Samsung N120-12GW 10.1-Inch White Netbook - 6 Cell Battery

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I bought this last week after reading a LOT of reviews on various netbooks. I wanted something lightweight, durable and reliable for traveling especially via plane. I have a fairly portable laptop already but every extra ounce seems to really seem heavy walking through airports, NYC, etc. I also like the idea of being able to carry a lightweight machine to public places where i can get a little work done without needing to carry a laptop, power cord, etc.
I was a little worried that a netbook would not be 'enough' but so far it has been outstanding!
This particular netbook is far nicer looking and seemingly more durable than ANYTHING i've seen at local stores. Although the screen is advertised as 'glossy' it is not overly so and looks nothing like the HP and Asus 'glossy' screens. The keyboard is fantastic and the built in track pad works really well. Battery life has been very good - I got close to 8 hours the first time I charged it. This netbook is comfortable to type on and has rounded edges. The speakers are decent and certainly better sounding than many other netbooks on the market.
I recently loaded Office 2007 - it runs just fine. I also UN-Loaded the pre-installed McAfee software, replaced with AVG and that was a good decision - things are much faster without McAfee. I plan to upgrade to 2 gb of RAM but right now everything runs just fine with the installed 1 gb.
Although a netbook will probably not ever replace my laptop, it is perfect for the times i want/need to have computer access for internet, email and word processing/office type work. The convenience of being able to take this very portable, lightweight machine with me is a real bonus!
Although this netbook is a bit more expensive than some others on the market, I think it's worth the extra money.

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I purchased a Samsung NC10 a few months ago and continue to love it. My wife and I travel around the world every year for business and pleasure, and after she observed my NC10, as I used it on our last trip, she was sold on it and decided to have me order one for her. So I decided that we may as well try one of the newer versions. I chose the N120, mainly for the track pad and keyboard size, and the supposedly better speakers.

Well, it arrived yesterday (5/14/09), and after charging the battery and playing around with it for a few hours we decided to return it and buy another NC10. If I had never had an NC10 for comparison, maybe this would have been fine, but in comparing them side by side, I felt the N120 was slightly inferior.

The first thing that stood out to me (I am very picky about screens) is that the screen was not as easy to read as the matte screen of the NC10. I observed the same photos on each computer and felt the colors were not as accurate, nor as readable as the NC10's screen. It was bright enough, but the impression one would get from looking at both side by side is that the matte screen of the NC10 was overall a bit brighter and easier to view, especially off axis. When I brought the 2 netbooks outside to try them out on the back porch, it was over. The N120's glossy screen made it nearly impossible to see what was happening, as the sky and trees reflected back into the screen, while the NC10's matte screen was completely readable and usable. Also, as I continued to look at both, I kept thinking that the N120's screen was smaller somehow, so I took out a measuring tape and sure enough, the NC10's screen was 1/4" taller than the 120's, and they were both the same width. One thing a netbook is lacking in, is the screen height, and even though it was only a quarter of an inch, that was enough, combined with the inferior color rendition and the glossy screen, to put this back in the box and send it back to Amazon. Of course this is all subjective and ymmv as to what you like in a screen.

The positives of the N120 are that it's still as well constructed as the NC10, has a nicer look with the rounded corners and slightly thinner appearance, plus the slightly larger size of the keys and track pad are desirable. However my wife had no problems with my NC10's keyboard and she uses a travel mouse anyway so the track pad size was not an issue for her.

Further observations from the geeky tweak that I am:

I am always very concerned about wifi signal strength in my laptops because we travel so often and hotel wifi signals are many times so poor that every last bit of signal strength a laptop can provide is like gold to me. Nothing worse than sitting next to your buddy and he's surfing the net while your laptop can't even get a signal. So I though I better try some experiments while I had them both. I tried different positions around the house with both computers to see if either one had an advantage in wifi signal strength. Though this was certainly not a perfect scientific test, I noticed in every different location that the NC10 picked up at least 1 more local connection than the N120. The signal strength of each connection was either the same or one bar higher on the NC10. No biggie, but it was slightly in favor of the NC10.

Then I tried the speakers. Well, to my dismay, there was so little difference in quality between the 2 netbooks that I would have never chosen the N120 over the NC10 for sound alone, even if both were the same in every other way. Completely negligible. Yes, the N120 had a slightly richer bottom end, but believe me, the slight amount was indeed "slight". Both were also almost equal in volume output. That "subwoofer" they say is in the N120 is a joke. Please don't buy this expecting really great sound out of the supplied speakers. It's usable in a pinch for music and completely usable for Skype, but that's it. If you want

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Okay my N120 arrived a little while ago. The keyboard is freaking AWESOME! The trackpad/buttons are about the same size as the NC10 SE and N110. I found the raised buttons much easier to use than the ones on the NC10 which are kind of level or maybe even sunk down a tad. The specs in terms of the width of the case is pretty much the same as the NC10. The case itself is matte finish on the outside and inside on the palm rest etc. (Yeah no more fingerprints) The display is glossy, but really not as glossy as I was expecting. I had one of my staff that has the Acer Aspire One come to my office with his and both of us were shocked at how much more glossy and reflective his was compared to the Samsung N120. Now this isn't to say that it isn't going to have some reflection and glare, because it will, though the display is so bright that for me personally it is totally within an acceptable limit. In side by side comparison... (sorry I don't have my camera at work) sitting directly in front of both that Acer was was more glossy. given a choice, YES I would have preferred a matte display too!

The rounded or beveled edge along the front of the palm rest is really comfortable and it seems there isn't really much more palm rest area than on the NC10.

I logged into Pandora and played some tunes because naturally I wanted to check out that subwoofer. hehehe. It appears to basically be a bit larger speaker on the front left side, along with the 1.5 watt speakers in the bezel around the display. The volume turn up only 25 percent was plenty loud and when you turn it up all the way it is VERY loud. That Acer by comparison is very, very weak as is the NC10. I was surprised that the subwoofer seem to give it much more depth and clarity. I am very, very pleased with the sound. No you aren't going to get any thumping bass, but it certainly adds a dimension to the sound that is simply not there on other netbooks. You can also adjust it as initially I found the sound very tinny, but was able to boost it up with some more bass to level it out.

The bezel around the display isn't pretty, but I don't mind it, having the speakers on each side is a plus in my book.

I did do some comparison between the N120 and NC10 SE. I can tell you that width wise the N120 is about half inch wider, but pretty much the same in all other demensions. The track/mouse pad is a bit bigger.

Another thing I noticed is that Samsung now includes a battery extender like the Lenovo business notebooks. This allows you to only charge the batter to about 80% if you are going to use it on AC a great deal. Though the whole idea of a netbook is to take it off away from AC power. Still I think it is cool that they added this and of course the NC10 doesn't support this.

I think the N120 is a great netbook and it is really no bigger than all the other 10" diplay netbooks, weighs about the same and even less than some, yet has a killer full size keyboard.

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I did a lot of research on the differences between the Samsung NC10 and N120, and Asus' 1000HE before finally deciding on the N120. So here is what i like about it & what i don't like, with some comparisons to the Asus 1000HE and Samsung NC10. I think all 3 are great machines, here are MY personal likes & dislikes and what ultimately persuaded me to go with the N120.....

* Price---Not as big an issue these days due to recent price drops on the Samsung units......When i first started looking at the N120, the price was $460.00 at many places and i think amazon had it listed at around $432.00. so it was only like a $40 difference from the Asus 1000HE which was $389.99 but I was unsure of what to do. So i held out and i'm glad i did. I finally nabbed it for $399.99 which i think is a good deal. now the prices fluctuate every few days it seems. you can often nab this for well under $400.00, i have even seen it drop to $350-something. If you don't need it right away & can stand to wait i would hold out for that price if you can get it. just be sure to check on it every day because they keep playing with the price....

* Battery life---all 3 netbooks have great battery life, in that area you can't go wrong with any of them. You aren't going to get as long a run as whatever they claim the max to be, and It's hard to say exactly how long the batteries will last as it depends on the type of apps running, video playback screen brightness, using energy saver mode, etc; So i'm not sure which one actually lasts the longest, but i think it is the Asus 1000HE. but one can typically get 6hrs from any of the three. The N120 says up to 6hrs, i got about 6 hrs even watching videos & on full screen brightness. (Let me just say that previous to receiving my netbook I was borrowing my boyfriend's macbook which, when brand new, used to hold a charge for only one hr. Now, a year and 1/2 later, the battery is shot. it lasts about 20 mins tops. So as far as i'm concerned, i feel SPOILED getting 6 hrs off one charge.)

* Keyboard/Touchpad---I hate chicklet style keyboards & despite having small hands i am a really sloppy typer and get easily frustrated by typing on netbook keyboards. I like that the 1000HE keyboard has been improved as far as the shift key & size. I tested out the Asus and the keyboard is pretty good. But i was not happy with the amount of pressure required to use the touchpad. I don't like the stiff double button design, I had to press so hard i think it might make my finger hurt after a while, and it makes a loud click noise. In some reviews users noted that in time the stiffness seems to loosen up a bit, but i didn't want to take the chance. The keyboard & touchpad on the N120 are both great. The keyboard is virtually full size, and is without a doubt the best keyboard on a 10.1 inch netbook. You don't need much pressure on the keys. The touchpad is also the largest i've seen. It works great and has awesome sensitivity (not too much, not too little) The N120 netbook itself is about 1/2 inch longer other netbooks of this size screen in order to achieve the virtually full size keyboard, but the machine is actually lighter and slimmer than the 1000HE. And i am happy to report that the N120 has a page scrolling function built in on the right side of the touchpad. I somehow missed this while doing my research so it was a very nice surprise. I love it!

* Aesthetics---Asus' 1000HE has that glossy finish most netbooks have that i absolutely LOATH. I for one can't stand fingerprint smudges all over my laptop & don't plan to waste time constantly cleaning it. I know that seems trivial to some but is a huge pet-peeve of mine. So i was willing to pay a little more to prevent having to deal with it. Also, both Samsung netbooks are prettier looking than the 1000HE, in my opinion. They are slimmer & the matte finish really does look less cheap than the glossy finish. For some reason i

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I originally purchased the NC10 as my first Netbook. I was happy to see that it lived up to most of the postive reviews it has gotten so far and I was pretty happy with my choice. However, being one of the rare few people who prefer a gloss screen and someone who likes to always have the latest and greatest I decided to order the N120 as well and keep the one I liked most after comparing both of them. Here are some of the things I concluded from owning both...

The NC10 feels like its better made for some reason. The shiny plastic although a finger print magnet has a more quality feel to it. It just feels sturdier and more solid. The N120 plastic case feels a little cheap to me. Upside is it does not attract any finger prints and looks somewhat cool.

I found the colors on the NC10 to be more accurate. I compared the both of them while watching a Toy Story clip and definitely saw that this was evident. Also, the N120 by default has a slight bluish tint to all the colors. You can correct this by adjusting the color gammas but you won't get it 100% accurate like the NC10. This prob wont be a big deal to most as Netbooks are not really meant for serious photo editing or processing.

The keyboard on the N120 is a lot more comfortable to type on. No doubt about it. The small difference in size of the keys really makes a huge difference with typing. However, the keys have a slighlty cheaper feel to them compared to the NC10. I almost feel Samsung used cheaper plastic to cut back on weight to make the N120 comparable in weight to the NC10 due to its larger size and bigger battery. Just a theory.

The touch pad is a huge improvement I think on the N120. Using the one on the NC10 started annoying me after a few minutes. The N120 touchpad works great and has a better feel to it.

I didn't find the sound on the N120 to be much of an improvement over the NC10. Do not buy the N120 based on its subwoofer 2.1 sound system because you will be disappointed. The difference was VERY slight.

I didn't really have the chance to compare the battery life but both models are excellent and I'm sure the difference would probably be just an hour.

In the end however I ended up keeping the N120. My reasons were mostly for the nice gloss screen and bigger keyboard. I'm partial to gloss screens because I enjoy the vibrant colors they put out for movies and pictures. It also makes internet surfing more enjoyable to me. Just a personal preference. I also felt that typing on it was a lot more comfortable. The NC10 keys felt cramped to me even though my hands are only average in size.

And last but not least I really didn't care for all the finger prints the NC10 cover would get . I mean you touch the thing once and its a mess! lol

Both are great netbooks. If you are unsure just buy both and keep the one you like. Its too bad you can't test these in any stores. Hope my review helped. Some things I've mentioned already have been said but just wanted to throw my two cents in.

UPDATE: I forgot to add one more thing that stood out when comparing both systems. The N120 does get noticably warmer than the NC10. I used both on my lap and the N120 definitely put out more heat. The NC10 was minimal..you could barely notice it. Again..I still opted to keep the N120. It just has too much going for it.

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I had purchased an Asus 1000 netbook for my son over the holidays and decided that I would get a netbook for my own use. My biggest complaint about the Asus was the small keyboard and weak speakers. It would be unrealistic to think that the sound from a netbook would be great, but there definitely has been room for improvement.

The keyboard is wonderful and typing is a breeze. Very comfortable.

The Samsung N120 is a wonderful solution. They keyboard is full-size (or as near as matters) and they've paid attention to the sound system with an SRS audio card and a miniature sub-woofer...with an emphasis on miniature. Overall, a wonderful little computer. The processor and hard drive are pretty standard for netbooks, but uses the ample battery very efficiently. I have not timed battery usage under different processor loads, but from what I can tell, the professional reviews are accurate.

I am not a fan of Windows XP and tried installing Ubuntu 9.04 remix as a replacement. My home system is configured using WEP2. The Samsung could SEE my router, but would not connect. Several of the Fn keys also did not work properly. I've given up until the issues are addressed elsewhere and contented myself to running the Windows 7 RC. It works great. Everything worked great on the initial install. Nevertheless, I also downloaded VISTA drivers for the Synaptic Touchpad, Atheros WiFi, and Realtek High Definition Audio to gain additional functionality. No problems.

BTW, I created a complete backup of the Windows XP system using the Samsung III recovery software included with the package. Technically, I now have a dual-boot system with XP & Windows 7 onboard.

Any downsides for me? I had wanted a Solid State Drive and may upgrade in the future. The 160 GB drive in the current machine works great and as I said, the computer is silent and runs cool. I also wish that the netbook had adopted 802.11N, but also realize that it probably won't make a big difference in a netbook.

I probably would have preferred a matte screen, but if that REALLY becomes a problem I think you could buy a Matte Screen protector and trim-to-fit the 10.1 inch screen. So far, I love it.

Overall, I m happy with the Samsung and highly recommend it!!

July 11 Update: Love this netbook! Works perfectly. Battery life is around 6 to 7 hours for me. I've used this primarily for emails, but have also given a few PowerPoint presentations with it. Works fine.

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I was torn between the 1000HE, MSI Wind U123, and the N120. I had also considered Samsung's other models, including the N110 and NC10, but finally settled on the N120 and I couldn't be more pleased.

Battery life on the N120 is very impressive. It is rated for 7.5 hours of use, but more is obtainable if you lock the CPU to minimum speeds (800MHz) and reduce brightness. I was able to top 9 hours of use with Wifi on and brightness at 2/8. Less conservative usage with higher brightness (4/8) and auto-cpu speed adjustment will still put you at a minimum of 6 hours. The MSI U123 tops these times by about an hour, but adding the half pound of weight and the hideous battery jutting out of the back was not a worthwhile tradeoff.

The keyboard is excellent. I've tried about 10 other netbooks, and none of their keyboards, except some of the larger HP netbooks, can compare. I can effectively touch type up to 150 WPM on the N120, and have no qualms with the action. I haven't found any other keyboard in any netbook that allowed me to do the same. This includes the 1000HE, which, while it has one of the best 92% size keyboards, still feels unnatural. The 1000HE also has a common problem with characters sometimes double keying, which as of this review, has not been resolved.

The touchpad is quite good for a netbook. It is at least as generous in size than most others, and has just the right amount of sensitivity. The scrolling pad on the right side of the touchpad simulates a mouse wheel scroll, which is a nice feature that is less clumsy than the scroll gestures on other touchpads. Other finger gestures such as zooming are also supported.

The sound quality is very good for a netbook. The 'subwoofer' is nothing to write home about, but does round out the lower to middle spectrum nicely. The volume goes high enough that you can listen to a movie comfortably without compromising on quality. I believe the sound system, while mediocre by laptop standards, is one of the best available on a netbook.

The display is glossy, though not nearly as much as other netbooks such as the Acer line. It is slightly harder to read outdoors than a matte screen, but the tradeoff is acceptable, as the visual clarity is excellent.

There's a lot of software on the machine. The first time you boot the machine, it takes around 20 minutes until you are at the desktop. There is a fair bit of excessive software, including the memory hogging McAfee. Boot time was about 20 seconds when I stripped away all the excess software and upgraded memory to 2GB.

It's built sturdy as a rock. It may not be the most stylish of netbooks, but there's nothing flimsy about the build.

Some miscellaneous notes:

If 802.11n support is a deal breaker, the internal wireless card can be swapped out for an Intel 5300, which supports draft N. Changing it requires taking apart the case, but all you need is an ordinary Phillips screwdriver and steady hands.

The battery life indicator has a tendency to swing around because the discharge rate is constantly changing, because of, among other things, CPU load. Running out the battery to 5% then discharging the rest in the Smart Battery Calibration in the BIOS helps mitigate this. In my experience, actual battery life tends to be closer to the higher-end of the range you'll see.

The two USB ports on the left side also support charging peripherals when the netbook is turned off. This is disabled by default, but can be enabled in the BIOS. Some people are making a big deal out of this in the newer netbooks, but never realized that the N120 supports it too.

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Just received my Samsung N120 today and I am in love. I did a ton of research on netbooks and it was a toss up in between the NC10 and the N120. I finally settled on the N120 based on the size of the keyboard. The keyboard is fantastic and has a great touch to it, i'm a touch typist and don't have any problems using the keyboard. I used a USB driver to install Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and to my surprise - it works quite well on this machine. I bought this mainly for travel for it's ultraportability to use with our SLR camera. The glossy screen is really not an issue to me as a previous reviewer had mentioned. The wi-fi has been fantastic - picking up 8-10 networks wherever i'm located. The sound doesn't blow you away, but it is definetely sufficient for a netbook. The battery came fully charged and so far i've been working with it all day installing programs, music, etc. and i've gotten about 7 hours thus far. FYI - I purchased the white version and the exterior is a nice matte finish unlike the NC10 which is glossy and picks up fingerprints easily. I do like the fact that the two USB ports on the left are active all the time and you can charge your cell/Ipod/etc even if the computer is off. Hopefully this helps anyone trying to decide on this great little machine! Enjoy!

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