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(More customer reviews)Quick thing to know: The blue Samsung N120-13GBL has a higher capacity (5900 v. 5200) battery than either the black (13GBK) or white samsungs. I strongly recommend the blue 13GBL. You can verify this on Samsung's website, although it will take some digging.
Now, on to the netbook itself. I am amazed at how capable this thing is. I immediately installed windows 7 professional which worked without a hitch. I did not upgrade the RAM (although I will probably do so eventually) and it does all of the neat interface things windows 7 has built into it. It also runs microsoft office 2007 ultimate flawlessly and internet explorer runs great as well. Netflix movies play without any stuttering issues. The hard drive is massive enough, just remember if you buy this netbook that when you first turn it on, you will set the partition in the set up, and you CANNOT go back and revise without downloading third party software!
If you do choose to install windows 7, Samsung has current drivers and software available that have been recently updated (December 22nd).
Battery life seemed phenomenal... after turning off bluetooth, my gf's computer estimated over 9 hours of battery life remaining (didn't have chance to run it down), but I am sure that it is an excess of 6-7 hours with ease.
Connectivity was great out of the box, wifi worked like a charm both before and after installing windows 7. Webcam and microphone work awesome and put my gf's huge HP laptop to shame.
If you are wondering whether this netbook is too small, don't sweat it. I bought this for my gf and then went to costco to check it out. They didn't have this model, so i looked at the hps and other netbooks. The keyboard was so cramped I could hardly type on them, the touchpads were all weird, and the sound sucked. They were pretty much below my expectations and made me doubt my decision to purchase this for my gf.
Once it arrived, I couldn't believe how nice the keyboard is, it is just short of fullsize and puts other manufacture's 10.1" keyboards to shame... i could type flawlessly and comfortably on it. Touchpad works great, the mouse buttons are a little stiff, but I don't generally use those, and they work fine. HP netbooks have the mouse buttons on the side of the touchpad, instead of below, which is an absolutely unacceptable layout no matter how long you use it. Also, to squeeze in the full size keyboard this laptop has a slightly larger footprint than other 10.1 netbooks, but it is almost imperceptible and is far and away worth it for the typing experience and the speakers (see below).
Glossy screen is great at displaying colors and visuals and did not reflect as bad as some other reviewers have claimed. My laptop has a matte screen and I honestly didn't notice much difference between the two as far as reflections go when they were turned on.
On an entirely different note regardiding the case of the laptop,I am very irritated by glossy casing (not the screen, but the casing, e.g. the lid and what the laptop is made out of) on other laptops/notebooks. They get dirty very easily, reflect everything, look unprofessional, and pick up fingerprints like crazy.
This netbook has a matte case that does not pick up smudges or get dirty easily, in addition, the shade of blue is just right for style and professional appearance. It looks slightly purple on this website, but in real life it is a classy dark blue and everyone that saw it loved the color, saying it looked better than obnoxious designer laptops or boring thinkpad-esque designs. The blue is also nice because it is limited to this netbook, other manufacturers do not have comparable blue matte netbooks, so it stands out just enough to not be any nameless glossy-black asus, hp, or dell.
I will say that compared to my current huge laptop (dual core, 2GB ram, dedicated graphics), the netbook is a little sluggish when booting up programs and the like, but it isn't really a huge issue, especially if you just leave the programs you normally utilize running in windows 7. Waiting an extra second or two is not a big deal in my opinion, and adding additional ram (40$ or less) will increase performance if it is a concern. Recent games are not going to run, but that is the same for all netbooks, and if you need WoW or something slightly older, it will work fine. These machines are not meant for intense 3D gaming sessions, but are great for multitasking office programs, music, and internet.
Also, the sound seems fairly robust for a netbook, it is actually significantly better than thinkpad single underneath the chassis speakers and also trumps my gf's HP laptop. Make sure to adjust the sound using realtek audio HD. Absolutely no bass, but that is to be expected, and the audio works for presentations and casual watching of netflix, etc etc. Fills up a living room with ease and no distortion, although again, not the most amazing sound. Also, the bezel may seem a little thick online, but the effect disappears in real life because of the built in speakers, which make the netbook's bezel seem relatively svelte and also looks great. Earphones produce great sound.
As far as ports, it has 3 USB, which is plenty, but also built in Bluetooth (somewhat rare) which makes synching your phone a cinch, and also allows the use of bluetooth mice and other devices which is a nice feature that is usually 40-50 dollars extra on mainstream laptops. This does drain battery life though, think about turning it off if it is not something you will use on a regular basis.
As far as mobility goes, the aforementioned battery life is great, but the netbook itself is a little bit heavier than I thought it would be... probably on account of the more beefy battery in this model (speculation), but it is fine to carry around even for the smallest people. When I was looking at other netbooks, some of them had a really wimpy power adaptor, it looked like a flipping needle to plug into the netbook that would never last longer than a month or two. Samsung netbooks have a nice beefy plug that looks like it will stand the test of time.
Samsung bundles in a nice neoprene case that prevents scratches and damages if you put it in a purse (it will fit), but doesn't probably do much for a substantial drop.
I was originally set on purchasing a thinkpad for lawschool, but after using this N120, realized it was just as capable and about 1/3 the cost of what I would spend on a laptop...
Using this netbook for a few years, and then upgrading to a more powerful netbook is much better than being stuck with a laptop that is outdated because you dropped 1200$ on it and don't want to buy another one.
As far as performance goes, if you are waiting for next generation intel hardware, I wouldn't bother. The intel pinetrail platform which will be released in January has the same exact clock speed and reviewers have found almost identical performance between the two... the only real difference is an increase in battery life, which imho is not necessary with this notebook as the battery life is already great.
Two years from now Intel will release cedar trail processors for netbooks which will be a different story, a much bigger step for performance... the upcoming pineview is more of a testing out of new technologies (and a reason to jack up prices for netbook manufacturers) and again, probably not worth the wait and extra cost. Pick up one of these with an N270 processor while they are being phased out to make room for the massively overpriced pineview intel netbooks as they will perform just as well. You'll have to wait several months for pineview netbooks which perform almost identically to get anywhere close to current prices, and by that point, it might be better off to wait for cedar trail. Also, don't delay too long, since this N120 and other netbooks will be phased out in a very short time-frame by a massive influx of new netbooks with pinetrail.
My gf and I will have matching N120s and look forward to using them for the forseeable future.
Hope this review helped and best of luck! I spent forever researching and if you want the best netbook on the market, this is it. I looked at upcoming trends, past reviews, different configurations, anything and everything and this netbook is as good as you will get for price and performance. I ordered it from a COST effective COrporate bulk retailer that that has great return policies and free extended warranties and expedited shipping, and allows you to purchase with a negligible surcharge if you do not have a membership(5%), but it is still cheaper than other places that have way less friendly return policies and benefits for purchase. Just an FYI. ;-)
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Samsung N120-13GBL 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - Up to 8.3 Hours of Battery LifepGet the ultimate multimedia experience with the N120 Netbook. It comes with an integrated 1.3 MP digital motion camera making it easy to chat with friends and family through video-conferencing or live messaging. And two speakers with SRS audio technology ensure incredible audio for your movies, music and video games./p
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