Portable Laptop Review: ASUS N10

April 2009
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Friday, April 3rd, 2009 @ 5:54 pm | Laptop, Review

With a 10′ widescreen, this laptop is being called “ultraportable”. But is it really? With an Intel processor and 1 Gb RAM, this is certainly relatively solid for a notebook. The first thing you will see though is its design. With a combination of chrome, gold, and black it certainly looks like a classy laptop. Due to its plastic design, it is light enough to be held in one hand, even though it’s larger than most ultra-portable laptops. Unfortunately the black is glossy enough so that if you held it on one hand, you would leave your finger and handprints all over it. And I’ve heard many reports of people denting the battery with regular handling – seems like protection has been traded for a lighter weight even in an essential component. The screen you will find to be adequate for outdoor use on max brightness, but of course this should be turned down indoors for better battery life.

As for audio, the speakers are another place where quality has been sacrificed. You should definitely be using headphones with this portable laptop. With Intel’s processor, almost anything can be run, even some games. It’s respectably powerful, so you shouldn’t run into problems there unless you try to do something crazy like Half-Life 2 and Bioshock at the same time. One gig of memory however is a little lacking. You will often find yourself running out of memory, which means frequent restarts and opening and closing programs is a must. The cooling system is good though, and it only rarely gets to an uncomfortable level of heat. The hard disc also vibrates a little from time to time, but I haven’t found it to be an issue.

For an ultraportable laptop the keyboard is remarkably large. It is also very responsive, and should prove to be more than adequate. Several of my contacts however have had issues with the touchpad – many have had dead areas, which limit the functionality somewhat. I thankfully haven’t had issue with this. It also comes with a plethora of ports including a 5 in one card reader and 3 USB ports, which should be more than adequate for most usage. The battery life is also up around a max of 7 hours, which is very good for portable laptops. Unfortunately, this laptop suffers from native bloat ware. Thankfully most of it can be easily removed.

So in conclusion I have to consider this laptop a net book over an ultra-portable laptop. It’s a good choice as a portable gaming machine, is great for moving around and surfing the web. So if you’re looking for a reasonably powerful portable laptop it’s a good choice, but I think those looking for an ultra-portable laptop should shop around a little more. Remember though, its design is a little fragile so handle with great care!