Review: Seneca Data Shows Intel's Rich Creek 2 Is For Real

The capability of component makers to create a whitebook ecosystem for the channel has proven to be weak at best—and has occurred as branded manufacturers have enjoyed the strongest period of growth in mobile PCs in the industry's history.

So earlier this year, when Intel unveiled the Rich Creek 2 platform —including the Intel Mobile Board MGM45RM—it appeared to be an important signal that the time had come. Rich Creek 2 has been designed with smaller system builders in mind. And now that the channel has been seeded with the first units of this mobile PC building block, the Test Center has been asking: Is this, finally, for real?

From what we can tell, it is.

The Test Center examined a pre-production unit of Seneca Data's Nexlink Carbon notebook line, slated to launch later this month. What we found was a system based on the new Intel platform that provides nice performance, a solid design and, importantly, a very competitive price that shows smaller system builders could be poised to finally dig into the market share of tier-one OEMs.

The system we looked at was a Nexlink Carbon notebook PC with an Intel T9400 processor at 2.53GHz, 4 GB of RAM and an MGM45RM board. Running Primate Labs' Geekbench performance benchmarking suite, the notebook scored 2,845—on par with other systems we've looked at this year with similar specs.

Running the Test Center's standard battery test for notebooks, which includes disabling all power-saving options and running a video from the hard drive continuously until the system shut off, the Carbon's battery lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes. It took 2 hours and 10 minutes to recharge it to 100 percent. While plugged in, the Carbon drew between 45 and 50 watts of power after it was booted up—again, about on par with most other notebooks we've measured this year.

It was tough to get a good read on the thermal capabilities of the notebook since the unit we reviewed was built with a pre-production, plastic case. This unit threw about 88 degrees Farenheit worth of heat out of its vents, but was slightly warmer at the trackpad, enough to notice but not enough to be a bother.

The Carbon's keyboard was comfortable to the touch, with plenty of real estate (3.5 inches) for handrest. The 14.1-inch display was bright enough to be competitive with LCDs we've looked at in most other notebooks this year. Color was fine.

Next, we put the system on the scale and got back a reading of 5 pounds, 8 ounces, so it's not an ultralight. However, it was almost exactly the same weight as a Sony Vaio BX Series notebook we looked at in the lab earlier this week.

Seneca Data is pricing the system we looked at at $1,175—nicely competitive, considering the amount of memory built into the system. (The Test Center recommends 4 GB of RAM to get maximum performance out of systems running Windows Vista.) The company will also have Rich Creek 2-based systems starting below $700.

The bottom line: The notebook space in the channel has been a frenzy of innovation and competition this year, but almost entirely has been the province of the big guys. With Seneca Data and its Nexlink Carbon series, the company is showing it can play very competitively in that field and give system builders, VARs and integrators a much-needed, channel-centric option in what continues to be a quick-growing segment of IT.