Aesthetics
Apart from the battery, the only user-accessible section is the memory-slot cover, removable via one screw. Inside, there's a single DIMM slot that's populated with a 1GB as standard, and you have to replace it if wishing to add to the capacity.
Opening it up, what's immediately striking is slim profile and decent-sized keyboard. Samsung reckons that it's 93 per cent the size of a desktop keyboard, and it's one of the N310's positive points, enabling easy, speedy typing - certainly the best we've seen on a netbook thus far. It's also the beneficiary of what the company dubs as Silver Nano technology, found on a range of Samsung products, from fridges to computers. According to the blurb, the coating resists airborne bacteria and gives you a cleaner surface to work with.
Samsung bundles in the usual hardware goodies, including 1.3mp camera, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g WiFi (why no draft-n?).
The 10.1in (1,024x600) screen isn't quite as good as the rest of the package, as whilst clear, bright and eminently readable even with the brightness set to the lowest level, is unnecessarily reflective. The sound, too, is better than the NC10's but still isn't brilliant, but that's endemic to most netbooks.
It might look different to most but under the skin it's eerily similar to a glut of other netbooks, including the ubiquitous N270 Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, 945GSE chipset, GMA950 integrated graphics, 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP Home. We wouldn't take umbrage with that if the N310 was priced at, say, £329. However, it ships with an SRP of £399 and, right now, an etail price of £380, which is simply too expensive for year-old technology. Really, Samsung should have equipped it with the N280 chip and GN40 supporting core-logic if the £399 was to be justified.
