Samsung NC10 review

Samsung’s NC10 has an attractive pearlescent white case that resembles Asus’s original Eee PC 701.

It feels sturdy and is also available in black. The keyboard is similar to those found on Samsung’s more expensive laptops, so its keys are large, widely spaced and give plenty of feedback. The only disappointments are the tab and cursor keys, which are smaller and more difficult to press than the others. The touch pad is small, but accurate, but the small mouse buttons don’t feel very responsive.

The NC10’s most remarkable feature is its battery life. It lasted over eight hours in our light-use test, which is long enough to last a transatlantic flight. Like the Wind, its large battery props up the keyboard at an angle that can make typing more comfortable. However, it doesn’t add much extra bulk to the NC10’s slender design. At 1.3kg, it’s a bit heavier than some, but light enough for frequent travelling.

The NC10 is one of only four netbooks here with a large 160GB hard disk. Only the N10’s huge 250GB disk is bigger. Unusually, the memory card reader can accept only SD and MMC cards, although you can always plug an external reader into one of the three USB ports to read data from other card types.

We like the NC10’s matt screen, as it’s bright and only a little grainy. Images have a slightly blue cast, but this is unlikely to be a problem for office work and web browsing.

As expected, the Atom processor and 1GB of RAM didn’t have any trouble playing back standard-definition DivX or iPlayer videos. There was also no sluggishness when working in a couple of programs simultaneously.

Samsung’s NC10 is easily the best netbook here, as long as you don’t mind a slightly larger-than-average netbook. It has a big hard disk, long battery life and a comfortable keyboard, all for little more than £300. It’s the one to buy unless you want a 3G-equipped model or one with an SSD, and wins our Best Buy award.