Laptop Thoughts: Samsung's New Netbook Ups The Netbook Ante

"The NF310 joins the similarly priced Asus Eee PC 1015PEM as being one of the first netbooks to use the Atom N550, the first dual-core processor from Intel specifically designed for such devices. According to Intel, the 45nm N550 has a 1.5GHz clock speed, 1MB of second-level cache, and an 8.5 Watt TDP."

While netbook sales have been slumping, there seems to be a little progress in advancing the category. While dual-core netbooks are becoming more common, the most notable difference between the NF310 and many other netbooks is that it offers a 1366x768 screen resolution. While the extra 168 rows of pixels may not sound like much, it means that the netbook is capable of playing back 720p movies without downscaling, and you get to see that much more while web browsing. Sure, you can scroll down webpages if you really want to, but being able to absorb that much more at a glance does make a huge difference for me. I have always felt that 1024x600 to be cramped, even though it leads to easier to read text. Maybe when I start telling people to get off my lawn, I will appreciate lower resolution screens more, where the letters are nice and big.