Recently had my laptop stolen and looking to replace it. I have been looking at 15" laptops but just recently seen the Samsung NC10 Netbook for only £240.
Just pondering whether I could use it as a replacement for a normal sized laptop for internet surfing, youtube videos, memory map and iplayer mainly? Just concerned the screen will be too small for daily use for a few hours and I will end up by a normal sized laptop as well. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I've had an NC10 for about a year and it'll be fine for the sort of thing you describe.

The keyboard and screen are a bit too small if you're going to be working on documents etc. regularily though, so I do still have a 14" screen laptop for work.

I've just bought a NC10.

Screen is ok for web browsing, watchin the odd video on iPlayer, but I wouldn't use it as a my primary PC/laptop.

I bought it with the intention of using as a second laptop simply as it's small/light enough to carry somewhere, say on holiday for a week or on train to work to watch a video.

£240 is a good price, I paid £259 and that was the best I could find.

I would agree with MCG. Good as travelling IT, but not full time usage. My N110 is a little slow compared to my Viao, but the barrey life of 8 hours plus is great.

Unless you are doing a lot of typing in word or data entry in Excel, then a netbook is fine. The only time I don't use my NC10 is if I have a lot of writing to do. For web and videos its great.

we have a dell inspiron mini which is our main computer at the mo as the big pc has died,
copes perfectly well with all you describe except cant confirm itunes as dont use it, but ios fine for usuing lastfm.com and similar,
i actually prefer it to a normal laptop now, normallyt set it on full screen mode as with the toolbars etc screen size does get a lil small,but overall its a great bit of kit!
we got ours as a gift on a mobile broadband deal so works out the same price as above quoted,
somof the progrmas like word are the shorter versions like wordpad instead and dont have all the functions as the main version but they are all easily useable, you can view powerpoint but not amend/change it on it, but that could all be downloaded if needs be!
all in a good bit of kit and with a 3 hour battery life, ideal for our needs.

argos have 50 quid off the acer aspire one AO751 – £250.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5081914/Trail/searchtext%3ENETBOOK.htm

It's 11" screen higher resolution than all the 9 & 10" ones and has full size laptop keys, so typing is great. It has a claimed 8hr battery life and weighs about 1.35kg I think. Boss has just bought one for a customer demo and I'm well impressed!!!

I have a 11 inch advent netbook and a 17 inch laptop. I rarely use the netbook for anything given the choice.

The keyboard is small and a pain in the arse to type on, the screen is small although the resolution is very good and I find it hard on the eyes for anything longer than half an hour or so.

I think a 15 inch laptop would be a much better bet unless you need something very portable for some reason.

the above acer was used for image analysis and we were very surprised by it's nippiness. It'll be fine with itunes and all day-to-day stuff

I have an Acer netbook with 6hr battery and a work laptop that's often at home. I find the netbook nicer for sitting on the sofa surfing as it's smaller and more easily balanced on a knee or put down on the chair arm more safely. Netbook battery life is very good.

It runs itunes and you tube OK. BBC iplayer is possible too, although I think the Atom processor is pushed to its limit – hi def video seems to fail, and maybe this is the future and you'll not be future proof.

Small screen probably isn't great for doing maps though?

Hope this helps….

have an acer aspire one with 8.9" screen and use it for most web bimbling at home and when going away, mine is solid state, so survives falling off the sofa better
F11 is your friend
still use desktop for work-like duties

They're not bad – for desk use you can plug in a bigger screen and external keyboard for better ergonomics. They're about the same performance-wise as something from 3-4 years ago but most apps haven't got much more demanding in that time. Put in 2GB of memory and it will cope fine with all that stuff.

If it's your only computer then I'd look at the 11-12" models that are around now, and there are some coming through now that sit in between the netbooks and traditional laptops for size and performance.

Mind you, if it's not going to leave your house then the size is a non-issue and there are lots of much more powerful laptops for not much more money that will do the extra stuff like HD video and editing bigger photos and generally be a bit snappier and nicer to use.

i have the samsung n110. it's lovely. cracking screen on it – very vibrant, good size keyboard, sensibly laid out. all we use at home for the netandthat. watch out for the nc10s as some of the cheaper deals come with very low battery life. if this is important then the n110 starts to look like a sensible choice ( 8 hoursish on a charge, better mouse pad, and, err, something else the reviewers said was better, but essentially the same spec as the nc10 otherwise ). the samsungs regularly win the 'best of' awards for good reason.

I recently got an Asus eee 1005ha from Comet for £240. 10 hour battery life, great for all the the above, and a nice machine to use. 10" screen is good for DVD rips on the train.

As simon_g say you can always hook up a big screen when you need to work on something at a desk.

My desktop packed in recently, so I hooked up the netbook (n110) to the 17" screen, plugged in my keyboard and mouse and carried on working as if it was a desktop.

It coped admirably.

if you have an aldis near you see if they have any cheap laptops in.

i got a medion akoya E5218 lovely solid workbook with glossy black lovliness with:

4 gb of ram, dual core t4400 processor, 320gb hd, windows 7, 15.6 hi res screen, hdmi out, wonderful sound.

and…………

3 years warranty

£299!!!

reduced from £399, so cheap i think they may have made a mistake…

just trying to find one of their quad core towers in stock somewhere now

use my girlfriends 11 inch acer aspire alot its nice to use and is perfectly adaquate for what you describe. She uses hers as an ultraportable computer as she works away from home in bnbs alot but travels by public transport – and is away for a month at a time(teacher in highlands) ! She finds it a good compromise as it has a large keyboard which allows full speed touch typing after a wee bit of practice and the screen is large enough to get a fair bit of text on with word or do powerpoint presentations. Carrying a 15 inch laptop just isnt practical – this fits in her handbag !

I have an asus eeepc 7-1 – with a 7 inch screen which is basically just for when im off touring , planes and trains & when getting my work laptop out is just not practical – its a design station and has a 19 inch screen for working on cad – weighs a tonne and is only really any use if you have a desk !

The asus is not practical for day to day surfing but is more fun to use when traveling for watching movies , surfing the net and filling in time (wormux on linux is good for wasting time) than my e71 which frankly is fine for checking your emails but not a whole lot else

tested a fair few and the 11inch seems to be the only usable for work size. I bought the asus because i wanted cheap(got it for 80 quid) , Solid state drive , small. So i can stuff it in a pannier when touring mostly and not be gutted if it broke – never intended for day to day.

I bought an acer aspire one AO751 in tesco last week for £249. Great wee machine for surfing the web, playing music, etc. Wouldn't fancy using it as my only machine as it is a wee bit slow but I think all netbooks are.

Just found this via quidco
http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/563345/samsung-nc10-219-97-or-less-deliver

some NC10s are 200-220 from laptopsdirect.co.uk – some are refurbs but there's std black doesn't seem to be:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_Netbook_NC10_Ultra_Portable_Laptop_in_Black_NP-NC10-KA02UK/version.asp

Worth checking the specs carefully, the only obvious difference between that and a more expensive black model from a quick scan may be the screen type.

£20 cashback on NC10s at the moment by the way, just got one myself.

N.B. may expire tomorrow!

http://www.currys.co.uk/store_doc/pdf/NC10_Cashback_Claim_Form.pdf

Ah the lovely NC10 with long battery life. Not mine, mine came with 3 cell not 6cell battery, the screen kept going white so went back on warrenty and now it won't charge so will be goin back again. still they are highly rated so if you get a good'un I'm sure it'll be fine.

I reckon a 13" macbook would be great for what your saying, bit pricy but nice alu body.

The Mrs has a NC10 and loves it.

Watch the mains lead where it connects to the computer though, they get flakey really easily if they're knocked about…

😀

I got my eee pc from Tescos for 110 quid. Bargain, copes fine with web browsing and office applications. Itunes is fine on it as well. At the moment i'm using it as a media centre for the telly.

I very rarely use my 17" laptop since buying a netbook just over a year ago. As far as I player goes I find I have to use the lower bandwidth version otherwise the video is a little choppy although the sound is fine. The only real reason though to get a netbook over a standard laptop is if you travel a lot. And if you do intend to use it on the move get one with a matt screen as it's much more usable when you don't have control of the ambient lighting.