Samsung NC10

Aynone using the Zeroshock III 10.6-11" with the NC10?

I wonder how well it fits.

 

A nice bonus for those of us in the States, their support center is located in Texas. This made my support call much smoother than with some other companies where the language barrier is an issue. They told me a to expect a turnaround of a week.

 

Just ordered the card of ebay based on your post. One thing that was bugging me, was that there was no "n" band available on the NC10. Do you need the 3rd antenna, or do you get decent linking without it?

 

Just got mine today (actually yesterday) too Very nice - can anyone suggest a better case that can also hold a/c adapter, small supplies?

Why couldn't they even put some velcro on it to stay closed?

Steven

 

I use a zeroshock on my MSI wind fits good fits my Sony TZ better though

 

I got mine today!!

Very nice!! but **** is that mouse pad small!


Does anyone have a shortcut or an easy way to disable bluetooth? I thought there would at least be a keyboard shortcut but I don't see one.

 

1. Put the touchpad settings up to full sensitivity and it is usable. A small touchpad is the side-effect of having a decent keyboard.

You should have a Bluetooth icon in the system tray. Right click and select start and it will go through an initial configuration. One that is done you can right click on the icon and select stop (and the icon will turn red to show it is stopped).

John

 

You might look at a Samsonite L25. It's a great case--designed for a 12" laptop, but should be good for the NC10.

FuelScience

 

very good machine. ive had the white one for about a week now.

ive got a couple problems/questions about it...

1) mouse pointer sometimes starts moving on its own slowly but surely towards the top left of the screen. im using a usb microsoft notebook optical mouse and ive disabled the synaptic touchpad, but it will still move on its own. ive read that turning off something in the bios can work, but i dont know how to accesss the bios when the machine starts - it goes so quickly.

2) cannot set the performance of the cpu manually above Normal.
pressing the Function key combo switched between low and normal, but the maximum performance setting doesnt allow selection via toggling or mouse click.
when im playing a game the setting automatically goes to it, but i want the performance in windows aswell not just max payne!
battery manager is set to maximum performance constantly, but thats different from the cpu performance toggle/switch.


anyone have any ideas?

 

Case logic PNTLD9, dirt cheap & simple bag fits well I've read:
http://www.alternate.nl/html/produc.../-1071937/?tn=HARDWARE&l1=Notebooks&l2=Tassen

 

most shops are selling the NC10 for £300.
But the blue model in the same shops is £30 more >.> whyyy?

I wonder if it has some extra cosmetics as compared to black/white.

 

I'm glad you were able to read it I couldn't find it on an English search.

Thanks for all the suggestions posted - It looks like some of the DVD cases may be good for this size too.

 

This laptop is awesome.

BUT...

Remember that its heavier and bigger than other netbooks, especially ones with 9" screens.

I weighed 3 netbooks and this was the heaviest.

Acer Aspire One with 6-cell: 2 lbs 11 oz
HP 2133 with 3-cell: 2 lbs 12.7 oz
NC10 with 6-cell: 2 lbs 15 oz

 

That difference of less than half a pound is probably not going to deter most people from buying the laptop.

 

That makes sense, 9 inch netbooks are lighter.

When compared to 10" netbooks it's 150 grams lighter than Asus EEE 1000 and similar in weight to MSI Wind with 6 cell.

 

Smaller may be lighter but the keyboard will be more challenging to use.

Also, in my case, a smaller screen could start to challenge my eyes. The 10.2" display has a pixel size very slightly larger than the 14.1" WXGA+ I mainly use. I wouldn't want to go much smaller.

John

 

Will there be a review made by this site soon? Would be nice to read.

 

John is working on a review for NBR.

My NC10 comes tomorrow. Can't wait!

 

USER BACKGROUND:
I’ve been involved with PC’s since PC’s came into existence. Through the years I’ve owned a wide range of notebooks from luggables, desktop replacements, to travel companions (currently I own a couple of 12” touch screen tablets and two HP 20” HDX media notebooks used as desktop replacements). I was ready for a new travel notebook and started to follow the evolving “Netbook” category. As in the past, I was faced with a substantial expenditure (several thousand dollars) to get one of the current higher end travel notebooks that would meet my general laptop requirements; a light, relatively powerful, good battery life and compact design. The evolving +/- $500 Netbook category piqued my curiosity and I started to read reviews and study the new product offerings including their upgradability potential, or lack thereof.

INTENDED USE:
In my experience, most air travelers use a laptop similar to myself, web browsing, email, and light office applications (word, excel, etc); or in other words the “Netbook” categories target market.

REQUIREMENTS:
On occasion I take long trips across the country (8 to 10 hour block to block) and I wanted my new purchase to provide a single charge that would last through that day’s journey; no spare batteries or AC adapter in tow. A typical trip for me begins at the departure gate and firing up the notebook for a little catch-up computing while waiting for departure. Once airborne and settled in, I pull my notebook out for some on-board work. Upon arriving at my connection stop I either head to a travel lounge or the departure gate and get on-line once again. On the last flight leg, I’ll generally pull out my notebook for some additional in-air use before getting to my destination.

My target requirements:
1. Light weight & Compact foot-print
2. Long battery life
3. 10” - 12” screen size, 1024x600 minimum resolution and bright
4. Reasonable processing power for intended use
5. Windows XP Pro
6. 2 GB of memory and a 320 GB 7200 rpm hard drive

MY NETBOOK SELECTION:
I purchased the “Samsung NC10” and I’M VERY IMPRESSED! I pre-ordered from Amazon.com and received the unit on 11/19/08. I settled on the white version since I’m not a fan of black keyboards which the NC10’s blue and black color options sport. With the modifications discussed below, this little machine exceeds my overall expectations and is everything the various reviewers have analyzed and discussed to date. Most reviewers consider the keyboard on the NC10 the best in category, but since I’m not a touch typist that wasn’t one of my hot buttons, however the key board is large, solid, and pleasant to use.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
The standard NC10 came closest to my purchase specs for light weight; it’s under 3 lbs, long battery life; it seems Samsung’s targeted 6 - 8 hours of battery life is doable (I’ve hit 6+ hours using disk, WiFi and toned down screen brightness). The 10.2” screen is very bright and clear with 1024x600 resolutions; it helps to auto-hide the taskbar to buy a little more screen real estate. The unit is very compact and like most Netbooks its projected area is smaller then an 8.5”x11” sheet of paper and the closed clamshell is 1” thick. The standard unit arrives with XP Home, 1 GB memory and a 160 GB 5400 rpm drive. The NC10 feels solid, build quality (inside and out) are excellent and out of the box the unit was responsive and fairly snappy. I have two WiFi access points in my home and the NC10’s WiFi card picked both up with excellent reception and through-put; I also tried my Sprint USB broadband adapter with equally satisfactory results.

THE UPGRADES:
Like most engineering types; “If its not broke, take it apart and fix it anyway”. I’ve read the reviews and knew the memory and hard disk could be easily be upgraded (given a little bit of prior experience and some hardware finesse). I went to my preferred parts supplier, Newegg, and purchased a 2GB stick of RAM for $32 and a 7200 rpm 320 GB disk drive for $100. I also picked-up a nice Netbook carrying case by Caselogic for $12 with my Amazon order. I used Apricon’s EZ Upgrade Kit to image the units’ standard 160 GB disk and then put it on the shelf as the failsafe backup. It took me about 10 minutes to take the unit apart and upgrade the components. I then prepared a Windows XP Pro DVD slipstreamed with SP3, repartitioned the disk, reinstalled the operating system and all the Samsung drivers and application software. Samsung did an excellent job of putting all the NC10’s drivers and application software on their technical support web page. The overall result of these upgrades makes a noticeable improvement in overall performance. I’m very pleased with the final results for this tweaked, travel ready road machine (an example: standard boot time to WiFi connection is about 90 seconds, however I use hibernation on my notebooks and the machine will boot-up to WiFi connected status in 25 seconds).

NETBOOKS FUTURE:
I agree with many of the industry and media experts who have editorialized on the Netbook phenomena. Netbooks will continue to be a significant new growth segment in the overall notebook category. The manufactures have an interesting dilemma however; Netbooks will also continue to cut into sales of the higher margin, costlier tier of their notebook offerings. Feature creep is probably going to be the manufactures biggest marketing challenge; the temptation to seek product differentiation by adding larger screens, faster processors (central & graphics), more IO, etc., all tending to increase price, size, weight, and cut into battery life. If you examine your real world use and expectations you may have the same epiphany I have had; these little Netbooks are excellent solutions vs. the more expensive traditional notebook offerings. With a couple of easy inexpensive tweaks, the “Samsung NC10” is a home run!

 

The old 4965 agn card you could use two aerial but speed would max at 150. the 5300 is the same 2 aerials should max out at 150 as its a 3*3 design the third aerial will assist immensley

 

RT,

Thanks for the confirmation of my purchase

I've found the battery to hold up well too so far. Can you give more specifics on the memory and case you purchased. I see this memory: Crucial 2GB 667MHZ DDR2 Sodimm (not sure which you got at Newegg) at Amazon for $29.99 shipped , but couldn't find the Caselogic case for $12.

 

Caselogic LNEO-10 Ultra-Portable Neoprene Notebook Sleeve (Black) at Amazon and Patriot 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Laptop Memory - Retail from Newegg.....

 

I'm currently sitting in Dubai airport (free wireless internet, unlike Heathrow) and typing on my NC10. Something I notice is that, when used on my lap with the display pushed back then the front starts to lift up.

Dixons at Heathrow had the Blue NC10 on display. It didn't look too bad but I'm content with the black. They were offering a bundle of NC10 + Turcano sleeve + LG slim optical drive (I assume the GSA-E50N, which is a good unit) for £331.89. That's a good deal. It is possible to phone them up and reserve stock.

John

 

Thanks for these excellent comments. The top end of the netbook range (eg the NC10) does provide a cheap alternative to the traditional ultraportables.

At the moment I'm content with 1GB RAM and the stock HDD. The hibernation / resume time is excellent with only 1GB on board: Increase the RAM, have more applications open and then the hibernation / resume time takes a lot longer.

BTW, as I type this with wireless on and display brightness one step above minimum the battery gauge says 87% and 6 hours 5 minutes remaining.

John

 

I noticed the same thing with the laptop keeling over when you raise the display all the way. I think its a combination of the laptop being so light, the angular moment of the screen and the rounded battery acting as a fulcrum point.

 

Welcome to Dubai, John First time?

 

Thanks RT, I ordered both. I agree with others - seems to be running fine with 1 GB but for only $30 more, why not double it - shame to waste the 1 GB now...

 

I wish we could get one in anything but white here in the US. I have nothing against white, but every white computer component I've ever owned eventually turns an ugly brownish orange after a few years. I'd like a black one, but I'd settle for blue.

I'm still torn between the NC10 or an Acer Aspire One right now to replace my Eee 701 4G. I quite like the size of my Eee 701, and I'm not sure if I'll like the bigger 10" netbook size.

 

Just transiting, on this occasion, but I have visited Dubai a few times.

John

 

Right w/ya, John R
I'm a univ. spanish teacher. I bought the white [couldn't wait for the blue any longer] nc10 on ebay, with live discount & ebay coupon : great price!
Today, Monday, I brought it in to the office with me. On battery 8:00 am until now 1:50 pm and still the indicator says I have 30 mins left.
And how have I been using it all this time? Writing, emailing, putting together a power point presentation. And all the while, playing music full blast. While sound techs will say that the speakers leave something to be desired, I took the Nc10 to class and played music during our sessions. The room is large & has a terrible echo. Yet my students could hear well enough to be able to comment on some of the phrases.
This is a great great machine!!
peregrina

 

How much of an impact will a 7200rpm drive have on battery life compared to a 5400rpm drive? Say for example a newer more power efficient 7200rpm drive..

 

Maybe 10-20 minutes on 6 hours.
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/storage/intel-x25-m.aspx?page=7

If you'd take a one platter drive it could be less.

 

Thanks, great link!
That isn't too bad at all. IMO, harddrive performance has such an impact on overall speed and responsiveness of a machine. I would certainly sacrifice 20mins of batt. life to get such speed improvements. And a 320GB 7200rpm drive has great performance.

Now that we're kinda on that topic, anyone know which 7200rpm drive has the lowest powerconsumption? I hear the WD Scorpio Black is quite good.

 

In some situations (videorundown) WD is the best, in other situations Seagate 7200.3 is better.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/notebook-hard-drive,2006.html

What I am really curious about is how a 10" netbook will take the increase in noise and vibration. I've read quite a few complaints about these new generation drives in lighter notebooks.

When you're upgrading from single platter 5400rpm, to double platter 7200 rpm it could be significant.

 

Good point...
Perhaps 'RT Hill' could give us some input on that?

 

I used the Seagate Momentus, 7200.3 ST9320421AS 320GB 7200 RPM with 16MB Cache and SATA 3.0 interface, I removed a Hitachi 5K320-160 as the standard drive that came with my NC10. The Seagate unit seems noticeably quicker then the standard Hitachi 5400 rpm unit and it appears the power specs are similar (within .2 Watts on (Read/Write) so I don’t think battery life will be impacted measurably in the real world; maybe a few minutes, but nothing significant given the performance boost as pointed out in the above referenced “Toms Hardware” article. The drive is silent and I cannot feel any vibration, so the reference to problems with upgraded drives must also be from using something less then the 7200.3 series.

 

im going to hazard a guess that upgrading/changing the hard drive on the nc10 isnt a simple process?

 

I've read quite a few complaints about the Seagate 7200.3 too. ( newegg for example). Either the Samsung NC10 is good at handling the vibration and/or there are differences between individual drives.

But of all the 320GB/7200rpm Seagate seems to have the fewest complaints, and best power consumption, so it would be my choice.

http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/how-to/nc10-hard-drive.aspx

 

I used the same Laptop Magazine post as my reference when I changed the drive. As I said, it’s a snap and memory and drive upgrade was a 10 minute process. As has been pointed out in other post however, the memory access panel has some plastic catches which hold the door securely in place and require a little finesse. A tip however, if your going to crack the whole case to upgrade the drive, just remove the memory door screw with all the other screws on the rear case and lift the back off with the RAM access door in place.

I read another excellent upgrade post last night on SammyNetbook.com by a gentleman upgrading his internal WiFi card to an Intel draft-n; an upgrade I think I’ll try next: (I'm being restricted from posting the link) One thing to keep in mind in all situations however, Samsung apparently takes dimly (as do most OEM‘s) to hacking their hardware from a warranty perspective. On their NC10 support web site in the FAQ section, they state any mods will void the warranty.

 

I bought my NC10 after reading RT Hill's review on Amazon today. I'm anxiously looking forward to receiving it, although i'm not sure why...

A question I have after checking out the guide above on how to replace the HD is how do I install XP software? I'm not super computer saavy, but I do know that I will need the CD XP right. How do I boot it? A guideline showing this will help.

The three majore upgrades to make are: RAM, HD, and WiFi. I understand the necessecity and simplicity of the first two, but what are the advantages to upgrading to the Intel draft-n? And how difficult is the procedure?

Thanks,

 

http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/how-to/nc10-hard-drive.aspx

You can use the free trial for that.

Upgrading the RAM isn't necessary. XP runs just as well with 1GB. There's only a small percantage of people that actually need more than 1gb for XP.

Acccording to Laptopmag the Samsung reaches better download speed than an Asus 1000H with draft N, so upgrading the wireless isn't necessary either.

I fully agree with upgrading the hard disk though. That's a worth while upgrade.

 

Catchafire….. I’m pleased my comments may have helped in your purchase decision. The upgrades I discussed are for the more technically savvy and experienced who want to upgrade the machine for certain specific needs; or perhaps just a hacker’s euphoric release. Given your comments I come to the conclusion that maybe the standard NC10 you’re soon to receive will make you more then happy.

 

Thanks Phil and RT.

I'll use the image copying software to make a replica of my HD as is. Still, how exactly does it work after modifying NC10? Do you execute the image from the USB? I can't wait to understand this mechanic.

I will definitely upgrade the HD and RAM; 300+ GB is something to be proud of, and I have enough multimedia gidgets to take use of it. One of the reasons I decided to buy this laptop was because of the versatility of it, and chose to not purchase an iPhone which would have basically cost the same.

Can I also access the web through a broadband card service, for when i'm outside of my personal/free wifi zone? I've never owned a laptop for personal use so i'm not knowledgeable of the capabilities and limitations of this neat device.

Thanks,

 

I really want a white NC10, and reading your comments just make me want it MORE so

The only problem is that I am obsessive compulsive with my computers. That is, as soon as I get a computer, I must instantly wipe the hard drive to remove the sewage that is an OEM soul destroying install, and install my own OS and software.

This could be a problem on netbooks with no optical drive i'd imagine?

My aim would be to wipe the NC10 completely and install XP Pro. Can I just plug in a USB optical drive and use my bog standard XP Pro CD? Or will I need to set up XP Pro on a USB flash drive and use that?

Has anyone done this or have knowledge of this?

Any help appreciated

 

My first post here, though I've been reading the forums a lot as I plan to get an NC10.

Captain Fail there are a couple things that you can do to wipe the drive and reinstall windows. The easiest solution is plugging in a usb optical drive if you have one (but they are expensive if you don't). Thus the other option is to create a windows install using Nlite (amazing program and I would strongly suggest that anyone upgrading their netbooks use nLited-windows) and put the install on a usb flash drive. Here is a youtube video showing the usb-flash drive method (yes it's demonstrated not on the NC10 but that shouldn't matter):

(can't post whole links yet, sorry)
youtube.com/watch?v=2Vt_8p0VllY

For anyone else interested that hasn't used it before, nLite is a program that takes a typical windows installation and allows you to modify it in several ways. One great thing is that you can alter what drivers windows initially installs. This would be beneficial for those of you that are upgrading the wifi to draft-n because you could have it simply use the new wifi drivers when windows installs. The other major benefit is being able to modify the windows settings. This allows you to get rid of pesky error reporting or any other useless 'services' or settings that can bog down the system.

 

If you check out Intel's Processor Spec Finder and check the Atom family you'll see there's a 1.86GHz SLB2M. How long has that been out, and will it go in an NC10? Same bus speed and stepping, and it even runs at a lower 2.4W!? (the NC10's 1.6GHz SLB73 is stated at 2.5W). More speed and longer battery life at the same time?

Or what about the dual core 1.6GHz SLG9Y at 8W? Would that fit, and what would battery life be with it?

 

The 1.86 has been out for a while, same as the dual core. Intel has said it isn't allowing the dual cores to be used in netbooks (nettops only I believe) Though I think there was one netbook released in Asia using the dual core 1.6. The 1.86 isn't being used because Microsoft has dictated that nettbooks cannot exceed 1.6 ghz - 1gb ram - 160gb HDD, that's why netbooks with 2gb of ram are running linux (or they are modded by a third party and resold).

 

Greetings, all.

My nc10 was delivered last week (purchased from JR Music). I love tech, but I am also fairly lazy, so the next thing I did was order a Samsung external dvd writer to make it easier to load software. Found a sleek, light weight, white model that matches the machine. Yes, I am that shallow. Thankfully, Newegg got it to me quick. Can provide the specs if anyone is interested.

 

thats interesting info.

i dont understand why netbooks would be restricted by microsoft though. surely netbooks sell more of their OS's?

 

Ordered my NC10 in black last night

Should be able to collect it later today or tomorrow