Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

It’s been a while since Samsung has been hogging up the spotlight it’s NC10 and N310 Go netbooks. Samsung have come out with their new line of netbooks – the N130 and N140 – solid netbooks with some great stand-out features. But not buzz worth enough to beat the Asus Seashell line or Dell’s designer lids.

You’ll be missing out if you don’t go check out the Samsung N140 in your search for your new netbook best friend. $385 gets you a gorgeous burgundy* netbook (burgundy! how many people have burgundy netbooks, c’mon!), with some neat features including a speed mode button which allows you to focus all your netbook power to one single window (!!).  You also get standard specs – Windows 7, 1.66GHz Intel N280 processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 7.5 hours battery life.

All neatly packed into $385.

*also available in blue for $375

[Rating:6/7]

Samsung N140 Features

• Speed-mode button – allows you to focus all your computer resources to one window. This would make streaming videos or video chatting with someone via gChat/gtalk flow so so smoothly. Try this button out if there’s a Samsung N140 in a store around you, it might just be a deal-breaking feature, since the rest of the netbook is quite standard.

• Remote control of files with Fail Safe service - so you can track your computer if it’s every stolen and retrieve/erase/encrypt data. Which means you can also do so if it isn’t stolen which is quite handy if you’re moving back and forth between multiple computers. Useful.. you’ll probably need to set it up… and this will probably be considered ‘bloatware’ by the more tech savvy of you

• large 93% keyboard – not in the chiclet style

• matte screen – yeah outdoor computing!

• 1 always on USB that charges devices

• good battery performance – about 6-7 hours with heavy usage

• hot keys to rotate the screen 90 degrees or 180 degrees. Helpful if you plan to use the netbook as an eReader.

According to LaptopMag, the netbook does a great job of not over-heating. Nice. It also recorded the best performance for a Windows 7 netbook – came number 2 after an over $1,000 Sony Vaio X.

Drawbacks

The Samsung N140 has a few minor drawbacks, namely the  fingerprint-hoarding-lid,  single and narrow touchpad button and SD card reader that makes the card jutt out. The keyboard and touchpad take some getting used to. And since the Samsung N140 works so well overall, you begin to assume it’s a full-powered notebook and then get annoyed by the 1GB processor (upgradeable). :)

Samsung N140 Rating – 6/7

• Value for Money – 1
• Speed and Performance – 1
• Screen – 1
• Keyboard – 0.5
• Portability & Battery Life – 1
• Looks and Design – 1
• Extensibility & connectivity – 0.5

Samsung N140 Specs

Processor –  1.66GHz Intel Atom N280

Grapics – Intel GMA950

OS – Windows 7 Starter

Memory – 1GB RAM

Storage – 250GB HDD

Display – 10.1″

Ports – 3USB, VGA, SD card slot

Battery – 6 cell, 7.5hours

Dimensions – The 10.3″ x 7.3″ x 1.2″

Weight – 2.7lbs

Bottom line

Like I said, the Samsung N140 is a solid netbook. It’s a good package and performs well with Windows 7 Starter. The speed mode button makes it a deal maker for me, but I’ve read reviews that complained the touchpad isn’t as big as the Toshiba Mini NB205‘s touchpad (mind you, the NB205 has the largest touchpad out there).

Denise wrote a review on the N140 too, check it out for another point of view.

Related posts:

1. Samsung N140 (with Windows 7 Starter) Review : Hard-working but Batt Life is Short
2. Samsung N140 – Now Available, and with Windows 7
3. Samsung N140 Launch in November, $399 with Windows 7
4. Samsung N130/N140 Netbooks Launched in Russia
5. Samsung N140 Product Page Now Up

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