Netbooking on the NC10

I decided that the best way to test the NC10 from Samsung would be to blog about it, saving throughout the day as I went along... kind of taking it with me.

First impressions were pretty good; as can be expected from Samsung. They are anything but sloppy when it comes to design, and like Apple and Sony, use their design as a kind of trademark. I'm not saying that the most important aspect of a great netbook is design or aesthetics... but usability and great design often go hand in hand so it was a good start. In addition, netbooks can often have a toy-like feel and appearance. Samsung pulls away from this slightly in build quality, but the blue version I picked up did not help.

The next big deal for me was the keyboard. I've always believed that system input is underestimated, but especially for the purpose of netbooking, a usable, scalable keyboard was a real must; on this the NC10 really delivered. At 93% the keyboard is almost full size and this really pays off... primarily because with little adjustment I can touch-type as I would do on a full kb.

The mouse-pad on the NC10 leaves a lot to be desired. The issues seem to be reflected by the user community, in that the pad is unresponsive (even more so in outside of Windows).

The other harsh comparison is between the netbook and any full size notebook. Prior to the netbook I had been using a Dell 14.4 notebook, and the difference was just a little too much to handle. Switching between the two is not a great idea, because it makes the netbooks feel "toy like".

I guess you just have to remind yourself that you are dealing with a different piece of technology here; that its like comparing a noteboook to a cell phone. Just not possible. That helps. For me it was important to remember that the netbook came in at 2.8lbs versus the my notebooks 5.39lbs, not to mention the bulkiness.

I guess the real question comes down to usage and portability. The questions I need to consider are:

1) How will I be transporting the netbook? Will I be using vehicles mainly for transport, in which case the weight would be a little irrelevant, or will I be using a great deal of public transport in which case weight is everything to play for?

2) When I arrive at my destination, how will I be using it? As a system all day on a desk, which again means that a larger size will be better for stability and day-long operation, or will I be taking it into lectures and perching it to take notes... in which case again size is everything to play for.

I decided not to go too much into performance simply because netbooks are much of a muchness. They share the same specs and often the same hardware, so trying to compare them is a little rendant.

Price was an important question for me when I went into the netbook market, and I was please to note that the NC10 would set me back just $380, when my Dell notebook had been around $900. This might seem like a worthless reference, but the feeling that you are carrying less money around is important, it avoids over protection and extreme worrying about loss/theft.

...tbc