Samsung NC10 and the Asus N10
Recently there has been a spate of releases in the netbook market. Principally, these ultra-mini PCs have 800×600 resolution on a 10-inch monitor (or less) measured diagonally, solid-state drives, built-in webcam, speakers and mic, Bluetooth, WiFi, Ethernet port, VGA out running on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom with 1GB RAM. Now Samsung is joining the club with its NC10 notebook.
The Samsung NC10 tries to fit in, but with several minor differences: a 1024×600 (wide screen) resolution, a 3-in-1 memory card reader and a choice of an 80GB or a 160GB hard disk, and with Windows XP. It also has a “Silver Nano Technology” anti-bacterial surface, and a battery pack which gives 8 hours of use. Weighing 1.3KG, it costs GBP300 in the UK. This is a serious contender in the growing ultra-mini market.
On the other hand, Asus introduced a small laptop which they don’t want to call an ultra-mini PC. It’s almost the size of the Asus Eee, runs on the Intel Atom, and has a standard 2D graphics chipset from Intel and an nVidia 3D graphics chip as well. The 1024×600 monitor can use either the Intel video chip for longer battery life or the nVidia GeForce 9300GS 256MB 3D graphics chipset for games. For external video connection, it has an HDMI port. The graphics card hybrid is toggled done with a physical switch, and you also have to restart the computer. Sounds like a work-around, but if it gives several hours more of battery life, then that should work.
Although the screen size is only 10-inches, the computer’s case is 13 inches measured diagonally. Asus could have put in a much larger screen, and with the nVidia 3D graphics card, a 1280×768 would have been good. Instead, it seems that the computer was designed around the screen first, and then the casing was to accommodate the larger keyboard.
Available with a hard disk of 80GB to 320GB. for added security , it also has a fingerprint scanner. Battery life is about 6.5 hours. Pricing starts from $649, and go up to $849.
Other major manufacturers have their own UMPC out in the market. There’s the HP Mini-Note 2133, Dell Inspiron Mini 9, among others. Although the price points Asus set with the Eee are significantly lower than the latest entrants to the UMPC market, the feature sets are quite disparate to separate each UMPC from one another.
As a growing niche, this market segment is expected to grow considerably in the months or years ahead.