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.
I have to be honest: Samsung should collectively be slapped for what they’ve done with the Samsung N120 netbook and Windows XP. It should be criminal. This is a rant that others have made and I will end up doing as a full article at some point in the future, but really, the amount (or perhaps, quality) of crap loaded onto the Samsung N120 netbook is astounding. And it’s not just that there’s a lot (there is, but I’ve seen more), but how terrible it is.
When you turn the netbook on, you’re greeted with the familiar Windows XP post-installation screens that walk you through naming your computer, choosing your time zone, setting up an account, and so on and so forth. If you’ve ever installed Windows, you’ve done this. Possibly a thousand times.
After that, you’re greeted with the Windows XP desktop, and then it all goes to hell. Some installer fires up and, get this, installs drivers. Really? You have to install drivers after Windows has already been installed? So what about all of the other things that work? Is it magic and they don’t need drivers? Ridiculous!
While you’re waiting for the drivers (camera?) to install, it gives you ample time to study the bevy of useless icons that are all stuffed into your system tray like your uncle’s stomach under his belt at Thanksgiving. So there’s some useless Samsung battery meter, a useless keyboard shortcut icon that seems to just blink to let you know that, congratulations, you pressed a function shortcut! Hooray!
There’s also a couple of other useless Samsung things, including the awful Samsung restore center thingamabob. Oh, but don’t forget that Samsung has asked for McAfee to hop aboard, because yes, you get their terrible software, too. (Hey, I know Samsung is trying to subsidize the cost of their machines by getting third-party companies to put their software on the computer, but please, not McAfee. Ugh.)
By now, having waited a few minutes, the driver installer is presumably finished, and if you’re paying attention, you probably know that a reboot is coming. Oh, can’t fool you! But did you expect the Samsung restore center thingamabob to come up (after a couple minutes of loading) and start making an entire system restore? I bet you didn’t. If you did, you’re a hell of a lot more psychic than I am, because why in the blue hell would you want to create an entire system restore right after installing Windows when you already have an entire system restore available on disc? Is it really that important to save a few minutes when installing later? Man.
Well, after I forced the Samsung N120 netbook to shutdown and stop making a backup, I booted back up, saw it going back into that useless program, turned it off, turned it back on, and mindlessly slammed F2 and F8 and it booted into XP just like it should have all along.
Aside from the terrible user experience that is XP on a laptop (especially when bogged down with terrible and worthless software), I was able to install OpenOffice 3.0.1 and give that keyboard a try.
What’s that? I didn’t mention the good things because I was too busy ranting, you say? Well then, let’s talk about the good things.
The keyboard reminds me of my old 12″ iBook’s keyboard, and let me tell you, that’s a good thing. I have many fond memories of that iBook, and I’ve been trying to find a notebook (or netbook) to replace it ever since I sold it, and the one thing that has always been a deal killer has been the keyboard.
I can live with a 9″ LCD or a 10″ LCD, but I can’t live with a terrible keyboard, and for the most part, netbooks have had terrible keyboards. The Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook has a pretty good keyboard, especially given that it’s only 92% of a full keyboard, but it has issues. Namely, it has a little too much flex, and it has a major software (?) issue in that it repeats keys. Constantly. So much so that when I did a search and replace on two blank spaces, I found three instances within a document that was less than six hundred words (and that’s not even looking at the numerous times it double typed and I corrected it in the flow).
So, with a keyboard that reminds me of an iBook, I placed my fingers on it and hoped for the best. And really, it’s a damn good keyboard. I said that the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook’s keyboard was the best I’d used on a netbook, and prior to the Samsung N120 netbook, that’s true. But, the Samsung N120 netbook now takes the crown of “Best Keyboard on a Netbook” away from Asus. And really, it’s no comparison.
The full sized keyboard (sort of) is light years ahead of Asus’s offering if only because it looks and feels right. It’s a subtle difference, a matter of millimeters (or even fractions of a millimeter), but it’s an important difference. The confidence one has when typing on a full sized keyboard versus one that’s slightly smaller is sometimes all it takes to allow one to really just open up and start typing. I know I felt that when I realized that the keys were all where I expected them to be.
The feel is also quite good based on my early testing, with a stronger platform underneath (i.e. not much flex) and with a nice feel to it. There’s not a whole of travel on the keys, and they’re nice and quiet and the action feels smooth when you type (unlike this slightly squishy wireless Logitech keyboard I’m using at the moment). For all the good that is the keyboard, there’s a slight problem.
The problem isn’t with the keyboard, it’s the trackpad. The trackpad isn’t bad, per se, but it’s a limitation of the physical space available (and perhaps a choice of location) that the left edge of the trackpad is kind of in a crappy spot, especially since the single bar is easily depressed. I’m a lazy typist with poor (exceptionally poor) ergonomics, so my palm hit the bar a few times and I ended up with my cursor in a place I wasn’t expecting. Usually I hit the pad itself with a thumb or palm, but this time I was hitting the button. A slight change in typing by keeping my wrists slightly elevated corrected this (and is better posture, anyway).
Lastly, the battery life looks to be just as impressive as Asus’s on the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook. Samsung looks to have made similar optimizations and crammed in a large enough battery that I think eight hours of battery life is realistic, and possibly even nine (they claim ten and a half, but I have my doubts). However, I will say that 67% (ish) battery life I had an estimated six hours and twenty or forty minutes remaining. Wow!
That battery life, ultimately, is why I’ll stick with a netbook until Apple decides they want to enter the netbook (or ultra-ultra portable) game. The MacBook Air, while a dazzlingly elegant machine, is too limited (not to mention the first generation is riddled with hardware problems). Sure, it has a more capable processor, but with no user serviceable parts, power users like me tend to get a little annoyed, doubly so when you can’t even swap the damn battery (an aside: the five hours (ish) it gets when it first came out was impressive, but five hours now just plain doesn’t feel like enough — how crazy is that?).
Anyhow, aside from the ugly white paintjob (black was sold out; non-Apple laptops painted white is another rant bound to happen) and the horrible, horrible user experience that is a Samsung-uglified Windows XP, the Samsung N120 netbook is looking to be pretty damn good.
I’m actually in the middle of installing OS X on it right now. I’m not sure if it’s going to run, and if it does, how well, but hey, I’ll be damned if I don’t try it. I know I mentioned it before, but expect a guide if I’m able to get OS X installed on the Samsung N120 netbook and running in any sort of usable fashion. I have my fingers crossed, becuase damn it, I love OS X and I refuse to use Windows XP.
The Samsungs new venture of its latest introduced Netbook. It has advance features enabled in it. The Samsung with N120 promises to offer 10.5 hours of autonomy with the 6 cell battery, Good autonomy, large keyboard, touchpad slightly larger than the NC10: N120 combines the many advantages. You can get the complete specifications and details on http://www.techarena.in/review/16744-samsung-n120-ultra-portable-netbook.htm. I found it useful. Its great.