ASUS N10JC: the Netbook Goes Corporate
by Jarred Walton on December 24, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Day-to-Day Use
As you might expect given the specs, the N10JC isn't going to be an ultra fast laptop. Instead, it competes in the realm of "fast enough" devices where other features take precedence. We grew quite fond of the laptop during our time with it; it doesn't weigh a lot or take up much space, making for a great portable PC. In addition, battery life is extremely good, helped in no small part by the Atom CPU. Loading web pages did take noticeably longer than on faster systems, but it wasn't so bad that we couldn't live with the small compromise. Besides, the N10JC still felt about as fast as the U7500 laptops we've tested and with a much more palatable price tag. We've liked the portability of other options from ASUS, Dell, Gateway, HP, etc. but always felt like we were spending a lot of money just for the privilege of owning a small laptop -- one that still ended up feeling sluggish in certain tasks.
All day computing is definitely a viable option with the N10JC, as we'll see in the battery tests. You might not be able to use the laptop for eight hours straight, but with periodic breaks and use of the sleep mode, getting over eight hours is possible -- just remember to leave the 9300M disabled or you'll get significantly less use without plugging in. Another interesting item is that cranking up the LCD brightness didn't dramatically affect battery life; we normally test with the LCD set to 100 nits to equalize things, but cranking the brightness up to the maximum ~280 nits still provided nearly five hours of continuous use.
The LCD is one of the really great parts about the N10JC. Too often we end up with inexpensive laptops that have clearly inferior displays. This may not be the best laptop LCD we've ever tested, but it does provide a great range of brightness while still providing good contrast and color accuracy. Even viewing angles are a bit better than many of the other TN panels we've used. The LCD is manufactured by Chuanghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), though we couldn't confirm the actual model; the display uses LED backlighting so it appears to be the CLAA102NA0ACW. Whatever the panel, the LCD can get very bright and still not use a whole lot of power. The glossy surface is about the only area we might complain about, but we found that cranking up the brightness did help to eliminate most reflections. We just wish we could get a 1280x800 LCD in there instead, as even at 1024x600 there's not a lot of real estate in Windows.
One major complaint we had with the original Eee PC was the small keyboard. Users with dainty hands and fingers probably don't mind the size, but for many people the keys were simply too cramped. The N10JC (and the Eee PC 1000) have addressed that issue by moving to a larger chassis. This still isn't a full size keyboard, but the alphanumeric keys are the proper size -- or at least close enough that we couldn't tell the difference. I ran through some online typing tests on the N10JC and my regular desktop with a Microsoft Natural keyboard just to see how much of a difference -- if any -- there would be. My first few tests on the N10JC were noticeably slower, coming in at just over 50 WPM compared to my normal 65-70 WPM. By the time I had used the N10JC for 15-20 minutes, however, the gap had shrunk to only a 5% difference. I still felt more fatigue from typing compared to the MS Natural, since 10" keyboards certainly don't qualify as ergonomic, but unless you're doing a whole lot of typing it shouldn't be a problem.
Our overall subjective impression of the N10JC is that this is what we really wanted from the first Eee PC. Oh, there are certainly users out there that prefer the smaller 7" to 9" netbooks, but we like to have just a bit more size for the display and keyboard. All of the other features we might want are also present, including a decent webcam, a great LCD, and a sufficient number of expansion ports. The inclusion of a discrete GPU that can boost graphics performance up to the level where low to medium detail settings in most titles are viable is merely an added bonus... and it also allowed us to play back some HD content that proved too much for the Atom CPU alone. The only minor complaints we can come up are the glossy LCD (we'd prefer a matte finish) with its low native resolution, and we wish it would have come with 2GB of RAM, though Windows XP with 1GB certainly isn't the end of the world.
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htwingnut - Monday, February 9, 2009 - link
N10Jc supports 2GB. I don't think the reviewer even tried it. It works just fine.netbookem - Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - link
I've been researching the N10Jc and this is an absolutely outstanding review with much better info than I've found elsewhere.The only thing it left me wondering was the N10Jc's performance when connected to an external display such as a large screen plasma or LCD TV via HDMI. Does it do video out at higher resolution than its own screen supports like at an XGA 1280x768?
If I knew that it would look good on my plasma I'd buy it right now based on this review. If I could find some place that the N10Jc is in stock that is!
Takemaru - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - link
I don't really care much for the gaming end of things(though if i could run Simcity 4 on it i'd be stoked), being able to decode x.264 is what i've really been waiting for out of a netbook, and it's large enough to actually be usable. Sure i'd love an 11" screen @ 1280x800 but you can't have it all i guess, i can always output to something larger over HDMI. ;PAnd it got editors choice @ that, Hey if Anand likes it i'm gonna go ahead and assume it's sweet regardless of the widely differing opinions. And so far i've not seen many people who have one who don't love it, I want one .....
kmmatney - Saturday, December 27, 2008 - link
It would be very nice if it could automatically switch from the 9300 to the intergrated graphics when it went on battery power (although I guess you need the 9300 to watch HD movies). The ability to switch between the 9300 and the Intel GMA graphics is pretty cool, though - first time I've heard of a feature like that.geok1ng - Friday, December 26, 2008 - link
"We just wish we could get a 1280x800 LCD in there instead, as even at 1024x600 there's not a lot of real estate in Windows."A widescreen resolution may not be the best case scenario for a NETbook: most sites are desingned for 1024x768/800x600, even so i agree that this 1024x600 is deal breaker: what i want is 1024x768 and a better integrated graphicsby ATI or NVIDIA, not a discrete crao graphics for half battery life. Until that desing goes on sale i will not surf the netbook wave.
ET - Thursday, December 25, 2008 - link
I love the discrete GPU and that it's switchable. IMO the main limitation of netbooks and subnotebooks is the graphics, and I'm glad that ASUS is trying to fix this. The price point is reasonable, especially considering that ever $2000 subnotebooks don't have this.Now all we need is a switchable sunlight reflective screen, like LG announced, and it'd be quite the perfect mini laptop.
Jiggz - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
There's very little difference compare to the HA-1000 model. Except maybe for the graphics card and fingerprint scanner it will be totally identical. For $650+ I would expect at least a Dual Core Atom processor.JarredWalton - Thursday, December 25, 2008 - link
Plus the warranty. I figure the warranty alone is at least $50 (probably $100), the GPU is another $50, fingerprint scanner is $25 or whatever. As I mention in the conclusion, the 1000HA is a very reasonable alternative, assuming you're okay with the lack of a dedicated GPU. (That rules out x264 viewing, but in my testing it appears MPEG2 and DivX 720P files play fine.) Also, I think HDMI isn't on the Eee PC -- if that's right, that's another $10~15 just for licensing fees.DILLIGAFF - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
great review and i agree with the bottom line. i wanted to add a bit of my own experience.Random question: do we all thin this is a prequal/preview of the new nvidia chipset for atom?
my experience:
i bought the n10j from a egg for about 680 for my gf, and a scorpio black 7200rpm drive.
the 10j comes with 2 gigs and vista home premium preloaded. if you would upgrade to 2g ram, with vista you might as well just buy this model for 30 more bux
the faster harddrive and additional memory mask the relatively weak cpu REALLY well
i rebuilt os on the 320 scorpio and did not reinstall most software. there is a built in "overclock" software control (also physical button) which takes the machine to 1.73ghz while it is plugged in. this is very handy and does help performance, and doesn't invalidate the warranty. I WISH YOU WOULD RUN A FEW BENCHES WITH THIS SETTING ON AND POST EM :)
with this setting on (1.73)the machine scored 1600 3dmark06 at native res which seems around 20% faster then the benches show here.
with the setting on and geforce on, i was able to play downloaded 720p content just fine with ffdshow installed thru windows media player. 1080 did stutter and i did not try the powerdvd codec.
i used newest nvidia drivers with mobility modder beta to install.
i tried lef4dead which surprisingly auto detected high shaders and medium everything else which resulted in 12fps. by setting the game to low i got 20-40 fps.
add bluetooth, wifi, digital audio out (rare), HDMI for video and audio,and this thing is just so so awesome.
it's like having a p4 3.2 with a geforce 6600gt in your pocket with 4 hour battery life
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Not sure about the overclocking utility... I don't see anything pre-installed, so all I seem to get is 1.6GHz max speed. I'll see if I can find anything on the ASUS site, but maybe that's an N10J-A2B only feature?