Samsung N120 review

The 10-inch display on the N120 isn't as good as the one on the NC10. They have the same 1,024x600-pixel resolution, and they both have good image quality, but the problem lies in the glossy coating. Samsung's obviously included it to improve the perceived contrast and image quality, but it slightly reduces image clarity when used outdoors, due to the increased reflectivity. To be fair though, it's not as reflective as some models and it's perfectly possible to see what's going on, even in direct sunlight.

Windows XP Home is the operating system of choice for the N120. It also comes with CyberLink YouCam -- a webcam utility that applies all sorts of childish, pointless effects to your webcam video and pictures, plus a pack of Samsung's own battery-mananagement and networking software.

Performance
The N270 is just as fast (or slow, depending on how you look at it) as most of its rivals. Its N270 CPU helped it return a PCMark 2005 score of 1,447. That's not quite as impressive as the 1,530 achieved by the Eee PC 1008HA Seashell, or other netbooks that use an N280 Atom CPU, but the Samsung N120 is powerful enough to do the casual tasks most of us undertake on a daily basis.

Battery life is the N120's forte. According to Samsung, its 5,700mAh battery is good for up to 10.5 hours of use. It fell a little short of that in our tests, but it's respectable nonetheless. In our hardcore Battery Eater classic test, which runs the CPU at full tilt until the battery expires, the machine lasted a very respectable 5 hours 21 minutes. That's second only to the Eee PC 1000HE, which lasted 5 hours 48 minutes.

Earlier in this review, we mentioned the N120 was the first netbook with a subwoofer. We weren't expecting much performance, which is just as well, because the audio system is utter bobbins. Its two main stereo speakers sound okay by netbook standards, and the third speaker (sorry, subwoofer) underneath contributes to the overall volume -- so it's slightly louder than most netbooks -- but there's no real bass to speak of.

Conclusion
The N120 is a very good netbook. You might not care for its relatively large chassis, but it has a comfortable (if slightly flawed) keyboard and fabulous battery life. It's almost -- but not quite -- as good as the Eee PC 1000HE.

Edited by Nick Hide