Considering that netbooks are a tinkerer’s dream, it’s a wonder that a netbook like OCZ’s Neutrino hasn’t come around sooner. This bare-bones $269 netbook comes without a hard drive, memory, or even an operating system, letting buyers customize to their heart’s content. However, the hardware that comes standard—namely, the touchpad and battery—aren’t as good as those with traditional netbooks (although a longer-lasting six-cell battery will be available in May). If users can get over these deficiencies, the Neutrino will make for a compelling do-it-yourself project.
Black Boxy Design
The Neutrino’s design looks instantly familiar to us, and that’s because it’s identical to the Workhorse PC Certeza MC10. The black boxy design looks good from afar, but up close it doesn’t have the same luster as its competitors. The lid, which is a fingerprint magnet, has a small indented, rectangular-shaped slot with a silver OCZ logo. Along the top of the keyboard, a plastic strip, which was blank on the Workhorse, is emblazoned with Neutrino, giving it a more finished look than the Workhorse. Five lights on the front left edge show the status of the battery, Wi-Fi, broadband, hard drive, and Caps Lock.
The Neutrino is quite compact for a 10-inch system. At 10.4 x 7.3 inches, and tapering from 1.1 to 0.8 inches thick, it has the same dimensions as the very svelte Dell Inspiron Mini 10, but tips the scales at a slightly heavier 3 pounds (when outfitted with components). Nevertheless, with a travel weight of 3.6 pounds with its AC adapter, the system fit in a small messenger bag with room to spare and didn’t weigh down our shoulder while walking.
Configuring the Neutrino
A bare-bones Neutrino lists for $269, which is $60 cheaper than what the Workhorse PC costs for a similar setup, but only $30 less than an 8.9-inch Acer Aspire One with a hard drive, RAM, and operating system. Outfitting the netbook with what it needs will bring the cost up higher than that of many other netbooks. For example, we opted to configure ours with a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive ($80), Windows XP Home ($85), and 1GB of RAM from Quimonda ($20); the total price—$454—is much higher than the MSI Wind U120 ($379) or ASUS Eee PC 1000HE ($399), both of which provide double the runtime and have more attractive builds. For that reason, OCZ touts this as a system for those who already have spare parts lying around or want to install expensive solid state drives they couldn’t get on a prebuilt netbook.
While less expensive options, such as a free Linux OS (the Neutrino is compatible with gOS and Ubuntu) and a smaller hard drive, will bring the price down considerably, the Neutrino can accept up to a 250GB SSD and 2GB of RAM for those who really want to splurge.
Installing the components was fairly simple. The bottom cover is held on by six screws; after removing them, we were able to easily insert both the hard drive and the RAM. You will also need an external CD-ROM; even if you don’t opt for Windows XP, and can install a Linux OS from a USB key, you will still need the external drive to install the drivers that come with the Neutrino.
The longest part of the process in getting our Neutrino up and running was installing the software; all told, it took about two hours to get everything loaded onto the machine. Considering there’s no productivity software included, count on a bit more time to download and install programs such as OpenOffice and Skype.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on the Neutrino is very similar to those on the MSI Wind U100 and U120, which is a good thing. The black matte keys offered a good amount of springy feedback when typing, and the right Shift key (located to the left of the up arrow) and Backspace key are comfortably large. While the HP Mini 2140 and the Samsung NC10 have slightly better keyboards, touch typists should have no problems using the Neutrino for extended periods. Above the keyboard are three shortcut buttons that launch the Webcam utility, e-mail, and Web browser.
To make room for the spacious keyboard, OCZ had to sacrifice some of the trackpad’s size. Similar to the touchpad on the MSI Wind U120, the Neutrino’s 2.1 x 1.4-inch trackpad is disappointingly small. However, we liked the dedicated right and left mouse buttons, even if they make a distracting clicking sound when pressed. Unlike the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE and Samsung N110, the touchpad does not support multitouch gestures, but does allow for horizontal and vertical scrolling along the edges. However, the driver, made by Asia Vital Components, did not work well; the screen would scroll in the wrong direction when we tried to use that feature.
Ports
The Neutrino is surrounded by two USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, mic and headphone jacks, a VGA port, and an Ethernet jack. While most netbooks have three USB ports, OCZ used the space for an ExpressCard/34 slot—handy if you have a broadband card. Additionally, a hatch on the underside of the system unscrews to allow a SIM card for mobile broadband.
