paid < $350 from b&h.
pros: xp home (not win7 starter), small, light (compared to regular laptops, even 12"), decent screen, keys (not keyboard) feel nice and responsive (not rickety clickety things)
cons: keyboard feels a touch cramped, touchpad is touchy at times (but configurable - somewhat), actual desktop (w/icons) display *after* booting/logging in is almost as long as boot up
i'm a pro photographer traveling abroad for the first time with pro equipment and need storage/backup for digifiles. i decided against those stand-alone storage drives for the same or more money as a netbook. i'm willing to accept a larger device (netbook) to have more functionality (web, documents, etc.) with a larger footprint over a single function storage drive with a much smaller footprint. heck, i'm even gonna pick up a $80 usb powered drive as double backup for the road. if i wanted double backup with a stand-alone storage drive, i would be spending $800 or more. this way i'm still under $450.
i've wanted a netbook since before they were widely available. i would buy a mac netbook for $600 if they offered one, but pcs are the only thing going at this size. i've waited and waited for apple to respond and they haven't. i saw a review that said that macbook air is apple's netbook. right. it's far too expensive and far too big to compete in the netbook market. ... oh, there is the ipad - just an oversized itouch/iphone. 64GB max? no hdd? no usb port? no thank you.
anyhoo, it's a nice little box anyways. wireless networks should be simplicity these days. this unit won't accept a dhcp address automatically from my wireless router so i have to config it manually. rrrr.. got it working without too many hours down the drain. then i tried samsung's "easy network manager" (enm). after setting up a home and work location, it decided to stop recognizing my available wireless router. saw all the others in my building except mine. rrrr... tinkered with the router and the network is back again - all has the same basic config, but i'm not using the "enm" to mangle my network settings any more.. apple's network manager is clean and intuitive by comparison.
i'm not listing the wireless config probs i had as a "con" because i'm chalking it up to pilot error (all except for that beknighted samsung enm).
the form factor and design is not super great, but like the subject says, it ain't a mac.
top cover is glossy: i guess i will have to be satisfied with a scratch and smudge magnet. i might consider taking super fine steel wool to the cover to "matte" it down.
glossy screen: i have yet to meet anyone that actually likes them, but glossy is the only thing going these days. no steel wool to this sensitive device.
vga out? how quaint! what century are we talking about here? *all* new output devices accept dvi or hdmi. no laptops seem to understand this. gimme a mac.
sd port? cool! but most pro cameras use cf cards, tho my 1d's all have dual cf and sd slots, i only use the sd card as reserve. strike one for this pc laptop - no mac has a sd slot.
6-cell batt? very cool! slide the thing out and swap in another .. for ~$75, that's not too bad of an idea. again, mac might start taking notes here.
9.5 hour batt life? jury is still out. i did light work for 6+ hours yesterday and still had ~35% batt left. that's not too shabby. will have a better idea after my trip ;-) mac??
no native raw file built-in? sweet lord.. mac's had this for *years*. researched and found a great third-party file handler, but c'mon, people..
i'll try to give this an update after my trip..Get more detail about Samsung N110-12PBK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 6 Cell Battery (9.5 Hours).
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