Samsung shows off rugged touchscreen netbook

Posted on 22 Feb 2010 at 15:44

Samsung has announced the NB30, a ruggedised netbook that also comes with a touchscreen display.

There’s little to distinguish most netbooks from each other these days, so it takes something a little extra to get our attention. Samsung’s latest addition to its already large range of netbooks is the NB30.

Samsung states that it has a shock and scratch resistant casing, most notably its rubberised lid. Its water-tight seal is designed to protect the delicate electronics inside from up to 50cc of spilled liquid. The hard disk is also equipped with a freefall sensor that’s supposed to park the disk heads if it detects the netbook has been dropped, but this has been a feature on other laptops for several years now.

In our brief hands-on testing of a demonstration unit at the Samsung Forum in Vienna, the base of the NB30 felt rigid and robust but the rubberised lid flexed alarmingly under pressure. This is less than impressive for what is supposed to be a rugged netbook.

The 10.1in screen is touch sensitive and also recognises multitouch gestures, but we remain unconvinced that such a feature is desirable ergonomically on a netbook. Samsung claims the NB30 has up to 11 hours of battery life, thanks in part to the LED backlighting on the display.

The NB30 will come equipped with an Intel Atom N450, but other specs and UK pricing have yet to be confirmed. The NB30 will available from March.

Author: Alan Lu

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