We’ve gotten so used to telephone companies offering discounted netbooks to customers that sign up for a mobile broadband plan that it’s barely news anymore when a company adds a new model to its line of subsidized netbooks. But the New York Times isn’t a phone company. So I was a bit surprised to see that the paper is working with Samsung to offer a $100 discount for customers that pick up a Samsung N310 “Go” netbook when they sign up for a one-year subscription to the Times Reader software.

Times Reader is a pretty nifty PC application that makes reading the Times more like reading the paper edition and less like reading a web page. A one year subscription costs $179.40. Of course, you could read most of the same content on the web for free, buy a netbook for full price, and save $79.40.

The netbook will be available exclusively from J&R, with the company selling it for $279.99 after discount. That’s a pretty good price for this attractive netbook. But the deal’s only good if you see value in the Times Reader software, or if you’re desperate to prove that you’re still willing to pay for the news even if you’re more likely to read it on a PC than stain your hands with ink.

The Samsung Go is an intriguing netbook. In other parts of the world, Samsung dubs this model the Samsung N310, but in the US, the company calls it the ‘Go” to emphasize its portability and mobility features. But honestly, there’s not much to set the Samsung Go apart from other netbooks in its class. It’s not the cheapest, it doesn’t have the biggest keyboard, the best battery life or the fastest processor.

But you know what? There’s something very compelling about the Go, because it’s rubberized case, good keyboard and attractive screen just make the netbook feel good to use. It also does get very respectable battery life while offering performance that’s on par with what you’d expect from an Intel Atom based netbook.

The Samsung Go featured in this review has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and runs Windows XP. It’s available from Amazon for $440.

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In the US, the Samsung Go (which is called the Samsung N310 in every other corner of the planet), has your basic netbook specs including a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 802.11b/g WiFi, and a 6 cell battery. But it turns out the version on sale in Singapore is a little more powerful, thanks to a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor. The Singapore version also has 802.11b/g/draft-n WiFi.

All told, most folks probably won’t see a huge difference in performance. And if you have an 802.11n network in your home, it’d probably be cheaper to pick up a USB 802.11n adapter than to order the Singapore model and ship it overseas. But it’s interesting to see that the configuration varies slightly from country to country.

via Netbooked and SammyNetbook Forum

As I mentioned the other day, I have a whole lot of mini-laptops sitting on my desk at the moment. So I decided that today would be as good a time as any to do a little keyboard face-off.

I’d already kind of decided that of the netbooks I’m using this week the Samsung Go (shown in the bottom of the picture) has the keyboard that feels the best. I like the chiclet-style layout, the keys are comfortable and responsive, and their laid out quite nicely with a large right-side shift key and arrow keys below it. I’d also decided that the Gigabyte TouchNote T1028X (pictured at the top) had the worst keyboard, thanks to its extra-thin punctuation keys for the period, comma, and question mark.

But you know what? The typing test results told a completely different story.

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I’ve been testing out a number of netbooks over the last few days, including the Samsung Go (pictured above, left), and Gigabyte TouchNote T1028X (pictured, right). Like most 10 inch netbooks on the market today, the Samsung Go has a 1024 x 600 pixel display. The TouchNote T1028X, on the other hand, has a 1366 x 768 pixel touchscreen display. The picture above gives you a rough idea of how much more text you can fit on that higher resolution screen. But just an idea. Because I’m starting to think that no 10 inch netbook should really have a display this sharp.

The T1028X isn’t the only 10 inch netbook with a 1366 x 768 pixel display.  That resolution is sort of a magical number for many people, because it corresponds to 720p, which means HD video. The Sony Vaio Mini W comes with a similarly sharp screen, and the HP Mini 5101, Mini 1101, and Dell Inspiron Mini 10 are available with 720p display options.

On the one hand, there’s no doubt that you can fit a whole lot more on the screens. But there are a few problems. The first and foremost is that the text is so sharp that it’s hard for me to read from the  netbook for more than 20 or 30 minutes without getting a headache. I’ve tried adjusting the dpi from 96 to 125 and that helps a bit, as does using large fonts and adjusting the zoom level in Firefox and other web browsers. But these changes are often inconsistent throughout the user interface and just result in making the experience of using the T1028X even more disorienting.

There’s another problem too, and it’s one that I’ve also noticed with Intel Atom powered machines like the Asus Eee Top ET1602 with a 15.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel screen. The 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 and 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processors have to work a lot harder to pump out graphics to higher resolution displays. So while Flash video from web sites like Hulu looks great in full screen on a netbook with a 1024 x 600 pixel display, it’s choppy on a 1366 x 768 pixel screen. This is a problem that could eventually be resolved by offloading some of the responsibility for processing Flash video to the graphics processor, but right now the integrated GMA 950 graphics in most netbooks isn’t optimized to work with Flash, and neither is the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M processor used in the NVIDIA ION platform.

I know some folks will feel differently about this, and never met an extra pixel they didn’t like. But I’m starting to think that 1366 x 768 pixel displays should only be used on laptops with 12 inch or larger screens. Even on those machines, that resolution is pretty darn sharp, but at least it’s not quite as blinding. It would be nice if there was an accepted resolution between 1024 x 600 and 1366 x 768 that netbook makers could comfortably use for 10 inch netbooks, but aside from the occasional 1280 x 800 or 1280 x 720 machine, I haven’t seen much.

What do you think? Do you have a netbook with an HD display? How do you like it? What do you think would be the perfect resolution for a 10 inch netbook?

Yeah, I’ve got a backlog of netbooks to review. The next week or two should be fun. I’d like to thank Samsung, Gigabyte, and Lenovo for sending me these models to review. The little guy in the back of the second row is my Asus Eee PC 1000H. That’s right, I’ve actually managed to hang onto the same netbook for nearly a year. It’s a dinosaur, but it still gets the job done.

When it rains it pours. Yesterday Gigabyte sent me a TouchNote T1028X convertible tablet style netbook to review. And today a Samsung Go (also known in some parts as the Samsung N310) arrived at my doorstep. I’m going to need to add another power strip under my desk if this keeps up.

I’ll be testing both of these netbooks out over the next few days, and you can expect detailed reviews soon. But here are some initial impressions of the Samsung Go:

• I’ve seen dozens of pictures of this netbook and the rubberized case always looked a bit silly. But in person, it’s actually quite nice looking and has a decent, solid feel to it.
• The chiclet-style keyboard stretches from one edge of the netbook to the other, and is one of the best I’ve seen on a netbook to date.
• The high capacity, 8850mAh battery is surprisingly small. As a Samsung rep recently told me, while most computer makers outsource their battery technology, Samsung develops its own batteries for use in its netbooks.

Stay tuned for more details, but in the meantime, you can check out my unboxing video below. A few other netbooks also make cameo appearances, because they happened to be nearby and because I wanted to see how they compared in terms of size and finish.

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While the Samsung N310 (or Samsung Go, as the company calls it in the US), features the usual netbook specs including an Atom CPU, Windows XP, and a 160GB hard drive, the netbook has a visual quality that sets it apart from the crowd. It comes in a handful of bright colors, and has a rubberized case with the Samsung logo emblazoned across the top.

If you want to know just how different this netbook looks from a more traditional mini-laptop, check out vijaycmistry’s Flickr photoset of his new Samsung N310 hanging out with a Samsung NC10 netbook. Both machines are about the same size, but the N310 has rounded edges and a much brighter, more colorful look.

via SammyNetbook and the SammyNetbook Forum

The Samsung Go is a unique looking netbook with a rubberized (but not necessarily ruggedized) case that comes in a handful of bright colors. In Europe it’s sold as the Samsung N310, but the company decided to give the Go a new name for the US market. The US version also ships standard with a high capacity 6 cell, 8850mAh battery, which Laptop Magazine says is good for about 8.5 hours of use.

The folks at Laptop got a chance to put the Samsung Go through the paces, and in addition to the long battery life, the Go has a somewhat more durable case than most netbooks while taking up a little less room on your lap or desk than the slightly larger Asus Eee PC 1005HA. The netbook reportedly has a an excellent keyboard that’s coated with silver ion powder to help keep nasty bacteria away.

The Samsung Go is available from Amazon for $449.95 in black, blue, or orange.

Samsung may be calling its new netbook with colorful, rubberized cases the Samsung Go in the US, but it’ll always be the N310 to me. See how it rolls off the tongue? Anyway, the N310 isn’t shipping in the US yet, but according to the folks at online retailer Newegg, it should be available next week.

And to prove it (sort of), Newegg has posted an unboxing video showing one of the first N310 units to hit US shores. Check it out after the break.

via Portable Monkey
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