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Samsung adds another look to a generic Netbook build with the N310, but is there any good reason this prices almost $500?

We’ve gotten to the point where mainstream Netbooks are a reasonably rigid format. Slap together an Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB disk drive, and a copy of Windows XP, and you’ve got your hands on fundamentally the equivalent product sold by PC producers such as Dell, HP, and Acer.

The Samsung Go N310 does not stray far from that territory, but it at least manages to pack those familiar parts into a fun, colorful plastic shell. We dug the unique design that reminded us of vintage retro-modern home electronics, but at $479, it’s way overpriced for a system that lacks high-end extras such as an HD display or 3G antenna.

Samsung says the N310’s unique look was, “designed by award-winning Japanese artist Naoto Fukasawa and features smoothly rounded edges that resemble a pebble that’s been worn down by wind and waterfall.” We think it looks like a nicely self-contained package, with a rounded clamshell case that feels hermetically sealed when folded shut. A few of our colleagues, nevertheless, thought it looked somewhat toylike.

Our system was sunset orange, but midnight blue, jet black, and mint blue are also available. The inner keyboard tray and screen bezel are jet black and contrast nicely with the deep orange exterior.

The keyboard has flat-topped, widely spaced keys that are very similar to what you’d find on a Sony Vaio Netbook. We’ve seen wider key surfaces on other Netbooks, but typing was a comfortable, easy experience, and important keys, such as the Shift, Control, and Tab, are reasonably sized.

The generous touchpad is unfortunately combined with a thin, cheap-feeling rocker-bar style mouse button. We much prefer separate left and right mouse buttons, which are practically a necessity if you do many right-clicking.

The 10.1-inch wide-screen LED display offers a 1,024×600 native resolution, which is standard for a Netbook, although Netbooks this expensive often have better 1,366×768 screens. Although it may be a bit of a glare-magnet, we’re fond of the sharp-looking edge-to-edge glass over the display.