Samsung NC10 WARNING!!!

trrk

Thanks OP for the information! I'm thinking of buying one of these netbooks and wasn't even aware that the same basic model can have more than one type of battery. These sort of posts are very useful for those of us who are not that technologically advanced like myself!

Millionaire

I agree with the OP. Any Spec different from standard should be clearly highlighted. At alot of these retailers it isn't clear and it shouldn't be made that difficult.

I was looking at a NC10 and nearly brought the one with a 3 cell until I decided at the last minute to just do some research about the slightly different codes being used on the NC10 at different retailers.

My suspicions arose when I spotted the codes didn't exist on the Samsung website and some searches brought up about the 3 cells being used.

I tend to do thorough research into what I buy, but even I only clocked it last minute before I was about to shell out.

So thanks OP.

prowla

What I think is worse about (all of) these machines is that they are being sold with an obsolete operating system, and no free upgrade to Windoze 7.

dreamypuma

We were looking at buying on of these during the August Bank Holiday, when Comet had these on offer at around £249.

When we looked into the NC10, we found that the their are various machines, manufactured by Samsung all prefixed with NC10. The actual model numbers are much longer. In essence the machines are all very simlar with Atom Processors, 1GB RAM etc. The main differences were in the Batteries and trim.

We actually noticed this when we noticed the large discrepancies in price difference. Indeed the Comet Machine was the 4hrs 3 Cell battery, which is why we chose not to go with this.

I didn't notice Comet doing anything unsavory, it was clearly marked on the POS in store, albeit in layman's terms (4hrs rather than 3 Cell)

The problem with this machine lies in the fact that the models are so similar that that sites only review one model and refer to them as the generic name the NC10. Everybody, myself included assumes that the review machine is the same as thise sold in the stores. This is an assumption, and from my experience I didn't notice any of the high street retailers trying to hide the fact that the batteries were 3 Cell.

I think the OP's posts a bit harsh, and quite reactive, as the information is not difficult to find. In fact by reading the reviews on Reevoo, it is apparent that the machine is supplied in different flavours

dreamypuma

Millionaire wrote: »

I agree with the OP. Any Spec different from standard should be clearly highlighted. At alot of these retailers it isn't clear and it shouldn't be made that difficult.

But it is like buying a car. Just because it's an Vauhall Astra, doesn't mean that every model is the same as the SRi. The product details in the stores (or certainly when I looked during the bank holidays) told you the spec of the battery. Albeit Techy places like ebuyer refered to cells, but highstreet stores refered to Hours of usage.

dreamypuma

prowla wrote: »

What I think is worse about (all of) these machines is that they are being sold with an obsolete operating system, and no free upgrade to Windoze 7.

And you know this when your parting with your cash. You have an option, no ones holding a knife to your throat, we are all adults.

dreamypuma

fiddiwebb wrote: »

common sense would tell you that laptop models have various specs etc

True but this discussion is about only one model the NC10, it is only very recently that Samsung have offered this particular NC10 with a 3 cell battery and not the normal 6 cell battery.

NC10 has always been the short name for the laptop. The full model number has always been longer. Similar to the way TV's are titled.

The press review one model not all of them and refer to them by the short name.

student_84

prowla wrote: »

What I think is worse about (all of) these machines is that they are being sold with an obsolete operating system, and no free upgrade to Windoze 7.

Win xp cannot be considered obsolete as its successor, vista, was, for some, a step back. The issue with vista and netbooks is that there's too much fat to run effectivly and xp has been updated by MS constantly leaving it security wise probably more secure than vista. An upgrade to windows 7 is rarely free and will cost you postage and packaging at least with some costing £32+, they offer it as an incentive on vista to win 7 not xp to 7.

Thank you to the op for this great spot as I think it highlights something that most casual netbook buyers would be unaware of, the big selling point of these products is extended battery life which is reduced by the retailers not offering the battery that has been included in most reviews.

prowla

dreamypuma wrote: »

And you know this when your parting with your cash. You have an option, no ones holding a knife to your throat, we are all adults.

student_84 wrote: »

Win xp cannot be considered obsolete as its successor, vista, was, for some, a step back. The issue with vista and netbooks is that there's too much fat to run effectivly and xp has been updated by MS constantly leaving it security wise probably more secure than vista. An upgrade to windows 7 is rarely free and will cost you postage and packaging at least with some costing £32+, they offer it as an incentive on vista to win 7 not xp to 7.

Windows XP is obsolete in the sense that:

• Microsoft have stopped selling it retail in June 08, stopped providing it for new systems in January 09. However, they are selling it for limited performance Netbooks to June 2010.
• "Mainstream" support has terminated, though "Extended" (ie. paid per incident or by support contract) support is still available.
• The complete end of support is slated for 2014.
• In terms of upgrades to Windows 7, the product is available on new machines now, and is due for retail release at the end of the month. So machines are being sold new with a two-generation back 8-year old OS.

It's also worth noting that some of these Netbooks, eg. the NC10, are quite powerful machines (1.6 GHz/1GB memory/160GB hard disk), so they would be well capable of running Vista.

Anyway, if I were buying one, I would probably be looking to put OS X or Linux on it. Nobody is "holding a knife to my throat", but why pay the Microsoft Windows Tax for an unwanted licence?

(Actually, is the right to a refund for an unwanted Windows still available?)

davester

Also note that Vista won't install on the standard solid state drive versions as you need 15 GB install where they are 8 or 16GB in size, Giveing a 1 GB space left on the later. The HDD is ok. XP is also less graphic intense as Vista with its visual effects and doesn't recommend a 1GB RAM as minimum.