Low Price Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery

I tried the Acer Aspire One to fill my netbook needs. The Aspire One is a 5-star machine, but the keyboard is simply too small for my hands.

I next tried the Samsung NC10 - and am very pleased. The NC10 is an extremely competent machine in a very compact, lightweight package.

I won't go deeply into the specs: they are well known and readily available.

Thee are a number factors that please me so much about the Samsung NC10. The 10.2" is bright and sharp, though the oddball resolution of 1024 x 600 is a bit inconvient from time to time. The much criticized touchpad isn't all that bad, but it is far from ideal. It is barely usable, but it does work and you get better with it the more you use it.

Audio through the onboard speakers is fair. Don't try using it in a room with even a moderate amount of noise - the internal speakers will be swamped. Frequency coverage of the internal speakers is what you would expect:" mediocre. Headphone listening is more than adequate - and the built-in Bluetooth is a blessing with Bluetooth headphones.

The built-in webcam is surprisingly good, delivering an image that puts that of the built-in webcam on my Dell to shame - though, admittedly, that is not a major challenge.

Where this unit really shines and two of the factors that make it such a winner are the keyboard and the battery.

The keyboard is almost full-sized. The important keys like Enter and Shift feel full-sized. Even with my large fingers, I can type rapidly with few errors. On the Aspire One, I was tripping all over myself. The function keys are reduced size, but this doesn't cause a problem.

Samsung claims the battery is good for eight hours. Not unexpecteldy, I haven't acheived eight hours yet - but six hours running time is a snap. Add a spare battery or two to your pack and you're good for a very long day of portable computing. The six-cell batteries, by the way, are pretty light.

I haven't used the NC10 for any heavy duty applications yet, like photo editing or voice recognition, but for normal things like browsing and word processing, the 1.6Ghz Atom processor seems adequate. I did upgade my RAM to 2GB just because I prefer as much RAM as I can get. I didn't notice any performance improvment so far and, considering what I have been using the machine for, I wouldn't expect to.

Best of all, the NC10 is light. Even with my old shoulders and my old back, I can tote the NC10, an extra battery, mouse, headset and power adapter without problem.

I've only tried the Aspire One and the Samsung NC10 so I can't speak widely of netbooks. I can confidently say, though, that the NC10 is a well engineered and well built machine that will satisfy anyone's reasonable netbook requirments. It is a terrific little computer.

JerryGet more detail about Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery.

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This is my 1st Netbook, and I have to say, right off the bat, that I am extremely impressed. I had an opportunity to demo many different units in the store, but unfortunately I did not have a chance to try out the NC10 prior to purchasing it. I can honestly say that I am glad I took the risk.

Keyboard:
One of the best on the market! I have discussed this item with many potential netbook buyers, and many of my colleagues do not realize that not all netbook keyboards are created equal. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE KEYBOARD LAYOUT, especially if you plan on doing a fair amount of typing. I think the NC10 had the best quality feel out of all the netbooks I demoed. The HP Mini Note had the best key board layout, but I think the quality feel of the NC10 is better.
The NC10 has a stated 93% size keyboard. But more importantly it has a large sized 'Enter' key, right 'Shift' key, and most importantly a reasonably sized 'Backspace' key. If I had a complaint it would be that the 'Backspace' key could have been a bit bigger. (I use it a lot, due to my poor typing skills) That being said, it really has not caused me a problem.

Score: 4.5/5.0

Screen:
The 10" screen is perfect! I had tried a couple of 8.9" screens and they were reasonable and I would not shy away from an 8.9" screen for casual usage, but the 10" screen strikes the perfect balance between portability and eye strain.
In addition the NC10 has a nice matte finish as opposed to a glossy finish. My 15.4" notebook as a glossy finish which I like for home use and when playing games and watching movies, but the matte screen on the Samsung is very smart, due the various environments that I use it. When in brightly lit areas I have no problems with glare and the NC10 has many brightness settings which can easily over come a bright room.

I have yet to try and use it outside (winter here in the Midwest), but once I do, I will submit and update to this review.

Score: 4.5/5.0

Battery Life:

Wow! This is really about all I can say. Wow!
Ok, I will elaborate:

I was EXTREMELY skeptical about the published battery life data being reported on the internet for the NC10. My thought process was, if it has essentially the same type of internal workings as all of the other netbooks, then how could it really offer upwards of 8 hours of battery life? Other 6 cell notebooks are in the 4-6 hour range, how could the Samsung really be that much longer? Truth be told, I don't know, but it really does operate for approximately 6-8 hours on a full battery charge, depending on the type of work I am doing.



Score: 5.0 / 5.0 (I should rate it a 10.0 out of 5.0)

Performance:

I was concerned before buying a Netbook on the level of performance these little machines can offer. Rather than listing a bunch of bench mark performance tests and numerical score, that don't mean anything to most readers, I can comment on how the machine handles various applications:

Windows startup: I can't tell the difference on startup for my netbook when compared to my desktop/laptop. No issue.

MS Office 2003: Seamless. Again, I don't notice any real difference between running Office on my work laptop or desktop.

Web surfing: That's what these little guys were made for. No problems surfing or streaming video on Youtube.

Higher Performance Apps: I have tried to run some high quality compressed MP4 movies on the NC10, and it handles them OK. There are some screen artifacts from time to time and some lag. This was also the only application I was running at the time, so I think it would trip on itself, if I was trying to surf and watch a high quality video (when would I do that?)

I have not tried to run any games yet on the NC10. Once I do I will update this review.

I would expect that the NC10 would be on par with other netbooks, sine many of the new netbooks are cookie cutter when it comes to the hardware. For users who are wondering whether a netbook has enough horsepower for everyday work use (email, Office, some low-medium video quality, picture editing, etc), the answer is: Yes! It is actually more power than I thought it would be. But let me be clear, this is not a high power machine that can allow for high order processing, gaming, and HD video.

Score: 4.0 / 5.0 <-- again, probably on par with all other netbooks

Build Quality:

The look, feel, and build quality of the Samsung NC10 is 2nd to none. As I mentioned the keyboard keys response and feel are the best available. The device feels like a very high end piece of equipment. There is no bend in the keyboard, like I noticed on lower ender competitors, and the screen is well balanced with the unit, no matter of what angle it is sitting. Some of this quality adds to the weight of the NC10. This is not the lightest unit in the field (not helped by the 6 cell battery), but I think the high end quality feel is worth the extra ounces.

I will use this unit for everyday business travel and I have zero concerns about its ability to withstand constant travel and use. I had demoed several other (lower priced) netbooks in stores and I had serious concerns about whether they would be able to still be running after 1 year of rugged use. No such concern resides with this netbook.



Score: 5.0 / 5.0

Aesthetics:

I have read many reviews where they comment that the NC10 is 'safe' in its design or that it is nothing special. I am not sure what netbooks those reviewers are looking at, or maybe they are viewing thru the eyes of what more youthful users would like, but I think the NC10 is 2nd to none on its looks and appearance. I love the matte finish on the top of the lid. My 15.4" HP laptop has a glossy exterior, which looks nice when you pull it out of the box, but quickly gets littered with fingerprints. The matte finish on the Samsung (white) shows no finger prints.

For professional users, I don't think there is a unit that comes close to looking as smart as the NC10.

I am concerned about a white keyboard and I am curious to see if it will show dirt easily. After more time and usage, I will come back and edit this review.

One item to be mindful of, is that the battery has a couple of "legs" on it for setting on a table and making it steady. These little legs are somewhat uncomfortable when sitting on my lap. You can readjust the laptop to try and have them straddle your leg, for more comfort at the expense of balance. (at least this was my experience)

Lastly, the touch pad received many negative reviews from other websites. 1st off, it is smaller than some other pads on the market. Others didn't like that that there was one bottom for both primary and secondary clicking. I think these reviewers are right that the pad is a bit small, but with some simple adjustments to the sensitivity you can improve its usability quite simply. Also, I would take a smaller touch pad rather than the buttons being on the left and right of the pad like some other netbooks. The one button for primary and secondary clicking has not been a problem. I am not sure why Samsung did this, but it is really just an oddity when looking at it, but really does not affect the use in the slightest.

Score: 4.5 / 5.0

Mobility:

As I mentioned, the NC10 is not the lightest netbook on the market, but compared to 12-13" notebooks that often weight in at >4 lbs, this netbook is a Godsend for sore back weary travelers. The 6-cell battery is worth the extra ounces, and the matte screen allows for use in various settings and lighting conditions. The extremely long battery life also allows the user to often leave the charging cables at home, which many other netbooks can not afford to do due to inferior battery life. Lastly, the higher end build quality of the NC10, erases concerns about taking the device from place to place.

That all being said, I did buy a 1 lb travel bag that allows me to store power cables, mouse, and the unit. My whole travel setup now weighs less than my previous business laptop. I am able to travel with my mouse, cables, notebook (paper), netbook, and bag at less than 5 lbs.

Score: 5.0 / 5.0

Overall:

Probably one of the best investments I ever made. This will save me many back aches and allow me to travel with my PC more often than before. The battery life, keyboard, and build quality are where the NC10 really out does its competitors. Throw in a 5400 RPM hard drive and bluetooth and you really have a well setup machine for the money. I highly recommend for business travelers.

Overall Score: 4.67 / 5.00Get more detail about Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery.

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I purchased this NC10 netbook because I had an upcoming hospital visit and wanted a convenient computer that had reasonably good performance and a small footprint. I followed the advice of another reviewer here, and re-installed Windows thereby making one C drive rather than a C and D drive. The only downside, my own fault, is I somehow inactivated the ability to use the Samsung recovery function which had a small partition of its own. Along with the NC10, I also purchased 2GB Crucial memory and that was super easy to install. I already own a small external dvd/cd rewriteable drive made by Lite-on and it can connect to the NC10 via 2 USB ports (if you want the NC10 to power the dvd drive) or via 1 USB port if you use a power plug for the dvd drive.

The netbook performed spectacularly at the hospital, which has a guest wi-fi network. I was able to do browsing, email some web development work, watch DVD's play some simple games, and generally put some fun in an otherwise grim experience. I have a 17" laptop and it was too big to take with me. Everyone seeing me use it, asked about this little netbook and they were impressed. I was glad it had a slot for a cable lock (Targus or Kensington), since it could easily have found a home with one of its admirers.

I have loaded some MS Office components, Adobe Elements, web development tools, Nero, lots of photos, graphics and MP3s with lots of room to spare. I did load some adventure games and the video performance is less than stellar, but in no way did I expect this netbook to replace my other workhorse desktops and laptops. I also have a wireless Windows network set up in the house and I can upload/download information between the NC10 and the other computers in the house.

Pros:
Size, convenience, keyboard, wireless connectivity (I haven't had a single problem anywhere I have found a router), clear screen, appropriate ports, good hard drive performance, good battery life. Plus, Samsung seems to have customized Windows XP and it performs very well on this machine.

Cons:
I'm slightly hard of hearing and find it very difficult to hear any sound from the speakers. It's OK if using earphones. I am not at all fond of the touchpad, so I use my own wireless mouse. Graphics are marginal for gaming. It's not hugely convenient to lug aroung the external dvd drive, wireless mouse (and security cable, and earphones and power cords) but it isn't necessary to have all those items all the time.

Biggest con is that everyone in my family thought the netbook was a foolish and frivolous concept, and now they "borrow" it at every opportunity. I suspect we will be investing in some more.

Yep, I would recommend it to others.

Get more detail about Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery.