14 DAY TRIAL // Approximately two weeks ago, ASUS officially unveiled its highly anticipated Atom-powered, non-Eee branded notebook, the N10, part of the company's new N-series of portable computer systems.
One of the main features of the new N10 notebook is that it combines the computing power of a netbook-loving Atom processor with the graphics capability of NVIDIA's GeForce 9300M graphics card. This distinctive combination of features, in addition to a classy and stylish design, makes the N10 distance itself from all the other 10-inch, Atom-powered, portable systems on the market.
However, it looks like the performance potential of the new N10 notebook hasn't been fully detailed. That is because, unlike other 10-inch systems, this notebook can actually be used to play some of the more demanding PC games out there. Of course, most gaming users won't even consider a 10-inch LCD to run Call of Duty 4, but the thought that such a small, netbook-like portable system can handle COD4 is truly impressive.
The guys over at MobileComputerMag had the chance to test drive this N10 notebook powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor and the GeForce 9300M graphics card. At one point, they even considered that installing and running COD4 on this small portable system would ultimately pass as a cool thing – and they were right. The graphics card inside the N10 was capable enough to handle Call of Duty 4 at a native resolution of 1024 by 600 with the anti-aliasing dropped down to 2x. As it turns out, the N10 runs COD4 rather smoothly but, then again, that small-sized keyboard and the 10-inch display haven't actually been designed for high-end gaming.
The tested N10 provided 2GB of DDR2 memory, 320GB hard drive, wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n and a Windows Vista operating system. Also, the tested model had no battery, although rumors have it that the N10 should ship with a 6-cell battery option - but that is yet to be confirmed.