Samsung NC10 10.2-inch Netbook (Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Windows XP Home, White)

 

 

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This is the first review I have ever felt compelled to write. Having read countless reviews of netbooks, particularly on the Trusted Reviews site, I ended up buying a netbook that had not yet been fully covered and was only available in white.
Purchased from Amazon, my favoured seller, I can confirm that NC10 arrived in double quick time and in good order.
I purchased this machine in replacement of my Eee pc 701 which has been commandeered by my grand children. The NC10,in my view, is faultless. From battery run time to screen definition, to excellent,white,keyboard and instant wireless connection (to my BT Home Hub}. This is a little gem.
It starts from cold in about 30 seconds and grabs the wireless connection atomatically once the source has been chosen on first boot up. ( Much like my Apple Mini). It is also nice to get back to Widows XP. I have cheated a little and purchased a Liteon Slim portable DVD rewriter to go with it. It combines with the NC10 perfectly just using USB. The Liteon Slim comes with mains too for those tough lightscribe jobs.
The Samsung NC10 gets 10 out of 10 from me.
cmn

Fantastic piece of kit. Ordered it but wasn't sure whether I'd use it or not. Now it gets used more than either my laptop or my desktop. They are reserved for those big spreadsheets or when I need to sit a whole day in front of a computer to work long hours.

This machine is brilliant for surfing the net, but also handles MS Office 2007 well too considering the spec. I was going to put MS Works on it but no need.

It's not as fast as a Dual Core/ Dual Core 2 but works at approx the same pace as my Pentium 4 desktop. Startup is relatively quick with McAfee trial antivirus installed and it's just a breeze to use.

As previous reviewers have noted the mouse pad's a bit fiddly especially as they've combined it with the iPhone type zoom facility, but that really is a minor niggle.

Picks up on wireless points much better than my laptop and is as quick as you like on the internet ... at least as fast as my laptop (DualCore), especially as I've upped the RAM to 2gb (very simple and cheap to do - the memory cover is on the back and has memory written on it with full instructions on how to pop a new module in contained in the manuals).

Screen is big enough to work on for a couple of hours and keyboard superb for such a small machine.

Plenty of room on the 160gb hard drive for a large selection of my photo's and music.

The screen though has to be the best I've seen on a netbook.

What can I say...fun funky, does the job...only suggestion would be to buy a decent case for it as with everything being parred down the screen isn't very well protected from the outside (nor are they on any netbook I've seen) and can easily be twisted and may if noT given that little bit of TLC get damaged. I've got a neoprene slip case with an extra layer of cardboard to help protect it.

All in all a surpise from start to finish, a completey competent basic machine with more bells and whistles than you'd expect. Bluetooth a very nice touch.

Go buy one now and enjoy yourself while you're on the move. It'll get you plenty of admiting glances....and you don't need a big bag to carry it round in...in fact if you're feeling adventurous...take it out without the power supply in tow.....6 hrs + battery life lets you do that.

ENJOY!

To me this is a clear winner in the 10 inch netbook category. I wasn't even going to look at the 8.9 inch screen ones so I won't bother comparing with them.

I was considering the NC10 against the ASUS EEE PC 1000H, which is (at the moment) £10 to £50 more expensive than the NC10 with only half the harddrive capacity. I think the battery life of both are probably similar (they both come with 6-cell as standard). The NC10 comes in at 1.33 kg, with slightly bigger screen, whereas the 1000H comes in at 1.45 kg. The connectivity of the two are similar (1000H has 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth, SD/MMC (SDHC) slot, 3 x USB slots and a 10/100 Ethernet port). There were rumours that NC10 will have a SIM card slot - well, there isn't any. BUT, I set up internet sharing with my O2 XDA Orbit 2 (HTC Polaris) via Bluetooth in like 2 minutes! And the speed is acceptable.

I can see where the SIM card slot could have been behind the battery - there is a slot-like gap covered with a piece of rubber, definitely not a working slot. I've read in one of the reviews that they only have the working slot for the asian version. It's not in the manual and there is no software that caters for it in the bundle for UK version. It's a shame really, could've been the perfect netbook!

If SIM card module is really important for you then you should probably go for the Advent 4213 (MSI Wind rebranded) for about £40-50 more and similar spec (but a review at pocket-lint.co.uk found that keyboard & display were a bit poor and the battery life is about 3 hours - not sure if it's 3- or 6-cell). Alternatively, just do what I did with my mobile phone or get a USB mobile broadband modem and still have the wonderful spec and performance of this laptop! You can get PAYG mobile broadband (like from T-mobile or Three), or better yet get unlocked USB mobile broadband on ebay (so you can put your/any SIM card).

Back to the NC10. The look is nothing special but none of the netbooks looks particulary stylish anyway (PS if you don't like pearly white don't go for the white version, it is NOT gloss white). Graphics look ok so far, I'm quite happy with the screen on different viewing angles. Can't complain about the speakers either, I didn't buy it to listen to music, really. The wireless connectivity works fine, mic and camera is fine too. It's really more than enough for your Yahoo Messenger and Skype.

The only niggling bit for me, is the tiny touch pad. It's very tiny and my finger kept scrolling out of the touch pad. I would have given it 4.5 stars because of that but I guess they have to make room for the nearly normal keyboard - that I couldn't complain about. So if you have exceptionally large finger, I'd give it a go first in a shop.

Considering what's out there and how much this baby cost me, I'm really happy with this purchase!

UPDATE:
3 October 2010 - this netbook went dead! When I tried to turn it on, the main light was on, you could hear the fan, but the screen was blank. Took it to a Samsung repair centre, which is VERY SCARCE in UK (only 1 in London!), paid £60 for them to have a look at it and a week later I was told it has a faulty motherboard which would cost £100!!!! It is only 1 year 10 months old, I probably used it 6 hours a week (so 1 discharge a week), it was never 'abused' (no drop, water splashed etc...) - then one day, boom! I'm out of warranty, no extended warranty (due to my high trust in Samsungs... well not anymore!!!). BEWARE!! If you still want to get this piece of crap, get an extended warranty.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy
Well at this stage this product is probably out dated anyway, but I had a lot of trouble with it. Apparently common problems are display failing entirely without warning, sound... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Joost de Folter

4.0 out of 5 stars good but look for newer models
My little netbook! Bought it for a transition period and I still use it as my main computer. After the first year of use there was a -white- screen issue (something to do with a... Read more

Published 6 months ago by V.

5.0 out of 5 stars Still churning away after 2 years of heavy use!
I bought this laptop before I started college in the hope that I could use it regularly for assignments and internet access. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Jess

5.0 out of 5 stars if you treat it well it will treat you well
this month, it has been 2 years since i bought samsung NC10, and i'm very proud of the buy. everything about it: the design, the size of the keyboard and performance makes it a... Read more

Published 8 months ago by leo

4.0 out of 5 stars Samsung NC 10
I have had this netbook for 20 months now, and generally I have been happy with it.I usually dont write reviews on any of the products I buy until I start to have problems with... Read more

Published 16 months ago by drscar

2.0 out of 5 stars It was fine for one year
Before the screen began to 'White out', I would have given this net book five stars but shortly after a year the screen is showing a connection problem resulting in a white... Read more

Published 18 months ago by simmo71

5.0 out of 5 stars Good product, ignore the 3 star reviews.
I wish people would distinguish between software and hardware when writing reviews. Hardware wise I have had no issues what so ever. Read more

Published 23 months ago by D. Dickinson

5.0 out of 5 stars Best ever purchase
Bought this netbook when it first came onto the market and have never looked back. Battery life is superb and it is ultra portable, use it for travelling and home use and with the... Read more

Published 24 months ago by Could It Be

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
I spent many hours reviewing netbooks online as I tried to understand the plus' and negatives of each netbook. Read more

Published on 5 Jan 2010 by ASH

5.0 out of 5 stars nc10 white
have used this for a while and its very nice, found it to be much nicer in white than the common black version,has a useable keyboard and a large 160GB harddisk, a little cracker... Read more

Published on 5 Jan 2010 by Leighton Hughes

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