UPDATE:
I recently bought a Microsoft Bluetooth wireless mouse for $39 at Frys Electronics for this device. This little mouse works well, and doesn't tie up any USB ports, which is a plus.
A minor gripe I have is when you insert an SD memory card, the card will stick out noticeably, and is not flush with the device. I wish the SD card would go in all the way, but since it doesn't, I don't like to keep the card inside.
I still have only the original 1GB of memory out of the box, and even after installing many, many programs, including Photoshop 7.0, this device still runs well on 1GB of memory. I'm debating whether I really need 2GB of memory at this point.
When you tweak the built-in speaker settings (example: "Living Room" "Powerful", "Bass", etc) this really makes a difference in sound quality both from the built-in external speakers, as well as using headphones. When using only the built-in external speakers, the sound volume is plenty loud enough after making said adjustments. By the way, I think I have the "Karaoke" setting at Zero, which may make a difference.
I ended up buying (yet another) carry case for this netbook. I got one made for DVD players (for screen size 7-10") which has shoulder straps, and is a bit thicker with extra pockets for more stuff (eg: packing my external DVD burner). Got this bag for around $30 from Frys Electronics. Don't remember the brand name at the moment. Go check out the DVD player section at Frys.
This Samsung netbook is really built well. I'm happy with this device. It's worth the extra cost compared to other current netbooks.
I bought the white version Samsung NC10 at a local store for $459.99 after reading all the rave reviews on this website. I also bought a white color LiteOn external DVD writer to go with the netbook for $90.00. I was almost going to buy this netbook through Amazon for a lower price (and in black color), but in the end, I couldn't get myself to buy a netbook sight unseen without having tried it out personally. A local retailer had a display Samsung NC10 model for me to play with and compare against other competing models. In the end, I chose the Samsung model over the Lenovo, Acer, and Asus models. What peeved me about some of the other models is the right shift key being "out of place" as so many others have pointed out. I am a fast typist at over 60 words per minute, so I can really appreciate a good keyboard, which I find the Samsung NC10 to have. Plus, I held the Samsung in my hands, and found it to be built very solid. This is truly built very well in terms of sturdiness, and I get a sense that this will hold up to future wear and tear with no problem. I also wanted to get the Samsung NC10 for its rave reviews on long battery life. Yes, I too have found this to be true. When I click on the battery icon, it shows over 6 hours of life when fully charged (at the Normal brightness setting, less life if at the Maximum brightness setting). The screen is very bright and sharp, and I can easily see the screen even if viewed off to the sides. Even better, I don't see any screen imperfection at all on my model, none of the "blotches" at bottom of screen as some have reported, nor any dead pixels, nor any scratches whatsoever. I'm a bit anal about having a clean screen, so I'm happy my screen is just fine right out of the box. I find the Samsung NC10 to be very responsive and quick, even with the standard 1GB of RAM memory. I was tempted to buy additional memory at the time of purchase at the store, but I was curious to see how responsive the device would be at 1GB of memory after I've installed all my various software. I have loaded lots of software, and just recently installed Photoshop 7.0 too. Surprisingly, Photoshop runs pretty quickly on this machine! Even my favorite Photoshop plugin filters such as NIK Efex 2.0, NIK Sharpener, Dfine, iCorrect, all run pretty quickly too. Additionally, I also have various image browsers loaded such as NikonView, BreezeBrowser, ACDSee, and these all work quickly without problems. I also have various compressed video files installed, such as Star Wars, etc, and videos appear to run pretty smoothly. Even sound quality is pretty decent too, given its small size. I can hear the volume pretty well on my machine, so I don't know why others are complaining their volume is too low. I'm actually using this netbook as a complete laptop, not just simply for surfing the internet. Regarding the internet, I have found the Samsung NC10 to work very well for suring the internet. Currently, I'm using my netbook with a Sprint Sierra wireless USB card, and I'm able to surf the internet anywhere where there is Sprint service...works great! I'm also able to surf the internet wirelessly using my Sprint Treo 755p (Palm PDA smartphone) along with PdaNet installed in my netbook. PdaNet is a 3rd party software developer from June Fabrics, and will turn my Treo 755p smartphone into a modem, thereby giving my netbook (or any laptop or desktop computer) internet access. I've also used the WiFi capability on my Samsung NC10, and this too works well for wireless internet. I've also installed AOL AIM instant messenger, and this works just fine. I recently installed Skype, but I haven't had a chance to try this out with anyone yet. What is my biggest gripe about the Samsung NC10? I would have to say the mousepad. It takes some getting used to the mousepad, as it's a bit too small, and plus the single button for doing both right and left clicks takes getting used to. I need to do some tweaking on the mousepad controls to make it more to my liking. If not for this minor gripe about the mousepad, I would give this netbook 5 stars instead of 4. If I could give 4 1/2 stars, I would probably do this too. My other minor gripe is that the screen lid is overly tight, and it requires both hands to open the laptop lid/cover. My left hand is holding down the bottom of the netbook and my right hand is opening the screen...that's how tight the screen lid is! Is this normal? As an aside, the other day, I inadvertently rotated the entire screen to the right side by accident. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to get the screen back to right side up. I'm talking about the entire desktop screen got rotated to the side. I ended up calling my local retailer that sold me this netbook, and the salesperson told me to simultaneously press the Control, Alt, and Up arrow key in order to get the screen rotated back to the normal orientation. If you were to instead press the Right arrow key, the entire screen gets rotated to the right, and conversely, if you press the Left arrow key, the screen gets rotated to the left. This drove me nuts for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to un-do the screen rotation! By the way, I will qualify my computer experience by saying that I'm pretty computer saavy, having owned numerous desktop and laptop computers over the past 15 years. I can still remember my earliest laptop purchased 11 or 12 years ago that cost $6,000 for a Toshiba Tecra 700 model! Why did I purchase this particular Toshiba model? Because the next closest competing model by IBM cost $8,000 at the time! Wow, has prices come down over the years! Imagine buying a Samsung NC10 netbook for only $450.00 a decade ago! Even as recently as 3 years ago, I had purchased a Sony Vaio VGN-TX670p laptop (with 11" screen and built-in optical DVD disk drive) for over $2,500.00!! Would I do this again? Heck no! Granted the Sony VGN-TX670p laptop does include an optical disk drive built-in, and has a larger screen at 11", and is only 2 1/2 pounds, but the Sony model costs an arm and a leg, and a few fingers too, given today's prices! I actually compared my Samsung NC10 against my 3 year old Sony VGN-TX670p, and the size dimensions and weight are very similar. My Sony laptop has 1.5 GB of memory, but I swear the thing is pretty slow in processing speed, and sputters pretty often especially when multi-tasking. My new Samsung NC10 with only 1 GB of memory easily beats my 3 year old Sony model in speed in almost every respect. Granted, my Sony laptop is loaded down with software and is 3 years old (also running Windows XP), but the Sony laptop was always relatively slow in processing speed, even when it was brand new. Whereas, my Samsung NC10 is very speedy and responsive brand new out of the box. As a matter of fact, I would say that my Samsung NC10 is pretty much as responsive and fast as a late model 17.1" Toshiba Satellite laptop I recently bought from Circuit City 6 months ago for $929.00 on sale (also running Windows XP). You might ask, why do I have 3 different laptops? (Samsung, Sony, Toshiba). Because I keep the large Toshiba 17.1" laptop stationery at home (the monster weighs 9 pounds), my portable Sony 11" laptop stays at work, and my new Samsung NC10 is my "disposable" carry-around laptop to and from different locations. Even though I have many software programs loaded into my Samsung NC10 laptop, I intentionally have virtually no important or sensitive information installed (such as contacts, account numbers, names/addresses, etc). I intentionally keep my Samsung netbook free of all personal information just in case it were to get lost or stolen, which is something I'm always worried about. Plus at only $450, the netbook is not something that will break the bank and can pretty easily be replaced quickly. Conversely, both my Sony and Toshiba laptops have all my sensitive information loaded, and this would cause me grief if it were to be lost or stolen, hence I don't like to carry around these particular laptops due to personal information contained within. Lastly, the included Samsung case/cover is pretty much nearly useless. I have a hard time even slipping the Samsung netbook into the included case/cover because it's such a tight fit. I ended up buying a CaseLogic 10" carry case (with carry handles) for about $30 from a local store, and this works fine, although I wish it also had shoulder straps. I'm considering buying an extra battery (white color), does anyone know where I can order one for the Samsung NC10? Is it even available?
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Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery.
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