Review: Samsung N110 netbook

The recent deluge of netbooks all with nearly identical specifications, layouts and features can make it difficult to tell them apart, and the biggest differentiating factor is often battery life and price.

Samsung did a very good job of setting itself apart from the others when it released the NC10, a netbook that had a superb keyboard and one of the best battery lives at the time. The company hopes to build on that success with the N110.

The most obvious change from the NC10 is the chassis, which still has a very traditional look, but with softer curves, a glossy black lid and a subtle dark red stripe around the base. However, although it looks good, the glossy lid is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges.

Although some netbook makers have started focusing on slimmer designs, bigger screens or other novelty features, the N110 fits the classic netbook mould. The build is solid and feels like it won't crumble if it takes a few knocks.

Including the power adaptor, the entire unit weighs in at pretty much bang on 1.3Kg so, although there are lighter netbooks around, it won't break your back carrying it about.

The N110 sports the increasingly common 10.3in screen. The display is nothing exceptional, but is certainly good enough for most purposes. It has a good brightness range to help keep the battery from being drained too quickly, but with the ability to get bright enough to handle outdoor situations.

Samsung has done a good job of making sure the keyboard is well laid out with a tactile response to key presses, so typing at speed is not a problem. This particular example is a traditional bevelled key design, and is 93 per cent of the size of a regular keyboard, so even those with big fingers should be able to manage.

Similarly, the trackpad is big and very responsive and the mouse buttons are easy to get to and have a good solid click to them.

As well as a memory card reader and Gigabit LAN port, Samsung has included three USB ports on the N110 - two on the left and one on the right - which is a trick many netbook makers miss. This means that, if you to connect several devices, such as an external mouse, a 3G dongle and a USB thumb drive, you don't need to swap peripherals around or resort to a USB hub.

Under the hood is the usual collection of netbook components, including an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of DD2 memory, an Intel graphics card with shared memory, a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Strangely the N110 doesn't support 802.11n which, although still in draft, is being increasingly integrated in today's devices.

All of this runs on Windows XP as standard although, with plenty of space on the 160GB hard drive, we would be tempted to create a separate partition for something like Intel's Moblin 2.0 beta operating system.

Taking a page out of the NC10's book, the N110 packs in a six-cell 5200mAh battery which fared very well in our battery test, lasting just shy of six hours while running the Battery Eater benchmarking program with all the power saving features and the Wi-Fi turned off, and the screen on medium brightness.

This means that, with normal use and Samsung's extra power saving features enabled, you should be able to get a full eight-hour day out the device.

Sadly, Samsung believes that the solid, if unimpressive, design makes the N110 worthy of a premium price tag. With a recommended retail price of £349, it's at the top end of the netbook price range and, with so many other competitors out there, including the NC10 itself, and nothing to help it stand out from the crowd, it's difficult to justify that amount.

Reviewing the N110 was actually quite difficult, as there is nothing that sets it apart from the vast number of other netbooks out there except that it is a very good example of its class.

The N110 is the netbook equivalent of a dull, but reliable, friend who's never going to be the life and soul of the party, but will always be there to help you tidy up afterwards.

Unit provided by PC World.