NbC: Samsung N120 Review
May 18, 2009 at 9:32 am
Battery Life
The Samsung N120 netbook comes with a 6 cell lithium ion battery. Whilst most of the marketing literature suggests a claimed battery life of 10.5 hours, looking at the N120 listing on the Samsung site talks of a battery life of “up to 7.5 hours”. Samsung says that this latter claim is based on a Battery Eater test. Either way, we were eager to do our own tests to find out just how long it lasted.
The 6-cell Li-ion battery is rated at 66Whr (5900mAh). This compares to the 5200mAh battery found in the Samsung NC10.
If you are one of those people that run your netbook mostly through the power supply, then Samsung has introduced the ‘Battery Life Extender Mode’. When enabled, this will only charge the battery up to 80 percent, the idea being that it will reduce the battery ageing process and prolong overall battery life.
The main app to manage the battery settings comes in the form of the ‘Battery Manager’. Through this utility you can select the brightness levels when used on battery or AC power. You can also select LCD dimming time modes as well as CPU speed.
Battery Manager is also used to determine when the monitor and hard disks should be turned off, along with determining system standby and hibernation sleep modes.
Battery life is one of the most critical considerations to make when choosing a netbook. As with our review of the Eee PC 1000HE, we avoid using synthetic battery tests to determine battery life. Apps, such as Battery Eater, are designed to determine the extreme points of battery performance and we just feel that they are not representative of what the netbook will be used for. We also feel that they are of limited use to our readers, who want real-world examples of what the netbook is capable of.
As with our previous Asus 1000HE review, we ran a number of different scenario tests to determine what kind of battery life to expect from the Samsung N120. To ensure consistency, the settings that we used were as close as possible to the ones used for the 1000HE review.
Airplane scenario: We replicate an environment where one may want to watch video throughout an airplane journey. For this test we turned off both Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the webcam. Screen brightness was set to 62.5 percent (given the dark environment) and audio was set to 50 percent. We also plugged in a pair of headphones (noise cancelling Sennheiser PXC 250’s) to make the test as authentic as possible. We then looped an AVI video file continuously on full screen until the battery died.
Result: In this scenario, we found that the battery lasted for 6 hours and 4 minutes. CPU utilisation was between 20 to 25 percent on average whilst the video file was played from the hard drive. This was exactly 30 minutes less than the Asus 1000HE managed. However, brightness on the Asus was at 60 percent compared to 62.5 percent in the Samsung. This was mainly due to the gradations between display levels.
Business scenario: For this test, we simulated the likely setting one would use if using the netbook on the move for business. We had Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the webcam all switched on. The screen was set to 50 percent brightness and audio at 50 percent. To make sure the Wi-Fi was being used, we also opened the Opera browser and set a couple of web pages to refresh every 30 seconds.
Result: Under this scenario, the battery lasted for 5 hours and 37 minutes. On average, CPU usage was less than 10 percent. This time was significantly lower than that achieved on the Asus Eee PC 1000HE (7 hours and 24 minutes).
Coffee Shop scenario: Here we replicated an environment where you might surf the net or watch YouTube whilst having a coffee. For this test we turned on Wi-Fi (and left Bluetooth and webcam off). Screen brightness was 100 percent whilst audio was at 50 percent. We streamed a YouTube video on an endless loop until the battery died.
Result: As you can imagine, this particular test really stressed the CPU. On average CPU usage was between 80-85 percent. It is no surprise to therefore see that the battery lasted the shortest time under this test at 4 hours and 55 minutes. A decent result considering that this was only 14 minutes less than the Asus 1000HE.
Jukebox scenario: We were eager to see how well the Samsung N120 would fare in the jukebox test given its 2.1 sound system. This particular test involved streaming music over a wireless network. Audio was set to 75 percent, whilst brightness was set to 25 percent. Wi-Fi was switched on, but Bluetooth and the webcam were switched off. An album was looped until the battery died.
Result: The Samsung N120 lasted for 5 hours and 37 minutes under this particular test. CPU usage varied between 15 and 25 percent on average. This result was significantly lower than seen on the 1000HE (8 hours and 44 minutes). I imagine that both the subwoofer and SRS audio combined to drain the battery faster than was seen in the 1000HE. Also, due to the way the display gradation settings work, the N120 was set to 25 percent brightness compared to 20 percent brightness on the 1000HE. So that would also have had an effect. Despite this, I still expected it to last a little longer than it did.
Benchmarking scenario: As in our previous review, we are sharing the battery life performance whilst conducting the benchmark tests for the N120. The settings we used for this were Wi-Fi on and Bluetooth and webcam switched off. The display was set to 100 percent brightness and no audio was used. A small USB mouse was also connected.
Result: Given the nature of benchmarking, the CPU would have been stressed to the limit during certain points. The Samsung N120 lasted for 6 hours and 37 minutes under this scenario, a good 35 minutes better than the 1000HE.
Summary
Taking these results on their own, highlight just how good the N120 battery is. To be able to watch three films back-to-back as suggested by the Airplane scenario is a superb result, as is getting 5 hours of battery life whilst seeing the CPU stressed quite heavily in the Coffee Shop scenario.
We ran another non-official test when just using the netbook around the house at various points. For this test we had Wi-Fi on, but switched off Bluetooth and the webcam. The display brightness was set to 75 percent. We managed 8 hours and 32 minutes which is very good. Okay, it’s not as good as the 10.5 hours suggested by Samsung, but there’s no reason why you won’t be able to squeeze between 7 to 8 hours out of it under normal use.
Looking at how the N120 compared to the Asus Eee PC 1000HE is quite interesting. For some tests it was behind quite spectacularly (Business and Jukebox tests), whilst it was very close in others (Airplane and Coffee Shop tests). The N120 even managed a win in the Benchmarking test. I really can’t understand why the time scored in the Business test was so different to the 1000HE in what were similar conditions. At least, with the Jukebox test, you can say that the subwoofer and SRS audio may have had an impact. Regardless, if you view the Business test as an outlier, the other results weren’t too dissimilar, although the 1000HE definitely has the upper-hand when it comes to battery life.
May 18th, 2009 1:19 PM
Feedback so far suggests that people are liking the larger N120 keyboard. Well played Samsung.
May 19th, 2009 8:33 PM
i would like a larger keyboard, but with a larger screen too.
something like 11,6″ oder so – i think it would fit in the n120 case
is this one a review smapleor have you bought it ? in Germany they sell the N110 only with the 58 Wh // 5.2 Ah battery, but the reviewers get the 64 Wh // 5.9Ah one.
good review
May 19th, 2009 9:15 PM
We tested a final retail version, as you would find in the shops here in the UK. As far as I know all Samsung N120 netbooks come with the 5900mAh 6-cell battery.
May 20th, 2009 11:29 AM
In my view, literally, the most important aspects in regard to netbooks are display quality and weight/size. Because I will use it for seeing informations not writing that much, that I will do either at the office or home desktop. And unfortunately, the bulk of newer and announced netbooks is worse than before: the unending trend for glossy displays kills the usability at least for me. (plus that so few are available with built in 3G/UMTS modems.)
May 20th, 2009 11:51 AM
No doubt, everyone has a different view as what are the most important netbook considerations. We should perhaps do a poll at some point to find out what comes out on top!
May 20th, 2009 9:45 PM
The U.S. version has a 5200mah battery. Interesting as the U.S. N110 is 5900mah while most N110’s in Europe are 5200mah..
May 20th, 2009 10:47 PM
I wasn’t aware of that, thanks for the clarification!
June 11th, 2009 6:25 AM
Sorry, but this is stupid.
If they’re going to make it this big, the display should be BIGGER. A 1024 x 600 display has you scrolling around constantly, especially vertically. If you have room for it, a 720p display at 11″ or so would be MUCH BETTER.
Sorry, but the size of a netbook matters. I take my 9″ netbook (too small) lots of places I would never take my 13″ laptop. Make it too big and its not a netbook anymore, at least to me. If you’re going to put a 10″ display in the thing, make it no bigger than necessary. You can find perfectly acceptable keyboards on 10″ netbooks (check out the HP 2140 for example), without resorting to this.
They didn’t “squeeze” the keyboard into anything. They just cranked the bezel up until the regular keyboard fit. Not for me.
June 25th, 2009 5:13 PM
It bears mentioning that the N120 also supports charging peripherals while in sleep mode through a BIOS setting. In addition, the internal wireless card can be changed for one that supports draft 802.11n (the Intel 5300 is your best bet).
June 25th, 2009 5:19 PM
We did mention that two of the USB ports are chargeable on page 4, something that most other reviews missed. Also, not many mentioned the fact that the N120 has a multi-touch touchpad.
September 8th, 2009 8:36 PM
I just ordered the samsung N120. I would like to play dvd movies on it. what do you suggest I do to accomplish this.
Thanks
ann
September 23rd, 2009 2:51 AM
Thank you for your review of N120, it’s mostly convinced me to buy one – my local university has a sale, it’s priced at USD $371, and its battery is 9-10 hours (regional Hong Kong variation I’ve been told).
September 23rd, 2009 2:52 AM
PS. No sales tax
January 24th, 2010 5:59 PM
I have one of these machines that i picked up for $299. I’m fighting the kids over who gets to use it. The battery seems to alst forever, it’s fully functional, and yes, the screen size is a bit small but for the price i’m happy to deal with it. The screen size is adequate to watch video, and there are only a few websites that require careful scrolling and panning. This is a great airplane worker – small enough for the tray table, big enough to get real work done.
I asked my office to buy two more for “floaters” that employees can grab on their way out the door for work trips.
in short, i love it.