NetbookTech

I’m here to announce that I have two new loves in my life (OK. really one new love and one love reaffirmed ok?) We’re not talking about my wife or anything like that.. we’re talking about Virgin America and my trusty Samsung NC10 netbook.

First off – Virgin America rocks. Today is the first time I’m trying out the budget airline and I’m absolutely loving it (aside from the air turbulence along the way to New York City). Outlets underneath the\from the comfort of your airplane seat (OK.. so maybe it’s not all that comfortable but I’ve sat in worse). Seriously, Virgin America is redefining what flying should be like for all of us. 

Secondly, I’ve fallen in love with my Samsung NC10 netbook all over again. First, my trusty netbook survived a four foot fall during security inspections – though luckily it landed cover down as opposed to on an edge. Nevertheless it’s great to know you’ve got a well built netbook in your hands. And finally, I love the NC10’s battery life. Yes there are other netbooks now that beat the NC10 in battery life performance but it goes to show how important it is to have 5+ hours of battery life – especially when you’re on a cross country flight. But then again – when you’re on Virgin America, battery life isn’t as important give the power outlets on board.

The next netbook I’m eyeing – the Toshiba mini NB205 with its awesome 8+ hours of battery life.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Windows 7 has finally released the Release Candidate (RC) stage. The official RC will be available to developers on MSDN and TechNet starting on April 30th with a broader public release slated for May 5th. Of course, if you’re adventurous enough and you really can’t wait, you download the release candidate right now (believed to be build 7100) off of many bit-torrent search engines and use your existing beta product key.

Now if you’re wondering what’s changed between the beta release of Windows 7 (build 7000) and the release candidate (build 7100), check out the list of changes here and here over at the Engineering Windows 7 blog site.

In the meantime, I decided to give build 7100 a spin on my Samsung NC10 netbook and here’s a brief overview of my experience – from setup to first few hours of opexration.

Setup and Install

Installing Windows 7 Beta took quite some time on all of our netbook systems – what would the release candidate experience be like? In a word – awesome. The total time from start to finish on the Samsung NC10 – 25 minutes (one would expect this number to be even faster on faster processor systems out there).

Here’s a quick chronology of the setup from last night:

8:26pm – Boot the DVD – see the new splash screen (which has been around over the last several builds since build 7000). Select language of choice, agree to the license terms, choose the drive you want to install Windows 7 on, and you’re off to the races.

8:29pm – The install actually begins:

8:30pm – 10 minutes later, we’re at 74% of the “Expanding Windows Files” section. Very nice.

8:44pm – A reboot, starting some services, and completing installation.

8:47pm – One more reboot.. and now watching Setup preparing the system and checking video performance. The performance checks all have new splash screens too.

8:49pm – Enter your user name and a name for your PC

8:50pm – Time to enter the product key, set the time, and connect to a Wi-Fi- network

8:52pm – Reach the Welcome screen and preparing the desktop

8:54pm – Setup is DONE! The desktop is up and running and everything in the hardware was successfully detected by Windows 7 setup. Running time – 25 minutes from when the setup first began and 28 minutes from when I first booted from the DVD.

Here’s a quick still image of the desktop. (you’ll notice that I shrunk the icons on the task bar down since I’m operating on a netbook display which is limited to 1024 x 600).

Side Note for Samsung NC10 owners

While Build 7100 installed flawlessly on the Samsung NC10, some of the keyboard hotkeys were not working correctly. To get this working, go to the Samsung website and download the display manager software for the NC10.

First Impressions

If you’ve been working with the Beta build for some time now then you might not initially notice differences between the Beta build and the RC build. Many of the changes as listed in the Engineering Windows 7 website are subtle beauty changes and usability enhancement changes. Changes to how Alt-Tab and Aero Peek work; changes to the jump lists; changes to the Device Stage etc etc. If anything, the RC build is clean both on the inside and around the edges. You’ll notice new sound effects, many more themes to choose from, tighter performance, and just an overall sense of polish to the product. We’re close folks – very very close and it’s my opinion that Windows 7 will be awesome for netbooks.

Here are some snapshots of the control panel for anyone interested:

Boot Times

If there’s something noticeable right from the get go – it would have to be the overall boot times and system resumes from hibernation. With Build 7100 running on my Samsung NC10, here are some really quick numbers that I compiled.

Under a minute to the desktop? Not bad. Now granted, the OS is still carrying out some operations in the background but it’s entirely usable within 50 seconds of hitting the power button.

Memory Consumption

If you’re coming from a Windows XP-based netbook world loaded with 1GB of RAM, then you’ll definitely want to consider upgrading to 2GB of RAM for Windows 7. Yes, Microsoft should be commended for their memory optimizations in Windows 7 (it does consume less memory than Windows Vista) but it still consumes more memory than Windows XP.

An out of the box install of Windows 7 Ultimate consumes approximately 500MB of memory at boot time. This does settle down a bit to around 420MB of RAM thanks to some paging optimizations but again – you’ll want to upgrade to 2GB if at all possible.

Performance Perceptions

I haven’t had the opportunity to run real world application or system benchmarks as of yet but the overall system under RC1 certainly feels very responsive and peppy – PLUS – we’re talking about Windows 7 Ultimate – not the Starter Edition of 7. Again – Microsoft should be commended for appearing to execute their goals of making all versions of Windows 7 usable on netbooks.

Keep in mind, this is all preliminary at this point. I’ve yet to use the RC build on the NC10 for a prolonged period of time but it’s all very promising to say the least.

To Be Continued

This is certainly only the beginning when it comes to testing Windows 7 RC for netbook systems. We’ll go ahead and install the OS on other netbook systems to see how compatible the OS is with other hardware. We’ll also look into the battery performance under Windows 7. However, all tings are certainly looking up at this point. Windows 7 could finally spell the end of Windows XP on netbooks – assuming Microsoft gets the licensing agreements worked out.

The Samsung NC10 netbook finally gets a review treatment by the folks at PC Magazine here. You already know the NC10 is our favorite netbook here at NetbookTech.com but what do the PC Mag folks think?

“The Samsung NC10-14GB is a well-equipped netbook whose trimmings include a standard six-cell battery, but we’d like to see its price adjusted down to MSI’s and Acer’s level.”

Here are the pros listed:

“93 percent keyboard. 10-inch widescreen. Standard six-cell battery. Excellent battery-life scores.”

And the cons:

“Touchpad is small. Price could be lower.”

I agree that the price for the NC10 could be lower to better match up against the recent price drops with the MSI Wind and Acer Aspire One (with the six cell batteries of course). However, a $50 dollar difference is still palatable when you consider you’re getting a well built netbook with practically every feature you need AND you get the Samsung brand.

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Have netbook, will install OS X right? Of course! That’s exactly what the folks at Wired.com did with their new Samsung NC10 loaner (with permission from Samsung). They used similar steps to installing OS X on the MSI Wind and presto – OS X on the NC 10.

Now of course, all is not perfect in the OS X/NC10 world – here are some problems that are listed in the Wired.com article:

• USB ports no longer work
• Wi-Fi does not work
• Headphone port does not work

It’s no small secret that the NC10 is my favorite netbook to date – mostly due to the wonderful keyboard – a keyboard that’s arguably even better than the MSI Wind keyboard! Yes.. I am late with my reviews tho.. stay tuned!

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The good folks at LaptopMag have published a comprehensive head to head comparison of five 10 inch netbook systems – the Samsung NC10, the MSI Wind U100, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, the HP Mini 1000, and the ASUS Eee PC 1000H. Comparisons were made across performance, Wi-Fi, design, screen, connectivity, keyboard/trackpad, battery life and value.

Wondering who won at the end? Well the publication chose the Samsung NC10 as the overall 10 inch netbook winner stating:

“Of these five netbooks, the Samsung NC10 came out on top in six categories–Design, Screen, Keyboard, Trackpad, Battery, Value–and got decent scores in every other area, earning its place as the best 10-inch netbook we’ve seen so far.”

Very cool – congrats Samsung – you’re late to the party but you’re rocking!

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Hot on the heels of our own un-boxing pictures of the Samsung NC10 come a new review and a new hands-on look at the new netbook. First up, a new review from the folks at PC Advisor UK who had this to say about the NC10:

“Samsung’s netbook offering may tick nearly all the same boxes as the MSI Wind, but its keen pricing and remarkable mains-free longevity make it a worthy addition to the line. The Samsung NC10 may be marginally larger, heavier and lack 802.11n but this could be the new champion of the breed.”

Next up, Mobile Computer UK has a hands-on look at the black colored version of the NC10 and I have to say.. the black version looks way cooler than the white colored version. Here’s a snippet from the hands-on:

“We can confirm that the black model is definitely better looking than the white, with the silver accents looking right at home against the matte black finish. Unsurprisingly, the gloss black lid is a finger print magnet but on the whole the black NC10 looks like it means business.”

Make sure to check out the rest of the hands-on to see several close up shots of the NC10.

Yes, the Samsung NC10 (NP-NC10 to be exact) is in the house and we’ve got un-boxing pictures for you to check out. For those of you curious what the NC10 looks like compared to other netbooks, we have a couple of stills near the end of the posting that compare the NC10 against the 10 inch Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and the 8.9 inch Acer Aspire One. So, let’s get right to it – enjoy!

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Move over MSI Wind. There’s a new king in the netbook market and according to LaptopMag, that king is the new Samsung NC10 netbook. While the internal specs are pretty much the same as every other netbook out there, the six cell, six hour battery and awesome keyboard help make the NC10 stand apart from the rest. Here’s the verdict from LaptopMag:

“Until now, no other netbook has been able to match the 10-inch MSI Wind’s endurance, strong performance, and spacious keyboard. Samsung’s NC10 is the only product that provides comparable—and even improved—features for a lower price. Its comfortable, well-positioned keyboard, speedy and spacious hard drive, and more than 6 hours of endurance make the $499 Samsung NC10 the most well-rounded 10-inch netbook on the market. “

Based on the initial reviews that are hitting the web for the NC10, this does indeed seem to be the best of the 10 inch netbook lot.

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The price of the Samsung NC10 netbook continues to drop ever so slightly even though it’s still not in stock at major retailers. Amazon.com is now offering the NC10 for a pre-order price of $487.99 – down from $499.99. This new price applies to both the white and blue version of the NC10.

Unfortunately, Buy.com still has both models listed at $499 (and out of stock!)

LaptopMag has published their initial hands-on look at the new Samsung NC10 netbook which just became available here in the U.S. The article’s got a ton of pictures as well as a short video clip too. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

We had a chance to put our hands all over the NC10 a few weeks ago. As you will see in the video below, the netbook sports a seriously spacious keyboard (93 percent the size of a regular keyboard, Samsung says), which we think can rival the MSI WInd’s title of best netbook keyboard yet. As for the overall fit and finish, we were happy with what we saw and felt. Samsung knows how to make a good piece of electronics and now a good netbook.

Head on over to LaptopMag for the rest of the hands-on look.

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