It's exciting to see a new player enter the laptop space. Samsung has up till known been known for its flat screen TVs, including its new LED range, but it looks like they should also be on your laptop shopping list if today's press demo was any indication.
Samsung have been making netbooks with some success in Europe and other regions, but they're new players in that market in Australia.
The good news is pricing seem reasonable, the spec is solid, with excellent battery life claims (which we'll be testing), large HDD, and decent keyboards, plus some slick touches, including a handy overnight courier service if you ever need to return a faulty unit.
There are four machines we saw today:
N120: the 1.28Kg baby of the bunch
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| Look, it's another white netbook! At $899, Samsung's N120 is the same price as Acer's new 11.1in Aspire One A0751 |
The white N120 has 10in screen, full size keyboard, LED screen, and 160GB HDD. We're particularly impressed by the full size keyboard - putting up there with MSI and ASUS in terms of usability.
The $899 price didn't blow us away, but again, it's on par with what we've seen from other leading netbooks 10in or under. Mind you, Samsung will have strong competition from BenQ's Joybook Lite U101, which costs an impressive $583 online (160GB HDD, 6-cell batt, 10.1in), and MSI's recently launched U100+ (10in LED, less than 1Kg, 160GB HDD) at $699. Toshiba has also today announced their NB200, which includes an $899 configuration with 160GB and LED screen.
NC20: thin and light and under $1,000
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| A vision in white: the NC20 offers 12.1in of screen real estate for under $1,000 |
It's not the MSI X340, which is so light and skinny it reminds us of the Apple Air, but what we like about this 12.1in laptop is the price. For $999 you get a larger machine, which we'd prefer for serious work and travel, LED screen, 160GB HDD, and the entire thing weighs 1.5Kg (a tad heavier than the ASUS Eee PC 901, but then again, you're getting a bigger screen). By contrast, MSI's 13.5in X340 comes in at $1,499.
The NC20 runs a 1.3GHz Via Nano ULV U2250 chip, which fortunately, is paired with Windows XP.
X460: the high-end ultraportable
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| How's my profile? The x460 isn't cheap, but you're getting a "real" CPU |
And by high-end, we mean $2,999. The big advantage here is the screen size - a 14.1in LED job - and the chip. Here, you're getting an Intel P9600 at 2.66GHz, a far cry from the NC20's Via chip, or even Acer's just-launched Aspire Timeline 5810T, which is priced at $2549 with a low-voltage Core 2 Duo SU9400 chip.
One deciding factor for the Samsung versus the Acer will likely be the battery life. Samsung is claiming battery life of up to 5 hours, while Acer is claiming up to 8 for it's Timeline series.
R610: affordable mid-range under $2,000
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| Shiny, like the TVs: Samsung's sub-$2,000 R610 |
Here's the machine that will go bang up against Dell, ASUS, Toshiba and others for the large slice of the affordable mid-range market. The R610 has a 16in LED screen, and you get the option of either Intel T6600 or P8600. Combined with 3-4GB RAM, and either 320GB or 500GB HDD, and you're looking at a solid do-it-all laptop from $1,699 to $1,999.
Samsung were at great pains to tell us about the care they've taken to make sure this range is equipped with excellent batteries. All the notebooks in the range come with interchangeable batteries and AC adaptors, and some impressive battery life claims which we'll be testing. Another cute trick - on the underside of some of the notebooks there's a battery life meter.
Samsung is also paying attention to service and repairs. Couriers will pickup your machine in any location, including rural areas (as long as you can receive mail, according to Samsung), and they'll have a new box to carry your machine. This way, Samsung can tell if any damage occurs while the box is transported.