The Samsung N150 sports a sleek look with up to seven hours of battery life and built-in Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband network connectivity. The new netbook is global ready with a pre-installed SIM card for access in more than 200 countries, 110 with 3G speeds. It also features a built-in chargeable USB port for charging other mobile devices when the N150 is turned off. This feature is very similar to other USB “Sleep and Charge” ports found on recent Toshiba laptops.

Samsung N150 specs:

• 10.1-inch non-glare LED backlit display (1024×600 resolution)
• 1.66GHz Intel Atom processor
• Up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM
• 160GB HDD
• Intel GMA 3150 graphics
• Webcam
• Near full-sized keyboard (93%)
• Stereo speakers
• 802.11b/g/n WiFi
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Built-in 3-in-1 card reader
• Windows 7 Starter Edition

To order the Samsung N150, customers must sign up for a Mobile Broadband plan, offered on a monthly or pre-paid basis. For more on this check out What You Need to Know About Subsidized Netbooks.

• Monthly Plans
  • $39.99/month for 250MB
  • $59.99/month for 5GB
• Pre-paid Plans
  • $15 for 75MB
  • $30 for 250MB
  • $50 for 500MB
• GlobalAccess Plans
  • $129.99 for 5GB in the US and Canada and 100MB in select destinations
  • $219.99 for 5GB in the US and Canada and 200MB in select destinations
  • Pay Per Use – $0.002/KB in Canada, $0.005/KB in Mexico, and $0.02/KB in more than 200 other areas.

The Samsung N150 is available for order today in Verizon Wireless Retail Stores and online for $49.99 after $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract.

Review of the Samsung N150 netbook (not on the Verizon Network):

Samsung N150 Netbook Comes to Verizon Wireless is a post by Carter Sprunger from Notebooks.com.

The new netbooks start at $199 with a 2 year contract and ship with the limited version of Microsoft Windows 7, known as Starter, which removes some features like desktop personalization, multi-monitor support and Aero affects.

The two newest netbooks to join AT&T’s subsidized stable are the Samsung Go and the Acer Aspire One; both are $199 with a 2 year contract and equipped as follows.

The Samsung Go Netbook weighs 2.8 pounds, features and Intel Atom Processor, a 160 GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, high definition audio, a 1.3 megapixel web camera, simple data sharing connectivity tools and an LED backlit display.

The Samsung Go is a rather unique netbook which has a rubberized case and a chiclet style keyboard. This decidedly different take on a netbook plays into its favor and the midnight blue case stands out from the crowd. For more information on the Samsung Go, which normally retails for $350, check out this review of the Samsung Go.

The Acer Aspire One weighs 2.2 pounds and is equipped with an Intel Atom processor, a 160 GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, high definition audio support, two built in speakers, three USB 2.0 ports, a video conferencing feature and a built-in webcam.

The Acer Aspire One is a very popular netbook and is often the subject of sales at retailers, including a rumored $149 price tag at OfficeMax. The Acer Aspire One has long been a netbook offering from AT&T, running $149.99 with a 2 contract, but the new version will cost $199 likely due in part to Windows 7.

In addition to these 2 new netbooks, AT&T has lowered the price of its 200MB a month data plan to$35. This lower price is more reasonable for the low data cap, but still pricey for the occasional user. A 5 GB data plan from AT&T still runs$60 and offers much more bandwidth for the price. Even with the new $35 data plan, buying a subsidized netbook from AT&T or any other carrier isn’t cheap. The total cost over two years will run between $1000-$2,000 after you include the cost of the required data plan. Unless you are on the go a lot and don’t make use of free wifi at hotels and coffeeshops subsidized netbooks don’t make all that much financial sense; especially when you are only saving$100 off of retail prices.

Another thing to consider before purchasing a netbook is that they are great portable devices but, these specific netbooks; don’t offer great performance when it comes to watching streaming videos like Hulu. Netbooks in general are good for browsing the web, looking at photos and working on office documents; but not intensive tasks like photo editing or gaming.

Before you make a decision to purchase a subsidized netbook you should look at the current retail cost of the netbook from a store other than your wireless carrier and read our recent article, What You Need to Know About Subsidized Netbooks From AT&T and Verizon.

AT&T Offers 2 Subsidized Netbooks and Cheaper Data Plan for Light Users is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

That’s right the “Big Red” should soon be offering the HP Mini 311 and Hp Mini 110 netbooks for sale with integrated global mobile broadband in place of the aged Mini 1511 currently for sale.

The Hp Mini 311 will be available starting October 22nd with Windows 7, 2 GB of Ram, Bluetooth and a 160 GB hard drive for $249.99 after 2 year commitment and $100 mail in rebate. Engadget is decidedly sickened by the $249 pricetag but when you compare a similarly spec’d Hp mini 311 at HP, complete with the integrated wireless ($125), you would have to spend close to $600 for the same machine.

This doesn’t change the opinion I have of subsidized netbooks or integrated mobile broadband, but I do feel that the price is more reasonable than past offers.

Along with the HP Mini 311, Verizon will also be bringing the HP Mini 110 to its network for an after rebate 2 year contract price of $199. The Hp Mini 110 will be available after the 1151 is sold out and comes with Windows XP, 1 GB of Ram and a 160 GB Hard drive and is less of a bargain than the HP Mini 311.

Yes, the price of the HP Mini 311 is more enticing than the current $199 for the HP Mini 1151 on Verizon, but there’s still plenty you should know about subsidized netbook offers, especially given the current 5 GB cap on data usage and the total cost once you consider the 2 years of data service. If you do want a highspeed mobile broadband solution, and a Mifi or USB adapter won’t cut it, then the HP mini 311 for $249 is a decent deal. It’s certainly cheaper than buying the same configuration straight from HP and activating a high speed connection.

HP Mini 311, Mini 110 Coming To Verizon For Under $250 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Given all the cool things that Bill Kurtis can do with the internet on his AT&T netbook you might be tempted to get one of your own and use its 3g connection instead of paying for highspeed from your cable company but before you do that you better read the rest of this post.

The offers:

AT&T gives you the choice of an Acer Aspire One or a Lenovo S10 netbooks. Both of these models come with a 10.1″ screen, 160GB HDD and 1 GB of RAM and run $199 after a $100 mail in rebate and 2 year contract.

Verizon is also selling a discounted netbook, the HP Mini 1115NR which has an 80 GB HDD, 10.1″ screen, 1 GB of RAM and Bluetooth. It is also $199 after a $100 mail in rebate with a 2 year contract.

Discount Details:

The discounts on these netbooks work just like those that you get on your cell phone; you get a lower price on the hardware but in turn you have to sign a 2 year contract for high speed data service for between $40 and $60 a month. Just like with your cell phone bill if you decide to cancel this service before 2 years is up you’ll be required to pay an Early Termination Fee.

Connection Details:

If you catch one of the commercials for these netbooks with 3G connectivity it’s easy to imagine canceling your home internet connection in favor of a portable high speed connection but there are a few limitations to know about before you sign on the dotted line.

First, you should know that while a netbook with a data connection will give you a high speed connection it’s not going to go head to head with your cable or DSL connection when it comes to speed, especially for downloading files.

Speaking of downloading; thanks to the plethora of digital content (legal and otherwise) we’ve become a nation of downloaders. We’re constantly buying music and movies from virtual stores like iTunes and Amazon. Streaming videos from services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube is a daily habit for many of us. All of these activities use data which counts towards the 5 GB cap that carriers put on these connections.

Here are some common activities and their data “cost”

• Downloading a movie from iTunes – 1.5 GB
• Streaming a movie in HD from Netflix – 1.5 GB
• Downloading a 12 song album from Amazon – 60 MB
• Watching a clip on YouTube – 3 MB
• Streaming an hour of Pandora – ~60 MB

It’s easy to see how combining any of these activities on top of just surfing the web and emailing can quickly get you to the 5GB cap. This 5GB is just like the limit you have on minutes or text messages. If you send too many text messages or talk for an extra few minutes you’ll end up paying more out of pocket. If you download an extra movie and go over the 5 GB plan amount you’ll have to pay $0.49 per MB on AT&T and $.05 per MB on Verizon. So if you’ve already reached the limit a YouTube video could cost you 15 cents to $1.50 which isn’t a big deal but downloading another iTunes movie could easily cost an extra $70 to $700 in overages if you’ve already hit 5 GB!

With that warning out of the way, it is important to note that if you use the connection for emailing, surfing the web and doing basic business type work you’ll be hard pressed to reach the 5GB limit so you just need to be aware of what you do on the connection.

Conclusion:

While it can be tempting to pick up a discounted netbook through one of these offers the fact that netbooks have come down in price and you need to sign a 2 year contract paying $40-$60 a month means you should look closely before buying.

If it’s the only device you’re going to connect to the internet with on the road and you want a netbook it’s not a bad deal (if your already going to pay for data) but if you have multiple devices or would rather have the freedom to use data only when you need to or are just looking for a cheap netbook there are better solutions.

For example you can purchase a new HP Mini netbook for just over $300 a difference of only 2 month’s worth of data fees. That’s just the start there are plenty of deals to on netbooks made by Dell, Lenovo, Acer and others for less than $300; all without a contract and monthly fee.

If you just want access on the go there are some other options to consider including USB modems and the Mifi device which lets you connect up to 5 computers to a cellular data connection at one time. Right now you can buy the Mifi device on either Sprint or Verizon for just a penny with a new contract at Amazon! It’s great to have a device like this since it means you aren’t restricted to one machine and if your netbook breaks you can use it in a new one.

Bottom Line:

There’s nothing wrong with embedded 3G connections in netbooks, in fact it’s quite convenient; but if all you want is a cheap netbook or you want to replace your home connection you should look elsewhere.

What You Need to Know About Subsidized Netbooks From AT&T and Verizon is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.