Hands-on with the Asus N10 gaming netbook
Review by Julian Prokaza on Fri 26 September 2008
We posted a short piece about Asus’ new N-Series laptops yesterday, along with a short video showing the N20 Centrino 2 model. To recap, this is a low-cost range of four models (at the moment) produced by Asus’ laptop division – a totally separate division to the team that produces the Eee PC.
Today we have the base model in the N-Series – the N10. This uses an Intel Atom N270 processor rather than a Core 2 Duo, which means it’s really a netbook rather than a laptop. However, the design is very much along the lines of Asus’ other (and much more expensive) ultra-portables and like the N20, it’s rather stylish.
More impressive is its specification, particularly the graphics chip. In addition to the same so-so Intel 945 graphics found on other netbooks, the N10 also has a discrete nVidia GeForce 9300M graphics chipset – enabled with the flick of a switch (and a reboot). The result? The N10 is the first netbook we’ve seen that’s capable of playing 3D games at reasonable resolutions and frame rates.
As you can see in the video, the N10 is larger than both the Eee PC 901 and Eee PC 1000, but it’s still very much an ultra-portable. The keyboard is much more in line with what you’d expect to find on a traditional laptop, although the keys lack a little too much travel for our taste.
It has the usual selection of ports, along with a couple of firsts for a netbook – HDMI and ExpressCard/34. The former obviously complements the nVidia GeForce 9300M graphics chip, although our very early tests indicate that while the N10 can cope with 480p HD video with ease, it struggles a little with 720p. We’ll report back on this in our full review, next week.
The rest of the N10’s specification is equally impressive, though we did look at the top-end model with a 320Gb SATA drive, 802.11a/b/g/n and 2Gb of DDR2 RAM. It also comes with an external USB-powered DVD-writer, though this tray-loader is rather too bulky to carry around all day.
The 10.2in, 1024 x 600 screen is perhaps a little disappointing – not for its clarity (far from it, though it has a glossy coating), but rather for its size and resolution. There’s room in the lid for a larger display and although the N10’s screen doesn’t look quite so mismatched as that on the original Eee PC 4G, its thick bezel is a little incongruous.
Of course a larger, higher-resolution screen will adversely affect battery life, which may have been a consideration for Asus given that the N10 ships with a three-cell battery as standard. but this model will at least ship with a six-cell battery. We can't test battery life yet, though – we're still waiting for a battery from Asus.
When flipped into high-performance graphics mode, the N10 runs surprisingly well. The 1.6GHz N270 processor is hardly a powerhouse, but the GeForce 9300M chipset is still capable of running Call of Duty 4 at the screen’s native 1024 x 600 resolution. We had to drop anti-aliasing down to 2x to keep the frame-rate up, but the game runs very smoothly otherwise. The video shows this in much more detail, but you’ll see that the N10 really is the first netbook that’s suitable for serious gaming.
As mentioned earlier, the N10 feels much more like a traditional ultra-portable than a netbook with the odd cut corner, but this is perhaps no surprise given its laptop (rather than netbook) heritage.
We’re still waiting for confirmation of a UK price, but you can expect it to be on the high side for a netbook. N10 pre-orders in the US are around the $600 mark, which is about the same as the Eee PC 1000. It will also be interesting to see how the N10 stacks up against the Eee PC S101 – Asus’ forthcoming high-end, low-cost ultraportable (if that makes sense...).
We’ll publish a full review of the Asus N10 netbook next week – hope you enjoy the video.
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I am still waiting for 1280x1024 and long(!) battery life.
Thats 4:3 resolution...4:3 is dead. Look for a widescreen taht fits your needs.
I purchased the Eee 1000 H and I am very happy with the machine. It is much nicer than the original 700 model. The battery life and Atom CPU are excellent features. I use it all day without having worry about recharging. I threw on Netbook Remix Ubuntu and it works nicely. It is hard to imagine so much computer for the price.
Is this really the first gaming notebook you've ever seen?The 9300 is a relatively weak GPU, and there have been a number of manufacturers around that have specialized in providing gaming computers, including notebooks.Alienware, which has been around for several years, offers mobile 8800s in SLI in their notebooks. That thing would run circles around the Asus N10.
Alienware, rather. Sorry for taking up a second comment.
[quote=D4RK3 54B3R]Is this really the first gaming notebook you've ever seen?The 9300 is a relatively weak GPU, and there have been a number of manufacturers around that have specialized in providing gaming computers, including notebooks.Alienware, which has been around for several years, offers mobile 8800s in SLI in their notebooks. That thing would run circles around the Asus N10.[/quote]Read more carefully, it's the first gaming NETbook, not notebook.
[quote=D4RK3 54B3R}Alienware, which has been around for several years, offers mobile 8800s in SLI in their notebooks. That thing would run circles around the Asus N10.[/quote]First its not a notebook its a NETbook.Second Alienware has been around since about 1999 not several years.Third the Alienware is a NOTEbook not a NETbookJust in case you didn't know Dell owns Alienware.Get your facts straight before you post dark saber
So I'm somewhat confused, will the N10 come with a 3-cell or a 6-cell battery? All the info I've seen on previews and order pages up to this point have implied that it will include a 6-cell battery, but this review states that it will ship with a 3-cell. Is this confirmed? Any info is much appreciated.
[quote=B4K3DbEaN]Second Alienware has been around since about 1999 not several years.[/quote]Several years would encompass around 2 years. Alienware has been around for several years, as you point out, since 1999. Which is [u][b]9[/b][/u] years.Get your facts straight before you post B4K3DbEaN.:P
Alienware buy their notebooks from clevo.get your 'get your facts straight' facts straight!
several is 3 to 5, 2 years is a couple, 9 years is 9 years. Alienware are still overpriced and underperforming, get a dell XPS instead, still crap but at least not quite as much of a rip off.
1024x768 is [b]4:3[/b]. 1280x1024 is 5:4. Either you mistakenly thought his response was to the first post, or you can't do math.
Asus has confirmed that the N10 will ship with a [b]6-cell battery[/b], at least in the UK. Not sure about the US...
In my opinion, if you're looking to do some gaming, build yourself a nice desktop. Why pay upwards of $5k for things you can get for under $3k?
It's not designed to be a desktop replacement in the slightest, it's designed to be ultra-portable - and it is. You wont get more gaming goodness packed into something that size and that's why it's significant.Try carrying your desktop, or even your gaming laptop, onto the train.
Afraid I can't get excited about any computer running Windows anything in the the [i]netbook[/i] category, the insatiable desire to call home and let Microsoft change my software is simply not compatible with convenient use. I'm sure they could have released a Linux version, far cheaper and secure. Not only don't I trust MSFT to diddle my computer, I really don't trust the security to prevent someone [i]else[/i] from doing so by pretending to be MSFT.
Considering the subject of the original post was "1280x1024", anonymous replied properly.
Ahh, that's good to hear. Hopefully the US will get the 6-cell as well. Thanks!
For next week's review, I would really like to see:1. AA completely disabled on any game tests (considering this level of hardware)2. specification as to WHAT kind of HD content is being playing in regards to bitrate, codec, etc.3. measurement of heat while using the discrete GPU.It also doesn't hurt to catch errors like mentioning the screen is two different resolutions ;)
so when does the dual core model come out?and yes the atom cpu comes in dual core.
[quote=B4K3DbEaN]First its not a notebook its a NETbook.Second Alienware has been around since about 1999 not several years.Just in case you didn't know Dell owns Alienware.Get your facts straight before you post dark saber[/quote]I'm sorry sir, but I believe you sound like a moron.Several usually implies more than a couple at least, which is two if I'm not mistaken.1999 was 9 years ago, which counts as several... Unless of course, you posted this in year 2001? But I highly doubt that.And second off, in your normal stead, Dell hasn't always owned Alienware. Maybe that will fall under your category of not 'several' years.Idiocy on the internet, I swear.
"..Alienware has been around since about 1999 not several years..."LOL... So define "several" for us... clearly 9 does not fit within your definition.LOL@the righteous commenters on here.
Very smoothly? Not by a stretch from afaik on the video, looks like it may drop downwards 5-10 fps when there happens something? Probably playable if you just want to spend some time in single player but I doubt it would be useful at all in multiplayer where you would miss so much action.But then again turn of AA (why lower resolution before AA? Unless the new GPUs does AA in a way which don't affect the rest of the rendering) and some graphical effects and it may be playable. I'd take more fps over higher picture quality.
Well, the terms "several" and "couple" are completely subjective. There's no definite quantity for either one other than "being more than 2".
Most games don't actually render 5:4 differently than 4:3, they just stretch the pixels. It's actually running the game at 1280x960. That said, the OP was saying that 16:10 was the new resolution ratio, and that much really is true.
Since the actual resolution quoted in the article is 1024x600 it is closer to 16:9 or 5:3, depending on how exact you want to be
okay well first alienwares garbage, but that doesn't have anything to do with the n10, which is a netbook. and also, multiplayer mode wouldn't make much difference in the 3D rendering... and Dells garbage too... and to whoever said why dump 5,000 dollars into "something" when you can build it yourself for 3,000.... a desktop.... okayyyy. I'm not sure you know wtf is going on. this here is a netbook, its small, its not 5,000 dollars... its not 3,000 dollars. it happens to be around 800 dollars depending on your specs. this is probably one of the b*itchiest series of comments ive ever seen. everyone chill the f*ck out and trying to out-do someone on knowledge of alienware. I could care less how old alienware is, or that another garbage company owns them.peace
That's more like SHORTscreen, if it has any height smaller than 1200, as this obviously has.Square screen: all old games look good.Yes, I hate all short screen monitors.16:9 should be used only for TVs, not computers... who watches a movie in such a tiny screen?
According to Alienware they were founded in 1996. 12 years is a little much to be considered "several years"
I checked the sizing and the new metal 13" macbook is thinner and only and inch deeper, faster, more rugged and the same price as the N20 and metal. Doh!I know what I am buying!Regards.
I checked the definition of several and that definately does not fit the definition. Check your english.
[quote=Anonymous]people cant read, he said NOT[/quote]Second what this guy said. he said they have been around since 1999 NOT i repeat NOT several years.
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