Review Will the tablet kill off the netbook? Probably not. Granted the netbook has never quite fulfilled its promise due to a combination of prices that went up with specifications that didn’t. Even so, I’ve yet to find a fondleslab that can truly replace my Windows 7/Ubuntu dual-booting Samsung N140.
Lap it up: Samsung’s NS310
The latest netbook from Samsung doesn’t address any of the fundamental failings of the breed – at £350 it’s still too expensive and even with a dual-core Intel Atom CPU, it remains a bit gutless. However, it has on-board some interesting new features compared to its predecessor the N310. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Tight spots don’t come much trickier than the one netbook makers find themselves in. Squeezed from above by prettier, more interesting tablets, netbooks such as Samsung’s £350 N350 are barely appealing alternatives to Apple’s glossy view of the future.
Samsung’s NC110: more of the same, but with a gloss-less screen
And take the new NC110 out of the box and it looks, depressingly, like business as usual. There’s a 10.1in screen, a dual-core Atom processor and 1GB of RAM, all of which adds up to just enough to run Windows 7 Starter edition, assuming you’re brave enough to remove the processor-crushing irritation that is Norton Internet Security. Read the rest of this entry »
Devices that try to reconcile the essentially irreconcilable often come a cropper. As the Good Book says, “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Trying to combine the best of the netbook with the best of the tablet is what Dell’s new Inspiron Duo is all about, but does it work as either, let alone both?
Back in the fold: Dell’s Inspiron Duo
First off a word about the lid assembly and screen mount which is the Duo’s party piece. The lid itself opens and shuts just like any other netbook but the screen can pivot through 180 degrees within the lid frame, so it can face inwards to work as a regular laptop or outwards to work as a tablet. Small magnets keep it in place in either position. The design looks fragile but it’s not actually, so durability shouldn’t be an issue. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever since Samsung released its first netbook in 2008 – it was the NC10 – it’s been churning out new models like there’s no tomorrow. And with the recent arrival of Intel’s second-gen Atom ‘Pine Trail’ platform, it’s no surprise Samsung has taken the opportunity to get some new netbooks to market.
Matte screen fans, rejoice! It’s Samsung’s N220
As far as first impressions go, the N220 doesn’t disappoint. The glossy black lid features a deep red glow that changes in intensity depending on the angle it’s viewed at. If red doesn’t rock your boat, there’s a rather funky green alternative. Being glossy, it’s a magnet for fingerprints.
The six-cell battery props the netbook up by roughly one centimetre at the rear, taking the total thickness to 36mm, but it sits flush with the rear edge. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The new N130 and N140 netbooks will probably be the last such machines we see from Samsung running the Silverthorn Atom processors as come January it is promising to announce a raft of new machines using the next generation Atom Pine Trail chips.
Of course we don’t know when exactly the new machines will be available to buy or how much they will cost, but its fair to assume they will replace most of the current range, specifically the NC10, NC20, N110, N120 and N310 machines leaving the N130 and N140 as the entry level of Samsung’s netbook range. Read the rest of this entry »
