Netbooks are a godsend for travellers who need a lightweight laptop while they travel – and the Samsung N110 is one of the best of the current bunch
A year ago I wrote about the arrival of tiny and cheap eeePC laptops pioneered by Asus. These laptops were the first wave of netbooks, inexpensive computers that were perfect for people on the move – and also for backpackers and travellers who wanted a notebook with them but without the potential heartbreak of losing or breaking an expensive laptop. (See my Seven Tips For Taking A Laptop Travelling for some other tips on travelling with a laptop).
Netbooks have evolved rapidly since the eeePc first came out, and recently I finally bought one myself because I found a particular model that fits all my requirements. It’s the Samsung N110. I’ve been using it extensively for a couple of months now and I have to say it’s an excellent machine – here’s why:
Samsung N110
Small and lightweight – the Samsung is exactly half the size and nearly half the weight of my previous travel laptop, a low budget Toshiba model that was released in Thailand four years ago. This is a real godsend as it’s made my carry on luggage less weighty and bulky 0 and the Samsung is small enough to comfortably fit on an airline seat tray as well.
Cheap – the Samsung is currently $319 on Amazon.com – that is staggeringly cheap for what you get
Full sized keyboard – despite its small form factor, the Samsung N110 has a full-sized keyboard. This was probably the most important thing to me – as I can touch type, I need a keyboard that my fingers can fit on without feeling scrunched and where the keys are located in their traditional places, not shunted around to fit in the available space. As I have chunky manfingers, the keyboard will probably have enough space for everyone else too. The best thing to do is go to a store and physically try different keyboards, (Open Notepad and type a few sentences to see how it feels). It was the keyboard that in the end made me choose this model over the latest Asus eeePC range (insert model names) and several other Samsung models that have different styles of keyboard.
Long lasting battery – the Samsung N110’s battery lasts up to 8 hours – and that’s not a spurious manufacturer’s claim. Besides the keyboard, this was the other important thing for me – it’s increasingly easy to find wifi these days, but finding an electrical socket to power your laptop can be a pain – much more convenient to be able to start up the laptop and use it without concern the battery will run out after a couple of hours.
Good sized screen – the 10 inch screen is fine for writing documents and answering emails, and is adequate for downloading and organising photos. I wouldn’t do any heavy photo editing on the Samsung – that can wait til I get back from a trip. The screen brightness can be easily adjusted too and it gives a crisp, sharp image.
Big hard drive – the Samsung N110 has 160 gb hard drive – which is more than enough for storing all photos shot during a trip plus movies, music and documents.
Easy mobile internet connectivity – the Samsung N110 comes with Bluetooth which is easy to enable – with Nokia PC Suite software installed, I’ve found it’s easy to connect my Nokia E51 and laptop to each other using Bluetooth and from there be able to go online on my laptop using the Nokia E51 as my modem. This gives me internet access anywhere. For more info on mobile internet access in Thailand, please see my previous article which gives step by step instructions on how to connect your phone to your notebook using a Thai SIM card.
Speedy processor and memory – The specs for the Samsung N110’s processor and memory are an Intel chip and 1024 megs of memory, which makes it quite zippy even with taxing graphics programs like Adobe Lightroom. It’s wise to only have a couple of applications open at a time to avoid slowing the machine to a crawl.
WindowsXP – with Windows 7 just out, this is possibly not quite so important, but I much prefer having Windows XP rather than Windows Vista installed on my netbook. It takes up less space and memory and is tried and trusted enough to just work.
It’s worth noting that most netbooks – the Samsung included – don’t come with a DVD or CD drive built in, so if you want to install stuff from CD or DVD you’ll need to buy a separate drive to plug into the netbook. The Samsung does come with 3 USB ports, microphone, speaker and monitor outputs, so the lack of a drive is the only real drawback.
In short, I’m very pleased with the Samsung N110 – I’ve found it a pleasure to use and very convenient. It’s definitely helped my productivity, as its small, lightweight size means I carry it virtually everywhere and with its fast bootup time and long battery life, I can use it pretty much everywhere too. Netbooks have definitely come of age and if you do a lot of travelling and need computer access, the Samsung N110 is certainly worth considering.
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