I spent about three months reading netbook reviews--both professional and consumer. I decided on the Samsung NC-10 after reading so many positive comments about its keyboard, called best-in-class by a number of publications, and its excellent battery life (bested only by the Asus Eee PC 1000HE). I'm a college student and I use my computer to take notes during class and for research/typing papers. The Samsung has exceeded my expectations for these uses and I imagine it would do the same for any college student.
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Pros:
Very good screen: above average viewing angles, very bright, razor-sharp, and not glossy.
Excellent keyboard: good key placement, standard-size right shift key, comfortable size, and excellent tactile feedback.
Excellent battery life: I've averaged 7.5-8 hours per charge with the "Max Battery Life" power usage setting. I like that Samsung chose to include a 6-cell battery as standard equipment. The point of a netbook, to me, is extreme portability with "all day" battery life. The other netbooks that ship with a three- or four-cell battery good for 2-3 hours of battery life seem inadequate.
Very quiet: the system fan is barely noticeable in a quiet room, and not noticeable at all during a college lecture. The hard drive (Samsung branded) is extremely quiet both at idle and during head seek operations.
Solid build quality: all panels and covers are properly aligned and feel well-anchored.
Sound quality (when using headphones): the internal sound card produces clean sound with plenty of bass when using headphones. There is no noise/electrical interference with the sound output.
Well-designed cooling system: all the laptops I've owned required care so as not to cover up the cooling system air intake on the bottom of the system. Samsung has instead placed a row of air intake vents along the front edge of the system (under the touchpad). It's much easier to avoid blocking these vents, and as such, the system stays cooler.
Easy access to memory socket: unlike many netbooks, this system has a memory socket access cover on the bottom of the system. Simply remove one screw, pop the cover off, and you can easily upgrade the memory. Some netbooks require significant disassembly to upgrade the memory, but that is not the case with the NC10.
Convenient pre-set power usage profiles: there are three Samsung-designed power usage profiles in addition to the standard power usage profiles included with Windows XP. They are: "Max Performance," "Normal," and "Max Battery Life." These profiles will sacrifice battery life for performance, balance the two, or sacrifice performance for battery life, respectively. I've found them very handy to have...I use Max Battery Life most of the time, but switch to Max Performance when I need to multitask or do something otherwise CPU-intensive.
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Cons:
There honestly aren't many, none of them are unique to Samsung, and they were all expected when I purchased the computer.
Tinny speakers: the speakers are very tinny, are mounted on the bottom of the unit, and don't provide much volume. As mentioned above, though, the sound output is perfectly adequate when using headphones. I wouldn't imagine many people buy a netbook for its speaker quality. Use a set of headphones if you like to listen to music.
Balance issues with standard 6-cell battery: you must take care when using this system on your lap. The 6-cell battery causes the weight balance to be near the back of the machine, so the system could easily tip backward off of your lap if you're not careful.
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All in all, this computer does exactly what I need it to do. Again, I only listed the "cons" because they are some things to be conscious of before you buy this computer. I used to be a Toshiba loyalist, but I'm so pleased with this Samsung netbook that my next full-size laptop will likely be a Samsung, as well. I feel confident in saying that this is the best 10" netbook currently on the market. It is more expensive than some of the competition, but the price is worth it. Samsung has engineered a great machine and chose not to sacrifice quality to save a few bucks. Get more detail about
Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook - 6 Cell Battery.
