Currently viewing the tag: "netbooks"
It’s sold by a third party and there’s a 2 – 3 day delay, but the product page lists the Samsung N110 as “In Stock”. It’s just a few dollars more than the Samsung NC10 Special Edition and about $50 more than the original NC10.
If you end up getting one, tell me how you like it!
Last time on As The Netbook Turns I was patiently waiting for the Samsung N110 to become available for pre-order on Amazon.com (ETA: it’s there now). However, the more I thought about it, and the longer it went without being on Amazon, the more I kept looking at the Samsung NC10 Special Edition, instead.
For those unaware, the NC10 SE is pretty much the same as the regular NC10 except it has a larger trackpad and comes with a high-capacity battery for longer life. (It’ll probably get over 7 hours.) It came out shortly before the announcement of the Samsung N110, which is pretty much the same as the NC10 except it has a larger trackpad and a high capacity battery. …Yeah.
Okay, there are two other differences. First, the chassis (housing) of the N110 is slightly different. It has rounded corners and a glossy lid and in general a sleeker look. Also, the screen itself is glossy, not matte.
I liked the look of the N110 and that’s why I decided to buy it. Then I started leaning back toward the NC10 SE. We even had several discussions about it over on the SammyNetbook community. The screen ended up being a big part of my wavering. I didn’t think glossy or matte made a difference to me until I spent a month using a loaner glossy screen netbook and found that my eyes were far less happy. Taking that as a sign, I decided to go for the Special Edition NC10.
Lucky for me I had a huge Amazon gift certificate to cover most of it.
I still think the N110 is a great netbook and, if you don’t mind or prefer a glossy screen, I say get it! If you prefer matte, then grab the NC10 SE. Either way you’ll have a long-life battery, a large, useful touchpad, and the best netbook keyboard on the market.
Yes, I have been checking every day. I even wrote them a note. I want that netbook!
I’m waiting for it to be on Amazon specifically because I have a rather large gift certificate I intend to use. But if you check the US Samsung official site, they have two other online retailers listed and you can buy directly from them. Awesome! Makes me wish I had an affiliate link for Samsung. And a gift certificate. So it goes.
I wouldn’t balk at other people writing to remind them that a netbook of this caliber would certainly make an excellent addition to their catalog. I’m not the only one, right?
As I said a couple of days ago, I am totally getting a Samsung N110 when it comes out next month. It’s a pretty spiffy computer, but every netbook needs a few extras to make it absolutely perfect. Last month I wrote this roundup of top 10 netbook accessories for Laptop, which you might consider perusing.
I usually carry around the lapdesk, USB drive and mouse and I own the speakers. I would consider the majority of these to be essential, with the exception of the mobile broadband and TV tuner.
I used to tote a portable keyboard around (don’t need it now!) and a tiny mouse with a retractable cord. I don’t need the keyboard for obvious reasons, and I dig the wireless mouse much more than I thought I would.
How would you trick out your netbook? Any products you love not on the list?
The Samsung NC20 arrived in our office today. It has to go back from whence it came in a week, which saddens me. I haven’t had a chance to play with it much, but it’s essentially a 12-inch NC10, and I love me the NC10.
Having a 12-inch system stretches the definition of netbook a bit, I agree. My boss told me long ago (I think the day I interviewed) that he felt consumers who go for netbooks really want 12-inch ultraportables that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Figure out how to combine the 12-inch form factor with a $350 asking price and you can go swimming in the money you’ll make. (I’m paraphrasing here.)
Dell came out with the Mini 12, but it had a slow hard drive, 1 gig of memory, and Vista. Yeah. Even though you can get it with XP now, I don’t see the Mini 12 tearing up the netbook charts. The NC20 may have a better chance — after all, the 10-inch version is pretty popular. I think it all hinges on our review :)
As does, I suppose, my true desire for it. We’ll see how I feel after I’ve played with it for a bit.
So, two bits of news you might find interesting if you spend all of your time looking at tiny laptops and loving them. First, I updated our faceoff of 10-inch netbooks so I could add the newest Eee PC (1000HE) and the new MSI Wind and the Acer Aspire One, which now comes in a 10-inch version. Back in November the Samsung NC10 was the best. Now… well, go read. However, despite everything the Samsung is still my favorite netbook and I’ll be buying one in March.
Also, about that Acer Aspire One…
When we first tested the battery it lasted almost 8 hours. Like 3 minutes shy of 8 hours. And all across the land there was rejoicing. Then we found out that Acer didn’t plan to put that battery on all the Aspire Ones, just the first batch. Subsequent batches have a lower capacity battery (why? I don’t know. ) and thus less life. We actually got that “normal” battery in yesterday and the test results are in today: 4:24. Ugh.
Yeah, 4:24 isn’t horrendous, but it’s not 8 hours! It’s not even 5! Meanwhile, the Eee PC got over 7.
ASUS really stepped up their game with the 1000HE (even if it could use a better name). I’m pleasently surprised.
But I’m still buying a Samsung.
The other day I wrote a story about people putting Android–the Google operating system for phones–on netbooks. I can’t say that it was my most exciting assignment ever. I put porting Android to the EeePC on a long list of things people do just because they can. Possibly because it’s cool. Sometimes because they want to stretch their abilities and test their own limits. But the end result for everyone is not always practical. Yes, you can put Android on some netbooks, but it doesn’t work all that well and won’t connect to the app store/market, either.
Perhaps I’m being a bit curmudgeonly. I use my netbook to get work done, so I need it… working. But for developers, figuring out how to port things to different platforms and hardware is work. Still, I always look at news of this type with a bit of skepticism.
Yesterday Brad Linder (of Liliputing) and Adam McDaniel put up instructions on how to create a LiveUSB of the HP Mi Edition version of Linux (which is basically Ubuntu with some semi-extensive tweaks). This is big news for anyone interested in the Mi OS because up until now you could download it but the install would overwrite everything on your hard drive. Most Linuxes have the ability to make LiveCDs or LiveUSBs so you can try a distro out and, as far as I know, all of them can install alongside an existing OS (in theory). But I don’t know if HP expected there to be this kind of interest in the Mi Linux.
Anyway, Brad and Adam spent some time figuring out how to tweak things, so now anyone with a lot of time who isn’t turned off by using Terminal can spend an hour making a LiveUSB of this (admittedly sleek) OS. Does this fall into Because You Can? Maybe not. After all, the OS is usable and meant to run on a netbook. On the other hand: look at all this tech speak!
I’ve already been promised that I don’t have to do it.
I’m writing up reviews of 5 Linux distros for work and it’s killing me. Linux is both wonderful and completely frustrating, and resolving those two things is hard. Especially when I am trying to be objective. One thing I am really enjoying about some of the Linuxes is their ability to run from USB thumb drives so you can try them out without installing. I really, really love that, with some, the OS can save changes to said USB drive, so I can add programs, tweak settings, etc., and it will be there next time I boot up no matter what computer I’m on. Pocket OS — score!
I also installed the PortableApps platform on an SD card I had in my Eee PC (before I gave it to my niece for Christmas). PortableApps is amazing — lots of great, useful software on an SD card that, again, retains settings and information and leaves no trace behind on the computer you’re using. It’s great for security and supremely useful for me since I test a lot of netbooks and notebooks and don’t want to always install the same core programs over and over.
PortableApps utilizes all open source software, so there are many things I’m not entirely familiar with. But I’m taking it as an opportunity to learn about what’s out there. Of course I know all about Firefox and Thunderbird (which, by the way, everyone should be using instead of MS Office) and Open Office. I’m trying to evaluate whether KompoZer is an adequate substitute for Dreamweaver. GIMP isn’t adequate for anything, alas. There is a dearth of open source photo editing stuff. Someone please correct this!
Anyway, I’m getting very much into my portable OS and apps. Maybe, maybe, maybe it will facilitate my eventual switch to Linux, but I’m extremely dubious about that at this point. Mainly because I’ve had to deal with installing, configuring, and testing five distros in the past month and none of them have been easy or without problems. But that’s a post for another day.
One of the many things my boss and I agree about is that laptops should come in more colors. I personally would also like to see more laptops come in patterns and prints — you know, artistic stuff. But really, anything beyond black, grey and white would be appreciated.
Some laptops come in red, and that’s cool. The Samsung NC10 comes in dark blue, also cool. There’s pink… well, I have issues with pink, as do some other people. I don’t dislike pink totally. But I do dislike the idea that making a notebook pink means it will appeal to women.
There aren’t enough patterns, as I said. And there are some tragically overlooked colors: green, purple, dark orange, brown, teal. I could start whipping out the names of shades from Benjamin Moore, but you get the point.
I think that netbook makers are being especially remiss in not doing something similar to Dell’s Design Studio. I think many people would buy a netbook with less than perfect specs if they got the chance to choose from over 100 really cool designs.
Also, it looks like branded netbooks might be on their way. Yesterday my colleague Dana went to ToyFair and saw some netbooks at the Sakar booth. For those of you who don’t know, Sakar makes electronics, mostly for kids, that are branded with some popular toy or company name. Hello Kitty, Crayola, G.I.Joe, etc. If you go into a Radio Shack, say, and pick up one of those $20 Hello Kitty cameras for little girls, Sakar is probably behind it.
They had pink, purple, red and silver on display. The pink is very hot pink/fucia, so perhaps not intended for Hello Kitty. It’s more of a Barbie pink.
Right now the netbooks run a kid-friendly Linux, which is apt. Click over to Laptop Magazine’s blog for the deets, if you’re so inclined.
No patterns as of yet, but if Sakar plans to use these netbooks as the base for branding, then we’ll probably see something cute and different. Keep your eye on the local Toys R Us!
Hello Kitty isn’t really my thing, I admit. I would not run out to buy an HK netbook, no matter how cute. But maybe this will prompt other netbook makers to get more creative in their designs and consider putting something funky and different on the chassis. I await this day with great patience…
Last night I dreamed that I finally bought a black Samsung NC10 and showed it off to everyone. When I woke up I was horrendously disappointed that it wasn’t all true. This makes me a huge dork, I think.
