Samsung N120 Netbook Review
Update: thanks to an astute reader who pointed out I never got around to posting pictures, I posted pictures. Enjoy.
Samsung N120 Netbook Front
The netbook scene has become something of an Asus show since they brought out the Eee PC 1000HE, and for good reason. In my review of the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, I talked about the positives and the very few negatives, which were pretty much limited to the negatives all netbooks have (surprise: Samsung’s touchpad sucks!), but honestly, it was most positives, and for good reason. Asus really outdid themselves with the 1000HE. Sure, it’s not the prettiest netbook out there, but it’s massively functional. How does the Samsung N120 netbook shape up? Read on to find out.
Samsung N120 Netbook + Broadcom BCM4321 + OS X = :D
Just a quick site update more than anything, but I just popped said BCM4321 into my Samsung N120 netbook and wifi is working great (in the three minutes I’ve had to test it). For those who might be a little frightened by the somewhat in-depth breakdown required by the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook, the Samsung N120 netbook consists of thirteen screws and then just popping the case apart. Take old card out, put new one in, and you’re good.
So, how about some guide updates? (more…)
Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Netbook With nVidia Ion
Just when it seemed like netbooks were doomed to all be the exact same, chassis aside, Asus decided to unveil the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook that has been racking up almost nothing but rave reviews, and for good reason. And then Samsung decided to bring out the Samsung N120 netbook, a 10″ netbook with a 100% sized 12″ keyboard, and it’s good. So what else can come out now that would shake up the netbook community? How about one of those damn promised nVidia Ion based netbooks? Here’s where the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 netbook comes into play.
OS X 10.5.7 Battery Boost For Hackintoshes?
Update: 10.5.7 appears to be installed and working on my Samsung N120 netbook. At the lowest brightness setting (since brightness control is flaky in the Samsung N120 netbook) OS X is predicting over 7 hours of battery life (6 hours for the LCD at full brightness). This is up from ~5 in 10.5.6. Apple has definitely tweaked OS X for the Atom, or something close enough that it still affected it.
As you may or may not know, Apple released the 10.5.7 update to OS X just a couple of days ago, and reports are trickling in to various sites (including our forums here) and they seem to suggest that the 10.5.7 update adds support for Intel Atom CPUs. Furthermore, it would seem that officially (?) recognizing the CPU, Apple has worked out superior power management that is resulting in a significant boost to battery life.
Guide: Install OS X on Samsung N120 Netbook
Quick and dirty, this is not going to cover everything, but if you have an hour to kill, you will get OS X working on your Samsung N120 netbook, but don’t expect every last thing to work. Ready to get started? Grab your Samsung N120 netbook, iDeneb 1.4, and get these video kexts and let’s go to work.
Samsung N120 Netbook First Impressions
Update: Guide to install OS X on Samsung N120 netbook
So I received my Samsung N120 netbook today and figured I’d go ahead and blab a bit about since I have for all of the others as well. Here’s the deal: in person, white looks pretty cheap, there’s a fair amount of wasted bezel space, and it has an absolutely miserable out-of-the-box experience that’s bound to seriously annoy some people (and maybe even get it returned because it’s so unbearable). But, it’s not all bad.
Samsung N120 Netbook On the Way (OS X Install Imminent!)
Samsung N120 netbook - can't you see it's just dying to have OS X installed on it?
Update: Guide to install OS X on Samsung N120 netbook
Okay, so I’m a sucker for a big keyboard on a small computer, and within about 20 minutes of realizing that within the grossly obese pantheon of netbooks that the Samsung N120 netbook was actually available (and had been for about a week — oops). I know I haven’t mentioned this one here, but in case you’re wondering what makes this one special, well, two things: 10.5 hour (yeah, right, we’ll see about that) battery, and more importantly, full size keyboard. Read that again: full size keyboard.