NbC: Samsung N510 Review
December 31, 2009 at 10:50 am
Ports
The Samsung N510 comes with all of the ports that you would expect in a fully featured netbook. The right side of the netbook houses the power button, Kensington lock, power input, two USB ports and a couple of audio jacks.
The oval power button has a blue backlight when pressed. The button is similar to the one seen in the Samsung N120, although the N510 power button has better feedback. Next to this sits the Kensington lock.
The power input is easy to plug in and sits securely. Next to this are two normal USB 2.0 sockets.
The headphone jack sits to the left with the microphone port adjacent to it. As with the N120, we feel that having these ports coloured green and pink respectively would have made things just that much clearer, rather than both ports being black in colour.
The left side of the netbook houses the Ethernet, VGA, fan vent, HDMI and the third USB port.
The Ethernet port is 10/100M bit only so no Gigabit support here. It’s good to see the Ethernet port on the edge, keeping it out of the way when connected.
The VGA port comes next, placed adjacent to the fan vent. The vent can get quite warm when CPU utilisation is high, but on average air pushed out was mostly just warm.
The Samsung N510 has a HDMI out that can be used to output HD video to an external display. The third USB port is chargeable which means that small peripherals can be charged even whilst the N510 is off, all you need to do is enable this setting in the bios.
The 3-in-1 card reader (SD, SDHC, MMC) sits at the front of the netbook. It’s a shame to see that when a SD card is placed into the holder it sticks out a little from the front.
Features
The Samsung N510 comes with a number of its own utilities that covers everything from battery life, wireless connectivity to troubleshooting. The Samsung Magic Doctor is a wizard that goes through all components of the netbook (processor, memory, hard drive) and diagnoses any current problems or potential problems. You can even restore if there has been a big problem.
Samsung Recovery Solution III is a similar restore tool that allows you to restore your computer using one of two restore types; a Basic Restore or a Complete Restore.
The Samsung Update Plus utility is mainly a software checking utility for Samsung software. It makes sure all Samsung software is kept up to date.
The Samsung N510 comes with a 1.3MP webcam. The performance is as good as you’ll find in most premium netbooks. It offers crisp pictures with a decent frame rate.
Samsung didn’t learn its lesson in terms of mic placement from the N120. First you’ll only find a solitary mic on the N510, as compared to the dual-mics seen on most Asus netbooks. Secondly, the mic is placed just above the keyboard. This means that if you are trying to type whilst using the webcam, the sound of you tapping away can overshadow the conversation.
Connectivity
The Samsung N510 offers the latest wireless connectivity in terms of draft-N Wi-Fi support and the Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR standard. We had no problems in connecting to a wireless network, being able to do so quickly and holding onto a strong signal.
To manage your network settings on the move, Samsung provides a utility called the Easy Network manager. This allows you to configure your network settings for different locations so that you can access the network in a single click, rather than having to input the different settings again and again.
December 31st, 2009 11:06 PM
you should try to make your review a little more thorough- lol jk
January 5th, 2010 1:31 PM
Very nice review Tej! It certainly seems like a winner, until a newer one comes out…
One question though: For you XP is a negative while I would think it is more of a positive at is keeps cost down, less likelyhood for ‘errors’ (craches), longer batery life and the ability to run all necessary programs at the same time.
The latter referring to Windows7 starter of course.
Keep up the good work lads!
Igor
January 5th, 2010 1:50 PM
Fair points Igor. I suppose compared against the Asus Eee PC 1201N, which will come with Windows 7 Home Premium, I just felt that the N510 should be priced more keenly. Especially as both have the same recommended price, but the 1201N is also equipped with a dual-core Atom.
Personally, I have no isses with Windows XP, but when it comes to DXVA compatibility (bult-in WMP12) and likely better future driver support (just look at the situation with GMA500 drivers), Windows 7 has the edge if you’re keen on playing HD video content.
However, saying that, I had no problems in getting HD video to work in XP, you just have to know the right programs to use (a lot of people don’t!) I’m also not sure whether I’d want to suffer the battery downgrade that W7 would also bring…
January 6th, 2010 7:47 PM
Hi,
You know if the motherboard has eSata capabilities ?
I see your modd on the asus and i would like to know if it’s possible with the N510 🙂
Thanks,
January 7th, 2010 6:22 PM
XP works well. Hopefully we still get to see XP in newer netbooks to dish out HD content flawlessly, save battery life and ofcourse cost even if MS is gunning for Win7 sales. I use XP & its doing its job well & so I intend to keep it running for a long time.
Couldn’t have asked for better reviews … this is best !! We await newer model reviews from Tej. Any from CES ?
March 15th, 2011 12:32 PM
The NVIDIA chip on this is not compatible with Philips HD tvs. So if you connect it via HDMI you get video but audio stays on the N510.
Not an issue for most, but it is for me, as I bought it specifically to connect to a Philips.
March 28th, 2011 11:26 AM
The Samsung N510’s battery (Samsung aa-pb0uc3b).