 Excellent Fit & Finish - Almost Apple-Like Quality for $400 |
| Review Date: November 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Scott Allen, New York |
This Samsung netbook is surprisingly nice!
I scoured every review on all the netbooks before deciding to buy this one first. Having seen early generation netbooks, the question loomed in my mind - is it a piece of junk? This thing is less than $400.
The answer is - a resounding NO! This is a nice netbook, and for many people it could be their primary PC.
Build Quality/Looks: No problem here. It has very nice fit and finish. The Blue Sapphire model actually looks quite expensive. Next to both a $3000 Sony Vaio and a $2000 Dell notebook, when closed it compared favorably. The fake chrome bezel around the keyboard adds a nice touch.
Screen: Very nice for a small screen. Yes, it's much smaller than notebook screens, but for basic web browsing and email it's fine. Bright, sharp and clear - Samsung is one of the world's leading LCD panel makers, so no surprise here.
Keyboard: decent, really doesn't feel Lilliputian as I feared. You could easily type emails and short documents with it. Professional writers, bloggers or excel jockeys will be dissatisfied. The keys need a fair amount of force to engage - I found I missed the "o" key a few times until I realized I wasn't typing hard enough.
Touchpad: the touchpad felt smallish, but the whole thing is small so I think that's just a matter of getting used to it. The right and left click buttons felt flimsy, but they worked fine. What was really cool was the partial multi-touch controls which are similar to what Apple uses in its track pads. This is very useful, especially for scrolling on the web browser, which you do a lot with the small screen.
Connections: very nicely loaded - 3 USB ports, external video screen, etc. No complaints in this department. Wifi is 802.11n. I do not believe the netbook has bluetooth - if it does I was unable to find it.
OS/software: Windows 7 Starter runs very well on this machine, and is a nice step up from annoying Vista. I especially like the better control of popups through the "Action Center" and the "Gadgets" which are a copy of Apple Widgets. The task bar, another Apple innovation, also works nicely.
Battery life: astounding! This was one of the strong points about this netbook. I easily got 7 hours of life, even with heavy video viewing, browsing and downloading. This alone is one of the two biggest reasons to buy this little beauty.
What are the cons?
The biggest single thing I disliked about this machine was the slow Atom processor. I am more impatient than most and another person in my office thought it was fine. This is the biggest drawback - more so than the small keys and keyboard. Even opening basic windows functions like settings and email took noticeably longer than it does with a full-fledged Intel chip. Part of the slowness could have also been the standard 1GB DRAM -I did not upgrade that so maybe that solves the problem.
This netbook should instill fear in the hearts of HP and Dell executives everywhere. It is a very nicely equipped machine that will be a nice "satellite" computer for travelers that are tired of lugging around heavier machines. It will suit senior citizens nicely as a primary machine, and will be decent for the Facebook/twitter generation or "non-power-users." Even power users will find the slow speed only mildly annoying and just may fall in love with it for the battery life and extreme portability.
Samsung Netbook after doubling DRAM from 1GB to 2GB:
I installed the 2GB in the N140, swapping for the 1GB that was already there. (Not sure what we do with the old 1GB now). It was very easy to do, you just open a compartment with a screwdriver, pull out the old memory and pop in the new memory.
My notes on performance before and after:
* Boot-up. With 1GB, it took 44.6 seconds. With 2GB, only 33.2 seconds. Before the upgrade, the machine was using 61% of the memory just sitting there running no applications, and only 33% after installing the extra memory.
* Shut-down. 1GB: 30.0 seconds. 2GB: 16.4 seconds.
* Open Word document. 1GB: 14.9 seconds. 2GB: 11.7 seconds. Again, memory usage was 61% before upgrade, afterward only 35%.
* Open Control Panel: 1GB: 4.5 seconds. 2GB: 2.5 seconds. This is good because the N140 seemed very "laggy" before
General observations:
Using the internet still seemed slow, but may have been the connection, because once a youtube video loaded, it ran very smoothly, even in full screen mode. iTunes froze up when running a video, but it looked like the connection. iTunes was very smooth and fast when running only music without video.
You'll have to see how much improvement you see in speed as you use it, but on the basics, it looks like it is indeed almost twice as fast. |
Excellent mobile pc
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| Review Date: November 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Zac A. Crittenden, Texarkana, AR |
| Everything works as advertised, and I even like Windows 7 Starter. This replaces an older Asus running Linox. The keyboard ergonomics are good for a small computer, and battery life has been excellent. |
Excellent netbook
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| Review Date: November 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Smith, Pinetown, South Africa |
Amazing quality finish. Battery life exceeded my expectations, between 8 and 11 hours and no lost charge when off.
Excellent keyboard. Snappy performance. Nice matt screen.
2 downs are touchpad could have been slightly bigger, and screen res could have been 768 high instead of 600. Otherwise everything else is perfect. |
got it yesterday, an excellent little piece!
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| Review Date: December 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Bae, |
impressively light, long long battery life.
what else do you need for a netbook?
Samsung is one of the most understated brand in the u.s. market. you won't regret this buying.I saw a review that says audio was not good, but, personally, it is better than my old lap top (ibm x60)...and I think you cannot ask more from a net book.
Perfectly fit for a mobile user.
I chose this one because,
1. weight
2. battery
3.Windows 7( I hated Vista, and I do still.)
in my case, I didn't like its keyboard touch that much (it is o.k.), but it depends on individual experience.
I almost bought Toshiba's NB205,great design, and that could be a good choice too. Just don't do it just because of "USB Sleep-and-Charge ports," I haven't figured out yet, but N140 seems to have the same function too. |
Good product
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| Review Date: December 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Symington, Sydney |
| Great little machine, will be better once I've upgraded the ram to 2gb but so far I have had no problems. |
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