The Samsung Netbooks vs. The HP Netbooks

In my (seemingly) never-ending search for the best netbook to serve as a backup computer, I've virtually examined more than I can count. I've narrowed down the choices to laptop models made by HP and Samsung and will probably end up with a Samsung N120-12GBK, based on a netbook review. The clincher will be the number of positive reviews I read about it. I still have some time and nothing is yet set in stone.

The HP Netbooks

Sometimes called netbooks and sometimes called mini laptops, they're basically the same thing when advertised by HP. I'm not going to name HP model numbers because there are several that fit the bill.

My dead notebook computer is an HP notebook in the DV-8000 series (I'm not pulling it out to look at the exact number). My older son also has the exact same model and I don't know if his still works or not because he's in Germany and he hasn't mentioned it at all.

The HP netbooks come with a lot preloaded software that I don't want or need, just like the notebook I have. The keyboards appear to be all at 93 percent the size of a standard keyboard, which isn't too bad, but the monitors all seem to be missing 24 pixels from the vertical display. That was the deal-breaker as far as one review I read. Obviously, the reviewer never heard of F11 in Firefox.

The Samsung Netbooks

I don't know about the other models, but the Samsung N120-12GBK seems to be right up my alley. It has the full 1024×600 resolution, which seems to be a netbook standard, and a full-sized keyboard.

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm expert in touch typing and not keyboarding. There really is a difference. I have no problems with the same keys you'd find on a typewriter, but the extra keys on keyboards have always given me problems. The biggest problem is remembering where the extra keys are since they're in different places on just about every keyboard configuration I've ever used.

When it comes to using any keyboard, I can do magic if the standard keys are in the right places. I don't need the 10-key keypad at all. I once took a typing test and scored better using the top-row numbers than most people who use the 10-key keypad.

I don't know why this particular Samsung model ranked at number 4 of a best netbooks list, but the only bad thing mentioned was that it was a little more expensive than the other three. The actual price difference is only about $50 dollars if you shop around. I think $50 is well worth it for the full-sized keyboard alone.

Laptop Price Observations

This is the part of shopping for any laptop that bothers me the most when searching for the best laptop prices. It seems that black and white laptops are cheaper than laptops with other colors. Surprisingly, pink laptops seem to be the most expensive of all the colored laptops.

One also has to be careful about what's included. The sellers seem to charge the same price for 512MB included as they do for 1024MB (1GB) included. I'm sorry, but 512MB isn't enough to run Windows XP regardless of how few applications you have your laptop. It may be enough to run Linux, but then the GUI would still get bogged down once you started using it a lot. You must start with 1GB of RAM and then go from there. If you're running Windows Vista, 2GB would probably be okay and the new Windows 7 would probably eat up 4GB. Every version of Windows seems to require twice as much memory as the predecessor in order to run the right way out of the box.

For the most part, netbooks generally have the same base configurations. It's the details you have to watch out for and you'd be extremely wise to compare the feature sets of any brands or models you're thinking of buying before you commit.

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