Showing posts with label Cheap Sam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheap Sam. Show all posts

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Samsung N120-13GBL 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - Up to 8.3 Hours of Battery Life Best Quality


I bought this for my wife to take to meetings and kid's activities. I am very impressed. Machine feels very solid- I don't think broken hinges will ever be a problem. I ordered a 2 gig memory strip at the same time and installed it before I ever turned the machine on, so I can't comment on it with 1 gig, but with 2 gig, it is plenty fast. Wireless is excellent! I am seeing more networks than with any other machine I have ever used. Built-in Bluetooth works great with my Sony Z750a phone. Netflix streams without a hitch. Even with 3 users logged on, reponse doesn't slow. BTW, the memory I ordered was Transcend 2GB JetRam DDR2 667 SO-DIMM for Laptops (MFG Part #: JM667QSU-2G).

Just a couple of minor quibbles- I wish the Start key was on the left side. A USB port closer to the rear on the sides or on the rear would be really nice. In the middle is a little awkward. Documentation about the Samsung Recovery software that runs at startup is lacking. When you first start the machine, XP installs from a hidden 6GB partition. Part of the process is partitioning the rest of the space for the installation. It uses the 2nd partiton (that will be drive D:) to save a recovery image of the PC so you can revert the machine. It was confusing and since it gives you the option of setting the space as you see fit and warns you this can only be run once (changing your partitions deletes the data. yes- there are programs that can do this without data loss, but they aren't included). I ended up going with a 40GB C: and 100GB D: (+/-). After install of a few necessary apps, I have about 30 GB free on C:. D: will be for movies for the kids, games, music, and the backups of the C: drive. I also use Hamachi and CrashPlan+ for data security, so the Samsung Recovery may never get used.

Overall, I think this machine is going to be perfect. Small, light, fast, cool running, screen is very good- but a few distracting glares at times but nowhere near as bad as almost all Glossy screens. The LED backlighting is very even, and contrast is great. If I could get by with the lower resolution, I'd consider getting one (My laptop is 1600x1200!) Highly recommended.Get more detail about Samsung N120-13GBL 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - Up to 8.3 Hours of Battery Life.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Low Price Samsung N110-12PBK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 6 Cell Battery (9.5 Hours)


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).

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Samsung N120-13GBL 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - Up to 8.3 Hours of Battery Life Buy Now


I bought this for my wife to take to meetings and kid's activities. I am very impressed. Machine feels very solid- I don't think broken hinges will ever be a problem. I ordered a 2 gig memory strip at the same time and installed it before I ever turned the machine on, so I can't comment on it with 1 gig, but with 2 gig, it is plenty fast. Wireless is excellent! I am seeing more networks than with any other machine I have ever used. Built-in Bluetooth works great with my Sony Z750a phone. Netflix streams without a hitch. Even with 3 users logged on, reponse doesn't slow. BTW, the memory I ordered was Transcend 2GB JetRam DDR2 667 SO-DIMM for Laptops (MFG Part #: JM667QSU-2G).

Just a couple of minor quibbles- I wish the Start key was on the left side. A USB port closer to the rear on the sides or on the rear would be really nice. In the middle is a little awkward. Documentation about the Samsung Recovery software that runs at startup is lacking. When you first start the machine, XP installs from a hidden 6GB partition. Part of the process is partitioning the rest of the space for the installation. It uses the 2nd partiton (that will be drive D:) to save a recovery image of the PC so you can revert the machine. It was confusing and since it gives you the option of setting the space as you see fit and warns you this can only be run once (changing your partitions deletes the data. yes- there are programs that can do this without data loss, but they aren't included). I ended up going with a 40GB C: and 100GB D: (+/-). After install of a few necessary apps, I have about 30 GB free on C:. D: will be for movies for the kids, games, music, and the backups of the C: drive. I also use Hamachi and CrashPlan+ for data security, so the Samsung Recovery may never get used.

Overall, I think this machine is going to be perfect. Small, light, fast, cool running, screen is very good- but a few distracting glares at times but nowhere near as bad as almost all Glossy screens. The LED backlighting is very even, and contrast is great. If I could get by with the lower resolution, I'd consider getting one (My laptop is 1600x1200!) Highly recommended.Get more detail about Samsung N120-13GBL 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - Up to 8.3 Hours of Battery Life.

Thursday, February 4, 2010