Samsung N310 review: Samsung N310

Samsung says the N310's unique look was, "designed by award-winning Japanese artist Naoto Fukasawa and features smoothly rounded edges that resemble a pebble that's been worn down by wind and waterfall." We think it looks like a nicely self-contained package, with a rounded clamshell case that feels hermetically sealed when folded shut. Some of our colleagues, however, thought it looked somewhat toylike.

Our system was sunset orange, but midnight blue, jet black, and mint blue are also available. The interior keyboard tray and screen bezel are jet black and contrast nicely with the deep orange exterior.

While the collection of ports and connections on the N310 isn't surprising, they are integrated in a somewhat unusual way. The USB and audio jacks are slightly recessed into the chassis, while the Ethernet jack is hidden behind a plastic tab. The VGA video output extends out, rather than being recessed, and is covered with a small rubber sheath--it seems like a Band-Aid approach to a design flaw, and something you'll probably lose right away.

As one might expect, the Intel Atom N270 processor and 1GB of RAM performed on par with other similarly configured Netbooks, and we found the N310 to fall well within Netbook performance parameters in anecdotal use. Our standard Netbook admonitions apply: they're very useful machines, as long as one keeps expectations modest, and sticks mostly to Web surfing, e-mail, and working on office docs.

Juice box
Samsung Go N310	Average watts per hour
Off (60 percent)	0.38
Sleep (10 percent)	0.67
Idle (25 percent)	9.85
Load (5 percent)	16.9
Raw kWh	31.56
Annual energy cost	$3.58

The Samsung Go N310 ran for 5 hours and 51 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included 6-cell battery. That big battery adds a little weight and bulk to the system, but doesn't stick out too noticeably, so it seems like a fair trade-off. Our battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use.

Samsung includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a toll-free phone line, available daily from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. EST. Web-based chat with a support tech is available 8a.m.-midnight, Monday through Friday. The online knowledge base and FAQ sections of Samsung's Web site seem well-stocked with useful guides and driver downloads.