Samsung NB30

01. Feb, 2010 0 Comments

Samsung have unveiled the NB30, a netbook that is designed to be more durable than it’s rivals, we’ve sent out agents in to find out what exactly is so special about this latest offering from Samsung HQ.

The Good

Right from the off this netbook feels like it could withstand a knock or two, it obviously isn’t bulletproof or built to have tanks run over it but it can survive a drop (of 30 inches according to Samsung) and has a water tight seal that can handle 50cc of water being spilt over it. The build quality is excellent, it looks and feels sturdy, there really isn’t a bone we could pick in that respect.

The lid of the NB30 is finished with a rubbery textured design that is shock, scratch and fingerprint resistant. The screen which it protects has a sharp and vibrant picture and is 10.1 inch and LED backlit, with the familiar netbook resolution of 1024*600.

The palm rest is also made from a rubberised material to offer the same protection as the lid, and the keyboard is spill resistant with the usual quality touchpad and mouse buttons below.

One new peice of ingeniouty is the free fall sensor on the hard drive, if it detects it has been dropped it will shut the hard drive down quickly so as to avoid the usual data loss and the potentially unrepairable damage to the hard drive platters, we where unfortunately not allowed to test this feature out but Samsung say it works, and works well so we have no reason to doubt them.

The NB30 comes in Windows XP and Windows 7 starter flavours, the latter of which puts the price up slightly. It is built on Intel’s latest Pine Trial platform with Intel GMA 3150 graphics and a Hyper-threaded 1.66GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a choice of either 160GB or 250GB hard drive, with of course 802.11bgn wireless and a digital Livecam.

Samsung have stated the battery life is approximately 11 hours, although you can expect it to drop slightly under normal use, it still provides a decent time between charges.

There is talk of there being a touchscreen version as well, but we have yet to see it so we’ll keep on the lookout for that.

The Bad

The specs of this machine are pretty much the same as the majority of netbooks available today, so don’t expect a super charged experience.

The keys on the keyboard are a little closer together than expected, but it didn’t take long to become accustomed to using them.

Conclusion

We think that the Samsung NB30 could take off in a big way, particularly for parents buying a netbook for their child or even those who like having a bit more peace of mind that their machine and data have better protection in the event that the worst happens.

Even though the specs are the same as a high percentage of the netbook market the extra durability this one provides at a similar price to the rest makes it a definate worthwhile purchase.