Asus N10Jc

A netbook with pep

THE ASUS N10JC NETBOOK suffers from an identity a isis. Even Asus stumbled when categorizing it, first calling it an ultraportable and then a netbook. Now that we've had a chance to review it, we understand the conundrum. But its unclear identity doesn't make it a bad choice.

At the crux of the confusion are two key attributes: its discrete graphics, which can handle HD video and visually intensive applications (just not 3D games); and its $649 price, which makes it among the more expensive netbooks on the market and puts it in direct competition with larger and more powerful budget notebooks. As a netbook—and by definition, a secondary, low-cost, highly portable PC—the N10JC seemingly comes up short. But as a budget utraportable (an oxymotonic term in itself), it offers something unique: a highly portable PC with discrete graphics at an affordable price.

The glossy champagne-and-black color scheme is sharp yet subdued. At 3.1 pounds. the N10Jc is light enough, but its 1.25-to-1.5-inch thickness is similar to that of a full-size notebook. On the plus side, so is the selection of ports: three USB, mincrophone, S/PDIF-enabled headphone, LAN, VGA, and HDMI. It even has a 34mm ExpressCard slot and an 8-in-1 memory-card reader.

The 10.2-inch wide-screen display delivers a bright, crisp image. The panel's resolution is 1,024x600, which means you'll often need to scroll vertically. The most welcome ergonomic feature of the N10Jc is its keyboard: Just slightly undersized, it is much easier to type on than those of most netbooks we've tried. The right-hand Shift key is small, but at least it's in the right place.

The 1.6GI lz Intel Atom N270 with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive (but no solid-state drive option), and Windows XP Home Edition are all standard netbook fare, as is the lack of an optical drive. 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth wireless capabilities, a fingerprint reader, and a 1.3Megapixel Webcam are also
onboard.

The N10Jc is the only netbook to offer not just discrete graphics but switchable graphics. You'll find Intel's 945 chipset as well as an Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS GPU with 256MB of VRAM. A toggle on the side of the N10Jc lets you decide whether to use the Intel graphics to save battery life or the Nvidia GPU for enhanced graphics performance. How enhanced? We ran Futuremark's 3DMark06 using the Intel graphics, and the N10Jc scored an abysmal 90. Switching on the Nvidia chip (which requites a reboot) gave us a score of 1.575, which is good enough to handle moderate 3D tasks. That score destroys not just every other netbook score, but it outperforms all the budget 15.4-inch systems as well.

By other performance measures, the low-power Atom processor shows its limitations. We couldn't get PCMark05 to run, and our media-encoding tests were sluggish. The N10Jc needed 24 minutes to complete our Windows Media Encoder 9 trial and 24 minutes and 25 seconds for out Mines conversion test—long for most notebooks but not for netbooks. It managed above-average scores of 134 on Cinebench 9.5 and 774 on Cinebench 10.Those numbers aren't too fat off from HP's Mini 1000, which earned scotes of 27 minutes and 8 seconds rot the WME test, 19 minutes and 24 seconds for mines, and 135 and 835 on Cinebench 9.5 and 10, respectively. Unfortunately lot Asus, the Milli 1000 costs $100 less and has an even better keyboard.

Of course, a netbook like the N10Jc is not intended as a workhorse but as a communicator. We were able to surf the Web via Wi-Fi, listen to streaming Internet radio, and open multiple Internet Explorer sessions without much trouble. Battery life while surfing and performing other chores was around 3 hours while using the Nvidia graphics, and it was 3 hours and 10 minutes with integrated graphics, which is good.

In addition to Windows XP, Asus includes its Express Gate preboot environment. Express Gate lets you access the Splashtop Browser, basic music and photo managers for accessing files on the hard drive and attached USB devices, the Pidgin IM applet, and the Skype VoIP utility without booting into Windows.

Asus backs the N10Jc with its standard two-year global warranty, which includes 24-hour toll-free tech support and free overnight shipping There's even a one-year accidental damage warranty that covers drops, fire, spills, and power surges.

If all you need is e-mail and Web access while you're out and about, one of the less-expensive netbooks on the market should suffice. But if you want all the portability and some of the graphics power of an ultratable notebook without the $2,000 price tag, Asus's NIOJc is the way to go. —Jamie Bsales



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Computer Shopper January 2009