LikeColdplay's tunes, netbooks have a reputation for being a little on the samey side. Unlike Coldplay's songs, however, every now and again one comes along that cracksthe mould open. The NF210 from Samsung, which ispriced at around £330, is one such example.
Samsung NF210
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
That's how this netbook rolls
Whatsets this model apart from its peers is mainly its interesting design. Samsunghas used a manufacturing technology call In Mold Rolling to shape the chassisin a way we simply haven't come across before. It's allowed Samsung tolend the netbook a really sculpted shape, where the edges of the chassis rise up in a sort of curved wing profile. The lid has acorresponding concave edge that hugs the wings when closed. As aresult, when you view the netbook from the side it has a slightly wave-shaped silhouette.Samsung has combined this interesting sculpting with a gorgeous, glossy whiteand brushed-aluminium finish to create one of the best-looking netbooks we've seen -- the photos don't really do it justice.
Thekeyboards on other Samsung netbooks have generally been of a very highstandard, so we were expecting good things from this one and, thankfully, itdoesn't disappoint. Using an isolated keyboard design, Samsung has managed toproduce a keyboard that doesn't feel too cramped despite the netbook's small dimensions. The keys don't have all that much travel, so they do feel a little toy-likeunder your fingers to begin with, but you soon get used to this and start toappreciate their snappy responsiveness. While the trackpad isn't thelargest we've seen on netbooks this size, your finger does glideeffortlessly across it and the two buttons feel quite solid, too.
Samsung has decided against a glossy coating for the NF210's display, which is an unusual move for a consumer-focused laptop. Instead, it's gone for a matte, anti-glarefinish. This does mean colours don't look quite as vibrant and in yourface as they do on some glossy displays, but it has the benefit of being mucheasier on the eyes, especially if you're working under bright lights. Also, theLED backlighting means the screen still looks quite bright. Although theresolution of 1,024x600 pixels is nothing we haven't seen on a netbook before,the small size of the 10.1-inch display means videos, images and text stilllook very crisp and sharp.
Twice the core
Asyou would expect, the netbook has 1GB of RAM and runs Windows 7 Starter, but thebig surprise is that this model is one of the first to hit the market sportingthe new dual-core N550 Atom processor, clocked at 1.5GHz. Although theclock speed is lower than the more traditional 1.6GHz Atom N270 chip, the extracore should produce a decent bump in overall performance. In our PCMark05 test,this doesn't show through to a huge degree -- the netbook scored 1,634,compared to the 1,285 scored by Samsung's Atom N270-equipped N130 model. It felt noticeably more responsive in use, although it still hasn't gotthe grunt to play high-definition videos from the BBC's iPlayer service smoothly. 3Dperformance is just as poor as it is on other netbooks -- the NF210 onlymanaged to crawl to a score of 145 in 3DMark06, so you're only going to be able to play very, very old 3D titles on this one.
Shy of HDMI
Samsunghas kitted the NF210 out with a 250GB hard drive, which is par for the courseon netbooks, and the line-up of ports is no surprise, either. There are three USBports along with a VGA output and Ethernet socket. Sadly, there's no HDMI port. Alongside the 801.11n Wi-Fi, Samsung has included Bluetooth 3.0, whichsupports faster transfer speeds when used with compatible 3.0 devices.
The NF210's battery performance wasn't great by netbook standards. In our Battery Eatertest, it only managed to keep running for four hours and 28 minutes before itran out of juice. The N130, in comparison, kept running for well over ninehours. That said, the Battery Eater test runs the CPU at 100 per cent tosimulate worst-case scenario battery drain, so you're likely to get significantly longer life from the battery with normal use.
Conclusion
Welove the Samsung NF210's sculpted design, great keyboard and dual-core processor. At £330, however, it's quite pricey by netbook standards, and the performanceboost offered by the Atom processor is perhaps not as significant aswe would have expected. Its lack of an HDMI port, as found on similarly priced rivals, is also a little disappointing.
Edited by Emma Bayly