New Samsung netbooks: N230 Slim and N220 Plus Premium

Some of the most popular netbooks in the world come from Samsung. Two new models joined their fleet these days, when the Korean producer launched the N230 Slim ultra compact and N220 Plus premium netbooks .

Both the N220 and N230 exist on the market these days. However, these are new and improved versions of those ones.

The Samsung N230 Slim is indeed compact. With just 0.9 inches in thickness and weighing 2.2 pounds (around 1 kilo), this 10 incher is truly portable and can easily join the list of lightest netbooks on the market. Plus, it brings a new exterior, with a futuristic design (especially the hinge ), better materials (glossy plastic used for the exterior, while the area around the keyboard mimics brushed metal), a chiclet keyboard and a new and bigger trackpad with independent click buttons.

On the inside, specs are pretty much standard for a 10 inch mini laptop these days: Atom N455 1.66 GHz processor, 1 GB DDR3 memory, 250 GB storage, Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth 3.0, card-reader, Windows 7 Starter and a 3 Cell battery. That last one is a shame, because this Samsung will only be able to offer around 5 hours of life, while other 10 inchers can do a lot better.

Samsung N230 Slim - ultracompact and light, but kind of expensive

Still, this device targets mobility more than everything, hence a small battery was introduced to keep weight as low as possible. Too bad price won’t be that low also, as rumors say this Samsung N230 Slim will come to Europe for around 400 euros (that would mean around 400-420 bucks in the States). Pricey!

The Samsung N220 Plus Premium is an improved version of the N220, an overall excellent netbook . Samsung upgraded some other versions lately, like the NB30 Pro. Like that one, this N220 brings some changes to the exterior, but mostly improved and new features.

There’s a new exterior with a dimpled finish, but still made out of a glossy plastic, which looks and feels great, but will have problems in time with scratches and smudges. There’s also a new chiclet keyboard, theoretically with better spaced keys and some optimizations (right CTRL and ALT keys are wider, because they are often used for KEY Shortcuts). Plus display seems to be matte, at least from the pictures (that remains to be confirmed though).

Inside, Samsung N220 Plus Premium boosts great specs for a 10 incher: new Atom N475 1.83 GHz processor, 2 GB of DDR3 memory, 320 GB storage space, Wi-Fi N and Bluetooth 3.0, Windows 7 Home Premium OS, SDXC card-reader and webcam. There’s also a 6 Cell battery (4400 mAh) which should offer around 6-7 hours of life on a daily basics.

Samsung N220 - new looks, better features, powerful hardware

All in all, the N220 Plus Premium is definitely versatile. More powerful than the standard 10 incher, it brings some very nice goodies like the more ergonomic keyboard, non-glare screen and fast connectivity. All these come with a price though, as this mini laptop will sell in Europe for 400 euros. Still, It’s a very fair price considering the features, so I’m looking forward to see this one in stores soon.

Both these Samsungs have been for now announced in Europe and should become available pretty soon. Hopefully, they will also reach the US market later this year, I know many of you guys would love to give them a spin.

Source: Blogeee 1 and 2

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Tags: expensive netbooks, Samsung

Last updated: July 13, 2010 | Published: July 13th, 2010 | See the comments or add yours!