Tofer

I will be traveling a lot next month and have the possibility of traveling alot for work in the future. so i decided its time to get a new computer and get a netbook. a netbook is laptop but is ultra light weight and small and usually cheaper than a standard laptop. after hours of reading reviews and researching i went with the Samsung NC10-14GB...


It has a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM (which i have upgraded to 2gb) a 160 GB Hard Drive, 6 Cell Battery, XP Home. it only has a 10.2" screen and weighs in at 2.8 lbs.

I was looking at the HP mini 1000 as well but the samsung has a 6cell battery vs. everyone else only have a 3cell. with the 6cell its suppose to have a 8 hour battery life, and the reviewers said they were getting a soild 6 1/2 -7 hours out of it surfing the web with wifi on. the samsung also has a VGA out which the HP was lacking.

the way i look at it, 90% of my time on the computer is spent doing email and surfing the web. i dont need a laptop that will run 10000 programs at once and have a graphics card that will support a full 3D gaming. i have my home computer (dual core P4, 3gb ram, etc) for anything heavy duty and to act as my media / file / terminal services server...


here is the laptop i got.. it ended up being a little more than if i got the HP mini 1000, but the extended battery life and vga out should make up for it. all said and done it was 580 after shipping, tax, 2gb ram upgrade and carrying case. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NC10-1.../dp/B001I45TA8. its kinda weird buying a laptop without being able to touch/feel/play with it first but i'm excited for it to arrive.


anyone else using a netbook??

X-AWDriver

I just bought my first laptop but it's not a mini since portability wasn't a big concern.

I got an HP G60-235 equipped with 3gb Ram,320gb HD,16" widescreen w/HDMI input,DVD burner w/Lightscribe and more and got it for $499.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218041998788

I also added as Belkin chill pad,Targus laptop backpack ($80 got it on sale for $50) and a Western Digital 500gb portable HD (only $120)

I had $300 in giftcards and still spent over $500 but this was my income tax return.

I've only got about 2.5hr battery life so it won't quite last on my plane trips to Florida but close.

BT17R

Smart choice sticking with XP. I'm shopping a laptop too and thinking along the same lines. Thanks for the writeup, very interesting and a brand I hadn't considered yet. Let us know what you think, especially keyboard layout and feel.

[N8]

Congrats.

I bought a Dell Mini when they 1st came out and I love it - I'm sure you will too.

A regular laptop seems abnormally large to me anymore.

Tofer

will do.. ya i hadnt thought of samsung for laptops either when i first started looking. but when i searched netbook 2gb it was one of the first hits. i started researching it from there. they say its 93% fullsize keyboard... i have big hands so we;ll see how it works out. my buddy has the mini 1000 but i've only gotten to play with it once but the keys (92% of full) felt fine.

BT17R

Tofer, any thoughts about this Dell?

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/nav...&dblclick=true

scuba

Daymn, I want a new laptop now...

Tofer

the difference between a 8.9" screen and a 10.2 inch screen is quite a bit.. goto fry's or best buy and look at the difference. the 8.9 seemed way to small for me. (then again, my dual monitors on my home computer sometimes isnt enough) the solid state drive would be nice but its not quite there yet IMHO. 8GB isnt going to be big enough once you load xp, office and the limited "basic necessities" programs. a 16GB SSD should be enough for program files but you wont be able to keep anything else on it. you could go pick up a 32GB SD card and use the built in SD reader to store your files on SD cards.

BT17R

Good info, thanks. Tough call now between a notebook or netbook. I'd like an onboard optical drive and Firewire for recording video directly from camera to HDD. Looks like a notebook (Dell Vostro w/XP) instead.

Tofer

got the email from UPS saying a billing statement had been issued..... at least i have my tracking number and its suppose to arrive tomorrow! but it says signature require.. but i'll be at work all day.

BT17R

My UPS guy accepts a signed note referencing the tracking number taped to the door.

Tofer

it has arrived.... the keyboard will take a lil bit to get used to but so far i love it!! more write up and pics later tonight or tomorrow.

Tofer

Review after 3 days:

I LOVE IT! the keyboard is small but even with my big hands i am able to find the correct keys. there are the occasional fat-fingering.... so i do wish the backspace key was a little bigger to make it easier to fix any fat-finger mistakes. but other than the backspace key the keyboard layout is very usable and fairly comfortable (for its size)

the screen is big and bright. even at the lowest brightness setting its plenty bright to see. on its highest setting i'm sure i could use it in a tanning bed and still be able to see everything just fine. with a 1024x600 display most websites are visible without any scrolling.. I've made sure to hide as many system tray icons as possible and turned off the quick launch toolbar to give the start bar the most real estate possible.

battery life: AWESOME! i spent tonight from 5 to about 10 with the screen on 1/2 brightness and wifi on surfing the web before i got the battery warning, so thats about 5 hours on a single charge. but i was charging my cellphone via usb at the time so i'm not sure how much battery life that stole. but it is nice to be able to use a laptop with out any wires for more than an hour (like my last laptop)

weight and thickness: its a little more than i was expecting, compared to my buddy's HP mini 1000 its quite a bit thicker because of the 6 cell battery. but i'll take 6 hr battery life for a little thicker any day. the weight is light, it slips into a backpack and isnt noticeable at all.

speed and performance: GREAT! more than i was expecting it to be. with 2 gigs of ram installed its screams. start up time is very fast. i've installed firefox, office 07, google talk, msn live messenger, itunes, my super stripped down version of symantec AV and a couple other smaller programs. i can run several programs at once without bogging the system down.

overall: i am Very happy i got it. the additional costs (over other netbooks on the market) are well worth it. this will make traveling so much easier, i can surf YT while at the girlfriends house (she's not so happy about that....) and i am no longer confined to the desk and computer chair in order to be on the computer.



that is a standard size BUSINESS CARD on the keyboard on the 2nd pic

scuba

Sweet laptop chris !! Considered getting an external keyboard incase those keys start to feel smaller over time ? They do make fold up ones, but im sure you know that...

scuba

HOLY CRAP, I just noticed the price, Im about to hawk my computer and buy one of those !?!?!!!

aaron26889

I bought a Apple MacBook Pro and it is by far the best computer that I have ever used. I worked at a business that we used computers everday to and my MacBook blows the top of the line computers that they had there out of the water.... I will never go back to a PC unless they make some pretty big changes in there operating system.

elblako91

I was waiting for someone to mention something good about the macbook on this thread. I'm now leaning more towards the macbook 13 inch version for college. How much better is it then a PC? user friendly?

aaron26889

it took a few weeks to get use to but its amazing... there are sooo many things you can do on it.. its realy user friendly there are programs on it that make it so you can change everything so it fits you. Like on mine I have the finger pad set so when I move it around with 1 finger it moves my mouse when I use 2 it scrolls the page up and down and when I use 3 it goes back a page or forward a page... you can also set it up so that if you want it to turn on at a specific time there are just so many different things to name lol.... its by far the best computer that I have owned

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Very nice PC Chris.
I use my Dell 17" Inspiron when I am watching TV in the other room or out on the porch during warm weather.

Are you using the stock mouse setup?
I have never been able to use the finger slide things with laptops.
I bought this Logitech USB yesteryear, very good for portable books.
And...the USB part does not stick out like a lot of them do.
It is very small and you do not notice it in the USB port.



http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mi.../3271&cl=us,en



I would like something smaller than my Dell one to take camping (for notes, documenting), I may have to look into one of these small ones.

PS, I had ordered this mouse with the laptop, but the USP plug stuck way out of the port.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mi.../3295&cl=us,en
The mouse I have now is much better to with more features.

littlecommando

dell sucks, period

never had a good experience with a dell