The NF310 is a 10.1 inch netbook from Samsung that offers a very good setup for the very affordable price tag it carries. Maybe it’s a sign that Cedar Trail is upon us or that AMD Fusion machines are extremely successful and Intel powered netbooks get cheaper by the day, even if they come with good hardware.
This is definitely in the user’s advantage, as you can get a good netbook at a very reasonable price. But let’s not anticipate too much and start with the basics.
Like all Samsung netbooks, the NF310 has its charm when it comes to design. The netbook is dubbed Titan Silver, meaning the plastic lid of the netbook has a glossy finish that tries to deliver a metallic feel. It’s what many plastic netbooks try and few succeed, but the NF310 is amongst those that do.
Sure, the glossy finish automatically means fingerprints and smudges after a couple of days of use. The curved design of the base is another stand out feature of the NF310. The computer is a little thicker towards the back and progressively gets thinner as we move towards the palm rest.
The NF310 comes with a HD screen, a true treat for such an affordable netbook
The 10 inch screen of the NF310 has a HD, 1368 x 766 resolution, being better than the resolution of most netbooks, that settle for 1024 x 600. The screen can accommodate much more on screen elements at the same time, as well as displaying web pages better. Needless to say that HD video will look better on a screen like this, as well as the overall Windows 7 experience being superior to that on a lower res display.
The NF310 comes with a dual core, Intel Atom N550 processor, with two cores running at 1.5 GHZ. It’s surely an improvement in comparison with all the N450 or N455 powered netbooks, that usually deliver much more modest performance because of the single core processor. With a dual core CPU, however, you can have multiple tabs open in your browser, listening to some music, work with a text editor and generally have that sense of smooth multitasking you usually get from desktop computers or powerful laptops.
The system comes with only 1 GB of RAM, and considering that part of that goes to the GMA 3150 integrated graphics, you should really think about upgrading to 2 GB. The panel granting access to the components is very easy to access and you’ll be able to upgrade it by yourself. There’s also a 250 GB hard disk drive, but there are also versions coming with a 320 GB HDD.
The curved design is definitely a unique selling point of the NF310
The OS on board is Windows 7 Starter, which has all the important features of Microsoft’s operating system, but requires less system resources than Home or Professional. The netbook uses WiFi N, which is a technology much faster and even more reliable than standard WiFi. There’s also blue tooth on board, but no word about 3G or 4G. As many entry level netbooks, the NF310 relies on a strong battery.
The official numbers say that the battery can go for about 9.5 hours of continuous work. It’s probably a rather optimistic estimate, as probably the battery will last for about 7 hours of browsing the web and setting an over 50% brightness for the matte display. But 7 hours is still a good score for a netbook and means basically that it can take through the day on a single charge.
The NF310 is not the chubbiest netbook out there, that’s for sure
To round things up, the NF310 is a little more than a standard 10 inch netbook, both in terms of performance and design. It has a dual core processor, HD display and a strong battery, while the curvy design and classy metal like finish on the lid makes this a looker too.
