The Samsung NC10 netbook is now possibly the leading netbook on the market and has been remarked upon in reviews as being ‘a traveller’s best friend’, ‘the best netbook money can buy’, ‘In its class: it is the best’ and ‘all hail the new netbook champ’.
Until the specifications of netbooks go beyond the standard 1.6Ghz processor, 1Gb RAM and 160Gb hard disk then the Samsung NC10 would be most people’s preferred choice. It is now the netbook that leads the market and the areas that stand out from the competition are listed below.
Samsung NC10 – Good Points:
1. The keyboard – is possibly the best of all the netbooks presently on the market, the Samsung NC10′s keyboard is 93% full size of a standard keyboard. This makes typing much easier than on other netbooks, it is straightforward to get used to it and the layout is sensible (a lot of netbooks mess about with the placements of certain keys). The keyboard is even covered with an antibacterial layer.
2. The battery – the Samsung NC10 has a six-cell battery with a 5,200mAh capacity, which gives an average life expectancy of 6 hours. Some light use tests even had the netbook going for around 7 and a half hours. This is impressive and only beaten by a couple of netbooks such as the Asus EEE PC S101. The only down side with a six-cell battery is that it weighs slightly more and so pushes the weight of the NC10 up to 1.3Kg (still pretty good overall).
3. The screen – is good quality and very clear but also importantly the screen is non glossy and so can be viewed much more easily that the glossy and highly reflective surfaces that many of the competitor netbooks use.
4. Netbook style – the NC10 is a bit of a looker and has its ports labelled at the top of the machine making it easy to see what they are and where they are located.
5. Build quality – for a relatively inexpensive machine the build quality is outstanding and each review commends how solid and sturdy it is. The NC10 should be able to take the odd knock and the keyboard doesn’t flex when typing unlike the Asus EEE PC1000H.
6. Cost – the Samsung NC10 undercuts many of the opposition whilst actually being more usable, having a longer battery life, a better screen and keyboard than pretty much all the competition.
7. Bundled software – good quality software, especially the power management software but there is also Samsung Recovery Solution III (which creates a restore file of the operating system), Samsung Magic Doctor (which will detect problems with applications and help to correct any issues) and an Easy Network Manager for connecting to a wireless access point.
Samsung NC10 – Bad Points:
1. The touchpad – is slightly too small because of the large keyboard. The touchpad is also quite narrow, which requires more movement and can be slightly frustrating to use. Most reviewers found that they got used to it after using the touchpad for a short time.
4. Speakers – are quite mediocre but then most netbooks are. The new Samsung N120 has 2.1 stereo sound and so if sound is important to you then the N120 may be worth considering.
5. No expresscard slot – which would help to expand the netbook further but not many of the competitors have this expansion slot.
Overall Score – 91.5% (average from 11 top netbook reviews – see netbook rankings)
Reviews used to compile this report:
- Trusted Reviews – posted on 17th November 2008
- PC Pro – posted in November 2008
- Laptop - posted on 28th October 2008
- Register Hardware – posted on 19th February 2009
- T3 - posted on 3rd November 2008
- Mobile Computer - posted on 1st December 2008
- Computer Shopper – posted in February 2009
- PC Advisor – posted on 19th November 2008
- Stuff.tv – posted on 9th December 2008
- Pocket Lint - posted on 19th January 2009
- Notebookcheck, posted on 24th January 2009
We have a wide selection of Samsung NC10 netbooks and accessories available – please see the full range below or buy the Samsung NC10 from our netbook shop.
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