I am a big fan of netbooks and use a MSI Wind U100 when I am traveling and have never missed my larger and much more bulky Dell laptop. Being a big fan of computers and gadgets, my desk is full of old notebook and desktop hard drives and sticks of RAM. If you have the same sort of hardware lying around, today we are going to check out what could well be the perfect netbook for you. The OCZ Neutrino is billed as a DIY netbook and if you are the type who builds your own PCs, it’s not nearly as DIY as you are used too. The machine lacks storage, RAM and an OS. What it does have comes at a lower price. Is the OCZ Neutrino right for you? Read on to find out.

I mentioned already that the Neutrino lacks storage, RAM, and an operating system. What the machine does offer is a 10-inch LCD with a resolution of 1024 x 600 using LED backlighting. The processor is an Intel Atom N270 running at 1.6GHz and paired with the Intel 945GSE + ICH7M chipset. Power is from a 4-cell battery and the keyboard is 92% of full size. A 34mm PCI Express slot is offered, which is something many netbooks lack.

The Neutrino is designed to support 2.5-inch SSDs or HDDs and up to 2GB of RAM. For my review, OCZ sent along a 60GB Apex series SSD and a 2GB stick of RAM. I had a copy of Windows XP Pro lying around so I installed it onto the netbook. Before you can use the OCZ Neutrino at all, you have to remove the back panel and install the RAM and storage. OCZ offers very clear instructions so those not familiar with the process will be able to install the components easily.

After you install the hardware and put the back plate back on the machine you are ready to install the OS. This part will be a bit trickier since OCZ doesn’t offer instructions on installing an operating system. The installation instructions will vary depending on what OS you choose so that really isn’t a deal killer for me. Drivers for the machine are included on a CD, which means you need an external CD drive for installation.

Once I had XP installed on the machine, I was ready to take it for a spin. The keyboard on the OCZ Neutrino is small, but not any smaller than other netbooks. I am glad to see that the right shift key is in the location it is supposed to be right below the enter key. Some netbooks like many of the earlier Eee models put the right shift key in a weird place making typing hard to get used too.

The smallish keys offer good tactile feel and typing is easy once you get used to the small size of the keys. Under the keyboard on the wrist rest area is the track pad with two buttons underneath for controlling the right and left mouse click. Like most other netbooks I have used the track pad is very close to the keyboard and I frequently hit it by accident when typing. The all black color of the Neutrino also makes seeing the track pad and its buttons in a dark room difficult.

The MSRP for the OCZ Neutrino online is $289 and if you need to buy the OS, RAM, and storage odds are you can buy a complete netbook for the same money, or possibly even less than a complete Neutrino would cost you. OCZ recognizes that fact and is very specific on who the Neutrino is targeting. The Neutrino is aimed at the user who has storage, RAM and an OS already on hand. For these users the sales price of the Neutrino makes it cheaper than simply buying a complete netbook from Dell or Asus.

If you are eyeing a netbook with a massive SSD, you know how expensive they can be and much of the cost is a premium placed on the SSD option by the netbook maker. With the Neutrino, you can pay for the larger SSD alone and add the netbook at a lower price.

Performance wise the OCZ Neutrino is exactly what you expect from a netbook with the N270 CPU. Most all netbooks use the same hardware so the performance is the same. I did encode an old school Stone Temple Pilots album from MP3 to AAC using iTunes to get an idea how long converting audio tracks would take on the machine. The OCZ Neutrino took 8 minutes and 26 seconds to encode the entire album.

I used Battery Eater Pro v2 to test the battery run time for the Neutrino. The test puts much more stress on the battery than you would likely put on it in real world use so you will see better run time typically in use. With the screen at maximum brightness, the 4-cell battery in the Neutrino lasted one hour and two minutes. The battery life isn’t as good as you will find on some netbooks.

Overall, for the right user the OCZ Neutrino will make a great netbook. If you need to buy all the components the machine needs to operate you may find you spend more than you could buy a complete machine for. However, enthusiasts with components already lying around may find the Neutrino to be a bargain. You performance may vary depending on the RAM, OS and storage you add to the netbook.

Pros

• Good keyboard
• Decent performance

Cons

• Battery life could be better
• Gets expensive if you need to buy hardware

Verdict

For the right type of user the OCZ Neutrino can be a bargain netbook. The machine offers good performance tarnished slightly by a shorter battery life, but the Neutrino performed well overall as tested.