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View Full Version : mini laptop / netbook recommendation - which one?



abh83
December 10th, 2008, 08:53 PM
As the title says. I'm planning on buying a mini laptop / netbook. But I'm not quite sure which one to go for?

I'll be using it mainly at the university and for academic purposes such as Internet, word processing and instant messaging.

Which of the 3 is more recommendable?

Asus EEE PC: http://eeepc.asus.com/global/index.html

Acer Aspire ONE: http://www.acer.com/aspireone/

MSI Wind Netbook: http://www.msimobile.com/windhome.aspx


Thx in advance!

easybake
December 10th, 2008, 09:11 PM
I've had my Aspire One for several weeks now. If you are going to buy one I would highly suggest getting the largest battery option. It is a lot nicer having 5 hours of use compared to 2 hours.

Installing ubuntu on it was fairly easy using unetbootin. I have only run into problems with sound and wireless but I believe there are fixes with both.

The only problem is that they can be kind of hard to work on for long periods of time. And the mouse buttons on the Aspire One are very loud and clicky. You get used to the mouse buttons, (I'm not sure if they designed it to be used with your thumbs instead).

It's a great little machine. I use it for emulators (Super NES and N64). IMs, notes, and VNC-ing to my desktop machine. It's really nice and I would definitely recommend it.

* also every single girl you see will call it "cute" *

technotitclan
December 10th, 2008, 09:28 PM
if your planing on installing ubuntu then i'd recomend the Dell Mini 9. it has ubuntu 8.04 already installed and configured.

doctorbighands
December 10th, 2008, 09:49 PM
For what it's worth, Consumer Reports tested a bunch of Netbooks and recommended the eee PC as its number one, followed by the MSI Wind. The reason the Asus came out on top was mostly to do with length of battery life. They also liked the keyboard-to-overall-size ratio compared to some of the others.

What it really comes down to is what you want most in your machine. Do you mind going with the smallest possible model (like, say, an 8 or 9 inch screen)? Then you'll save money that way. Do you want a large hard drive, or can you live with a small solid-state drive? Is more RAM a consideration? Do you want something with long battery life for true portability?

I've been researching netbooks pretty heavily recently to get one for my wife. We've personally decided on the eee PC 10" model based on the combination of size, hard disk capacity (she wants lots of it), battery life, and price. I would've gone with the Lenovo if they would've made a better battery for it.

Acer and Samsung are good choices if you don't mind the slightly smaller size. Samsung comes with Ubuntu Netbook Remix preinstalled, and they're available in a funky yellow color which I personally like. :) I feel that the Dell and HP models are slightly overpriced for what you get, considering you can get something quite equivalent from Asus, MSI, and Acer for less money.

noremac
December 10th, 2008, 10:37 PM
I have a Eee 1000HA and am uber happy with it. I had a 701 before that and was happy with it too, but the keyboard was just too small. I didn't realize what all I would want to do with it once I got it. So I went with a 1000 series this time around.

I have had it for 3 weeks or more now and have yet to install Ubuntu or anything Linux on it. I am rather happy with Windows. Boots really quickly and responds well. I imagine I will throw some Ubuntu on it very soon since I have the space, but more or less, I will boot into Windows.

The battery life on it is great. 5 hours with wifi on, 7+ with it off. Doesn't get hot to the touch at all. Something the 701 was not very good at.

-Cameron

abh83
December 12th, 2008, 01:34 AM
Thank you all for your quick response. I've been researching into netbooks quite heavily myself. Currently I'm deciding between the MSI Wind and the EEE but I find my self tilting more in favour for the latter choice.

zmjjmz
December 12th, 2008, 02:00 AM
Consumer reports knocked the HP Mini 1000 and the Dell Mini 9 off because the SSD slowed them down.
But nonetheless, I personally would wait until the OpenPandora is available.

mustang
December 12th, 2008, 03:39 AM
I've had my Aspire One for several weeks now. If you are going to buy one I would highly suggest getting the largest battery option. It is a lot nicer having 5 hours of use compared to 2 hours.

Installing ubuntu on it was fairly easy using unetbootin. I have only run into problems with sound and wireless but I believe there are fixes with both.

The only problem is that they can be kind of hard to work on for long periods of time. And the mouse buttons on the Aspire One are very loud and clicky. You get used to the mouse buttons, (I'm not sure if they designed it to be used with your thumbs instead).

It's a great little machine. I use it for emulators (Super NES and N64). IMs, notes, and VNC-ing to my desktop machine. It's really nice and I would definitely recommend it.

* also every single girl you see will call it "cute" *

Same impressions here. The button is annoyingly loud and I spend a lot of time in the library. But yes, definitely get the 6-cell if you go with a netbook.

jay576
December 12th, 2008, 04:58 AM
the lenovo s10 looked interesting recent price drops too. i have an eee pc 4g but i picked that up when it was the only option and nothing else really came out til 6 months after i bought it still. I like the smaller case and keyboard. i have my dell x300 for a decent size keyboard now.