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

I got this a couple of days ago, and set it up yesterday. Set up was very easy, even for a non-technohead. It leads you through the setup clearly. Don't expect a hardcopy manual though - there's a brief leaflet that pretty much just tells you how to connect the power cord and switch it on. The system then leads you through basic setup on screen (N.B. when it asks you what type of keyboard you have, choose UK - it suggests US as default, but then you'll never find your "@" symbol). There's an electronic manual on the desktop which is worth a look at some stage, although isn't required to get started. Attaching to my home wireless internet was easy (once I'd remembered where I'd stored the network settings).

Comes with Windows XP, Internet Exporer, Media Player and PDF viewer pre-installed. Also a 3 month license for McAfee anti-virus (if you want to install other anti-virus such as Kaspersky, make sure you uninstall McAfee first to avoid conflicts). So you're ready to roll with the internet, playing music/movies, reading PDFs. However, if you want to do Word, Excel etc you'll need to buy MS Office (if you don't have it already).

Once set up, it does a backup of the initial setup so that you can always (if worst comes to worst) roll back to its original state. It also had to download some updates for Windows and it recommended I download Internet Explorer 7, which I did. I guess it's a shame that wasn't the pre-installed version but updating it was easy enough.

While it may not be up to the power of the high spec laptops out there, so far it seems to more than keep pace with my 3 year old Acer laptop - and in a much smaller package.

So long as you're not looking to do lots processor-hungry applications (e.g. serious gaming or video editing may struggle) this should fit the bill nicely. I got this primarily as a very portable laptop for doing a quick bit of web browsing and also for reading PDFs and taking notes, all of which it handles well. Highly recommended!

This computer is fantastic, I own a desktop with a 2.4Ghz quadcore processor and 3Gb ram so I am used to fast high performance computing and I wanted a new portable to take with me when I go away but I was worried the intel atom and 1gb ram wouldn't offer enough power for my needs but rest assured it is plenty for the standard computer user. First of all I ordered this together with the kingston 2gb ram module to upgrade which was £15 of well spent money but the first few times I used my NC10 was before I made the upgrade (which is very very easy to do) and it was still flawless. XP works brilliantly on these little netbooks, its nice and fast about 30 second total boot up time (after 2gb ram upgrade, about 50 seconds before the upgrade), The wireless network connection is very fast and reliable, bluetooth is great, Samsung software for system back-up and battery management are superb, very clean and easy to use, and the 1.3 Mpixel cam is great for skype msn etc. I have my entire music collection on it I have plenty of movies saved on here and play back is great but I have only watched movies after I had done the 2Gb ram upgraded. The screen is fantastic, very bright and clear matte screen so not so much eye strain and no annoying glare and reflections, also it can be turned way down to save on battery life which is good. I have MS office ultimate which runs perfectly smooth even with very large files open. I do bits of c++ programming on it using dev c++ which is no problem.
Battery life can be up to around 8 hrs but I am getting 6 hrs usually which is perfectly aceptable and it only takes around an hour to charge back up which is better than my mobile phone.
Multitasking is good, I have an internet window with a few tabs loading, windows live messenger, windows media player playing a movie, a MS word document open for editing and an old sega game of Earth Worm Jim all running smoothly at the same time, I cant imagine why anyone would want to be running anymore than that at anyone time (I normally don't).

The only minor complaint is that the speakers aren't very good but then on a computer this size they were never going to be, they produce a clear sound but there is litle in the way of bass and max volume is pretty poor but then thats what you get with small speakers. There is a headphone port so yo can plug in good headphones or even a full audio system, I plugged in my logitech 2.1 sound system with sub woofer etc and it was great, so again even though the speakers arent great they are the best you can get for this size and isnt really an issue.

I bought this when it was £302 on amazon.co.uk and I am very happy with the buy, I would strongly recommend getting the black version as its very pretty and shiney, I was going to get the white version because it wasn't glossy and so wouldnt collect finger prints but then it looked very plasticy, the black one does look better just becareful not to touch the lid with greasy hands.

The keyboard is great, a nice action on the keys and a good size, I can touch type quickly on it so thats good enough for me.
Mouse buttons and track pad likewise are well made with just the right level of sensitivity.

I havent tested the built in microphone but its not something Im ever likely to use, I will assume it works fine but thats just because Im impressed with the whole machine.

There are numorous ports around the edge, 3 usb2, ethernet, VGA, mic-in, headphones-out, the standard netbook set up really.

I think I have covered everything.... Oh yeah if you do buy it and I do recommend this one over all other netbooks I have tried out in stores, buy the Sweex neoprene case Sweex Sa141 10"neoprene Netbook Sleeve F/styleon amazon for around £10, the Samsung fits in snug and it has a little zip pocket on the front for usb flash drive sticks and other extras you want, very useful.
I think thats it
Happy shopping

Oh yeah, one last thing, the new Nvidia Ion technology is coming out very soon and the netbooks with this technology will be far, far superior to all previous netbooks (if the hype is to be believed, which I do) including the samsung NC10. I imagine when the Nvidia ion netbooks come out all of the old netbooks (including this one) will drop sharply in price (I assume) and so you may want to hold off and buy one of these when they are alot cheaper or pay a bit more for one of the new Ion enhanced machines. I would probably stick with the NC10 as it is still plenty capable of doing everything you would ever want, no point in paying extra for unnecessary power.

This netbook is just a great travel companion. The 10" screen is great (personally I find 9" and 8" too small) and the almost full keyboard is a must. The most problematic key is the right shift key, but after using it for about 2 hours I got used to it and to use the fn key (needed to press home, end, and other keys).
The battery life is amazing, I used it for a bit more than 2 hours and the battery had more then 50% of charge.

One weak point is the size of the touch pad, it's not very big, but this is because the keyboard uses most of the space. Another issue is that it has a single rocker button, so you can't press both buttons at the same time.

Other positive points are:
- The built in camera is quite good.
- Very silent.
- Speakers (they are very good considering the size)

Negative points
- Touchpad and rocker buttons
- The default wifi driver doesn't work very well (it doesn't have a large range)

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