Solar-powered laptop launched by Samsung

A new laptop from Samsung incorporates a solar panel into the lid and could offer battery life of up to 14.5 hours – but it’s initially only available in Russia

• A new laptop to be launched in Russia by Samsung will use solar panels that are directly integrated into the unit’s lid. The NC215S will be available in August and run Windows 7 and Samsung claims that it will be able to offer a battery life of up to 14.5 hours.

• Initially unveiled at the Africa Regional Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, the new device has now been confirmed for the Russian market. It is also likely to be popular in African markets, where permanent sources of power are often not available. Samsung Electronics Africa hopes to reach $10 billion in sales by 2015.

• Samsung has an established interest in solar power, launching a mobile phone using the technology in 2009 at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona. Although the ‘Blue Earth’ device did not mark a breakthrough for the technology, it has increasingly also been used by other manufacturers - Fujitsu has also been examining the technology as part of a recent computing design competition.

• The new netbook offers a conventional netbookconfiguration with a 10.1in, 1024 x 600-pixel display and a weight of 1.3kg. An Intel Atom N570 (1.66 GHz) dual-core processor, 1GB of Ram and a 250GB or 320GB drive are the device’s main features. Prices have not yet been announced and there are currently no UK release plans.