Customer Reviews

Samsung GO N310 10.1-Inch Midnight Blue Netbook

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I own and use both a Toshiba Satellite notebook for windows applications and a Macbook Pro for apple applications (I prefer a separate windows machine over rebooting into boot camp and also for the additional hard drive space for my multimedia applications).

Recently I saw the netbooks at a local department store, and asked myself why I would want one. The reasons boiled down to:

1. Long battery life.
2. Portability.
3. Light-weight.
4. Ability to play Netflix on-demand movies.
5. Ability to play Real Arcade games (or similar web-based games).
6. Solid build.
7. Somewhat decent speakers for listening to Rhapsody or other subscription based music programs.
8. Responsive speed for Microsoft Word 2003 (not 2007).
9. Chatting with my children who are away at college.

I then went on a week-long research into the different machines, read the reviews, played with them at the store, typing to see which one would fit my large hands, listening to the sound, picking them up to see how they felt in my hand, and how much they weighed. I didn't care if they had the Atom N270 or N280 processor as long as they met my criteria listed above. At first, I didn't care if the 10.1" screen was at 1024 x 600 or 1366 x 768. But after a bit, I began to prefer the 1024 x 600 resolution over the reduced, but sharp, images of the 1366 x 768. With the 1024 x 600, I didn't have to get close to the screen to see what was being displayed. And since I have a tendency to write short paragraphs when composing my next trash-can masterpiece, I preferred seeing part of the page of Microsoft Word over the whole page.

I finally settled on the Samsung Go (Midnight Blue) mainly due to form and the fact that I like Midnight Blue. And the reviews I read seemed to indicate that it would meet all the criteria I listed above.

The first thing I noticed when I lifted the unit out of the box was the way it felt. It has a slight rubber feel to it, and it was a little heavier than (as my wife pointed out) her Macbook Air. But for what I was used to carrying around, it felt great. The keyboard was also large enough for comfortable typing, although, I kept hitting the "=" key instead of the "Back Space" key when I want to correct my spelling errors. This is something that I know I'll get used to -- not correcting spelling errors -- but learning where the keys are when I am typing on a smaller keyboard.

The first thing I did was charge the battery up to 100% as instructed. It didn't take long as the battery already had a charge when I received the unit. I then begin to redownload my Real Arcade games to test them out. So far Luxor 3 and Rebound Lost Worlds have run like a charm. I also installed Starcraft, and didn't have, or expected, any problems running it. I installed Yahoo Messenger and chatted with my children. Made a YouTube video with the included CyberCam. Installed and played around with Microsoft Office 2003 Professional without any problems. I watched two Netflix movies and noticed only a slight stutter in some frames, probably due to the wireless connection (how far I was from the router). When I plugged in the Ethernet cable from the router, I had no problems at all watching the movies. But it wasn't enough of a performance difference that I wouldn't be just as satisfied watching movies using only the wireless connection.

All in all I'm quite pleased with the purchase, and am happy that I selected this netbook as my first netbook.

Now to my only quibble, and it isn't really much, but the sound is...well...tinny. But with headphones, it is quite nice and bearable. I installed SRS Audio for additional enhancement, and although it helped some, for a netbook, I felt it was the best I could do. For watching YouTube videos or chatting or casual game playing without headphones, the audio is adequate. And since I wasn't expecting an audiophile experience when I bought the Samsung Go, I am more than pleased with what sound quality it musters.

So far, my rating is five stars. If anything changes, I'll come back and revamp my review.

And one last thing -- the battery life is amazing. I have seen five hours so far, and I keep running the cursor over the battery icon to see how much more battery life is left. It's more than enough battery life for my portable needs.

This is the third netbook our household has purchased. The Samsung is far and away the best of the lot (previous: Asus and Lenovo). The keyboard is outstanding and the main reason I selected this model. There is a Ctrl button on both sides. The keys are fully separate from one another. This is as close to a full-sized keyboard I've used. Very little hunt and peck, unlike the previous machines.

The Samsung is unbelievably quiet. Even when the fan runs it is virtually inaudible. This is a big plus for me. I disagree with criticism offered by some others of the display. Even though it isn't non-glare there is very little reflection in the glass; there is actually more in the black plastic surrounding the display. The image is crystal clear and doesn't have the fuzziness sometimes associated with non-glare glass. Very bright and sharp.

I upgraded the memory to 2 gb and this is a modest cost that is well worth it. A simple exchange of modules does the trick. Overall the machine is quite speedy for what it is; I use a Verizon modem when away from home or a free WiFi site and get very good results. The internal WiFi card is very fast.

All in all, exactly what I was hoping for: a very light, compact, well-designed machine with an excellent keyboard, to take on my trips out of town one or more times a month. The overall performance is very good.

Highly recommended.

I can't express how happy I am with this product. The battery easily lasts 9 hours in battery saver mode, probably 6 or so in regular mode, which to me is great. The keyboard with raised keys is cool and easy to type on even with my slightly big hands. The glossy screen i thought would bother me but it's quite beautiful. It is not only aesthetically pleasing, but the casing is very durable and has a good strong feel especially for such a light machine. All in All, I think this computer is awesome.

This Product is better than any other netbook compare by the design, I've notice it has Surround and WOW sound system. The sound system can bring more bass as default and echo setting for headset plug. The Picture will be bright, but you can fix the settings. The battery system control option like 80% charge setting to Increase your battery life and that a cool feature. We all know li-ion loses its battery power 15 to 25% after a year. also, the keyboard is fairly close to a regular keyboard length which that is a plus for me. The battery which is 8850mah that includes giving that boost so the cooling will be better. Great Buy, I wonder why other store had not shown this product as display but its worth not seeing it until you own it. Netbook has Webcam that runs smooth. Im still using 1GB about to upgrade to 2 GB, But it still runs smooth after installing word 07 default mcafee antivirus. yeah This is awesome Netbook,With nice texture and nice feel that it wont seem to slip off your hand easier. Love the Design, compare to other mini Sony and hp.

I've looked at a number of netbooks, and most either have a dinky, unreadable screen, an unusable keyboard, or the construction looks very cheap. Samsung took these things into consideration when they created this model. The screen is sharp and bright, easy to read, the keyboard is adult sized, and the unit looks and feels solid.

I bought this unit for the wife to take to Europe so we can keep in touch without making AT&T rich, with the intention of loading Linux on it when she got back. However, Samsung's configuration of XP Home is good enough to keep using it as-is. The wireless simply works -- once you select an access point, you type in the encryption key and off it goes. The touchpad can actually be configured -- you can turn off the taps, have it disabled while typing, or even turn it off completely. And you can also zoom the screen with two fingers a la iPhone technique.

Like all OEM window loads, there is lots of extra crap installed that can be deleted to save space. It has Bluetooth and it apparently works with all sorts of things from earpieces to Crackberries. It even worked with my Bluetooth GPS, but sadly, not my iPhone. If you really don't need Bluetooth, disabling the auto startup speeds up the computer just a tad.

So far I've installed two different SIP phone clients, Open Office and Netstumbler, as well as the drivers and utilities for a Nikon point-n-shoot camera. Everything has worked without issue thus far.

Pros:

Solid unit with a unique coating on the case to make it easy to hang on to.
Wireless and touchpad drivers are not the stripped generic variety.
Battery life is pretty decent.

Cons:

AC adapter gets pretty darned hot.
Frequent / annoying pop-ups for security, driver and Windows updates.
Updates sometimes crash / fail to install.
Some preloaded software packages are only good for a certain period of time or pester you about buying the deluxe version.

What can I say, this netbook was the one I chose after researching the whole category thoroughly. I am extremely pleased. It has been flawless so far. I have added the 2gb upgrade and used the Samsung drive to load up all my software preferences.(perfect package) I cloned most of my main laptop's data and programs and with a few hiccups it digested and runs all of them well. I also bought earbuds with a mic for skype and it works great including the video webcam in the unit. The sound is decent with SRS for small speakers but to hear it best you need exterior speakers or good earbuds. The case, keyboard and quality in general are first rate.

I paid more than some others with similar specs but I'm glad I did. It rocks! Note: I believe that the XP home operating system is most appropriate for these units. It comes with a 3 month freebie of McAfee which is OK as a virus checker and it also has a decent spam filter that sits inside Outlook if you are running office. My preference is webroot anti-virus and spyware software. So on this unit I added [...] free download as McAfee is weak on the spyware side.

Spend a couple of bucks more and get this unit!!

Larry

Just received this today on 11/24/09. and i must say what a great netbook. I previously owned the toshiba and sold it to a friend didn't like the frame around the screen (it was brown with diagonal lines) i thought it was to distracting when watching movies. so back to this. love the keyboard it has a textured feel to it and when pressed felt more solid. unlike the toshiba the keyes were smooth and loose feeling. the screen is "edge to edge" glass which looks more appealing also the glare is not as evident as the toshiba which was bad with reflections. the outer "shell" is rubberized therefore will not show fingerprints as such and you can keep a good grip on it when carrying it around. Hooking up to the internet was flawless. My only complaint would be where the memory card is placed into the computer it will not "clic" all the way inside it sticks out approximatly 1/2". the toshiba's was flush when inserted all the way.

I did upgrade to a 2GB crucial memory stick and purchased the caselogic neoprene case.

I have had my little Samsung GO! for over a month and really like how compact and light weight it is and easy to use. The battery life is amazing. I wish I could offer up more technical advice and specs but I'm a Mac user and very new to using a PC. I needed a smaller and lighter laptop to bring on my travels and this really seems to be the ticket. I would definitely recommend it.

I loved this little computer the minute I opened up the box. It's all I need for my emailing, web browsing, music listening(I bought an iHome Rechargeable Mini Speaker for $19.99 and it sounds great!)and Skype-ing! It works perfectly! So far, I don't have a negative thing to say about this netbook (I've only had it for a month)!

Got mine couple of weeks ago and bought the external DVD drive for additional $50 (very good price and comes in handy). Everything works out of the box with no messy setup needs, Windows 7 starter seems slow, guess it's the processor itself. My main computer is a fast Lenovo laptop with discreet graphics so this unit is DEFINITELY slow in comparison. If you intend to do any processor or graphics intensive work, than DO NOT buy a netbook (any netbook) as you will be sorely disappointed. The ONLY reason, in my opinion, of buying a netbook is to have something light to carry outside of office/home for internet and typical MS Office software (or similar) use. The small size does feel restrictive after a while and the small screen is a strain. The level of brightness does not approach that of regular laptops (maybe it's just this particular brand but I don't think so). The most aggravating thing for me is the lack of responsiveness of the cursor. There is an annoying lag between your cursor movement and the actual response on the screen. It's a killer fault as far as how really useful this netbook is for me. Yes, I can stand the irritation for short uses but it's too much if it is intended to be be your primary computer.
The small size and good battery life make this netbook great for use on travels (which is the intent for my purchase) but the obvious shortcomings make it far from ideal for use as a primary computer. So buy it for what it's intended for, and don't be fooled by it's cuteness.