Currently I am using my work notebook a Samsung N140 with Windows 7 Starter edition. The keyboard on this is just as good as they advertised with one huge exception; they did something horrible to the right Shift-key. It has been shrunk in size by at least half even in propotion to the rest of the keyboard and I just can’t seem to hit it at all. In stead <i hit the <-key right next to it… see what I did there?
The EeePC boom that started the new rise of notebooks was contradictional in the eyes of the nerd, because the usability of the keyboards of those notebooks was just horrid. The mouse was made so badly that it would bounce all over the screen without pause and the battery didn’t last significantly longer than on traditional laptops. On the otherhand the size and price of the notebooks were perfect. Times have changed. As I already said, this Samsung boasts a very good touch to both it’s keyboard and its mouse, as well as a very healthy 10 hour batterylife. Even with stress it should be good for a normal workday. These are the reasons why I have opted to buy one for myself and not just grab one from the workplace. My notebook future lies not with Samsung, but with Nokia and the Nokia Booklet 3G.
In my search for the perfect notebook I had a couple distinct needs. The first one is something I think as obvious: The operating system has to be either Ubuntu or Windows 7. There is no comparison between Win7 and the earlier Windows versions. Unfortunantely Ubuntu or Linux in general isn’t very popular on the notebook market anymore and thus can’t be found in top end notebooks. This left me with Windows 7. The second criteria was that it should have an internal 3G/HDSPA possibility. I passionately hate external HDSPA modems and can’t understand what the idea is to have a huge stick coming out of your otherwise compact notebook. The third critatea was the size of 10.1” to 12”. Anything bigger than this I would consider a laptop and a bit cumbersome.
