Review of the Samsung NC10
July 3, 2009 by CoreyO
It was only time that Samsung jumped on the mini laptop bus to get their share of the market. For those who primarily use their laptop for surfing and music then what’s the use of having a 17” display when you have your flat screen HDTV on your wall for movies? What they offer is the Samsung NC10 with a 10.2” display, a not-so-mini keyboard, and a plain Jane design. Hey, we don’t care much for sparkly sprinkles; we want performance. Here’s a quick review of the NC10.
Compliments:
The battery life runs about 6 hours.
They keyboard is almost full size without putting a damper on the mini-qualities.
The speakers are clear and loud.The price – as low as $388
Complaints:
Touchpad is just too mini.
Samsung left out some extras that we would’ve liked to see but Samsung left the NC10 simple, apparently to match the simple price.
Design
The NC10 netbook has a simple design with rounded square corners that give it a professional look. The only flashy aspect is the mirrored Samsung logo. Models sold in the U.S. are a nice color blue while the original model is a white matte.
Size: The dimensions of the Samsung NC10 netbook are comparable to other major netbooks in the market. It Measures 10.3” x 7.3” x 1.2”.
Weight: This netbook won’t be too difficult to carry since it’s a mere 2.8lbs. Add the weight of the AC adapter and you just have to cart around a little over 3lbs.
Keyboard & Touchpad
The keyboard is sized at 93% of a full sized board. The keys are raised for comfort and precision. It typed nice but I don’t really have large hands. My wife, who has little delicate hands, gave the keyboard a bit more compliments.
Since the keyboard is such a nice size, something had to give. The touchpad was the only sacrifice worth making. If you’re like me and prefer to carry and use the mouse over the touchpad you wouldn’t give a damn if the touchpad was even there. Of course, what’s a laptop without it? I’m quirky with my preferences and I still had no problem with the small size – 2.3” x 1.1” – of the touchpad. My wife says it was fine and that size doesn’t matter. I think she’s lying. The narrowness of the touchpad is what bothered me. It was easier to use my finger for swiping but moving the curser is what the thumb is for. It was like the makers thought the pinkies were where the thumbs are.
To save itself there is a dedicated scroll bar. There is also the ability to pinch-and-zoom pictures and Web pages thanks for multi-touch controls and drivers from Synaptics.
Display
1024 x 600 pixels aren’t too shabby and the 10.2” screen displays nice and clear images, as it should. Two screens were able to be written side by side.
Performance and memory
The speed of the NC10 comes from a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU with 1GB of available RAM. Multiple applications like Instant Messenger, Facebook, music, and a Web browser with multiple tabs opened didn’t tug the speed down.
Graphics is thanks to an Intel 945GSE Express graphics chip, having 64MB of shared memory.
The hard drive is at 160GB.
Software
The software of choice is the ever so dominant Windows XP Home Edition. It also includes the Samsung Recovery Solution III to restore your operating system, the Samsung Magic Doctor, Easy Network Manager, Easy Battery Manger, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and comes with a 60 day trial version of McAfee SecurityCenter.
Warranty
Samsung protects you from manufacture errors with a one-year warranty. There is also a 24/7 toll-free technical support.
Price
When it originally appeared back toward the end of 2008 it was selling for $499. Now the price had dipped as low as $388 at some retailers. If you decide to go to Amazon, you can get it for even cheaper if you don’t mind a used product.
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