Customer Reviews

Samsung N150 10.1-Inch Netbook (Red)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

HI,
Back in May of 2009, i purchased my first Samsung Netbook, the N120. I purchased it because of the keyboard size and alleged battery life. I have been happy with it ever since. Battery life is as advertised.

I needed to get a netbook for my wife, and after much shopping, i decided that the Samsung N150 would be a good choice.

Same Keyboard size ratio, great battery life, and some updated features
1. Windows 7 starter edition
2. Pinetrail Processor
3. Same great battery life

Samsung has also made some good improvements with the mousepad. You can scroll, pinch & zoom, and rotate all with the mousepad.

The updated design is similar to the older n120, but nicer.

They moved the power button down to the front which is ok.

one of the USB ports stays powered on to charge your phone or device even during hibernation.

Keyboard is the same spacing and size, but now they are using chiclet style keys. Seems good. My wife may give me more updates on this later.

So far, so good!

Over the last 2 years I have cycled through netbooks about once every 4-6 months. Netbooks overall are a new concept and the technology's advancing quickly, so I buy a new one often to stay on top of the curve. Before buying this Samsung I used 2 Asus and a Toshiba netbook, all of which I liked a lot. I liked this Samsung because it looks great and the keyboard is wonderful. However, there were two bad things that made me return it after only 3 weeks of use. First, the Samsung netbook's battery life was sub par, getting only a few hours on full load (whereas my second Asus got about 8 hours!). Second, and more importantly, this Samsung's harddrive makes obnoxiously hard clicking noises when it is being accessed by the system. These clicks are loud enough that I could not use this in quiet environments without being severely annoyed. Go ahead and google some thing like "Samsung n150 harddrive clicking noises" and you'll see other people are having the same issue. So in the end, based on my experiences with numerous other netbooks, I have to give this Samsung only 2 out of 5 stars. I just isn't very good. Try an Asus instead!

I ordered this computer last week and have been very happy with it. I use it for video chatting, internet, and word processing. The Windows 7 Starter is nice and it gives you Word for 60 days for free. The webcam is nice and does the job on skype. I picked this netbook over others because of the keyboard. The keys are a bit more separated than other netbooks which I loved. I've had no trouble typing at all. The computer picked up my wireless internet right off of the bat, better than my old laptop did. The battery life is awesome...I have to plug it in every couple of days but that's it. The screen does take a little getting use to as I've had to zoom in a few times to really see something when I'm online shopping, but I'd rather have that then be carrying around a huge heavy laptop with a shorter battery life.

Overall good for the price! I added a wireless mouse so that my kids can play games and I plan on buying a thumb drive because I don't want to load too much onto the computer. It moves a little slow, but I figure if I store my information somewhere else it should be fine.

All the netbooks basically have the same guts, so if you are trying to figure out which is best I HIGHLY recommend the N150. I had an EEE seashell before, but had to return it due to some technical issues. Then Consumer Reports came out with a review of netbooks, and the N150 was one of the top ranked. The keypad is laid out just like a regular sized version, and trust me it makes a difference. With the EEE I was always accidentally hitting keys with my pinkies because the keys were in a different order on the periphery. The N150 is a sturdy book with an great matte screen and an excellent keypad! It's one of the best netbooks.

Esta mini laptop es de muy buena calidad
La bateria es duradera, el diseño del teclado es muy comodo y elegante,
es excelente ya que es delgada y no pesa. ademas de el bajo costo. la recomiendo.

LOVE IT, purchased two of them. Wonderful computer, fast for the size, color is lovely. I did add larger ram, and works great. I also own a Sony mini and it does not compare to this one at all...The Windows 7 starter works great, but I am thinking of adding Upgrade later on, but so far do not need it. Very light weight, great keyboard.

I had an N120 for a year and while it didn't set any speed records, it was a good netbook for my purposes.

The N150 is like molasses. Often when I shut down I get the message that I have to wait for the background programs to shut down first. I already got rid of FailSafe and MacAfee and now have to figure out what else is running in the background and what I can get rid of. I didn't want to spend this much time on what was supposed to be a convenience.
Also, the battery has a much shorter charge time than the N120.
Why has Sumsung made an inferior product?

PROS:
1) Please read any 5-star review.
2) Samsung is used to present better designed netbooks on the average.

ON THE AVERAGE:
Netbooks are netbooks. Win 7 Starter OS, Atom N450 CPU, 1 GB RAM

CONS:
1) Microsoft was forcing companies to produce at most 1 GB of RAM with Win XP OS. Since this is Windows 7 Starter, as long as there is no more constraints, Samsung better present us with 2 GB of RAM. I may also upgrade the RAM but than have to throw away 1 GB old RAM.
2) The N310 used to have 8800 mAh batteries that last 10 to 11 hours. This one only has 4400 mAh batteries. Why not present us a better battery?
3) All the previous netbook models of Samsung used to have bluetooth connectivity, which this one lacks. I dont even know why.

I'm really surprised that none of the previous reviewers mention about the horrifying installation process of this netbook?
Want to know?

Here it goes including other identified issues:

1) I had two Asus eee's previously, and both came with Windows 7 and XP "pre-installed" and setup was a breeze... But this thing took 43 minutes to install Windows 7 from scratch. And for some reason, if you mess up, you're toast. (Good luck with Samsung tech support) The OS should have been pre-installed.

2) The second big surprise was that once you logged on to Windows, Samsung "forces" you to partition the drive for backup. What? An average user is not familiar with this process and can be very confusing. The given "default" is not a good choice. It divides the disk drive (small) in half. Are there other choices? Yes. But the screen does not tell you... You cannot get out of this "partitioning" crap. The backup takes about another 25 minutes, so that comes to 1 hr and 8 minutes if all went well. I prefer to do by backups on DVD so why is Samsung trying to "force" a backup on the small hard drive? The backup should have been pre-installed like all other companies (HP, Asus etc) do. So you'd say "since I'm doing all the work, I should get a price break, right? But Samsung says "nope".

3) The third surprise was that you are "forced" to install McCaffee. Again, no choices. My previous netbooks always asked; do you want it? yes/no. Samsung is "shoving" stuff down the throats of buyers. I prefer using Microsoft Security Essentials at no cost. So why this McAffee install?

4) Lot of "bloat-ware" and half of it is from Samsung... I would not recommend "Samsung UpdatePlus" as I think it is legalizing access to your private data. I did not also install "Phoenix FailSafe" knowing that it comes from the same branding, collecting private data... One has to ask this question; Why are these programs given for free? Because the return comes from "data mining" and other marketing objectives.

5) The bloat-ware that you do not want to install keeps nagging you (Samsung UpdatePlus & FailSafe). Why? I guess they are really determined to get your data. Once installed, it's an automatic process that runs in the background without the user knowing... Throughout the life time of your netbook, you become a silent donor to these companies.

6) An annoying issue was the touch pad. The "Tapping" feature should be turned off by default. I think it is overly sensitive (despite of adjustments) and messes up the user. Once, I deleted a file unintentionally because of "Tapping". The reason why we don't hear about tapping is that users get very annoyed and immediately buy a wireless mouse assuming problem is solved. But once you are mobile (i.e. on the plane) you are stuck with it.

Regarding given issues, I decided to return Samsung N150. I am looking for something more "user friendly". Not sure why Samsung is shooting itself in the foot, but buyers don't like it. Current I'm looking at HP, Lenovo and Asus' new models.

We've tried two samples of the Samsung N150 with Windows 7 Starter, and neither would connect with our home wireless router. Spent an hour on the phone with Samsung Support: downloaded new drivers, etc. No help. Our wireless router (NETGEAR, WEP security) has had no problem with 4 or 5 different laptops, both Windows XP and Windows 7. We're returning the last one for a refund.