This summer, you will not be the only one to recharge your batteries by soaking up the South African sun.

The world’s first solar powered netbook, the Samsung NC215S, has hit local stores just in time for fun in the sun season.

The 10.1-inch device will allow you to meander down those off the beaten tracks that might be off the electricity grid as well, without worrying about where you will find a power point to recharge.

After harnessing two hours’ worth of the most powerful source, sunlight, and soaking it up via the integrated solar panel located on its lid, the NC215S will provide users with up to one hour of completely free, certifiably eco-friendly power.

But in case you would like to use this device at a time and place devoid of sunlight – say, for example, during the dead of a dark Scandinavian winter – Samsung has kindly included an electric charger too, and promises that the NC215S’s

PowerPlus battery will last up to a generous 14.5 hours on a single full charge. The PowerPlus battery also employs intelligent charging technology, which means that it charges faster and also makes the battery’s lifespan three times longer than that of conventional batteries.

But no matter how you’ve decided to charge it, once you fire up the NC215S – which will happen within a matter of seconds, thanks to Samsung’s ‘Instant On’ Fast Start technology – the netbook will be powered by a zippy, dual core Intel Atom N455 processor. Other specs and features on this lightweight (only 1.32 kg) device include its impressive-for-a-netbook Intel GMA3150 graphics card, one GB RAM and 250GB HHD.

If you are going to be using it to stay connected at the beach this December, the SuperBright anti-reflective 10-inch display will enable you to actually see the screen in order to read those e-mails and documents, even when you are outside in the glare.  

Another nice touch is that the NC215S can be used to charge your other devices too, even when it is in sleep mode, switched off or its own battery has been depleted (in which case it will use solar power). Simply connect your cellphone or MP3 player to it via the Sleep-and-Charge USB port and let the sun do the rest. A bright idea indeed!

The Samsung NC215S netbook is available locally from Laptop Direct for R3 924.

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