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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
As of now, November 20, 2009
I have only owned this netbook for about 2 months but so far it is fantastic. i bought mine refurbished from tech for less. it runs great. webcam is sub par, the only reason i gave this 4 stars. I would totally make this purchase again. i go to a community college with a reputation for things getting stolen from vehicles. this netbook allows me to have a computer at school that i don't have to worry about getting stolen as much as say a laptop notebook which is about double the price.
Most things you can do via usb these days and i have taken full advantage of the 3 or 4 ports available. i haven't tried the vga output yet. my battery life is good, usually about 4 or 5 hours, watching video and everything, varies depending on what you do and how bright the screen is. Hot keys on this computer are GREAT. so easy to use. For example if i hold down the Fn button and press say the up arrow on the keyboard, it turns up my volume, everything is well labeled and well placed. I have also had problems playing video in HD from youtube. however its not to bad playing fairly memory intensive .mkv files which are high quality video files, i wouldn't suggest it but its doable. internet has been great, i have used IE, chrome and firefox. i use iTunes and zune, no problems there. i also installed microsoft office 2007 without a hitch as well as [...]. both work great. i use a program called dameon tools to trick the computer into thinking there is a cd drive and mounting an .iso file to play certain games, i played starcraft and it worked great as well as the old command and conquer and red alery 1 and 2. i used an 1TB external hard drive with it, no problems. so far everything has been dandy.
also suggestions i have is to download a program called dropbox which allows you to store 2GB worth of stuff free and allows for easy transfer of files to netbook, its been awesome for me so far.
Dec. 28 2009 update
Things are still working great. I hooked it up to the back of a 22 inch LCD monitor at my house and it works fantastic, didn't lose any clarity and since I will be moving out soon this will be my only computer for awhile. So anyone who is worried about hooking it up to a larger monitor, fear not. The samsung software that comes with the netbook runs updates every once in awhile. I'm not sure if the resolution size came with the netbook or if it was part of an update. I also tried skype on the netbook and it worked great, the webcam on the netbook is far from perfect but sound from the netbook's mic was clear and video not as grainy as I thought it would be. So, good for those who use skype as well.
Feb. 20 2010 update
I have had a few instances using this netbook when the screen has gone white momentarily. I did not know about this problem until it happened to me and found that there are others who have had the problem and that it gets worse and worse until eventually they have had to send it to samsung to get fixed under warranty. All the things I read said that the process of sending it to samsung was quick and easy, sometimes taking less than 48 hrs, but i think that this problem should be made known to those in the market for a netbook. I'm sure they have fixed the error with the newer models, its a problem with the cord connecting from the screen to the motherboard i believe. mine is one of the older ones, but the white scree thing hasn't happened for about a month and only happened on 3 occasions in the 5 months i've had it. i use this netbook frequently so thats not bad. not sure what caused it but i decided not to send it in. I am also currently hooked up to a 23 inch asus lcd monitor and it is working great. the netbook is good for when i travel and when i get home i can use this on a 1920x1080 resolution screen which is just fantastic. completely fills almost all my computer needs for a fraction of the price and i get the portability of a netbook. one complaint i do have is that it has a hard time playing youtube videos in the HD setting, same for facebook. HOWEVER i have read up on this and it is a problem with ALL netbooks, the 1.6ghz processor just can't handle streaming video at that quality. however if you download the youtube video and then play it through windows media player for example, it runs flawlessly. Hope that helps anyone who is currently in the market for a netbook, i would still say this is one of the best purchases i have made.
I'm not one to continually update a review but here's to my most likely last update unless something goes horribly wrong with it. March 4, 2010.
I thought this may be important to a few who would want to use this as a device to read ebooks etc. Well I have some good news. I have been reading a book (Hunting Games) in adobe reader .pdf format and it has been fantastic. the words are large, i can actually just sit and scroll with the down arrow, i have already read 87 pages today and aside from being a good book the screen has actually been very easy on my eyes, and my eyes tire fairly easily. I have however had it plugged in the whole time so i can't give you a good estimate on battery life when reading. but if you are into reading books on your computer and want to take something with you that is small and weighs about as much as a book, i think this may be your thing. I really am loving it, i should also mention it has been probably over a year since i've read a novel all the way through, its just so easy having it on my netbook that when i'm out and about or just in my room, after i'm done checking facebook, email, amazon, etc i can just relax and read.
word to the wise however, if you decide to sit in bed or have this on your lap with nothing solid and flat under it it will probably get pretty hot. i tried this a few times and found my self holding the bottom up to let some air flow underneath and prevent overheating. i found an easy fix was just to set a binder flat on my lap and then set the netbook on that, then i didn't have to worry about it getting hot AND the angle of the binder made it easy to type and made for a better viewing angle too.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great machine, December 1, 2009
No complaints whatsoever. I was concerned the keyboard would be too small, but I adjusted quickly and now have no trouble typing. I can do everything on this little machine that I did on my 15-inch Compaq. In fact, I even do some C++ programming (for work) and have found that the small screen size is not a serious liability. Definitely buy a wireless mouse ... it makes it far easier to navigate. Also, my computer came with Internet Explorer 6 .... I upgraded to version 8, because this version has a zoom/magnification feature that allows you to zero-in on a particular area of text and enlarge it. If you learn this trick, the small screen will begin to feel much larger.
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40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
You need a back-up computer for this computer, November 11, 2009
I love this computer when it's working -- unfortunately, IT HAS FAILED TWICE IN 8 MONTHS! It had a screen defect -- entire screen turning completely white -- after the first 3 months. The folks at Samsung were nice enough but the service took two weeks so in the interim I HAD TO BORROW A BACK-UP COMPUTER. After getting it back, IT BROKE AGAIN WITH THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM 3-4 months later. Again, I need a backup while waiting for this to be repaired. I suspected this could be a chronic problem so I asked if they would be willing to exchange it. After that I do not have good things to say about Samsung customer service. The first person I talked to said he would call me back regarding the possibility of an exchange. He never did. The second person said it would be possible if I let them hold a deposit on my credit card, which I said was fine. When I was transferred to the service department, the guy said that they won't do an exchange because it's still under warranty! In other words, even though they are not able to fix the problem, I have to keep sending it in for the same service every time it fails again, and when it's no longer under warranty, they'll send me a new computer??? Somehow I doubt I will have any leverage once the warranty period is out. Given that I have lost faith in their ability to repair a computer, in their ability to give me consistent information, AND THAT I HAVE TO GO OUT AND BUY ANOTHER COMPUTER PURELY TO SERVE AS A BACK-UP while this one is being repaired, I might as well just buy a more reliable computer. Very sad because I searched a long time before deciding to buy this, and I love all the features, but great features can never surpass poor durability and inflexible policies.
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