’t notice how good the service is; so solid and satisfying you know you’ll return for more.

Well the Samsung NC20 is even better. There are lots of beautiful little touches: The hinges are now flush with the casing. The power button has switched to a lovely solid metal. The microphone & headphone slots have now been tucked alongside the monitor output, so they no longer get caught up in your mouse cable.

8. Perfect for the home or office

The NC20 is primarily designed for mobile use. BUT it works just as well at home or in the office.

Samsung have cleverly included exactly 3 USB slots, an Ethernet port and a VGA output. There’s little need for all of this while you’re on the train, or out and about. But when you’re at home or in the office this is perfect.

Plug in an external drive, a network cable, a mouse, keyboard and an external monitor and you have no need at all for a desktop.

9. The Boatload of Extras

• A. An SD card reader lets you stick your photos straight into the machine, or acts as extra storage.
• B. Built-in bluetooth is great – especially nice if you use a bluetooth mouse. This is bluetooth 2.0 too – meaning it’s around 4 times faster than bog-standard bluetooth.
• C. The webcam is only 1.3-megapixels, but the quality is fantastic. Perfect for skype and other videoconferencing tools.

10. The Groupies

Any more reasons to buy the NC20? Or even not to buy the NC20? Let us know in the comments!