Thoughts on the Asus N10J mini-notebook

Back in September we covered Asus’s N10J, the 10-inch not-a-netbook. As you might recall, this computer runs an Atom processor and resembles a netbook in almost every way, but packs an extra punch: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS graphics. It also sells for $679, but past that it’s a netbook.Click to enlarge - full gallery belowThe system has been out for a while now, but it’s still relevant as we really haven’t seen anything come up directly against it. I spent a few weeks with it and wanted to lay down some thoughts…A quick look at the specs reveals that the N10J is more or less a pumped-up version of the Eee PC 1000H. It has a 10.2-inch display, Intel’s Atom N270 processor, b/g WiFi, 160GB of storage, 1GB RAM, and Windows XP. The higher end model (currently $799 at NewEgg) moves to a 320GB disk and 2GB RAM. Of course, the NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS graphics is the big feature.The components are not the whole picture though–the N10J has features not typically found on a netbook that will appeal to more demanding users. These include not only the graphics, but HDMI, a wireless On/Off switch, and an ExpressCard slot. There is also a fingerprint reader. These all help justify the price and to set the N10J apart from your average netbook.The graphics are switchable, meaning that using a hardware switch you can toggle between discrete and integrated modes. This means you can do graphically-intensive work and then switch when you want to save battery life. The downside of this is that a reboot is required to put the change into effect