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.
Okay, here’s the standard introduction to the Samsung N120 netbook: if you’re familiar with other netbooks that use the Intel Atom processor, then you should know what to expect in terms of performance. If you’re not, then here’s the short version: surprisingly capable for day-to-day work, but not a machine you’ll be heavily gaming on or doing any audio or video editing. If you’re writing, perhaps doing a presentation, browsing the web, and watching videos (so long as they’re not in a Flash wrapper), they’re damn awesome little machines. Wikipedia defines a netbook as: “A netbook is a small portable laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet.” And that’s exactly what Samsung delivers, and then some.
So with any luck, you’re somewhat familiar with what a netbook is and does. Let’s get on to the meat of the review.
Aesthetics
Samsung N120 Netbook Left
Starting with what you can expect to see out of the box the Samsung N120 netbook is already a mixed bag, if you opted for the white one, that is. Black, in general, is pretty hard to mess up, but white sure isn’t it. In my first impressions article I ranted, slightly, against the use of white by non-Apple entities, and my feeling hasn’t changed a bit since then. While the actual construction, shape, etc. is just fine (and looks strikingly similar to the Samsung NC10, of which it is heavily based), the actual white color is cheap. I’m sorry, but it’s cheap. It’s not a nice, strong white (think alpine white), but rather a dull, slightly pearloid white that looks really, really cheap. I know this is purely personal opinion, but it’s almost embarrassing. Put this next to a white MacBook and I think the Samsung would blush in shame.
Samsung N120 Netbook Right
Okay, color aside, Samsung has put some energy into making the Samsung N120 netbook stand out just a bit from the flock of other netbooks out there as it not only looks but feels solid — very nice manufacturing here. The hinges are a nice chrome (?) and there’s also lines of chrome that run the sides of the netbook. The power switch also has a damn nice location: the right outside hinge. It blends in very well with the chrome on the side and is far preferable to the stupid little bar/button that Asus uses on the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook (and is subsequently somewhat difficult to press, even with thin guitarist fingers).
The sides contain the standard array of USB, ethernet, and audio ports: two USB, ethernet, and power on the left with another USB port, laptop lock, audio and video (VGA) on the right. An SD slot is along the lower lip in the front which inconveniently leaves the SD sticking out when in use. Acer did the same thing with the Acer Aspire One netbook in one of their card slots: it bothered me then and it bothers me now when the card sticks out. Make it flush or don’t make it at all.
There’s considerable space (1″) around the LCD that may bother some, but it blends in with the rest of the body and isn’t glossy and obnoxious like some on some machines (ahem, Asus and Apple). The reason there’s so much extra space around the LCD is two-fold: 1) the Samsung N120 netbook, while a 10″ netbook, is slightly wider than other 10″ netbooks because of the keyboard (I’m getting to that) and; 2) 11″ LCDs aren’t very common in manufacturing, so getting an 11″ panel would drive up costs. Regardless, the top center of the bezel has the standard webcam (am I the only one who doesn’t use them?) while the sides contain two of the speakers in the netbook. The LCD is of the glossy variety, but there’s other things to cover first.
Keyboard and touchpad
Samsung N120 Netbook Closeup
Here’s where the review gets interesting if you’re a writer: yes, it’s true, the Samsung N120 netbook has a full 12″ keyboard. Sort of. While the keys are certainly the largest and most adequately spaced of those I’ve seen on a netbook (at least in the 10″ variety), there’s some still reordering of keys that’s a bit unnerving. There simply wasn’t enough space for the tilde key (~) on the left, so it’s been relocated to the immediate left of the space bar. Also, the standard Windows (flag) key is on the right (between alt and control) instead of the left, with the Function (Fn) occupying the normal Windows key slot on the left. This is highly obnoxious. The arrow keys are the standard tiny things seen on most all netbooks with the page up and page down keys crammed into the corners. Aside from the slightly odd placement of a few keys, the keyboard is awesome.
The travel length is good, flex is absolutely minimal (noticeably less than the 1000HE) and the size and placement of keys relative to others facilitates a natural typing experience. I’ve been using netbooks since the first official (unofficial?) one, the Asus EeePC 700 (if you want to be technical, I had a Japanese clamshell Zaurus, which was even smaller and quite awesome in its own right), and every time I’ve picked up a new one the keyboard experience has only gotten better, and this is no exception. In my review of the Asus EeePC 1000HE netbook I complemented Asus on the keyboard (and its size), and while I still stand by that (aside from my repeating key issue), Samsung has Asus trumped here, and clearly so. I know keyboards are very much a personal thing, but the keyboard of the Samsung N120 netbook has come the closest to reminding me of the holy grail of notebook keyboards, my good old Apple iBook 12″.
The touchpad, however, is still trash. I actually prefer the 1000HE’s touchpad to this one. The single “bar” button on the Samsung N120 netbook is small and doesn’t wrap down around the chassis like the Asus one does and that makes it overly easy to have your thumb on the pad while you’re clicking, which of course can make for interesting mistakes as you’re trying to do something as simple as click a button on-screen.
Acer One Netbook, Asus 1000HE Netbook, Samsung N120 Netbook, MacBook Pro 13 Inch Front
Put simply, touchpads on netbooks are trash and no one has figured out how to do one yet (ahem, Apple, now is your chance to show everyone your touchscreen not-a-netbook and show the rest of the industry where they’ve gone wrong). This is in no way a deal breaker, but I have to be fair and point out that these pads really, really suck. For those who can’t stand touchpads anyway, the onboard Bluetooth makes it easy to connect a portable wireless mouse and completely avoid the issue.
User experience
Okay, so aside from hating the paint and hating the touchpad (which, again, sucks on all netbooks), I’ve been pretty complementary toward the Samsung N120 netbook, right? Here’s where it goes to hell, and really, it’s hard to blame Samsung for 85% of the reasons why.
In my first impressions article, I ranted very strongly against Samsung’s awful decisions to load the Samsung N120 netbook with bloatware and terrible homebrew software that made XP a ridiculously frustrating experience. When one pulls a new computer out of the box, they should be at the desktop in five minutes (five at the absolute worst) and be able to use the system. Samsung, however, deems one must go through the stupid process of building a backup and rendering your system useless for at least ten minutes, but likely closer to thirty because they also choose to install drivers after one has created their XP account. Yeah, they didn’t bother to have everything installed ahead of time. How lazy and insulting is that?
Acer One Netbook, Asus 1000HE Netbook, Samsung N120 Netbook, MacBook Pro 13 Inch Left
Aside from the time you’ll waste as the netbook does its thing, once you’re finally able to use it, there’s more icons in the system tray than should be allowed which indicates there’s far, far too much software pre-installed, which can only mean it’s useless. When has having a dozen or two things installed and running all at once and waiting for you ever been a good thing? This is no exception. And the anti-virus? McAfee? Really? Why not just load it with a virus instead of that worthless, bloated software. I might be less insulted and find that preferable. However, Samsung has to subsidize their profit margin somehow, and who (aside from Apple) doesn’t load their machines with junk now anyway? Well, no one now comes close to this, but the point remains (except those manufacturers nice enough not to pre-load junk…hm…).
Okay, so clearly, I hate using XP on the Samsung N120 netbook and think others will have a frustrating experience as well. If, however, you’re more forgiving and more patient, then I think you’ll find it’s a positive experience once you dump McAfee for a less bloated (and less system-hogging) anti-virus program, it’ll be like any other netbook, only with stupidly good battery life (7ish hours) and a great keyboard.
So, what happens when one decides that XP sucks on a netbook (which it does) and forges their own path of installing linux, OS X, and Windows 7? Let’s find out.
Linux (Fedora 10)
Never mind that Fedora 11 is due out in a few days, but I figured I’d give Fedora a shot since I’ve been such an Ubuntu fanboy the last few years. Unfortunately, my previous issues with linux and portables still exist, only to a slightly lesser extent. I’m not sure if it’s the Atom “platform” itself or that linux still isn’t mature, but it still sucks on a portable.
The touchpad works, but that’s it. Making modifications to it requires editing the Xorg.conf (which is extra tricky in Fedora because it doesn’t use the Xorg.conf by default). Of course, once that’s been done it’s perfectly fine.
However, like its older brother the Samsung NC10 netbook, the Samsung N120 netbook doesn’t have very good linux support for certain things like using the function key shortcuts.
These are issues that are reparable, but for the novice user, would possibly be game-stopping. And even if they’re not, the battery life in Fedora is downright pathetic, which is reason alone to not use it. I was looking at five hours if I was lucky and didn’t actually use it, and the Samsung N120 netbook is rated at 7.5 hours (or so claims Samsung).
In the end, Fedora on the Samsung N120 netbook gets a thumbs down.
OS X
Samsung N120 Netbook Bottom
Okay, so the first thing I did after I deleted the XP partition (and any other recovery ones) was to install OS X. I have a guide to install OS X on the Samsung N120 netbook that, while in its infancy, is enough to get it installed and running in a state that most will find usable. Certain things, like changing touchpad settings and modifying the brightness of the LCD are missing (and highly frustrating, but there’s a workaround for the brightness), and of course wifi is a no go (without swapping, which works brilliantly), but everything else seems to work reasonably well.
Unfortunately, because the LCD is glossy, the lack of brightness control can be a real pain. The workaround of disabling a setting in BIOS and setting the brightness there works, but if you find yourself going from room to room with massively different lighting conditions, you’re going to be frustrated.
Interestingly enough, in my draft of this review I talked about how I got comparable battery life out of OS X to Fedora, and then 10.5.7 came out and changed everything. Aside from the almost completely painless update process that gets the Samsung N120 netbook running 10.5.7, battery life shot up high enough to be biting at Windows’ heels.
Sure, you still can’t adjust the touchpad in any way, the function keys only partially work, and you can’t adjust brightness, but if you change the wireless card (a 10 minute process that doesn’t involve removing the LCD like on the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook), you can have a really functional, really pleasant OS X experience.
Windows 7
Windows 7 has proven once again to be a damn solid choice. Windows 7 on the Asus EeePC 1000HE netbook is an enjoyable experience and it’s almost the exact same on the Samsung N120 netbook. While battery life is still quite good (6-7 hours), there are a few non-functional shortcut keys. However, Windows 7 by far offers the most complete user experience of those I’ve had with the Samsung N120 netbook.
To be fair, the function shortcuts that aren’t working are of the tertiary variety: no home (?) shortcut, no Euro (?), no overclock (well, that one may be useful in some situations). Still, once you track down appropriate drivers and software, it’s a damn solid affair, within normal Windows limitations (viruses, malware, etc.). Again, Windows 7 shines. For those who aren’t willing to live with the limittions of OS X on the Samsung N120 netbook, do yourself a favor and download the Windows 7 release candidate and install it. Now.
Miscellaneous
I’ve glossed over a few things as I’ve been touring the experience in different OSes, so let’s hit on those right quick.
The LCD, while glossy, is bright (when set) and looks just fine. For my uses I find its quality to be on par with the LCD in the Asus EeePC 1000HE. With sufficient brightness, the glossiness is overcome without sacrificing too much battery life. Also, I know it’s important to some, but the LCD opens to about 140 degrees — definitely not the best I’ve seen in a netbook and nowhere near being “flat” with the base.
The speakers are the best I’ve experienced in a netbook, thanks in part to the “2.1″ sound it brings. Two speakers — one on either side of the LCD — and one in the bottom of the netbook help bring a little life to sounds coming out of the Samsung N120 netbook, but don’t expect miracles or even something as good as in a 15″ notebook. It’s just a little louder and a less tinny than others.
The Samsung N120 netbook, while providing slightly less battery life than the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook (about an hour less), also weighs about a half pound less. The 1000HE is weighted, heavily, toward the back, while the N120 has a more even distribution. At such low weights we’re not really talking about a major difference in terms of carrying one or the other around all day, but I find the more even feel of the Samsung N120 netbook to be preferable.
Conclusion
I understand that my uses are somewhat unique compared to some, if not most, users, so I sometimes feel it’s difficult to give a straight suggestion one way or another, but this isn’t really the case.
Put simply, if you find that the keyboard is an important and often overlooked component in a netbook, this is where you should start looking. Quite simple, the build quality is top notch, the keyboard absolutely lovely, and the user experience (once you get Windows 7 or OS X to play nicely) enjoyable.
For those just looking for a solid netbook, again, this is a really good starting place, but it’s the keyboard that sets it apart from the current king, the Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook.
Keep these caveats in mind, though: Windows 7 requires tracking drivers down; OS X is missing some core functionality; and Windows XP out of the box will make you want to throw the Samsung N120 netbook against the nearest wall. However, move past that and you’ll find it’s a great little machine.
Pros:
Ridiculously good keyboard
Very good battery life (6-7 hours)
Excellent build quality
Cons:
Tacky paint (if you get white)
Touchpad
Finicky in OS X (and less so in Windows 7)
–
Clearly, the pros outweigh the cons.
Comments aren’t lonely anymore. It was an interesting take on the subject on OS’s for the N120 that I haven’t found outside of forums. Thank you for the comparison.
Word, I just read your review using Windows 7 on my N120. It’s a lovely machine, and I opted for the black so luckily I don’t know how bad the white looks. Most everything is functional but yeah, you do need to track down a few drivers but then everything works as expected, including the home & end keys. I need to figure out this overclock key though, I haven’t read about that yet but I’m sure it will be useful.
Pretty comprehensive review but I would like to add that the upgrade to 2 GB is worth it. It’s very easy to swap the memory stick in yourself, and it creates a noticable snappiness to the response when you make the upgrade.
no pics?
Hey,
I have a white samsung n120 and I find the colour to be just fine. It’s a really solid netbook that once you put windows 7 on is an amazing experience. I’ve opted to get the extra 2gig ram which made it very snappy and then soon after got an intel x25-m SSD which made the computer run so fine i was flabbergasted. The netbook is an excellent computer that I think rivals my pc and notebook in some areas. Especially sound, it really clear and i would say definitely beats my laptops speakers.
Do you think it is wise to get a Samsung NC10 or should I get an AsusEE?
It depends on what’s more important to you. The Samsung was easy to modify for the wifi card and has a superior keyboard, but the Asus has better community support and better battery life. Both are quality machines and can run Windows 7, Linux, or OS X just fine.
I’ll make the same suggestion I’m sure you’ve read and heard: go play with both and then decide. (There’s so many new models out now that there be something better anyway, or you may decide you want a 12″ machine instead of 10″.)