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Product: Samsung NP-N140-JA04US Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
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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.
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.
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.
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.
The product is great but the Samsung Recovery Solution 4 does not work for complete DVD backup as the company claims! Having had 2 hard drives crash on me in the past 3 years, I think a DVD backup is essential. If it happens in the 1st year, you are covered by SAMSUNG, otherwise, buying the Windows 7 from Microsoft could be an expensive purchase!
Abraham