ASUS N10JC: the Netbook Goes Corporate
by Jarred Walton on December 24, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Physical Overview
We've talked a lot about what the N10JC includes, but appearance also matters. We think the N10JC looks better than most other netbooks, which goes with the corporate target market, although it's still made out of a hard plastic so it's not going to impress as much as something like the new MacBooks.
The top of the laptop is chiefly a champagne/silver colored glossy plastic, as is the palm rest. The keyboard, LCD border, and bottom of the chassis are all black, with glossy surfacing on the LCD bezel and a matte finish elsewhere. Silver trim on the touchpad and quick access panel above the keyboard contribute to an overall attractive appearance.
Getting at the internals is pretty simple, and there's not a whole lot in there to mess with. A single large access panel covers a large section of the bottom of the laptop, and removing it allows you to upgrade memory or the hard drive if the need arises. The single mini PCI slot is also accessible, should you desire to upgrade the WiFi to 802.11n (other N10J models ship with 802.11n if you're interested). Upgrading the CPU or GPU generally isn't possible on netbooks, and even accessing the CPU requires you to fully dismantle the laptop chassis; we didn't do that, as there's nothing faster than the N270 supported right now.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
45 Comments
View All Comments
Penti - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
That's mostly directed towards iFX and I do agree that they don't get much rebates on hardware (probably a lot more on software anyway which is a bigger cost then the hardware itself many times even for desktops).My point however is that you aren't reviewing the business version, not that it differs any more in hardware then I mentioned earlier in another post and you mentioned now but rather the important fact that it contains a VB OEM license as you can't include a XP H license in your volume license agreement. That's an important difference and you don't really test it for that scenario any way.
OEM's aren't much more then retailers themselves, i.e. they can't charge the costumer less then what the ODM or Taiwanese-based contract manufacturers charge them. There really isn't much for system builders to do with laptops more then order them. It's usually as you have experienced some other company that actually put the companies images of the OS/software on them. I guess there's some potential to save there if those who act as the system builders of the OEM-computers can get cheaper OEM licenses for that costumer and orders without licenses from Asus. A OEM license is always needed though. But a XP H OEM licenses is useless for them.
iFX - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Yes, they do. I have worked in IT procurement for large, Fortune 500 companies, I speak from experience.icrf - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Interesting addition to the netbook lot, but I'd still rather have a Samsung NC10. The discrete GPU is nice for video decoding, but if the display can't show 720p, I'm not sure what the benefit of being able to decode it is. Give me a 10" 1280x800 screen and we'll talk. Otherwise, the NC10 still has better battery life.skaaman - Sunday, December 28, 2008 - link
Totally agree. I picked one up for my better half for Christmas for $499.00. Notebook Review has an excellent write up on it. The display is beautiful (same as the ASUS I believe) and easily get 7-8 hours battery life. I accidentally stumbled on the touch pad gesturing support and it works very well.I loaded the two simple games she plays and they run fine (simple games.) While a lot of time on this board is dedicated to considering how far we can stretch a system, it would seen that this and most Netbooks would more than satisfy about 90% of the consumer market. I mean really, how many systems out there are used for nothing but Internet access, email and word processing.
Also, I think we have become spoiled with cheap memory prices. 1GB for running basic apps on XP Home should be plenty for anyone. Yes if you beed to run 10 apps or want to overclock then you want as much memory as you can get. But again, 1GB will prove more than adequate for the average user.
l00tz - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Ahhh but you have hdmi out for 1080p goodness. The n10 works with and external bluray drive and powerdvd8 as welldrfelip - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
A user at Notebook Review forums claims to get quite good gaming performance by overclocking the Atom to 2.1 GHz, so the CPU seems to be the bottleneck.gipper - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
I have the 1000H, and I love it. However, we really need 1280x800 screens in 12" sizes. Several corporate apps like the Citrix client all but requires 1024x768 minimum resolution to run without problems.I want the 1000H in a 12" size, NOTHING changed (except maybe and even larger battery than the already ridiculously good battery it has) except for the screen. That is the perfect notebook.
strikeback03 - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
The table says 2x2048MB, but the test says 1GB.I was not aware that LED backlights contained Mercury, is there a version of the computer that uses a conventional backlight for that sticker to be on there?
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
ASUS told me that the sticker was only on early hardware and that it's just a mistake. Good eye - I forgot to mention this, but ASUS specifically told me about the sticker when I asked if it was really an LED-lit LCD. :)JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Oh, and the 2x2048MB was a missed copy/paste (or reuse of a table). It's fixed now.