Netbooks?

[wubrgamer]

If someone handed you $400-500 and said "buy a netbook kid"

Which one would you buy?

Esp. If you have beefy fingers and have a distaste for painfully small screen resolutions?

I just got a macbook Pro, but it's a monster to carry around (also I'm scared this $3000 pc will get stolen etc.)

I'd like to investigate getting a smaller/cheaper notebook for taking notes on, and not be too stressed about it getting stolen/broken while I go about my day.

I think the 10" screens are nice.

Asus? MSI? Samsung? Dell Mini? Lenovo s10?

which one?!

[spawn.]

I'd accept the money; then I would finance a 13" MacBook for $40-$50 a month, or, I would use some of it as a down payment and order a more flexible 13" Lenovo IBM ThinkPad for about the same a month.

[dkmoore]

Having gone through this recently, I'll tell you what I found were the key questions I wrestled with. First is keyboard size and layout. Some are incredibly small and some have strange layouts as a result of compromises in fitting a keyboard on a smaller device. Most of the 10" screen netbooks had better sized keyboards than the 8.9" screen netbooks (the real exception are the HPs, which are very good on size and layout in both the 2133 & 1000 regardless of screen size). Second was screen, and here you want to consider both size and resolution. Regardless of whether it is an 8.9" or a 10/10.1/10.2" screen, almost everyone of the netbooks has the same resolution. As far as I can tell, this is largely done to be able to sell it w/ WinXP installed, since MS has put some very strict limits on memory & screen size & resolution in order to sell a machine w/ XP (they want manufacturers to sell the more expensive Vista rather than the legacy OS). The one exception that I found was the HP 2133, which while an 8.9" screen was higher resolution than the rest. I ended up with it because of the quality of the keyboard and the screen resolution (I haven't had it long enough and haven't touched several alternatives to be able to say that this model is better than alternatives).

The third issue was ruggedness. Especially if you are planning to throw this in a backpack or cram it into another bag that may not be designed specifically to protect a laptop. In reading some reviews, it was obvious that quite a few netbooks were flimsy. The HP 2133 is aluminum & really rugged, however there are a number of well-built netbooks that are plastic, so look for comments on which ones were flimsy and which were not.

The fourth issue was whether you wanted to pay the MS tax or get a netbook that came loaded with a linux distro. The MSI Wind looks very good, but is MS only (there is a Sylvania branded version that comes w/ linux though). Others will give you one or a choice of both. The HP 2133 has both, although one of the frustrations was that the linux models had smaller batteries, lower chip clock speed, and no bluetooth compared to the top Vista model. I didn't want to pay the MS tax. I didn't care so much about which linux flavor came installed, as I knew I would likely change it.

Battery life is an issue, but was one that was a bit trickier to guage, as it depends a bit on what OS and distro you choose and how well you could configure it to maximize battery life.

I hope that helps in your exploration.

Dave

[luvit]

aspire one
for performance, price, and lower screen res for larger fonts
it only comes with 1 GB RAM, upgradable to 2GB (1 module supported) 120 GB HD

hp 2133 mini-note MN:kx870at for everything from high-res screen, bluetooth, express-card slot, 6cell batt, 2gb RAM included, 120GB HD

both have a great keyboard

i own the mini note kx870at and tested the aspire one

[Zorael]

I have an Advent 4211 (rebranded MSI Wind), which works great after some tinkering.

They cut a few corners; only early batches got a decent touchpad (Synaptics, the de facto standard brand), so if you get one now you'll get a "Sentelic Finger-sensing Pad", which doesn't have drag-to-scroll since Synaptics have a patent on that feature. Likewise, I think you need to compile your own wifi drivers - it comes with some new Realtek 8187-something card, and the drivers haven't been merged into the kernel tree yet.

There are two versions of the netbook, one that comes with XP and one with Linux. The XP one has 1gb ram, a harddrive, and bluetooth capabilities, whereas the Linux one has 512mb ram >.<, solid-state drive and no bluetooth. I quickly ordered another stick of ram, bumping it to 2gb (maximum of what the motherboard accepts), and an Intel 4965ABGN Wireless card. Next up is replacing the touchpad, once my Synaptics pad arrives. ;3

The machine in itself is great, though I have some complaints about the aforementioned cutting of corners. And the fan on some units seem to need an oiling, which is easy enough to do on rebranded models like the Advent; no warranty-void-upon-breaking seals. :>

[wubrgamer]

I'd accept the money; then I would finance a 13" MacBook for $40-$50 a month, or, I would use some of it as a down payment and order a more flexible 13" Lenovo IBM ThinkPad for about the same a month.

Nice, not exactly what I was thinking though!

although...x series thinkpads are just about as portable as most netbooks, just way more expensive...aren't they?

Are netbooks just x-series thinkpads for poor people lol?

[BIGtrouble77]

I have the s10, but the specs on this one really impressed me:
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/detail/features.do?group=computersperipherals&type=mobilecomputing&subtype=netbook&model_cd=NP-NC10-KA02US

I haven't seen it in person so I don't really know how nice it is, but it's got everything, 160gb hd, 1gb ram, 6 cell battery!!!, bluetooth.

[colsandurz]

I agree with spawn. I used to have an ASUS eee pc and it was nice. It's good for word processing and internet browsing with a few tabs open that's about it. So I bought a lenovo X61, I used to work at IBM and I loved the T42 they issued me. The lenovo was a great choice. It is a lot bigger, but still small enough to be really mobile. The screen is big enough so you can look at it for an extended period of time and the computer is good enough to do real work on. I use matlab all the time and have no performance issues whatsoever. I highly recommend a thinkpad, I don't think I'd buy any other laptop brand.

[marnell]

ok so while we're on the topic of linux netbooks, does anyone have any real comparison of battery life across different netbooks? What is the netbook with the longest battery life?

And, I really like the looks of the HP2133 (never tested, though!) but I'm not so hot on the 90-degree-form-factor-killer 6-cell battery. Maybe I'm just being a nag, but it seems that if the idea is portability you've got to question why on earth they haven't fully integrated an extended battery into these netbook frames... (besides the Apple PowerBook G4 12" - my choice in this matter - 4+ hours cleanly)

[scorp123]

What is the netbook with the longest battery life? A German Linux magazine did some testing ... In "LinuxUser" 11/2008 they tested the following netbooks:

eeePC 701 4G
eeePC 900
eeePC 900A
eeePC 901
eeePC 1000H
Dell Inspiron Mini 9
Aspire One 110L
Aspire One 150L/150X
Akoya E1210
Terra Mobile-Home Go
Wind U100
One A110/A115/A120
One A440/A450
Ideapad S9/S10
HP Mini-Note 2133


According to their tests (and Germans are thorough in this) the eeePC 901 has the longest battery life: "6 to 7 hours" they wrote.


I really like the looks of the HP2133 The VIA C7 CPU they built into this one gets hot like hell and it's sloooooow. I mean the Intel Atom CPU's in the other netbooks are no speed miracle either (speed is not their main goal...), but if you compare a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU vs. a 1.6 GHz VIA C7 side by side the C7 is slow like a snail.

But I agree: the 2133 looks good. If they would now only release one with an Atom CPU and dump that C7 .... that would be nice.

[TeutonJon78]

The Samsung NC10 has what is currently considered the best keyboard. I have one and have played with most of the other netbooks out there. The build quality is definitely a step up from the others (but the trackpad is a wee small).

[wessel_k]

Hi,

I got the Acer Aspire One 110, because they have a good price/quality ratio. And I really like it. I got the one with the SSD instead of the HD. I think that makes it a little less vulnerable to travelling. Besides that I got a external USB WB Passport for storage purposes.

I must admit the mouse buttons are a little getting used to. The screen though is pretty good compared to the ones from asus. At least the one I compared it with in the shop.

So far my 2cents.

Regards,

Wessel

[Motomo]

I purchased an aspire one back in july and it is a great little netbook save for the battery life and the Linux distribution that is loaded on it. It does what I need but if I had to do it all over again I would have waited for a 6 cell version.


I got my wife a netbook for xmas. I got her the asus eeepc 1000ha...windows, 10 inch screen, 160gb hd, six cell battery, atom processor. I have charged it and fired it up a couple of times and have to admit it is nice.

The one I am kind of waiting on is the HP Mini netbook with a six cell battery and the MIE operating system that is based on ubuntu...for the reviews and pics I have seen online and looking at one of the windows machines in a store I would also consider it a contender