A closer look
Asus decks the N10J line out with a pleasing bronze, silver, and black color scheme. The bronze is a subtle shade that gives the lid a light hue, and it's a nice change of pace from the traditional black, white, or silver schemes that seem so common on modern notebooks.
That accent continues to the panel surrounding the keyboard, bridged by a silver-colored hinge and control panel above the keyboard. The bezel surrounding the screen has a glossy black sheen. As has become common among modern laptops, Asus employs blue LEDs for the power and toggle lights. The keyboard itself is a traditional black plastic, and the bottom of the shell is that same black plastic we've become accustomed to seeing on the bottoms of laptops not called Macs.
The build quality of the shell and keyboard is sturdy and largely flex-free, but an old friend of mine reared his ugly head: loose hinges. I've seen these on Asus notebooks before, and while they were absent in the G50V-A1 we reviewed recently, they seem to have made a stunning return in the N10J. Screen wobble isn't the only problem here; depending on what surface you have the unit resting on and how rough a typist you are (I'm particularly vicious), the screen can actually tilt back on its own. The screen on a solidly-built notebook or netbook will at worst wobble a little if you pick up the unit and lightly shake it, but here you can actually shake the lid all the way open. Hinges like these are inexcusable and can severely hamper even basic operation. It's such a shame Asus let this slip, because the rest of the N10J appears to be well built.
Moving on from the quality to the quantity, we see here in the presence of The Judge that the N10J series is pretty sizable by netbook standards. At 10.8 inches wide, 7.6 inches deep, and up to 1.4 inches tall, the N10Jc is a full half-inch wider and deeper than the MSI Wind and a touch larger overall than its cousin, the Eee PC 1000. At roughly the size of four DVDs stacked two-and-two, the N10Jc is fairly dainty, but it's still one of the largest netbooks on the market. Mercifully, the unit remains light, weighing only 3.5 pounds with the battery installed. While scaling a cardiac-inducing hill on the University of California, San Diego campus, I barely noticed the N10J's presence; the bag I was carrying it in seemed bulkier and heavier than the netbook inside. This was a nice change of pace from my 14.1" laptop, which makes its presence dearly known every day on the way up to class.
Flipping over the N10J reveals that the 6-cell battery juts out roughly half an inch from the back of the unit. This bulge is a non-issue that in no way affects the N10J's usability or portability, and it shouldn't be too unfamiliar to users of larger corporate laptops, especially ThinkPads. Unlike the screen, the battery is locked in securely with no wiggle to speak of.
Popping off the bottom panel reveals the system's hard drive, memory slot, and wireless card. Having all of these components—the ones typically user-upgradeable in laptops—easily accessible under the same small panel is welcome, and I particularly like having access to the Wi-Fi card. The panel itself is also very easy to remove, retained with just three screws. That said, it's a shame we don't get a view of the system's GeForce graphics chip.
