Many postings on sammynetbook concern the lack of power of netbooks and especially lack of ability to play HD video, streaming or downloaded. In some posts people reflect on whether a so-called ULV 11,6 inch laptop wouldn’t be a bettter choice. Apparently such ULV’s offer similar battery life, but much more power. In concrete terms; should you go for a N230 or a X125 (which will replace Samsungs current ULV X120)? Disregarding price for a moment (ULV’s are more expensive than netbooks, but cheaper than your normal laptop), I thought it might be useful for buyers in doubt to share with you my personnal experience with this. I started out with a netbook – the Sammy N120 – then after about a year changed to a ULV – the Sammy X120 – only to revert to my trusty old netbook half a year later. Why?

I was really happy with my N120, but – perhaps because I heard a lot about this – increasingly missed the power of my stationary laptop back home. So I thought I could get both battery life, light weight and small form factor together with power and HD capability if I changed to the X120. Half a year later I had to recognize that this was not true. No mistake, in many ways the Samsung X120 is an excellent mobile PC, and it’s certainly much lighter and smaller than your normal laptop. And it also gives you more power, in particular for viewing HD video.

BUT: it’s also bigger and heavier than a netbook, and if like me you carry it with you all the time, and travel with it a lot, an 11,6 inch big 1,6 kg heavy ULV is more uncomfortable to carry around than a 10,1 inch 1,2 kg. netbook. It’s as simple as that. Secondly; you will not in practice get a similar battery life. At least not unless you only use the ULV for the same purposes as a netbook. But if you begin using the power of a ULV watching a lot af HD video, gaming, photo editing etc. you will only have about 4 hours of real life battery life. In other words: if you use the ULV for what it’s intended for the battery life will be far inferior to a netbook. And I found out in practice that battery life is really important. Being free from allways desperately seeking for an AC outlet. Being free from allways carrying up to 1/2 kg of wires, transformers etc. Thirdly; for normal tasks like web-browsing, office work, media functions etc. a netbook wil be just as fast as a ULV; it’s only when you use the ULV for heavy duty work, that the ULV will feel quicker than a netbook. And – and I think this decided things for me – the ULV will still be much slower than your normal laptop for heavy file handling, editing, converting etc.

So for me after having used a ULV for half a year I recognized that you have to make a choice, a choice between endurance/mobility and power. You can’t get both. I also learned more about the many things you can easely do with a netbook. And for the rest I found out I could live with only doing those things at home with my stationary laptop. So to-day I have a combination of a Sammy N220 for mobile use and a Sammy R580 for home use, and for me this works as a perfect combination. Yes, it would be nice from time to time to be able to watch an HD video waiting in an airport, but compared to all the other factors to me it’s a minor thing. In particular given the screen size of a netbook, which really doesn’t make HD that relevant. Peoples tastes and preferences are certainly different, but I think that you should at least be aware of this before making your choice.