It was time that I wanted to upgrade my netbook from the 7 inch Mileap that I was using , after using the Mileap for over a year I had a few things clear in my mind that I wanted in my next netbook.

I wanted a 10-11 inch screen a very good keyboard that is at least 92% of normal keyboards size or higher and a battery life of 5 hrs or more, it should also have a good track-pad and the last thing was that I wanted a light netbook around 1.2 kgs or less sounds tough you bet it is, but I did find one.

For the last couple of months I have been researching on various netbook that would meet my requirements, the big problem initially was the there are netbooks that give 7-9 hrs battery life with 6 cells battery but again for most of these netbooks it added a lot of weight and the battery gutted out from the back making the netbooks look like a cheap modification or just made it heavy.

The second problem was getting a good keyboard on a netbook the problem with netbooks is that due to their small form factor (size) manufactures have to make some comprises with the keyboard layout and also with the size of the keys, I did find some good netbooks from  the ASUS brands of Eee Netbooks but the keyboard layout was a bit off, the newer upcoming models from ASUS seems to solve this issue, but still ASUS netbooks weigh more than others.

Some of the netbooks that I like earlier on were the HP Mini 1000 series this is one of the most sleekest model that you can get, it is also very affordable it now has a 6 cell option that can last

over 5 hrs of usage but the problem is that the track-pad is not that great, the problem with Dell Mini 10 was also similar, one exception and a real contender was the ASUS 1000HE it is an great machine with a battery that can last around 7.5 – 8 hrs my friend Amar has it and I say that its a good machine but the problem again with that model is that its too heavy 3.4 pounds (1.45 kgs) there is a new model of netbook coming from the ASUS stable known as the 1008HA which is a new sleek deisgn from ASUS giving around 4 – 4.5 hrs of battery life, the keyboard layout is good, but the problem with that netbook is that it doesn’t have a removable battery and upgrading the RAM is a big hassle, BTW ASUS 10008HA weighs just 1.1 Kgs (2.4 pounds) with its built in 3 cell battery, btw as of writing this article its not yet available in India but it should be in the next month or so.

I also had a look at the popular Acer Aspire One series of netbook but the problem with the 10 inch version was that the keyboard layout is a bit cramped, I also had a look at the new crop of 11.6 inch netbooks they look great and most of them had a good keyboard and trackpads but the problem is that they are using an under clocked version of the ATOM process which is just 1.3 GHz compared to the normal one which runs at 1.6 Ghz in most netbooks.

Finally I settled for a netbook manufactured by Samsung called the Samsung N120, this netbook is the closet to my requirement it has a 97% keyboard the biggest in 10 inch netbooks and a very good and wide track-pad by netbook standards, it also has a battery life around 6-8 hrs (a 6 cell battery by default) and is just 1.26 Kgs in weight, this version also has a better sound output thanks to a 2.1 sound setup again a first in a netbook.

Their is another great model of netbook by Samsung, called the Samsung N110 which is very simillar to N120 but has a 93% keyboard, slightly better battery life, I am still playing around with my new Samsung N120 netbook, expect a full review very soon.