For surfing the web this is just the ticket! (Samsung NC20)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Samsung NC20
Date:	28/06/09 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, looks good, very very light

Disadvantages: Expensive for a netbook

I'm writing away on this little netbook at this very moment, which is the newest model from Samsung following on from the very successful NC10.

Reasons for Purchase:

My main use of a computer tends to be for emailing and surfing the web. At £375 from Amazon this seemed expensive for a netbook - which this machine is- but I was hoping for a better build quality and for it to be quieter than a cheap notebook at about this figure. The VIA processor appealed as promising a long battery life and the 12.1" display looked to be good, the lack of a CD rom drive is not a problem for my use but might be something you want to consider.

A netbook is designed to be portable, lightweight with a good battery life; notebooks unless high-end generally being heavier, bigger and with greater power consumption.

The machine comes with 1 gig RAM but is upgradeable, though you will have to replace the RAM to do so, perhaps Samsung could have been a bit more generous here.

Actual Use of this Machine:

When the NC20 arrived I immediately thought it was a nice looking machine. The white plastic looks classy and is of good quality, and the keys were bigger than I was expecting. The shiny metal strip down the side looks nice and this is a light and very compact machine, weighing in at just 1.5kg so perfect for using on the go. The battery life should be 4-6 hours, I would say from my use this is the case.

Personally I like the glossy screen and find the resolution (1280 x800) very good. This machine comes pre-installed with XP and trial anti-virus software which I actually uninstalled and replaced with AVG Free. Other technical features, according to the manufacturer are "3 in 1 memory card reader, 3 built-in USB ports, and Bluetooth 2.0". It also has wireless LAN 54G and not the new wireless N-standards, for surfing the web this is more than adequate - no connection issues with my netgear router thus far.

I have yet to use the integrated 1.3MP digital motion camera, which is discretely located at the top of the screen. For my use on the web this netbook is fast to boot up and runs well.
The carry case that came with the machine is basic, of suede feel, but adequate.


Minor issues to consider:

Like I have already said the build quality of this machine has proved to be good - it is very quiet, and pleasant to use. It does not get too hot in use either.
I do have a couple of issues with the keyboard. As this is compact the shift key on the right hand side has been made a small size, whilst the left hand one is a normal sized. This seems a little left-handed biased to me, if you are used to another keyboard you find yourself hitting "\" every time you want to use shift at first, and this is annoying.

The arrow keys also don't seem to be of very good build quality compared to the rest of the keyboard, when you press them they just seem a bit like something you would find on a child's toy - not very impressive.
The touch pad for the mouse supports mulit-touch gestures - I found these baffling and annoying in the extreme, if you are not used to them you find touching the pad will see you zooming, going back pages whilst browsing and generally got me confused. I disabled those features, which you may or may not want to do, apart from this issue the touch pad is sensitive enough and scrolling is good.

I have found that the white keyboard has not discoloured so far in use - it apparently had an anti-bacterial coating, I can't really tell if this is effective or not.

Overall:

Overall for use as a surfing tool this is a great looking and well running machine. I am able to type with it fairly comfortably, could run basic office applications through it if I wished, and I much prefer it to my previous machine, an acer laptop.

I would recommend this machine despite the minor issues I have with the keyboard, I like the look of the white machine. It is expensive for a netbook but far nicer than a laptop in this ball park which may have features you won't use. It is built well and overall Samsung have done a good job in producing a light weight and attractive machine.

Summary: my use of this machine - mainly for dooyooing!