Samsung NC10 – A NetBook That Doesn’t Suck

After doing copious research which included touching other peoples Netbooks, reading reviews, using the “I am just looking” line on sales associates at classy retail dives like Fry’s, Best Buy and Circuit City (who?!), I have finally dropped a phat wad of cash on the Samsung NC10 Netbook. I went with the 14GW white model over the 14GB blue based on the fingerprint smudge comments in the online reviews. Bought it from Amazon and even got it the next day. This is my freaking Christmas present to myself, and it’s freaking sweet! First and foremost, battery life is DA BOMB, I went just under eight hours straight on it, min-maxing and tweaking the unit to fit my curmudgeon ways – that’s right, on a SINGLE CHARGE! In terms of ergonomics, the keyboard is perfect size for my medium hands (shaddap, my hands are medium but my shoes are 13 wide). The track-pad took all of 10-20 minutes getting used to. The screen is bright and highly readable. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of the usual bloatware loaded on typical systems – props to Samsung. Unit ships with 1gb memory, easily expandable to 2gb for under $20 (yay for crappy economy). The hard drive is 160GB Fujitsu, ironically not Samsung, which is enough for my robust pr0n collection (I jest). The hard drive is an old school hard drive not the overpriced solid state, but can be upgraded easily to the latter by anyone who is bright enough not to piss on an electric fence. The other pleasant surprise was the wifi capability ( Atheros chipset), albeit not 802.11n friendly it rocks solidly on 802.11g. Unit shipped with XP Home, and before anyone starts with the “Linux Uber Alles” duchebaggery, allow me to say that if I decide to waste my time dicking around with drivers instead of actually USING the Netbook I can always install Ubuntu. As it stands XP Home works fine and fast, but if I get that naughty vibe to get all hackery I can always boot Backtrack 3 off one of the three USB ports. Other stuff of worth – it has built in Bluetooth, anti-cooty Silver Oxide coating, and moron-friendly backup software. In conclusion, I plan on doing a lot of traveling in the upcoming year and I feel well equipped for it with this toy. But you may ask, “Is it Pimpin?” Nay, it is Caligula Pimpin!