The Samsung NC10 is rightly lauded as one of the hottest netbooks ever. But how does it square up to its trendy, designer sibling, the Samsung N310? The NC10 is a slick piece of kit, but put it head–to–head with the N310 and making a decision about your new netbook gets mighty difficult. Let us make that call for you.
CPU
Both the Samsung M310 and Samsung NC10 pack Intel’s Atom N270 chip, running at 1.6Ghz. This is the standard chip for all netbooks, and with both running Samsung Easy SpeedUp Manager to get the most out of the CPU, it’s a tie.
Winner: Tie
Memory
The N310 and NC10 each have 1GB of DDR RAM under the hood. But the N310 can easily be bumped up to 2GB just by whipping off the hatch and adding in that lovely extra RAM. For that, the N310 just edges out the NC10 here, taking top spot.
Winner: Samsung N310
Screen size
A 10.1–inch screen is present and correct on both the Samsung N310 and NC10. And while they offer 1024×600 resolution, the N310′s ability to move over to widescreen 1024×768 thanks to the Samsung Easy Resolution Manager, plus its frameless design, make it top dog here.
Winner: Samsung N310
Why choose the Samsung N310 over the Samsung NC10 and NC120?
Size and weight
The N310 and NC10 come in at roughly the same size. Both are 30mm deep and measure 185mm wide. The NC10 is 1mm shorter across, the N310 coming in at 262mm. However, the N310 is lighter at 1.22kg compared 1.33kg. Ok, this is down to a 4 cell rather than 6 cell battery, but makes a massive difference when it’s in your man bag.
Winner: Samsung N310
Storage
The NC10 offers up 80GB, 120GB and 160GB variants, while the N310 sticks with 160GB. That means you always get the most when you buy the sleek N310 rather than the practical NC10. However, we do like options, so the NC10 has to win out when it comes to storage.
Winner: Samsung NC10
Extra features
Extras is where the Samsung N310 really wins out. The isolated keys are only normally found on high end machines, so typing is much easier on the N310. The anti–bacertial coating makes it nice and clean, plus it looks the business thanks to design by Naoto Fukasawa.
Overall winner: Samsung N310
