The team over at IHS iSuppli has given the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook the formal teardown treatment. Tucked inside the 12.1-inch web-connected laptop is a dual-core Atom processor, 2GB of memory and a 16GB solid state drive (SSD).
“The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook is every bit a full-sized notebook PC,” said Wayne Lam, senior analysts, competitive analysis, at IHS iSuppli. After hearing the components (other than the dual-core Atom processor) are typical of a standard laptop, the cost of the parts is a little easier to swallow — nearly £196 before factoring in the manufacturing cost.
In the US, the Samsung Chromebook is available for pre-order with a retail price of $499 (£349). Factor in the manufacturing cost and each notebook is $334 (£204) to produce, leaving just $115 (£145) in profit. So how exactly did Samsung distribute the cost of the components?
The single most expensive subsystem is the motherboard which represents 26 percent of the cost. This is due to the price of the 2GB DDR3 memory. Following behind in a close second is the 12.1-inch LCD display with LED backlight technology. Made in-house by Samsung, the display is able to achieve 300nit brightness and rightfully carriers 17.5 percent of the cost.
The remaining components breakdown as follows: battery 14.5 percent, 3G wireless module 12.9 percent, keyboard/touchpad assembly 12.2 percent, solid state disk 8.4 percent, WiFi/web cam modules 5.4 percent and AC power adapter 3.1 percent.
via DigiTimes
