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, 1024×600 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 1024×600 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!

Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook – 6 Cell Battery Spesification:

Product Details

• Color: Blue
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: NC10-14GB
• Dimensions: 7.30″ h x 1.19″ w x 10.27″ l, 2.80 pounds
• CPU: Intel Core Solo 1.6 GHz
• Memory: 1000MB DDR2 SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 160GB
• Processors: 1
• Native resolution: 10.2
• Display size: 10.2

Features

• 10.2″ Wide, 1024 x 600 WSVGA , 220 nits
• Intel Atom processor N270, 1.6 GHz, 533 MHz Front Side Bus, 512 KB Level 2 Cache
• 160 GB, 2.5″ SATA HD, 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz
• Intel 945GSE shared, 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, 10/100 BaseTX LAN
• 6-Cell Lithium Ion, Genuine Microsoft XP® Home with Service Pack 3, 1.3 Mega Pixel webcam, Kensington Key Lock, 1 year standard parts and labor, 2.8 lbs

Amazon and other e-tailers offer the 1005HA-V for $339-$349, and the most notable change is the matte LCD. Those that frequently work outdoors or despise reflections will appreciate the matte display. It also features a N270 cpu, 6-cell 48Wh Li-ion Battery (8.5 hrs), 0.3MP webcam (according to Amazon specs, but it may in fact be 1.3MP), no Bluetooth, and absent again is the netbook sleeve.

So in a nutshell (or would that be seashell?) the 1005HA-P offers the faster N280 cpu, glossy display, 1.3MP webcam, 6-Cell 63Wh Li-ion Battery with a whopping 10.5 hrs run time, Bluetooth v2.1, and the netbook sleeve.

All three units come with the Digital Array Mic which consists of two powerful microphones. Ambient background noises are eliminated, as well as reduced echoes for clearer voice recording. What’s more, with only direct sound (within 60°) recorded, you’ll obtain better voice capture. I’ve tested the mic with Skype, and it’s loud and clear once you fine tune using the Realtek HD Audio manager. All models also include a WiFi 802.11 b/g/n adapter and 160GB 5400RPM hard drive. My 1005HA-P contains a Hitachi HTS543216L9SA00 hard drive and Atheros AR9285 wifi card. Atheros chipsets are known for excellent range and are typically less prone to connection drops. I’d like to point out that the AR9285 is only capable of 150Mbps.

All three variations ship with 1GB DDR2 800MHz memory. The good news is that you can remove the memory door on the bottom of the chassis and swap it out for a 2GB DDR2 200-pin SODIMM in under 2 minutes. Amazon offers the Crucial 667 & 800MHz modules for under $27. I installed the 800MHz module (CT25664AC800) since it offers more headroom and will step down to a lower FSB if needed. The 667MHz module should clock past its rated speed, but if your module doesn’t then it could lead to instability. I’d recommend running a Prime95 “Blend” torture test for 12-24 hrs to make sure your system is stable.

Now that I’ve provided my $.02 on memory I’ll briefly touch bases on the Eee Super Hybrid Engine utility. It lets users overclock or underclock their Eee PC’s to boost performance or provide better battery life depending on their immediate requirements. In Super Performance mode CPU-Z shows the bus speed to increase up to 169.9MHz which translates into roughly 1.7GHz. Woot! One way to quickly change modes is to press Fn + spacebar.

The glossy LED display offers excellent color and contrast when used indoors. I was also pleasantly surprised with the excellent horizontal viewing angles. Keep in mind that once you get in a room full of light or step outdoors screen reflections could become annoying. I’ve used mine outside on a sunny day, and the screen is still very much legible. In fact it was much more detailed than the matte screen on my Dell D600.

Apparently the 1005HA-P Black was “under review” for several days, but the Blue is in stock and ready to ship direct from Amazon. According to some Amazon reps it ranges from complaints regarding the ‘hot’ ac adapter, charging issues that are a direct result of the end user not pushing the micro-sized right angle end of the ac adapter until it snaps in place, and quite possibly the Asus rebate. While the ac adapter does run hot, which Asus clearly mentions in the user manual, I’ve felt other ac adapters get even hotter so one should not be alarmed over the heat output.

Overall I am extremely satisfied with the 1005HA-P, and it is arguably the best 10″ netbook on the market. Be sure to check out the Amazon community forum for this product located towards the bottom of this page if you require additional enlightenment. You’ll find a lot of tips, tricks, and general FAQ’s.

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook Spesification

Product Details

• Color: Blue
• Brand: Asus
• Model: 1005HA-PU1X-BU
• Dimensions: 1.02″ h x 7.01″ w x 10.31″ l, 4.65 pounds
• CPU: Intel Celeron 1.66 GHz
• Memory: 1000MB SODIMM
• Hard Disk: 160GB
• Processors: 1
• Display size: 10.1

Features

• Up to 10.5 Hours of Battery Life and Free Sleeve Case Included
• Intel Atom N280 Processor 1.66GHz
• 1GB DDR2 RAM, 1 x SODIMM Slot, 2GB Max; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM) and 10GB Free Eee Storage
• Windows XP Home Operating System, 10.1-inch WSVGA 1024×600 LCD Display

Specifications

• Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows XP
• Display: 10.1-inch 1024×600 LED-Backlit Widescreen LCD (Color-Shine/Glossy Screen Technology)
• Intel CPU: Intel Atom N280
• Wireless Data Network: WLAN: 802.11b/g/n (draft 2.4GHz n) & Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR
• Memory: 1GB DDR-2 (Memory size is upgradable to 2GB)
• Hybrid Storage: 160GB HDD + 10GB Eee Online Storage**
• Camera: 1.3M Pixels
• Audio: Stereo Speakers, High-Definition Audio CODEC, Digital Array Microphones
• Storage Cards: 2-in-1 MMC, SD(SDHC) flash card slot
• Input/Output: 1 x VGA connector, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x LAN RJ-45, 2 x audio jacks: Headphone & Mic-in
• Battery: 10.5 hours* Li-Ion battery
• Dimensions: 10.31 (W) x 7.01 (D) x 1.02~1.44 (H) inches
• Weight: 2.81 lbs (with battery)
• Color: Blue