Samsung dual core netbook

I've found an interesting second hand netbook at an interesting price.
It is a Samsung NF310 A01 that I can buy at a price of 200 euro.
It has 3 months and is in very good conditions.

What about it ?
Is it a good product, considering that I'd like to use it as second machine (I've already have a core 2 duo 14.1" notebook) ?

My principal concerns are about keyboard and display quality.

 

Looks ok in the photos. Though coming from your business notebook it certainly won't have the durability you now have.

Have you thought about selling the 6510b to get something smaller? Eg: Lenovo X200/X201, HP 2530P/2540P or Dell E4310?

Consider how comfortable you'd be using a netbook's 102x600 LCD. Some users complain of headaches...

 

What you mean with durability ?
The netbook in contest has a resolution 1366x768 that seems to be average good for a 10"

I thought seeling my current lappy but then I'd have to buy a new one with (at least) comparable features... but for the moment I've not the needed bidget.

I was interested into have a "first" machine to use for work and programming (java, c, c++) and a "second machine", really light, portable and small, to use every day (web surfing, text editor, limited programming) bringing it with me "everywhere".

 

Indeed, it's 1366x768. A big plus. By durability I mean the material and chassis strength. Sounds like you've made your mind up to go for it.

 

Ok, I know that in terms of chassis quality it will not be like a business notebook but being a Samsung product I expect to have, however, an average good product.
And indeed the reviews I read seems to agree in this sense.

The battery is not very long life but being a dual core... 5/6 hours of life time aren't so bad.

And last but not least... the price... I wonder that 170 euro for almost new netbook with these features are quite good.

Not ?

 

There's useful reviews here and here. The dual core CPU and higher resolution display mean that you don't get the normal netbook battery life but you do get more real estate and better performance.

I would get this over a normal netbook because of the extra display space. I once had an NC10 and an NC20. The former went and the latter stayed because the 1280 x 800 display made it much more usable.

Regarding build quality, Samsung's netbooks have a good track record so I would hope this is no different. Their netbook keyboards are usually OK and this doesn't look to be an ultra-thin chassis where keyboard travel is compromised.

At €200 I would grab it unless you want very long battery life (but Samsung claim >9 hours).

John

 

Thanks John, I'm really wondering to buy it.

The declared battery life is higher than the real one.
In these review it seems to be around 5/6 hourse (With brightness at 60%).
No more.
Samsung NF310 - A Review of the Samsung NF310
Samsung NF310 review

 

I'm also wondering if the dual core version of atom (1.G Ghz) is effectively more performant than single versione core.

For the most part it seems to be only a little bit better.

 

1. Turn down the display brightness to minimum, turn off wireless and leave the computer running but down nothing and you might get close to Samsung's claimed battery life. 50% brightness is high if you are trying to maximise the battery time, but minimum brightness is often unusable.

2. The dual core CPU may not be faster than a single core but will make the computer feel more responsive. Think of one versus two checkouts open at the supermarket. If there is no queue then how many checkouts are open makes no difference but if there are two checkouts running then the queue gets processed twice as quickly.

John

 

In conclusion, for that money, Do you think it can be a good second machine or it can be better, for me, await for other types of netbooks ?

 

At that price (definitely in netbook territory) you would be getting an above-average netbook. The standard netbook display resolution can be somewhat inconvenient to use.

John

 

Do You think it's possible to use it for not so long "programming sessions" with editors like geany, gedit, emacs and in minor cases eclipse and netbeans ?

 

I'm sure that it would make a reasonable job of running those programs. I don't think they will be very CPU intensive but you can check on your current computer by using Task Manager and checking the Processes tab.

John

 

Another thing... is it presumable that in a 10/12 months it will be again (well) soldable or not ?

 

Almost anything can be resold provided the price is attractive to the purchaser. The NF310 will have a price premium over a normal netbook of similar age.

John

 

I meant if it will be reselable without a big loss of money respect to 200 euro spent for the purchase.

 

The recent release of the 12.5" Lenovo X120E and 11.6" HP DM1Z netbook alternatives using AMD-fusion and the March/April release of Sandy Bridge notebooks will put downward pressure on all atom/c2d/i-core(1st gen) prices.

 

I'm not so sure.
I think those products are in another price category than netbook like this one.

 

At €200 the SF310 will have gone a long way down its depreciation curve. I would expect it to be worth at least €150 in a year's time provided it is in good condition and the battery is fairly healthy.

John

 

I think so.
Neverthelees in this period AMD is producing several really interesting cpus (in terms of consumption and performance) that can be effectively downward the atom netbooks quotation.

 

I'm about to decide among this netbook and an "old" ibm X41 with Pentium M 1.6 ghz

How can be considered atom N550 respect to the Pentium M, mainly for how concern performance and then about battery life ?

 

There's not a lot of difference in the CPU performance between the Atom and a 1.6GHz Pentium M. However, I suspect that netbook graphics will be a bit faster.

John

 

I'm not interested in graphics performances but only in performance regarding text editing, browsing and "common" application execution.
I was wondering if, being a dual core,... the N550 is (a little) faster than pentium M.

 

Yes. It is likely to be more responsive, even if it is not actually faster.

John

 

Another question: considering the netbook in question is it better to keep windows 7 starter edition or downgrade to xo professional, if available ?

Consider that I intend to have a dual boot with windows and linux.

Thanks, Stefano.

 

Are there any features of XP Pro that you need but Win 7 starter doesn't have? If so, then the OS downgrade may be necessary but, personally, I would prefer to keep to the newer OS.

John

 

I don't need features that win 7 lacks.
I wonder, instead, if win 7 is more resource hungry than XP.

In such a case, considering the "poor" hardware of the netbook...

 

I think that one reason that Win 7 starter lacks some features is to make it run better with limited RAM. After all, it has to work with the 1GB RAM that netbooks are sold with (although all purchasers should upgrade this to 2GB).

John