Samsung placed a great deal of emphasis on the N310’s design when announcing it to assembled journalists at its European Forum 2009. And in the flesh it certainly makes a strong impression.

The outer coating looks almost like painted polystyrene to the untrained eye, and it’s only when you feel it that you realise this is moulded plastic vaguely reminiscent of 70s kitchens (think coloured Formica). It’s unusual, but somehow it works – because the surface is textured, when you hold it the N310 actually feels quite nice in the hand.

Some might not appreciate the embossed SAMSUNG on the lid, especially as the lettering is written so large, but it again adds a striking difference to the conventional – and, let’s face it, dull – netbook design.

Another design feature that definitely works is the frameless screen. It appears as a sheet of glass, just as we’ve become used to seeing in Apple’s MacBook range. The image is vibrant, colours look accurate and, though it’s a little disappointing to see just a 1,024 x 600 resolution, it adds up to an excellent 10in screen.

The keyboard is less impressive. It uses what Samsung describes as a “pebble” design, with isolated keys that we generally call Scrabble-style. This means there’s plenty of space between each key, making typos less of a worry for hunt-and-peck typists, but nonetheless I felt the key action to be a little unsatisfying.

But that’s the only real bad note to say about the N310 on first usage. We’re still waiting on exact spec for the UK (we’re hoping that it will include embedded HSDPA, for instance, as well as all the usual wireless standards), but if you’re looking for a netbook with a difference this looks to be a prime contender.

It won’t come cheap, though – Samsung has now confirmed it will cost £399 inc VAT.

We’ll provide a full review as soon as we can get a sample into the Labs for proper benchmarking.

[Note - this post initially referred to the Samsung NC310, which was my error - it should have been the N310 as it now correctly states!]

Key specs below:

Microsoft Windows XP Home (SP3)

Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz, 512KB)

1GB DDR2 RAM

10.1” WSVGA (1024 x 600) SuperBright Gloss LED backlit

80GB / 160GB (5400 rpm SATA) / 16GB (SSD)

Intel GMA 950 (Int. Graphic)

10/100 Ethernet

1.3 Megapixel Web Camera

4 Cell (4400mAh) Lithium ion – Up to 5 Hours*
- Up to 2.7 Hours* for video playback
6 Cell (8850mAh) Lithium ion – Up to 11 Hours*
- Up to 6.2 Hours* for video playback

802.11bg + draft-n WLAN

Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

3W Stereo Speaker (1.5 Watt x 2)

1.23 kg (incl. 4 cell battery) / 1.35 kg (incl. 6 cell battery)