LG X110 10-inch Netbook, Intel Atom, 1.6GHz, 160GB, Windows XP Home

Bought this for my teenage daughter who fancied a Macbook till she saw the price! I've been using a 9" Acer netbook for six months and am pretty pleased with it. But this LG 10" is so much more usable. The extra screen space makes it much easier on the eye. I much prefer the LG's matt screen to my own glossy screen. OK so the contrast is a little lower on the matt screen but the reduced glare makes it much easier to avoid annoying reflections. But the biggest advantage is the extra keyboard space. It's about 93% of a full sized keyboard, and rapid touch typing is dead easy because of that. I'd never have believed that moving up from a 9" to a 10" netbook would make such a difference. And LG's industrial designers deserve a pat on the back for producing such an attractive machine. Take a close look at the photographs. It's a really nice looking machine, very sleek, beatifully finished. Inside it's apparently based on an MSI Wind which has a solid reputation. My daughter runs the usual office apps for homework, Live Messenger, an early version of Photoshop Elements, and Firefox for web browsing, and they all run at decent speed. Unless you're a high-end gamer, this little beauty will do everything you need it to. Been trying to get my daughter to swap, but no deal!

Works like a dream. Thank goodness for XP. Excellent performer for surfing the net and homework. Robust, solid and quick.

Our needs for this netbook are very simple: surfing the internet. In that regard it does exactly what we wanted, the keyboard (being white) is clear and easy to see even for those us with less than perfect eyesight and in poorly lit conditions. We use it wirelessly 99% of the time, connecting via ethernet cable doesn't provide significant benefits. In that very important area, then, of web surfing, it gets a maximum 5 stars, because it really can't be faulted. I should mention though that sometimes it picks up broadband signals from neighbours instead of our own BT Home Hub, even when we are using it in the same room as the hub. That may not be down to this netbook however, I'm not sure.

It does get rather hot, which can be a slight nuisance when it's resting on the lap. So far, and we've been using it every day for nearly three months, this high heat level doesn't seem to have affected it in any way. Maybe it's just normal and there is no cause for concern.

It feels well made, the keyboard in particular having a nice feel to it. As for the mouse pad, whenever possible I use a separate wireless mouse as it is much faster to use, and if I had one criticism about the netbook's physical interaction it would be the left/right click buttons below the mouse pad. At all times it requires a firm press to activate, more than I would have liked, although the upside is that again it feels built to last and to endure what will obviously be a lot of abuse over the years.

We use it direct from the mains most of the time, whenever we do use the battery it seems to run down quite quickly, I haven't timed it exactly but I would guess at not much more than two hours, which I think is a lot less than the time claimed by the maunufacturer.

Although it's not a criticism of the netbook itself, on reflection I wish we had bought a conventional laptop, with DVD drive and SD card inputs. Of course we can use an external drive via USB terminal but that starts to get a bit fiddly especially from a mobility point of view. This is really a heads-up to anyone undecided between a 10" screen netbook like this one and a slightly larger/heavier laptop - in hindsight I wish we had bought a normal laptop. These netbooks are great but they aren't massively cheaper, and a number of compromises are made which I think should be reflected in much lower prices - under £200 I would suggest.

The webcam works fine, we regularly use Skype to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, and in this regard we have no complaints at all, it does an excellent and in some ways amazing job. A definite thumbs-up there.

Sound quality is pretty awful, frankly, although I'm not sure how much better it could be given the small dimensions. We haven't used headphones yet but I would expect sound quality to be much better with their use.

Overall though it's very impressive and for surfing it's hard to fault. I have no idea how it compares against others in its peer group, but so far we have (almost) nothing but praise for it and I would recommend it with confidence.
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Reviewer BLUE FROG says:
You can get laptop coolers, which cost around 20 quid; if you're using the laptop regularly, it might be a good investment. In any case, if the laptop is getting hot enough to feel uncomfortable, don't leave it on your lap without some sort of protection (eg a lap table) - you can get a condition called erythema ab igne, which can cause permanent disfigurement and is linked to some forms of cancer.