Samsung NC10’s Battery Life Over 7 Hours, But at Low Brightness
October 30th, 2008 by Joanna Stern
Tuesday, we posted our full review of the Samsung NC10. We were the first publication to do a full review of the Samsung netbook and some of the findings came as a shock to readers, especially our claim that we got 7 and a half hours of battery life.
We were surprised as well, because the best battery life we’ve seen from a netbook has been the 5:13 of endurance we got on the 6-cell MSI Wind U100. So we decided to investigate and re-run our test. What we found is that yes, the system can get over 7 hours of battery life, but not at 50% brightness.
How We Test Battery Life
At LAPTOP we have created our own battery test. The script, which was written by Online Editorial Director Avram Piltch, visits the home pages of 60 popular Web sites on a cycle in Firefox Portable while connected to a Wi-Fi network. The browser launches, loads a page, pauses for 30 seconds, then closes, waits 3 seconds, and re-opens again with the next page on the list. This runs on a cycle until the power on the system is totally drained. In the background a log keeps track of all the sites visited and the time as well as the total duration of the test - from start to finish. We plan to make our test available for download on our site soon, but we are awaiting permission to distribute some of the freeware elements we use, like the browser itself.
We put all the laptops on the same power settings - whether they run Windows XP or Vista. The laptops are put in Power Saver mode and we disable sleep, screen savers, hibernation, and Windows update. Usually the screen is set to 40 percent brightness, though in Windows XP you can’t always set an exact percentage of brightness so we go by the number of green bars that appear and try to set that at the fourth out of ten (if there are ten).
What Went Wrong in Our First Test
On the NC10, there were only 8 bars, so we set our screen brightness to four bars, which is 50%. Unfortunately, what we found out later is that the Samsung Battery Manager, which we couldn’t understand, because the UI is in Korean, overrode the settings in the XP Power Manager and dimmed the screen to only one bar after 30 seconds of inactivity on the keyboard and touchpad. So, when got 7:34 of endurance, the screen was running at a mere one bar, which is about 12.5% brightness.
Further Testing of the NC10 Battery Life
We have since rerun the test three times with the Samsung Battery Manager uninstalled. We ran the test twice at 50-percent brightness and got times of 6:34 and 6:30. We also ran it once at full, 100-percent brightness and got a time of 4:38. We plan to run the test again at three brightness bars to see whether either of these brightnesses will produce a result over 7 hours. We suspect that they will, as the screen’s backlight is one of the most power-hungry devices in any notebook.
Knowing that 7 and a half hours is within reach, the real question is “how dark does the screen look at one bar of brightness?” And our answer is: fairly dark, but readable. We think two or three bars (25 or 37.5 percent) is a much better brightness so we’re eager to test with those settings.
We also can’t figure out how to disable the bluetooth radio (or tell if it is enabled), because that too might be eating up some power, even though we aren’t connected to any bluetooth devices.
Some of us here consider ourselves netbook connoisseurs. This is why we have no problem saying that the Samsung NC10 is our netbook of choice right now. Beyond its stellar keyboard and smooth performance, it can provide 6 and a half hours (7 and a half if you can work with a dim screen) of battery life you want in a mobile experience. Stay tuned for the results of our tests at other brightness settings.
Update: At 3 bars of brightness (37.5 percent), the NC10 got 6:52 in our battery test. Subjectively, we feel this is probably the best balance of brightness and battery life. However, we are recharging it and planning to run the test again at 2 bars.
Update 2: At 2 bars of brightness (25 percent), the NC10 got 7:07.
Our Related Content
- Black NC10 May Be Available in U.S. Soon
- Samsung Rumored to Release NC20: 12-Inch Notebook with VIA Nano CPU
- Hackintosh-Ready Netbooks Listed, Cataloged
From Other Sites
- CES Gadget Gear - HP Mini 1000 Netbook (GottaBeMobile)
- First look at Vodafone's Samsung NC10 with 3G (Liliputing)
- Samsung Prepping a New Netbook for 2009 (GottaBeMobile)
Related Deals
- New Release - Sony P Series Intel 1.33GHz 8in Miniature Laptop (1.4lbs, 1600x720 Resolution!) $899.99 at Sony Style
- Toshiba Satellite A355-S6925 Core 2 Duo 2GHz 16in Laptop (4GB/320GB) $649.99 Free Ship at Newegg
- Belkin F8N050-RL 15.4in Laptop Messenger Bag (Chocolate/Tourmaline) $19.99 w/ Coupon at Newegg
- Dell Vostro 1510 Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz 15.4in Laptop (3GB/250GB) $499 Free Shipping at Dell Small Business
- Acer Extensa EX5630-4928 Intel Dual-Core 2.16GHz 15.4in Laptop (3GB/250GB) $499.99 w/ Coupon at Newegg
October 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Good job Joanna !!!
Thank you very much for these tests ! I will wait the other tests. Have fun with your new netbook of choice !!!
Best regards
October 30th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I’ve looked and looked but haven’t found any concrete release date for the NC-10. Obviously many online stores have pre-orders available, but none seem to know exactly when the product will shop. Any ideas?
October 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
CDW told me they are expecting to receive them on 11-9 and will ship out pre-orders same day.
Is there a slot for a SIM card under the battery ?
October 30th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Like Drew …
In france you can find it in some shop but not in all shops. Its seems it will be release de 04/11 in France…
October 30th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I confirm: sold in Pari for 375 € and also on some website for 399€, expected for the 4 novembre!
October 30th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
i would also like to know if there is a SIM card slot. i’m pretty sure i saw one from the pictures posted at liliputing dot com.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
the NC10 is available since 27/10 for 379€ here in Germany and Sascha from eeepcnews made a few very good live streams about this device.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Joanna, finally i can confirm your battery test, even though i got around 6:45h on 50% brightness.
I think the reason might be the different response time of the websites from my location, so it just takes a little bit longer to finally open the website and until FF finally draws some more cpu load when the website is fully loaded. Anyways, these results are pretty close to each other, so all i can say again… Good job anjd say hello to Avram. His little script is setting a new standard for my netbook battery tests.
It just makes perfect sense.
Cheers
Sascha
October 30th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
You did a really good job
& you show very “professionnal” by accepting errors and take this opportunity to analyze, understand & publish it.
I really appreciate & wait for your new bunch of results regarding autonomy / battery life with brightness impact & double check,
hopefully before the end of this week because week-end will be key for me to decide between nc10 & wind (my initial choice just before the nc10 show-up)
Between netbooks with similar features, mobility is a key criteria driven by battery life
Best regards from France
October 30th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Oh, by the way, what is battery power you got with the nc10 6 cells: 5200mAh ?
and what power regarding the Wind 6 cells you tested & compare ?
I ask the question because it sounds that the Wind in the USA has the 6 cells battery of 4900mAh or 5200mAh, where in France it is only 4400mAh
then i need to know in order to compare Apples by Apples
(and make some calculations to estimate battery life if powers differ from the ones you tested)
Thanks, Bernard
October 31st, 2008 at 6:49 pm
WHAT!?!?! YOU GUYS CAN’T READ KOREAN? WHAT KIND OF REVIEWERS ARE YOU?!?!?!?!
Kidding. Nice job.
November 1st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Just bought the Samsung -in Germany- for my son. Paid 399.-€ I will test the battery and will also try to run it on Ubuntu and see what that will do for the battery.
best regards,
Dirk
November 1st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Original review says:
(Our review unit’s Korean keyboard was lacking a backslash/pipe key; in its place was a Korean character. We will update this review when we receive our American review unit.)
Actually, that key IS the [ | \ ] key, only the symbol written on it is different. It produces the same keyboard code. But when the system locale is set to “Korean”, the backslash is displayed as the Korean currency sign (won, ₩). But that symbol can still perform the function of a path separator in Windows, just like a backslash. It’s because in (non-Unicode) Korean character maps, the character at location 0×5C looks like a ₩. (In Unicode, there’s a dedicated ₩ character code that is different from \.) Software that uses \ for special purposes doesn’t care about the different image.
If you change the system locale (Control panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Advanced -> “Language for non-Unicode programs”) to English, those ₩ characters will suddenly turn into backslashes.
I found out because something similar happens with the ¥ sign and I experienced that before. If Windows XP’s “Language for non-Unicode programs” is set to Japanese, backslashes will be displayed as Yen signs (¥).
If that setting is not Korean (Japanese), some Korean (Japanese) programs may display random-looking characters instead of their native Korean (Japanese).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%82%A9
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backslash
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Hi Johanna,
For the Bluetooth device…
From what I know (but I might be wrong), if you go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager
and desactivate the Bluetooth device, it is supposed (again correct me if I’m wrongà) to cut the power from this device, and let an IRQ available…
November 5th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Great post. thanks a lot.
November 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Joanna,
your post, your in-depth test of battery life, and lastly the final update with 37% & 25% backlight decided me to buy the nc10.
it’s now done because I had the chance to have shop who just received some white ones and they agreed to book one for me waiting for the whole battery life test be done (no other test exists but yours).
continue to gather information, testing & tuning for this machine, we all benefit from your experience.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Still no word on release date for the US? can’t wait to get one.
And somebody knows if it will be released in black?
November 8th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Hi,
This question is for the same netbook (i.e. Samsung NC10) but for the different thread. Regarding your post “Add RAM to the Samsung NC10″. It is nice to know that we can upgrade the memory to 2gb. I am going to purchase 2gb memory. The steps are very easy and nicely explained with photos & video. But it does not say which memory should we be buying. I am planning to purchase “SAMSUNG 2GB DDR2 667MHZ PC2 5300 5400 2 GB SODIMM CL 5″ for SAMSUNG NC10 however I am not too sure if this memory will work. So, if anybody or the person who posted ‘ADD RAM TO THE SAMSUNG NC10″ can throw some light on this, it would be highly appreciated.
Thanks
November 8th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Yes, 2GB of DDR2 PC2 5300 is what we used in the tutorial.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Joane,
Thank you very much for testing the Samsung NC10. While doing my search on Samsung’s site, I found that there are two different NC10s: The NC10-14GW and the NC10-14GB. What is the difference and which model did you test? I’ve gone over the specs on Samsung’s website of both machines, but quite honestly I’m not super tech-literate to understand the difference. Can you give readers a bottom line up front description of the difference between the two models?
All the best,
Johnny
November 9th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
The 14GW is white and the 14GB is blue. That is the only difference.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Joane & Admin,
Thanks for the quick response. One other question, when you tested the Asus EEE PC 1000H you mentioned that it had a DVD capable hard-drive. Does the Samsung NC10 have the same feature?
November 11th, 2008 at 10:58 am
For those wondering about US availability, I left a question on the US Samsung web site and got the following response.
Fuel Science
============
Thank you for contacting Samsung Electronics. We appreciate your interest in our newly released line of Notebook PC’s.
I do apologize for the delay on the release of the NC10. We are expecting them to be in stock online by next week. Those who have pre-ordered the NC10 will be the first to recieve them, so you should have it by Thanksgiving ( but that depends on how it is being shipped to your location). Thank you for purchasing the NC10. Have a great day.
Sincerely,
Matt
Samsung Electronics of America
November 11th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Hi everyone!
I’m glad I have found this great site where you may find practically all reviews I wanted to see. I was greatly surprised of the battery life test that you have done… And I can’t keep from waiting to buy one in Russia… As we are sick and tired of those Asus Eee PC. To my mind I would only have a chance of buying this notebook only in January or may be at the end of December… ))) Will see what we shall see!
Best regards
DiMonD
November 13th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Anyone looking for a Netbook with buildin 3G support; it is comming! The 3G/HSUPA version of the NC10 will be available in The Netherlands in February.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I don’t see any black models for sale in the united states. is there a timetable for this? also, is no 3g capability a deal breaker or is it easy to add?
November 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Regarding the NC-10 memory:
Samsung website reports NC-10 memory specs as 1GB 800Mhz DDR2.
LaptopMag memory upgrade lists using a 2GB PC2-5300 SODIMM 667Mhz module.
If it’s really 800Mhz, then I should order a 2GB PC2-6400 SODIMM 800Mhz module, right?
So anyone know for sure? Anyone care to ask Samsung?
Price is about the same, but memory usually can’t be returned.
And a weight saving idea:
Has anyone with an NC-10 tried buying an adapter that plugs into the power brick and allows you to do away with the 3-pronged power cord to save space and weight? What type of plug goes into the power brick? If it is a C-5 like the MSI Wind, then…
Some MSI Wind users are using (for $3):
http://www.stayonline.com/detail.aspx?ID=11068
Or choose a 1 ft long version for less than $2:
http://tinyurl.com/6fdgoj or
http://tinyurl.com/6lumwe or
http://tinyurl.com/5a2jdc
(cyberguys.com Item#: 121 2596)
November 17th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Any more updates on the US RELEASE DATE? I pre-ordered through Amazon.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
@Kurt
The maximum DDR speed supported by the chipset is 533Mhz (http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/945gse/index.htm). I guess you can throw in a 667/800Mhz module, but it won’t run faster than 533Mhz.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:03 am
Amazon.com now has the NC-10 in stock in blue according to their website.
White was $20ish less than blue until today, now they are $3 apart.
Newegg.com still has white at the reduced price.
No word on the black ones in the US…yet.
December 11th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Thank you for your amazing and detailed test that I am going to buy a NC10.
As your test mentioned that brightness is so important of its battery life, but there is some different cases with the brightness. I have held another test with Battery Eater with its Classic mode, and found that 37.5% brightness can endure 4:46 but 80% brightness is 4:42. The effect of the brightness has been eliminated by higher workload.
On the other hand, workload may be one of the most important factor of a netbook’s battery life — even netbook is mostly designed for web-surfing because I have test NC10 with a idle Safari and lasting for amazing 8:01. Thus, I have written a web page (http://www.derhbf.com/test1.htm) for testing NC10’s web-surfing — because flash-based web need much more CPU usage to handle, and my website is formed by 1 flash video, 1 flash 3-D animation and 2 blank pages, each page will be redirect to another page after 3 min that kept NC10’s CPU usage higher and Speedstep kept its clock on 1.6 GHZ in most of the surfing process.
Finally, the result is as long as your testes (6:46), but when I changed the setting to Speed Mode (Max CPU) with 37.5 brightness, it still last for 6:12! Actually, we are seldom surfing on the web in these kind of flash all the day, so it is reasonable to say that NC10 may endure almost 7 hours for web-surfing in CPU ma — Yes, I think web-surfing time is also significant for Netbooks.
If you need the detailed test data, please vist:
http://www.umpcfever.com/news/?postid=1623