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Samsung NC10

Posted by Michael Browne on Mon 3 Nov 2008

The latest ASUS Eee PC slayer

You'd think we all had mini-laptop fatigue but like good gadget geek-boys and gizmo-gals, the arrival of the Samsung NC10 had us in something of a spin.

OK, so in the looks department it's not going to give the ASUS S101 any sleepless nights as Samsung has taken the best bits of the MSI Wind laptop and ASUS Eee PC 1000 and produced its own take on the 10.2-inch netbook.

On first appearances it's a bit of a spot the difference between the NC10 and the MSI Wind (check out our photos that prove it). Weighing 1.3kg, it's a portable weight and the use of solid plastic means it feels great in the hand. Sporting a matt finish and a slightly rough texture its looks are something you'll either love or loathe but we kind of like it. Battery life is an amazing five hours in standard mode, and if you're willing to tweak the settings, you'll easily get up to an extra hour.

Measuring in at 260 x 170 x 30mm at its thinnest point it's far from a porker; but the addition of a protruding 6-cell battery at the back does add 5mm to the overall depth. This does mess about with the centre of gravity of the device making it feel awkward when on your lap, but when on a table you'll find it raises the screen a little, making the whole thing a little more ergonomic.

Design-wise the screen hinges don't feel as solid as you'll find on the ASUS Eee PC 1000, and we found there was a bit of rocking action when using the NC10 on the train. Open the lid and you'll find a stunning 10.2-inch backlit LED screen. Sure, its got the standard 1024 x 600-pixel resolution other netbooks have but even when you crank it down low, to save battery life, it'll prove usable.

Cramped and awkward keyboards are par for the course for most netbooks but we've found larger models like this tend not to be so problematic. Our favourite is the MSI Wind, as it's such a pleasure to use. Samsung has managed to pack more keys into the same space, the result being such a smooth keyboard to use you'll forget it's not full size. Samsung hasn't even sacrificed the secondary keys, so you won't feel as though you're buying a compromised laptop.

When it comes to specification, you'll find the NC10 is very much a netbook, packing in an Intel Atom N270 processor and 1024MB of memory and the 160GB hard drive is a welcome addition, which is partitioned into two equally sized portions.

Packing Windows XP, Samsung isn't planning on offering a Linux version any time soon, so you can use it straight from the box without having to get the grips with beardy-weirdy technology. What's more, we found it loaded smoothly and quickly, booting in just 29 seconds.

Performance was more than acceptable, running basic Office tasks with relative ease. You won't want to run anything too taxing on this kind of laptop but as a second machine for use out and about, or around the house, it's more than adequate for surfing the net and writing Word documents.

Features are the usual, comprising of three USB ports - one on the right hand side, two on the left - VGA-out, Ethernet port, mic and headphone jacks. Natty icons down either side of the keyboard are a nice touch, so you don't need to pick the machine up to locate the USB port.

Bring all these elements together and what you have is our favourite new netbook. Samsung may not have delivered anything new in terms of design or specification but what it's done is take the best of what is out there, distil it through some netbook wonder-tank and boil it down to the very essence of what a netbook should be.

We've gushed long enough about the Samsung NC10, so where's the catch? The good news folks is there isn't one as Samsung has even managed to beat most of the competition on price. This cheeky monkey will only set you back £299 (inc. VAT), which in these credit crunchy times makes this something of a steal.

Samsung

Related links:

• MSI Wind review
• Netbook death-match: Eee 901 vs. Acer Aspire One v
• Dell Inspiron Mini 9 review