Samsung N110 review

Samsung’s N110, like the N120, is a successor to the company’s NC10, the winner of our last netbook round-up.

This model is very similar to the N120, but has a slightly smaller keyboard and stereo speakers instead of a 2.1 set. Although not quite as stylish as the N310, the N110 still looks great thanks to its glossy black lid and red trim. It’s not available in white like the N120 and NC20, though.

The keys aren’t as large as those on the N120 and don’t give quite as much feedback, but they’re still large and responsive enough for comfortable touch-typing. A standard layout is used, but the tab and cursor keys are a little small. The touchpad is accurate and reasonably large, although the pivoting button is a little small and feels slightly spongy.

Unsurprisingly, the 10in glossy widescreen display looks almost identical to the screens on Samsung’s two other 10in netbooks here. Although it’s not as dark as the IdeaPad’s screen, it looks a little gloomy next to the startlingly bright displays on Acer’s Aspire One D250 and Mesh’s Neo.

The N110’s stereo speakers are reasonably loud, but sound very muddy. Although the N120’s 2.1 speakers sound clearer and better balanced, they aren’t as loud and still have weak bass so their absence from the N110 isn’t a huge loss. A good pair of headphones is essential for enjoying music and video for any extended amount of time.

We were hugely impressed with the N110’s extraordinary battery life; it lasted nearly nine- and-a-half hours in our light-usage battery test. This is not only the longest time in this test, but also one of the longest times for any portable computer we’ve ever seen. It’s long enough to last a transatlantic flight with time to spare. The rest of the N110’s specification is in line with what we’d expect from a netbook at this price, although the memory card reader supports only SDHC and MMC cards.

Samsung’s N110 might seem expensive, but the nine-hour battery life means it’s a brilliant choice if you travel a lot.