Welcome to the third and final part of my series on buying a netbook! Be sure to read the first part of Netbooks 101 “Let’s Get Technical–What is a Netbook?“ (full of technical stuff that may or may not be accurate) and the second part, “Shopping For a Netbook–What Kind Should I Buy?”
I love to decorate, whether it’s my room, my car, my dog—my motto is, “Let’s accessorize!” I’ve been known to put an outfit together around a single headband or scarf or pair of shoes. I am a serious accessorizer.
I did what any rational person would do—I started looking for a skin I could stick on the front of my netbook to give it extra flair. I really wanted to get a decal of a tree or a bird or maybe a bird in a tree, but alas, I could only find skins that would completely cover the front shell of my netbook. It was Sarah who discovered a skin of Van Gogh’s Starry Night—one of my favorite paintings by my favorite painter. I love you, Van Gogh, but I’m looking for a tree. After going through tons and tons of skins on DecalGirl.com, I came back to Starry Night, and said to myself, “Self, if you’re going to put a skin that defines you, why not Starry Night? You love Van Gogh. You love Starry Night. And you might attract Van Gogh-loving guys out in public—cute, artsy guys.” It was then I realized my little machine could be more than a tool to get me out of my hermit writing ways; I could attract interesting people, too, specifically artsy guys. I also wondered if I should smack an “I love Jesus” sticker on my netbook to attract guys who love Jesus, but decided that would be tacky. To go with the whole Starry Night theme, I would definitely have to purchase a cool blue netbook because color coordination is everything.
Next on my list of necessary accessories was a sleeve. I checked out Amazon.com and found monochromatic bores and overpriced “fancy” sleeves appropriate for middle schoolers. I found an ugly gray sleeve with a nifty yellow design, but gray and yellow? Really? Not for my fabulous netbook! Finally on Walmart.com, I discovered a dahlia [purple) Belkin Neoprene Sleeve (with a zipper) for a mere $10.88 with shipping under a dollar. Cha-ching!
With my netbook properly accessorized, I was ready to go. Well, sort of. I mean, I did have to wait for everything to arrive by mail. Did I mention I bought everything online? (Note to self:: write about how to buy stuff online without getting ripped off.)
I am pleased to inform you that I’ve been the proud owner of Dahlia (yes, I named my netbook…as if you don’t name random electronics in your house) for almost a month now and she works wonderfully. Not only that, but she’s stylish, too. As you can see from the picture I store my netbook in a small, messenger-style purse. I do this for two reasons–I found the purse in the back of my closet and it doesn’t scream, “Steal me! I contain a highly stylish netbook named Dahlia!” Perhaps in the future, I’ll buy Dahlia the netbook a more stylish sack…but only if it’s on sale (or if I buy this).
She is Beloved 
The components of the Samsung NC10 are more or less standard with other netbooks, this model performs well when it comes to running applications and multi-tasking. While the speakers are still as tiny as ever, the six-cell battery lasts close to 5 hours on a video drain test. This means that if you’re using the netbook for other less taxing tasks like office apps or surfing the Internet you should be able to get even better performance from a single charge
Yeah, I’m not too impressed with the speakers…but you can’t have it all!