Samsung NF210 review

After a couple of years of hogging all the attention, netbooks have all but dropped out of the limelight. With Intel's latest dual-core Atom processor in tow, and a curvaceous new design, Samsung's NF210 wants to rekindle the flame and reclaim its place atop the PC Pro A List.

Shy and retiring aren't words that you'd associate with the NF210. Swooping curves and rounded edges abound, and this combines with a startling gloss-white finish, and silver trim stretching around the edges of the lid and chassis. Peer inside and you'll find a faux-aluminium wristrest jostling for attention with acres of matte black, enlivened further by a handful of grey pinpricks dotted around the glossy-black bezel. It sounds awful, but, in the flesh, it's one of the very few netbooks that actually look good.

It's apt that such a novel design delivers the first glimpse of Intel's much-touted dual-core Atom processor. Intel's Atom N550 finally brings the hope that, finally, the netbook might break free from the shackles of mediocre performance.

The truth, however, is that it merely rattles the chains. Our benchmarks saw the NF210 deliver an underwhelming score of 0.35, just a couple of per cent quicker than its single-core predecessors. Not surprisingly, it was video encoding and multitasking that saw the biggest boost in performance, but it could have been so much better. The N550 has only 1GB of RAM, which is definitely a limiting factor.