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November 19, 2008

Samsung NC10 review

Product Code: NP-NC10-KA02UK

The MSI Wind U100 is arguably the pick of current netbooks, inspiring rebadged versions under such names as Advent and Medion. Samsung must have looked at MSI's successful design when it made its own Samsung NC10 netbook, for it is very much a me-too Wind.

Many netbooks now follow a standard blueprint, listing a 10in screen, Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor and Windows XP Home operating system. But it is the overall layout and finish of the Samsung NC10 that marks it down as a real Wind-alike, from its pearlescent white finish, full-width keyboard and offset trackpad, to its identical port complement.

Close examinination shows the Samsung NC10 is very slightly larger, about 150g heavier, and has a chrome-finished edge around the case. Its squarer corners, more redolent of an Asus Eee PC, also help quick-glance differentiation.

The Samsung NC10 sports a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM, as with the Wind, but lacks MSI's recent upgrade to 802.11n wireless capability, carrying only the older b/g wireless variants. Bluetooth is here, as is VGA output, a 1.3Mp screen webcam and a multi-card reader.

The Samsung NC10's three key ‘interface' areas of screen, trackpad and keyboard are all of good quality, the latter in particular perhaps trumping even the Wind's impressive keyboard in action and feel. We were less impressed by the overzealous use of printed symbols all over the case to label the ports, though, which detract from an otherwise clean finish.

As we've come to expect from Atom-powered netbooks, overall performance is slow compared to full-size designs. So has the Samsung NC10 really got anything new to bring to the netbook party?

The Samsung NC10's battery is a 6-cell type, as now found on the Wind, which augurs well for long battery life. And while we were expecting decent battery life, we just weren't prepared for how long the NC10 would survive without mains support.

Using the MobileMark 2007 Productivity test, with 802.11g wireless enabled, the Samsung NC10 survived unplugged for a staggering 464 minutes - almost 7.75 hours - making this the longest-lived laptop we've tested. And for a mini-notebook, that kind of performance is key to a model's real-world usefulness.

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Independent customer reviews from

Samsung NC10 scored:
9.0 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 1469 reviews:

10 Dec 2008 Anonymous verified purchaser

8

Good Points

An impressive amount of memory, and both keyboard and screen are great quality. I wouldn't believe the battery time though; presumably you can get that time if you don't so much as breathe on the laptop, but the moment you want to actually want to use it, it eats power. If you're also hoping to run a usb DVD drive off it, you might get the length of a movie out of it. Still the best on the market though - it just bothers me that they feel the need to exaggerate. To date, it seems the best netbook out there by far, though like all its peers, it seems to suffer from rather cheap plastic interior bezels once you've opened that wonderful shiny lid. Aside from that, build quality seem great to date; to give a comparison, I've previously had the ultra-compact Vaio and a neat little Compaq tablet. This one stands head and shoulders above its present competitors.

Bad Points

No bundled software at all, which considering the price is unforgivable. Having had a white keyboard before, I also wouldn't recommend one, unless you like having that attractive ground-in dirt line to the edges of all your nice white keys which you have t get out cotton wool buds and alcohol to clean (yes I do wash my hands - you still get it!). Also if, like me, you take and use your laptop everywhere, you'll soon find that you blind yourself on a sunny day if you look at the white keyboard a lot when you type! I chose the blue, which I haven't regretted yet, though as I said, the bezels once you open it up ar a little cheap and tacky, but then that's a common feature of the new batch of netbooks for some reason. All in all, there's nowhere near enough bad points on this little beauty to let 'em dissuade you from buying it.

01 Jan 2009 NICK, GLASGOW

9

Good Points

I read a lot of reviews and tried out some alternatives from Acer and Asus and this came out on top in many ways, but particularly its overall specification.. It connects very easily to the internet and I have loaded MS Office via an external DVD and it copes fine with basic Word and Excel files. The Integral SD slot allows me to easily view my photos. I have used both iTunes and LastFM and quality of the sound and volume control perfectly adequate. Great Keyboard compared to some alternatives.

Bad Points

None. If you know you definately want a Netbook this is the one to go for. Just be aware of the limitations between a Netbook and a Laptop.

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