You may, or may not have noticed, but Samsung quietly launched the ‘Samsung NC10+’ – the follow-up to the best-selling NC10. It features the looks and build-quality of the original NC10, with a few very important upgrades.

Here’s our rundown of the 6 biggest changes they’ve added to the NC10+:

1. Updated Processor

The Intel Atom N450 is a little faster and a little less power-hungry than the original NC10′s processor. This means you can get things done faster, and the battery lasts longer.

2. Bigger Hard Drive

The original NC10 had a 160GB hard drive. Samsung have bumped this up to a 250GB hard drive in the NC10+. (To be honest, we thought 160GB was enough, but we’re not complaining!)

3. Improved Wireless

The NC10 comes with ’802.11n’ wireless. That means a greater range, and a little bit faster (depending on the wireless network you’re connected to).

4. Windows Updated

The original Samsung NC10 used Windows XP Home. Now that Windows 7 has been around for a while, and proves extremely fast, Samsung have installed Windows 7 Starter on the Samsung NC10+. This feels just as fast as XP home did, with the wonderful added features (and quicker boot times) of Windows 7.

5. Even Lighter

If you’ve ever held a Samsung NC10, you’ll find this hard to believe. The NC10 felt ridiculously light compared to other netbooks that were around at the time. Samsung have managed to shave even more weight off. The NC10 was 1.33kg, the NC10+ is 1.24kg.

6. Longer Battery Life

Samsung’s stated battery life on the NC10+ is 13.8 hours. In real life, you’re more likely to get around 11. In other words, you can work on this thing for a whole day without plugging it in, take it on a long-haul flight without worrying, or even use it as a ‘going away for the weekend’ laptop without having to worry about carrying adapters with you.

Of all the netbooks that have come out to date, the Samsung NC10 is quite clearly the best. Samsung have built it for real mobility, not just another ‘me too’ ultraportable.

BUT – if you’re still not convinced how good this thing is, here’s a run-down of 10 reasons to buy the NC10…

1. The Battery Life

This is the obvious one. At 8 hours (realistically, you can get just under 7 hours). Check out the Samsung NC 10 Battery Life post for more details

2. The Screen

Samsung are well known as one of the best screen makers in the industry. Their panels are so good they’re used by many of their rivals (many Dell monitors use samsung panels). On top of that, the NC10 uses a 10.2″ LED panel. LED panels warm up instantly, they don’t contain mercury (more eco-friendly) and they’re less likely to get screenburn or fade.

3. The Startup Time

From hitting the on switch to having an application, you’re waiting about 30 seconds. While that’s slower than a machine with a solid-state-drive, it’s faster than any other hard drive laptop I use.

4. The Keyboard

The one big, big downside of most ultraportables/netbooks is the fiddly little keyboards. Fine if you just want to surf the web. Not fine if you want to write anything quickly. But the Samsung NC10 keybaord is nothing like this: It’s as close to a normal size as you’ll get on a machine this small (93% the size of a full-size keyboard).

5. The Storage

Some people complain that the Samsung nc10 doesn’t have a ‘solid state drive’ (like a camera memory card – no moving parts so you can’t break it). But I want something with enough space to store a load of films and audio files without any hassle. The 160GB hard drive is perfect for that.

6. The Wireless

The wireless signal on the NC10 seems great and it picks up immediately. When I turn it on, by the time the web browser is loaded the wireless has already kicked in.

7. The Ports

The NC10 has 3 USB ports and a VGA-out (for plugging in an external monitor). When I’m at home, I can hook it up to a regular mouse, keyboard and printer and plug it into my 22″ monitor. No need for a desktop at all.

8. The Camera & Speakers

The camera is perfect for skype, with good quality stills and movies. Though the speakers are really tiny, they have a great sound and are surprisingly loud. That sounds like nothing, but you will want to use this thing for watching films, so the sound is important.

9. The Sound

Not the sound of the speakers – the sound of the machine itself. There is nothing worse than a noisy laptop and, you’ll be pleased to know, the NC10 is almost silent.

10. The Price!

A couple of years ago, I bought a Sony VAIO this size for six times the price. SIX! The nc10 performs better than that ever did, and at less than £350.

photo courtesy blogeee

As you can see the Samsung NC10 has 84 full-size keys. This is in contrast to some of the smaller ultraportables. The NC10 also has very nice ergonomics, and it feels like the keyboard has actually been through about rather than an after-thought.

Full-size keyboard might not sound like a big deal, but it really improves the feel of the laptop and will increase your typing speed.

The layout is quite similar to some of the Sony VAIO range (though most of those cost 3 or 4 times as much). Another nice bonus is the comfortably-sized trackpad.

As you can see, the two are virtually identical in size. The Samsung NC10 wins on screen size though: The HP has a very wide bezel, wasting a lot of space.

Also note the difference in build-quality – even from the photo you can tell the difference.

Why does it perform so well? While some manufacturers brought out ‘me too’ laptops, Samsung realised that the point of a netbook is you can take it anywhere. And anywhere doesn’t necessarily have power sockets. So they sacrificed a little weight (around 35g extra – the weight of a bag of crisps) to boost the life with a 6-cell battery.

This test graphic from LaptopMag shows just how great it is:

That’s right – at 37.5% brightness (comfortable if youre not in direct sunlight) the NC10 goes for almost 7 hours.