N220 - Should I or Shouldn't I - Your help is much appreciated please

[bluelad7]

Hi Guys,

First of all great forum. I have read lots of info on here and a lot of it is extremely helpful. My main reason for this post is, is this N220 right for me?

I want it to store say 100gb of my music and then I want to be able to ........
1) Listen to my music with/without my bluetooth headfones
2) Play the odd DVDRIP (mainly 700-800mb)
3) Surf using up to 5 tabs
4) Write Word docs/email
5) Download my fav tv episodes
6) Possibly stream my music from a Freecom Media Player

Combinations of the above going on at the same time are likely to be as follows....
i) Points 1 or 6 , 3, 4 and 5
ii) Points 2 and 5

If you think that the N220 would only cope with so many of them, how many of them could it cope with?

And a few odd questions...
a) As it comes with a 250gb HD, how much is used for OS etc?
b) I read somewhere that there is no email client - Is this true and what are you guys using?, I hate webmail !!
c) I noticed that antivirus wise no one mentions Nortons...Is that coz it's a "drain" or because Avast is just as good? I currently use AVG
d) Upgrade to 2gb memory - Essential?

Phew! I think that is it !

All help would be appreciated as I don't have that much money and although I've seen the N220 in the flesh, I have not been able to test it (shame there's no "try before you buy!").

I've watched the "german" guy on youtube and read all on here and just felt that it is worth checking with you guys before I give away my hard earned!

Thanks in advance to all that reply and I hope by the end of today I have that confidence to place that order and hopefully then become a regular contributor on this great site.


Best Wishes

Bluey

[Luca69]

The Samsung N220 is a "Netbook" and tis means that its main feature is the portability. In your list you do not mention this "requirement". If this is not a "must", I would recommend you to buy a normal PC or a standard laptop. For a similar price, you can find good alternatives with bigger screen and more powerful processor but ... with smaller battery and higher weight.

If your target is the portability and the price, than N220 is your choice but consider the upgrde to 2GB (for me a must if you use Seven) to calculate the final cost

[bluelad7]

Thanks Luca. No I do want it to be pretty much portable too. Will cetainly consider the upgrade of memory. It's more, will it cope with the things I want it to multi task really.

[marcdbl]

Are you in the UK? If so, like me, your N220 will come with the Crystal HD decoder allowing you to watch dvdrips no problem. Not sure if it can cope without this.

I've left my N220 at 1GB, but changed the OS to a very lite version of XP, and it can manage what you describe above.

Norton is surely the worst AV out there for resource-drain. I'm running Security Essentials which is working well so far.

Hope that helps.

[bluelad7]

Thanks Marcdbl - Yes, I am in the UK. Not sure I've got enough savvy to do the XP bit though! I guess WIN7 will struggle with my requirements.

[SingingSam]

Just from my use of the N220 I can say you would be able to use Windows Media Player while browsing the net with 5 tabs. It may churn a bit when you change tracks but it's good enough for that.

Standard definition movies play with no problems. It's only when I get into 720 that I've had problems and I've been told that with good HD files they will play fine.

I think you'd be ok with word processing at the same time as web browsing and internet but haven't done it myself. I think with the ram upgrade that would be ok. There's a link in the forum for the RAM at £20.

Mozilla have a free email client called 'Thunderbird' that should run fine.

Not 100% on the OS but properties say the disk capacity is 238GB and I have 216GB of that to use.

Hope this helps

[bluelad7]

Thanks SigningSam, that is most useful. Yeah I read the RAM bit (Tosh Computers if I remember right). I think on what I'd already read on this great forum and the responses I have had today, I will take that plunge unless by the morning someone puts a spanner in the works!

[bluelad7]

Well, I am now the proud owner of the N220 in the little red number! Again, a big thanks to everyone on here and those who responded to this thread. I hope in time to be able to contribute where possible.

Thanks again

Bluey

[GoofeysGirl]

wondered what your experience was of your N220 as i am just about to get one and wondering exactly the sort of questions you were asking.

[djbu]

I bought a Samsung N220 notebook for my daughter to take travelling. Its only 4 months old and the hard drive has given up! She is in China and as for the International Warranty its a load of poo! No one wants to know other than tell her in sign language that the hard drive is broken and they dont have windows in English. Its just the same here I have emailed head of Samsung PR three times but no answer what so ever. From now on I would not touch anything Samsung at all.