First off, I need to warn all NC10 owners, this little hack should only be undertaken by hardware savvy individuals who also understand the potential consequences, ie. damage to the NC10 and in turn a void warranty !
The PCI-E Slot: Adding it to the NC10
Many people have noticed that the NC10 netbook has an free space on the motherboard; naturally, people started wondering if this space could be put to use.
It turns out that there are some adventurous NC10 owners willing to sacrifice their netbooks for the sake of extending our NC10 book of knowledge! This risk-loving owner went ahead and installed the PCI-E slot, and he is now a celebrity in the NC10 community. If you are a HD movie buff, this extension could allow you to install a hardware video decoder – imagine HD movies on your sweet little NC10.. mmm
Anyway, enough banter go here to read the thread!
Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
There is news of a ’special’ edition of the NC10. From what we’ve found out this ’special’ version has a larger touchpad and a 6-cell battery that will last 9.5 hours or so beating the standard NC10 by around 2.5-3 hours! Below are the features:
Looking at the picture above one can see that the Samsung NC10 features 84 (don’t go and count them!) almost-full-sized keys. No other Netbook of this size has managed to put in such a ‘large’ keyboard which makes typing very natural.
An almost full-size keyboard might not sound like a big deal, but it really improves the feel of the Netbook and allows you to type comfortably after some usage (it may be a little strange at first depending on what type of keyboard you usually use, nothing to worry about.)
It is also worth mentioning that the touch pad is quite comfortable to use. Some people claim that adjustments need to be made within Windows to the sensitivity and other options but so far I’ve not found this to be neccesssary and I say this as I’m typing away on my NC10 right at this moment
If you’re having trouble deciding on which Netbook you want to buy, or perhaps you are just hesitating on buying the NC10 then just look below and surely if not one, all of the points will help convince you to invest in the masterpiece known as the NC10!
1. The Battery Life
This is the point that had me sold. The acclaimed battery life really can be 8 hours (with normal use, you can get just under 7 hours). Check out the Samsung NC 10 Battery Life post for more specifics.
2. The Screen
We all know that Samsung make fantastic screens and in the case of the NC10 this is no different. This 10.2” wide display has a 1024×600 WSVGA resolution. I found that the screen has really good viewing angles which may not be so important for a netbook but still goes to show the quality of the screen. All images and movies are vibrant and rich in colour compared to some other netbook screens I’ve seen. 3. The Startup Time
3G Samsung NC 10 Netbooks are already on sale in Poland. Our favorite netbook is supplied with 3G as standard by iPlus.
It has a built in HSPA modem (HSDPA speeds of up to 7,2 Mb/s, HSUPA speeds of up to 2,0 Mb/s) I doesn’t say about the impact the modem has on the NC10 battery life, perhaps it isn’t significant.
Anyway, this means that it’s only a matter of time before 3G enabled versions arrive in the UK & US; perhaps even before christmas, that is.. if the supply shortage ends!
This comes as no real surprise given the quality of this product! Apparently Samsung never expected these puppies to be so extremely popular and as a result they are having a hard time producing sufficient numbers of NC10 units to satisfy demand. I great shame for the company as this could have heavily boosted seasonal profits.
According to MicroScope.co.uk, the guys at Samsung claim that they will not be able to fulfill all orders for christmas!
They also said that although they have increased production it won’t be until early 2009 that supply may meet demand. It seems as though only Black NC10’s are available in the UK and White and Blue ones in the US. Maybe someone in Korea messed up the distribution
For me, the NC10’s main selling point was it’s acclaimed 8 hour battery life which is harnessed from the standard 6 cell battery that the unit comes with.
The graph below shows that the 8 hour claim is not far from the truth:
You better Beleive it! – at around 37.5% level brightness (fine if you are out of sunlight) the NC10 goes for almost 7 hours!
