Compaq Mini 311c vs Samsung N140

[Liquid Tension]

Compaq Mini 311c OR Samsung N140?

I was wondering if anyone had used either/both of these notebooks and could provide a recommendation? I have found both for the same price of £250.

The Compaq has better specs and a better screen but the Samsung has come out of all it's reviews singing and dancing.

I'm completely lost as it's been a while since I've paid any attention to the laptop/notebook sector of computing.

Specs for both notebooks:

Compaq Mini 311c
11.6-inch HD widescreen display, 1366 x 768 resolution
NVIDIA ION LE, up to 319MB total graphics memory
1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270
160GB SATA 5400 RPM
Altec Lansing Speakers
6-cell battery, up to 6 hours battery life

Samsung N140
10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 resolution
Intel GMA950, 128MB memory
1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270
160GB SATA 5400 RPM
Standard stereo speakers
6-cell battery, up to 11 hours battery life

Any feedback based on using either of these notebooks would be much appreciated!

 

[manic_man]

Well they are different beasts aimed at different markets!

The only thing to look at is the battery life to tell who they are aimed at. As you can see, the smaller screen and reduced general power consumption of the non ION chipset means you nearly double the battery life with the Samsung.

It all depends what you want to do with it. Neither are gaming power-houses, but the Compaq may handle the odd bit of gaming and the higher screen resolution will be much easier to work with, but the Samsung will have a smaller footprint, probably be cooler to the touch and be lighter.

 

[Liquid Tension]

I have no intention to use the netbook to play games. The main use for the netbook will be internet browsing and word/excel use. The main selling point on the Compaq for me, was the increased resolution, It's a big step forward from the resolution of the Samsung.

However I was unsure if this is worth losing the extended battery life over. I have my assumptions but was hopeful someone could provide some insight from experience?

Thanks

 

[manic_man]

I have no intention to use the netbook to play games. The main use for the netbook will be internet browsing and word/excel use. The main selling point on the Compaq for me, was the increased resolution, It's a big step forward from the resolution of the Samsung.

However I was unsure if this is worth losing the extended battery life over. I have my assumptions but was hopeful someone could provide some insight from experience?

Thanks

For me, I would go with the Compaq as most websites are designed with 1024x768+ in mind these days, so coupled with the small 10" real-estate, it'll be a fairly cramped browsing experience.

Though if you want to use it on the road mainly, then clearly the extra battery life is very compelling.

Ultimately you have to decide how you will use it.