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.