Acer Review, Asus Review – Netbook 10

We’ve been hearing about the new Plus versions of the Samsung line,and how its better (of course) than the ordinary Samsung netbooks, etc. etc. The Samsung N150 Plus has a 250GB harddrive, prolonged battery life, and comes with a pre-installed Microsoft 2010 Starter edition. It also has a new lid design, and performs pretty well. Definitely merits the Plus name when it comes to that, but does the “plus” translates to better performance?

[Rating:7/7]

Features and Drawbacks

• Classy, rugged design. – It looks really good, actually. It has a glossy lid on the outside, with a black dot pattern and a deep red trim on the sides. There’s a matte deck.

• Really good keyboard, touch bar is too narrow. – Samsung keyboards have always been one of our favorites among netbooks that have been reviewed. It’s never a hardship to get used to it and you can immediately reach your normal typing speed. It’s got responsive and well-sized keys. The touchpad feels a bit cramped though that needs a little getting used to.

• Display is very good. – The netbook has a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel LED-backlit screen which shows bright colors and sharp images in spite of the matte display. There was also barely a glae in you use it outdoors, nor were there reflections.

• Awesome audio quality. – Netbooks are not known for their good speakers. Most of them make tinny sounds or cracks audio at 100% volume. But the speakers on the Samsung N150 Plus was loud and clear, even at 70%, and audio didn’t distort at full volume.

• Average performance. – The Plus is a plus to the specs but when it comes to performance, the Samsung N150 Plus behaves just like an average netboo with an Atom processor. It can handle pretty much everything a normal netbook can handle: documents, music, surfing, Skype, but don’t expect it to be a super netbook just because of the Plus at the end of the name. It can get sluggish if you push too much (all possible programs running at the same time).

• Long-lasting battery. – I can still remember the day when Samsung netbooks were the market leaders in battery life. And while the Samsung N150 Plus doesn’t overtake ASUS Eee PC 1001P (which claimed an 11 hour battery life and has a 9 hour actual battery life), the N150 Plus clocks at a decent 7 hours on a single charge (give or take a few minutes) with most of the bells and whistles up and running. Not bad since netbook average is about six-and-a-half hours.

• Software and apps. – I happen to like apps, but some people think that these things clutter your machine. Best Buy’s included a Software installer with the N150 Plus, and the netbook also comes with both free and game apps that are divided into categories: Gaming, Money, Pictures, Videos, etc. You can choose which ones you’d like to add. It also comes with basic Microsoft Office 2010 pre-installed but you have to decide whether tp get the full version or get the Office Starter 2010 which has Word and Excel.

Rating – 7/7

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

Technical Specifications

• 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor
• 1GB/2GB RAM
• 250GB HDD
• 10.1″ 1024 x 600 matte display
• Intel GMA 3150
• Windows 7 Starter Edition (32-bit)

Bottomline
It’s definitely a solid choice for a netbook. It has good looks, performs really well, long-lasting, and pretty much slides right in your budget. It’s got a good screen, good keyboard, great audio… definitely a good choice, and worth that PLUS at the end of the name.

The Samsung N150 Plus is sold exclusively by Best Buy. Currently priced at $349.99.

Related posts:

1. Samsung N150 PLUS
2. Samsung N210 Review: Solid Choice but Not the Best
3. Samsung N150 Available from Verizon for $50 (+ 2-year plan)
4. Review: New Samsung N150 (PineTrail)
5. New Tropical Color Choices for the Samsung N150

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