Samsung NS310

The basics

Samsung were among the first manufacturers to make netbooks, with some of the best devices on the market. We had high hopes for the Samsung NS310 then, but sadly it's little more than a refreshed Samsung N310.

The good

Netbooks may have been overtaken in popularity by the tablet in recent times, but they still have plenty to offer. The Samsung NS310 is a compact, stylish and well made netbook, with a 10.1-inch screen.

The screen is bright and colourful, but it fails to match either the best netbooks or tablets. It does make the Samsung one of the smaller laptops on the market, however, and it's easily light enough – at just over 1kg – to carry with you wherever you go.

The rounded edges give the Samsung NS310 a distinctive look, but the design hasn't really moved on from the original Samsung N310. The keyboard looks great, with an isolated design and backlighting, and it's also comfortable to type on.

The bad

Power comes from an Intel Atom N550 processor, along with 1GB of memory. Running Windows 7 Starter, the Samsung NS310 is just about fast enough for browsing web pages, but there's plenty of lag apparent, especially if you're carrying out multi-tasking or are more accustomed to using tablets.

The 1024 x 600 pixel resolution feels cramped, and you'll often find yourself scrolling sideways as well as vertically when viewing web pages.

The bottom line

Overall, the Samsung NS310 is a disappointment. It looks great, and with the netbook form factor having matured, we were hoping it would deliver on all fronts. It's not exactly cheap, however, and performance is poor, making devices like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer look more appealing.