I finally got my hands on a beautiful new Samsung NC10 netbook computer on Friday.

This little 10.2″ netbook has been receiving rave reviews from technoligists and laptop experts alike. And it’s not difficult to see why. The netbook has a very elegant looking design, the display is impressive for its size, and the NC10 can run for upto 8 hours continuous use on a single battery charge. The latter is unheard of on a netbook priced below $500.00 until now.

The NC10 ships with 1gb RAM, 160gb hard drive and Windows XP.  I already sourced a 2gb memory upgrade from a local store while waiting for this machine to arrive through customs. But it seems unnecessary. The system runs fine on just a gigabyte. So well in fact that I haven’t bothered to install the memory upgrade yet.

The NC10 also boasts 802.11bg wireless, ethernet, integrated webcam, bluetooth, 3x USB slots,  3 in 1 Card Reader (SD, SDHC, MMC). The track pad is definitely a little on the small side. But the sacrifice is worth it in return for a full-sized keyboard - a keyboard that just happens to be the best I have ever seen or used on any laptop.

I’m someone who loves larger high-resolution displays so it’s a struggle for me trying to make do with the 1024×600 resolution you get on these small netbooks. But it’s more than adequate as a basic web browsing/word processing/emailing machine.

Windows XP chugs along just fine on the Intel Atom N270 processor. Watching video on Youtube and BBC iPlayer is super smooth. I have yet to get around to installing many applications. I will be especially interested to see how my Office 2007 suite runs on the system. Outlook 2007 has been a sluggish resource hog even on my 8gb Q9400 Quad Core desktop back home. So my expectations are low to say the least.

The audio from the built-in stereo speakers is easily the worst thing about the NC10. To describe the sound as a little tinny is a major understatement. Pushing play on my extensive collection of Shakira, Gustavo Cerati and Coldplay tracks all resulted in the kind of audio quality you would expect if a friend played a song back to you down the phone line. Not good.

Overall I am very happy with the NC10. I know it’s going to make a great travel companion for me on the road and in the air. It will be especially useful on those longhaul flights between Europe and South America, where trying to use a heavy 17″ desktop replacement is a complete waste of time given the lack of space (even in business class). I won’t even need the in-seat power with 8 hours battery life more than a enough juice between sleep on the longest of journeys.

If you are looking for a nice-spec netbook to take on the road with you, I would very much recommend  you consider buying the NC10.