Asus may have kick-started the netbook revolution with its Eee PC, but Samsung has emerged as one of the dominant players in the market thanks to a broad range of devices that offer style, comfort and superb build quality. The N150 netbook, then, has a lot to live up to.

The keyboard marks a departure from the usual Samsung offering – instead of shiny, flat keys, the N150’s buttons have rounded edges and a matte finish – but the quality is still high. The keys feel responsive and welcoming and, even though there’s not quite as much travel as we’d like, we’d be comfortable using the N150 for long typing sessions.

We were able to get up to speed quickly, too, in part due to the sensible layout: the double-height return key and normal-sized space bar, shift and control buttons are also in their usual locations, and the standard keys are also of a good size. Our only qualm is the delete key, which is smaller than we’d like.

The track pad is good, too. The surface is slick and responsive and the button – a rocker instead of two independent keys – is light and pleasant to use.

Sitting above the keyboard is a typically impressive Samsung screen. The LED-backlit panel is one of the brightness we’ve seen on a netbook, and quality also passes muster, with accurate colours and sharp detail. The native resolution of 1,280 x 600 pixels is our only minor complaint, and occasionally sees applications running at 1,024 x 768 disappear below the taskbar.

When it comes to build quality, though, Samsung’s usual standards haven’t been maintained.

The lid didn’t flex too much under pressure but the screen within displayed plenty of desktop distortion and we experienced some creaking. The wrist rest was little better, bending when light pressure was applied.

It’s not much of a looker, either: the majority of the chassis is crafted from cheap, plain plastic, and the only real concessions to style are the burnt orange strip around the base and the shiny lid which, we noticed, quickly gathered fingerprints. Three USB ports, a VGA output and a card reader are scattered around the exterior.

We’ve been accustomed to netbooks running on the ubiquitous Intel Atom processor, but Samsung has used a new version of the chip in its latest machine. The Atom N450 runs at 1.6GHz and follows the lead set by Intel’s more powerful Core i3 and i5 parts by including an integrated GPU within the chip, albeit on a separate die.

The new processor, though, hardly kept up with older Atom chips: its score of 0.32 in our benchmarks is around 20 per cent slower than we’d expect from the average netbook and will limit the N150 to the most basic of tasks. That integrated GPU, meanwhile, is a lowly Intel GMA 3150, won’t handle games or HD video, and will look even more outdated with the forthcoming arrival of Nvidia’s ION 2.

While the new CPU didn’t wow us with its performance, Intel has claimed that depositing the graphics chip onto the same die increases efficiency a...

Author: Mike Jennings

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