Samsung N120 - Now Available

I'm outside on my n120 right now, with my back to the sun. I'd say while there are definitely some reflections, the screen is still pretty viewable with the brightness cranked all the way up. I've used some laptops that were just so reflective I probably wouldn't be able to see anything on the screen right about now. So, honestly, it's not ideal, but it works in a pinch.

 

Can anyone tell me more about that SIM card slot? It´s on every N120? Anyone knows what kind of software will I need to make it work? I actually own a Huawei E226 modem for 3g conection, and it will be interesting to use the machine without it...

 

Tried it outdoors on my patio in the shade this morning and the display turned up on full bright did just fine. Taking it out in direct sunlight it was a bit more reflective, but certainly usable. Though in all honesty if I knew I was mainly going to use this thing outside in direct sunlight, I think I'd have to look for another option. But outdoors in the shade it is more than adequate thanks to the less reflective display that Samsung has used. Fortunately for me I didn't buy this to use outdoors. I go to various offices, home, hotel, coffee shop etc. Works great in those places with no issues.

 

thanks for the feedback. and the n110 has the same exact screen then? what are the other reasons the n120 seems to be picking up the majority over n110?

 

Bigger keyboard (almost standard size 97%), better sound with the subwoofer (which is basically a 1" speaker on the bottom left side) but it does provide for a bit louder and better sound experience for the same price. You did read the review didn't you? LOL

I really see no point in bothering with the N110 myself.

 

My N120 just arrived (at work)!!! I can't wait to take it out for a spin as soon as I get home. Hope I'll be as enthusiastic as everyone.

I can't believe the box itself is about the size of my lunch box! hahaha..

 

Really thinking about grabbing one. But damn...it's $150 more than I can get a new Eee PC 1000HE for.

trying to justify it being worth the difference.

 

Congrats, oh you'll be as happy as the rest of us there is little doubt about that.

If price is your only consideration then get the ASUS, but for me it was about quality, support a bigger keyboard with a full size right shift key and better sound. Asus support is terrible from my experience and I bought 2 Asus 1000HE's. I wish I had not, but I've assigned them to staff, who constantly complain about that tiny right shift key, which was my beef with it too.

 

any ideas when amazon is restocking the n120 in black?

 

amazon has the white for $432. sheesh. there as cheap now as the NC10.

 

No idea whatsoever. I would call them and see if they can give you an ETA. I would suspect they should get some in any day.

These have certainly out sold the N110 as there doesn't seem to be much interest in those looking at Amazon's web site.

 

if I were to buy one today, which would be better: the N110, N120 or the NC10?

The N110 and NC10 basically cost the same, so my logic says I'd pick the N110 over the NC10.

The N120 costs a little more than the N110, so while I am leaning towards the N120 due to the positive reviews, are the differences between both netbooks (N110 and N120) big enough to justify paying about $70 more for the N120?

Might as well add that the NC20 is an option too. (I honestly didn't think about it while I asked a while ago)

 

A couple options for deals on an N120:

Sign up for Microsoft Live Cashback - go to http://www.live.com , click the cashback link and sign up, search for n120 - you can get 8% cash back on eBay buy it now. If you're ok with white, you could get one through buy.com's eBay store for $398 after cash back. Otherwise the black one would run you $423 after cash back. Not a whole lot more than an NC10.

 

I'd definitely pick the N120 over the N110, unless you have small hands. The larger keyboard alone is worth the extra cash, never mind the better audio.

Personally, I went with the NC20, as I value the larger 1280x800 screen real estate. I find it very usable as an everyday notebook, something I couldn't say about the various 1024x600-resolution netbooks I've used.

But the N120 has longer battery life and somewhat better audio, so if those matter more to you than screen size, it's a great choice.

 

Well I guess it depends on what you are basically doing everyday? I've found taking the N120 on the road to be very productive even with the limited screen resolution. I would love to have the higher resolution, but personally I have always been leery of Via Processors and Chipsets, just too many bad experiences over the years. Plus as you said the battery life sort of killed the deal, but with your recent 7800 mAh battery review, this may have just been solved for the most part. It does add bulk even though not a lot of substantial weight.

I do agree though I think you just have to look at all the variables, decide how you will use the machine and then go from there. Do you find the glossy display to be overly reflective on the NC20. Some have reported it to be pretty bad, though no one has compared it to the N120 which in my experience has very minimal reflective qualities.

 

what sleeve/case do you all carry yours in? anyone have experience with one of these with use on the n120? http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NC10-...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241519633&sr=8-1

 

I am using the Targus TDC007US, which is a mini notebook bag. It provides an extra pocket to carry the power adapter when needed, though I usually never bring it.

 

I am on my new n120 white right now. Just got it in today from buy.com. AWESOME! I have short fat fingers and I have no trouble with the keyboard.

I do have some questions that some of you could help me with...

Avast - I took the advice and removed the mcafee and installed the free home edition avast. Should i adjust any settings to make sure it doesnt use too many resources?

Also, are there any other programs that are excess and can be removed?

Thanks!

 

ajreynol, and to all those who can't decide, 2 weeks ago I was in this dilemma trying to decide on the Asus PC1000HE; Samsung NC10-SE; or the MSI U120. Each with its strength and weakness made it very difficult to choose leaving plenty of room for me to have 'second thoughts' after making the purschase. Then came the N120, and I know I will not regret jumping on it.

You are right! I'm happy! I've been on it all night without getting tired of typing on it. You were lying about how quiet the fan is. It's barely audible. (Thumbs up!)

And the size is so perfect. Not too small and not too big. Here's a comparison to my Logitech Edge keyboard, which itself is rather compact.

 

amazon restocked these apparently just a few hours or so after i asked. put in my order for one with the crucial 2gb.

will these be able to handle an upgrade to windows 7 by any chance? haven't used it yet personally but would be a nice option a little ways down the road. hearing good things.

 

Sweet Burman, I am glad to see Amazon got them back in stock. I figured they would get them fairly soon.

I am runing Windows 7 RC on mine right now. It will setup everything, but I did install the RealTek Audio drivers because it will give you the SRS functionality, the native Windows drivers do not. I also installed the Synaptics drivers because the native windows drivers don't allow scrolling.

I think the only thing else I installed was the Battery Extender, Display Manager so that when I use the fn keys it will show the info on the screen.

 

and is it running everything just as smooth and speedy as it does xp? have not been paying too close to attention just tempted to give into the buzz. i also wouldn't mind going straight to 7 when this comes in rather than get XP set up just the way i like it only to clean install for 7 a week or two later.

 

If you have a usb DVD burner, my suggestion would be to use the Samsung Recovery III software and create a full backup. Then you can go back should you decide you want XP.

But Win 7 is working great for me. I have no plans to go back to XP, but I do have the backup DVD's should I want too.

If I were you I'd play around with XP a bit and then compare Win 7 I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and how great Win 7 runs on these netbooks.

 

Well, I now have 2GB of RAM and a 500GB 5400RPM HD in my N120.





PS: And a special thank you to Samsung for not including an XP disc or any sort of disc to restore the system from.

 

Yeah, they really should have included the XP restore disc as they did with other models like the NC10, NC10 SE to name a couple.

Thank goodness for my Windows Home Server backup. When I installed my hard drive, I just used the Windows Home Sever Restore and it installed everything on my new drive including the Samsung Recovery III partition just like it came out of the box except now it is a 320gb 7200 RPM hard drive instead.

 

I got my hands on a XP Home OEM CD with SP3 and used it. Then I used the driver CD they included. I had to change the XP PID and then activate, but it worked.

 

Hi OTACORB. I'm planning on installing Windows 7 on my N120 as well. That is, when it returns from being serviced due to a grinding noise that developed the second day I had it I'm finding two versions available (x86 and x64). Do you know what the difference is and should I favor one over the other? Thanks.

 

anyone had issues with staying connected on a wireless network?

It may be my uverse tonight but it has been going from connected to acquiring network address a handful of times throughout the night when it used to never do that....

 

You want the x86 version, the x64 is for 64 bit computers which this is not.

 

Some people have had problems with the Atheros wireless card holding a connection and gone as far as replacing it. First check the Atheros website for the latest driver and then check the power management options for the card in Device Manager.

John

 

Why did you not just exchange it rather than send it in for this grinding noise out of curiosity since you had just purchased it?

The Atom processor is only 32 bit, so you can't run the 64 bit version.

Since you have not had problems before it likely this is a localized problem. However, I have found that the Atheros card to seem a bit weak (low signal) picking up wireless connections than most others I've had. Now with that said, I've never really had connectivity issues or staying connected issues. I connect to probably 10 or more wireless routers and/or waps in the course of a week. I did do one thing recently that appears to help with the low signal issue, which was to download a newer driver. I am currently using Windows 7 so it installed a default driver. Once I installed the new driver it seems the signal is more close to other wireless cards I've used in the past.

 

Just as a FYI, the Samsung Easy Display update that their update utility found hosed my N120 a bit.

It installs and then tells you that you need to reboot. Then in the background as it's shutting down Windows there's a window asking if you want to uninstall it and just it sits till you click something. If you pick yes it uninstalls and is gone on reboot. If you pick no after reboot the app is still there. However, in either case after rebooting the function hot keys no longer work. You can't adjust the screen brightness or do anything else there's a hot key for. Subsequent reboots will not fix it. I had to reinstall the various Samsung applets to get the hot keys working again.

 

Mine finally arrived yesterday and I am definitely loving the N120 as my first entry into the netbook market. Pretty much spot on what other reviewers/owners have said. (especially OTACORB)

 

Ok... I waited for an answer about the sim card slot, and no one responsed... Does anybody knows? It´s on every copy of the N120? Does it work? I have an external 3g modem, but it could be great if I can stick my 3g simcard inside the netbook...
My N120 will arrive to my home at the end of the month, please tell me anything, can you?

 

Great, I am glad it is working out so well for you. I love this little machine myself.

Sorry, I have no info on this as I have no need or desire to use a sim card in mine. Maybe someone else with the information will be able to answer for you. I'd like just get a USB setup if I was going to do this so that I could use it on other computers as well.

 

I ordered it from an e-bay vendor who was really great to work with and quick to ship. Unfortunately, he quickly found himself out of stock like a lot of others so, after speaking with Samsung, it seemed faster just to send it in for service rather than waiting for the vendor to get more stock. Samsung has a 14 day turnaround and they e-mailed me a return label for UPS. Kind of dissapointing for a brand new item but I can live without it for two weeks.

 

Just curious - what driver are you using? I was having a horrible time connecting to my Airport router with the driver that came pre-loaded, although I connected just fine to one of my Linksys. Eventually I got it working though, after I downloaded 7.6.1.244 from atheros.cz and completely re-did the Airport setup..I have no idea why it didn't connect before, but it does now, and that's what matters.

 

You would have to outfit some sort of internal 3g modem as well as the sim card for it to work, not sure where you'd get one, or what to look for..but it looks like there's an empty slot. I'm good with tethering my G1, works like a charm.

 

I am using the latest Vista Drivers, I found the drivers that are installed under Windows 7 were pretty weak in terms of signal strength. I don't have the N120 with me to look for the exact driver version for you. But if you need it I can get it for you later. I had some heavy spreadsheet work to do today, so I opted to run my Lenovo T400 instead of the N120.

 

Just got my N120, did a complete reinstall with Win XP Pro SP3. Downloaded all drivers, software - however cannot find the display driver. Stuck on 800x600 and ? in device manager. Any ideas?

Also read above about possible 3G chip in here? Can you get one that would replace the wifi with 3G as well?

Thanks

 

I have not checked the Disc that came with N120 did you check there.

Also try here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2301

In regard to 3G chip, I have no idea!

 

I'll go out on a limb and assume the n120 uses the same display driver as the NC10 - try the one here and let us know if it works

http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/...10-14GW&model_cd=NP-NC10-KA01US&menu=download

As for the 3G, it doesn't have it built in, but supposedly has an empty slot that you can pop a 3G modem in.

 

Sorry mayormullet, but in the page 20 of this thread, you can see clearly a photo from the user Stereodude, where we can see a Sim Card slot... I asked about it, and no one has answers yet... Maybe some N120´s have that slot and some others don´t...
Hope mine does, but I will have to wait to know, because my Sammy will be here at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, I just cross my fingers and wait.

Otacorb told me before that he likes to use a USB 3g modem, but I wish I could have the SimCard inside the netbook, and keep 3 USB ports free. (I can use my "soap" (e226 Huawei 3g modem) on my other computers...

If anyone has an answer about the Simcard slot, please share with us...

 

Right, I saw those photos as well - I'd be surprised if the slots didn't exist on all N120s, of course you're gonna need to add the 3G modem as well as pop in a sim card with a data plan..

I found this site that described how to mod an Acer Aspire One to do it, it's probably a similar procedure with an N120:

http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/modding-the-acer-aspire-one-hsdpa/

 

I checked out my version number for you and I have the following version, which I downloaded with DriverMax 7.6.1.244 (Vista Version) So it is the same as yours!

 

It's on the driver DVD that came with the N120.

 

So, Stereodude... Where have you bought your N120? That could help us to know about the Simcard slot...

 

I bought mine from Buy.com. Not sure what that has to do with with the slot though.

 

I just asked to know, because maybe there are different N120 models in different countries

 

Did anyone else experience this? I have downloaded this update but have not installed. I'd like to see what the other owners experience has been. Thanks