ASUS N10JC: the Netbook Goes Corporate
by Jarred Walton on December 24, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Physical Overview
We've talked a lot about what the N10JC includes, but appearance also matters. We think the N10JC looks better than most other netbooks, which goes with the corporate target market, although it's still made out of a hard plastic so it's not going to impress as much as something like the new MacBooks.
The top of the laptop is chiefly a champagne/silver colored glossy plastic, as is the palm rest. The keyboard, LCD border, and bottom of the chassis are all black, with glossy surfacing on the LCD bezel and a matte finish elsewhere. Silver trim on the touchpad and quick access panel above the keyboard contribute to an overall attractive appearance.
Getting at the internals is pretty simple, and there's not a whole lot in there to mess with. A single large access panel covers a large section of the bottom of the laptop, and removing it allows you to upgrade memory or the hard drive if the need arises. The single mini PCI slot is also accessible, should you desire to upgrade the WiFi to 802.11n (other N10J models ship with 802.11n if you're interested). Upgrading the CPU or GPU generally isn't possible on netbooks, and even accessing the CPU requires you to fully dismantle the laptop chassis; we didn't do that, as there's nothing faster than the N270 supported right now.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
45 Comments
View All Comments
Penti - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
As I said before you wrote your post is that Vista Business includes downgrade rights (without volume license so small businesses can use it too even if they don't want to purchase SA via some license agreement).So there is a Asus N10 laptop for corporate use that has Vista business on it, the N10J-A2 I mentioned. A business version of the same netbook. So it has nothing to do with restriction but rather that this is a consumer variant / version of the somewhat business-oriented N10-series. It can have XP Pro preinstalled it's just that you need a VB license COA. And that it costs about 100 dollars more then XP Home for low end netbooks. It's cheaper then to get a retail (FPP) copy of XP Pro or Vista though. That would cost more then most netbooks. XP H can't be included in volume licenses.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
ASUS is the one stating it's a "corporate" netbook, and outside of XP Home instead of Pro I think it succeeds well enough. It's not a corporate *laptop* by any means, but it can do what many traveling people would do. I went on a trip a week ago and used this laptop on the road; it was great to work in the airport for two hours (delayed flight) and then catch a two hour plane ride and still end up with nearly 50% battery remaining.MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
I use my Eee 701 for "business" all the time, and I use Ubuntu + Open Office. Basically, I need it for viewing excel spreadsheets and hitting the internet in a pinch. It works well enough, and any critical documents stay on a thumb drive for easy moving about. I find there's no substitute for a full PC-interface when it comes to some things, and this Eee has served me well. In fact, I just read this entire article and posted this comment on my 701. Thanks, Anandtech, for a low-res-friendly website!skaaman - Sunday, December 28, 2008 - link
I think the point to be made here is that XP Home can't connect to a domain and therefore isn't an option in a corporate environment or small business environments. As was noted Vista business includes downgrade rights to XP Pro and therefore would fit the bill.Penti - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Well it's still a consumer netbook and not a "corporate netbook" if it hasn't VB (the only way to run XP Pro at home today apart from in the business). It's still the same hardware as their corporate version though, just that it has 1GB and 160GB instead of 2GB of ram and 320GB drive. You can't connect to a corporate network without at least XP Pro. Of course it lacks security features such as TPM/Bitlocker too. But truecrypt is always an alternative. Of course lacking built in 3G modem is also a downside on business stuff. I wouldn't buy one without, using it as a terminal would be what it's used for and useful for. You don't need more performance to run RDP / Citrix.