Samsung’s NB30 touchscreen netbook is available now in some countries and has been reviewed by a few different places, the verdict: dim display but good touchscreen. The capacitive touchscreen works well and is responsive even with multitouch, but this brings up an important question, “Who would pay an extra $160 for a touchscreen display on a netbook without a swivel on the display for tablet mode?”
Basically having to transition from using a mouse to reaching your hand up to touch the display is very inconvenient as we have seen before. So if you want something with a touchscreen you’re going to want to a netbook that converts into tablet mode to make it worthwhile, like the T101MT or Lenovo S10-3t (my favorite).
These sort of touch-screen addons are the netbook equivalent of a car dealer offering you $200 dollar floor mats when you buy your car.
Is it pointless? Absolutely. But the profit margin is damned big and they know that some tiny sliver of people will take the upgrade because they already have their credit card out and are in the buying mood.
It is shameful, and I am kind of sad that Samsung it doing this too. It is an unfortunate reminder that although Samsung has made some pretty awesome netbooks, they’re not above pulling one over on customers who don’t know any better.