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"The keyboard is extremely comfortable for touch-typing, thanks to its full-width keys. The layout is very good overall, with a couple of minor oddities: The space bar is slightly truncated to make room for the tilde key, which is dropped to its left, and the Windows logo key sits on the right side of the space bar."

"The keyboard has a traditional tapered key design, with individual keys that are wider at the base, and narrower at the top, instead of the flat-key design used by many Netbook makers, including Dell, HP, and Asus. However, the larger footprint allows Samsung to fit in a larger keyboard, equivalent to what we'd typically find on a 12-inch laptop"

"Getting onto usability, the full-size anti-bacterial keyboard is a pleasure to use, offering crisp if slightly shallow feedback and a nice feel."

"Samsung claims that the N120’s 12-inch keyboard is full size and therefore larger than the keyboards on most netbooks, including other 10-inch Samsungs. In measuring the G-key on several netbooks, we noted that the N120’s key was 11/16 of an inch as compared to 10/16 of an inch for those keys on the Samsung NC10, and the HP Mini 2140."

"Although the difference in key size was hardly noticeable when looking at the N120 side by side with its competitors, there’s no doubt that its keyboard is one of the best on any netbook we’ve used. All of its keys are positioned correctly, large, and offered generous tactile feedback, without any unnecessary flex"

"You get some handy shortcut keys. One launches Samsung Magic Doctor, which can perform a full system diagnosis and restore. The Speed Manager button toggles between silent, normal, and speed mode so that you can adjust performance and battery power conservation. For globetrotters, the N120 even has a euro key."

"With a wider-than-average netbook frame, the N120 was able to accommodate a full-size keyboard—the biggest on a 10-inch netbook. This makes the typing experience phenomenal—better than that of the ASUS 1000HE, the HP Mini 2140, and HP Mini 1000, whose keyboards measure 92 percent of full size."

"With its 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, the Samsung N120 registered a strong score of 1,515 on PCMark05, a program that measures overall performance."

"The boost in performance comes mainly from the upgrade to DDR2 800 RAM. Everything else under the hood is essentially the same: It has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 160GB hard drive, and an Intel 945 video chipset."

"For basic tasks such as world processing, Web surfing, and e-mail, an Atom-powered Netbook is more than adequate, as long as you keep your expectations modest. Opening too many browser windows at once, or running several applications simultaneously, for example, can lead to slowdown and stuttering."

"Frankly, you'd be hard pressed to notice much of a performance difference when running real-life applications."

"The N120’s 5,400 rpm SATA Samsung hard drive booted Windows XP in a speedy 45 seconds"

"Visually, the changes are mostly subtle but all welcome. Gone is the piano-black fingerprint-loving lid of the N110, to be replaced by a semi-matte finish that requires far less maintenance and won't show up scratches as easily."

It's a handsome, functional netbook.

"Overall the N120 has nice fit and finish, sporting trim lines and a logical layout that's very similar to the N110's"

"The first thing you notice about N120 is that its matte surface doesn't pick up fingerprints or smudges, as does the finish on the ASUS 1000HE and the Acer One (10-inch), but its looks are definitely blander than those of the aluminum-clad HP Mini 2140 and the pattern-rich HP Mini 1000"

"A 720p episode of Law and Order downloaded from Amazon Unbox played smoothly at full screen…. The glossy panel offers bright and vibrant colors, but poor viewing angles; images appear washed out when viewed from slightly higher than eye level, or from 45 degrees and greater."

"Still, for listening to music or watching movies on the road, the N120 offers a much better experience than typical netbooks do."

"The 10.1-inch LCD screen has a 1,024x600-pixel native resolution, which is standard for Netbooks. That's generally fine for most Web surfing, but long vertical pages and Word documents can require a lot of scrolling to read."

"In this stage of the netbook game, the N120's 10-inch widescreen is tolerable, but the 1,024-by-600 resolution is a yawner"

"Unfortunately Samsung didn't apply the same anti-gloss philosophy to the N120's screen as its lid, so with a dark background and any ambient lighting the 10.1in 1,024 x 600 display gets very reflective. ."

"The speakers on either side of the screen work in conjunction with a tiny subwoofer to produce excellent audio—for a netbook. Compared with the wimpy speakers found on most netbooks, the N120 offers significantly better clarity and volume."

"The system's 2.1 speakers, a main selling point, certainly provide better audio than your average Netbook (or even some mainstream laptops we've heard), but we'd still only use them for Web video viewing or presentations--you're not going to be DJing through the N120 at your next house party."

"As one would hope, the 1.5W speakers and subwoofer are very impressive - at least by netbook standards.... In terms of audio production this is the best netbook we've reviewed, but that's not saying too much and you're still better off using a good pair of headphones."

"The built-in speakers are good for basic sound, but the subwoofer doesn't add much to the mix. Just use a good set of headphones, and you'll enjoy quality sound from the N120's sound chip."

"The 1.3-megapixel webcam took reasonably sharp images, although colors were dull in low light. And when making a Skype call from our office, our correspondent couldn’t tell whether we were wearing a green or a gray shirt."

"Unfortunately Samsung didn't apply the same anti-gloss philosophy to the N120's screen as its lid, so with a dark background and any ambient lighting the 10.1in 1,024 x 600 display gets very reflective."

"The internal Atheros AR5007EG 802.11g Wi-Fi card delivered transfer rates of 19.5 and 15.6 Mbps from 15 and 50 feet, respectively. These rates are roughly in line with the netbook averages of 19.2 and 15.9 Mbps, but are a bit lower than those offered by the Samsung N110 (20.7 and 18.5 Mbps), and the NC10 (20.8 and 16.0 Mbps)."

"The 10.1-inch screen delivers a native resolution of 1024 x 600, which is a welcome change from several netbooks we’ve seen recently with 1024 x 576 panels. When you’re trying to surf the Web on a small screen, a four-percent difference in vertical pixels is huge."

"As with other netbooks featuring Intel’s integrated graphics, its 3DMark06 score was low; its score of 93 means that the 3D chipset is best suited for reliving your favorite 3D games of the late 1990s."

"The N120’s Intel 945GSE graphics chip delivered a score of 90 on 3DMark06, which measures graphics performance. This mark was a little lower than the netbook average of 97, but, unless you’re planning to play the latest 3D games, you won’t notice a difference"

"The N120 knocked our netbook battery-rundown test out of the park. It managed to last 5 hours and 50 minutes while streaming video over Wi-Fi, coming within six minutes of the class-leading Asus Eee PC 1000HE's result. Expect battery life in the eight-hour range when using the N120 for less-demanding tasks, such as Web browsing and e-mail."

"The N120 ran for 5 hours and 14 minutes on our video playback battery drain test using the included six-cell battery. That's excellent, but about an hour less than the N110 version, which lacks the more powerful speakers."

"Samsung claims "up to 10.5hrs" on this, but that's a little optimistic. Still, with the screen at a perfectly usable 40 per cent brightness and Wi-Fi turned on, the N120 managed just over six hours while playing back video."

"The 5200-mAH 6-cell battery gave the Samsung N120 a whopping 7 hours and 24 minutes of endurance on the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi. That bests the 6-cell netbook average of 5:40 by nearly two hours."

"What the N120 lacks in raw horsepower it makes up for in battery life. The 57-Wh battery is actually smaller in size than the one found in the 1000HE (63 Wh), but it achieved a higher score on the MobileMark 2007 battery test. Its 7 hours 57 minutes is spectacular, beating the 1000HE's 6 hours 36 minutes by over an hour"

"Build quality isn't quite as impressive as previous models, with a bit of give on the chassis and a little creak on the hinge. It doesn't feel flimsy though, and the light construction helps to keep this larger machine's weight down to 1.28kg compared to 1.33kg for the smaller NC10."

Samsung provides a 1 year limited parts and labor warranty on its netbooks. Samsung's website claims that "If the product is found to be defective as a result of manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship during the Limited Warranty Period, Samsung will, at its sole option, (1) repair or replace the product, at no charge as stipulated herein, with new or reconditioned parts or a functionally equivalent product, (2) for user-installable parts, require you to repair the product with new or reconditioned parts provided at no charge, or (3) provide a refund of the purchase price of the product, LESS THE PRODUCT’S DEPRECIATED VALUE, only if Samsung is unable to replace the product or repair it in accordance with applicable law."

"Samsung includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, and the Samsung Web site offers an online knowledge base, driver downloads, troubleshooting, and live chat with a support rep."

"Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of A-… Reasons for this rating include: Length of time business has taken to resolve complaint(s).”

Samsung scored a 6.9 out of 10 on Greenpeace's September 2009 Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks the top electronics manufacturers on their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and climate change. Samsung was 2nd out of the 18 electronics companies in the guide.

Samsung received a B- on the Electronics Takeback Coalition's 2009 review of TV manufacturer recycling programs. Samsung was tied for 1st out of the 18 TV manufacturers scored for the review. The ETC says that “Samsung launched a nationwide, recycling program for TVs and other electronics on October 1, 2008. Samsung moves up from a C to a B- with this report.”

Samsung scored a 51 out of 100 on the 2008 Climate Counts survey, which measures companies across 22 criteria to determine their commitment to global warming. Higher scores are better, and Samsung was tied for 7th out of the 12 electronics companies measured in the survey.