Recommend a netbook?

[Steveire]

Hi,

I'm looking for a netbook to take travelling, and I wonder if anyone has any ideas which suits my needs.

What I'm looking for is:
Cheap.
Doesn't have to be the latest or flashest model.
Good battery life.
Preferable SSD (even 2 GB is enough).
Run linux/ubuntu.
Possibly able to run compositing in kde4.

I've found a HP 2133 for 199 pounds. That sounds good, except that the battery life is only about 2.5 hours. It comes with a 120 GB HDD, so I'm guessing an SSD would be more power efficient. Am I wrong there?

Thanks for any pointers.

[Helios1276]

You have to ask yourself if you need that much storage space on a netbook? A SSD has alot of advantages for netbooks/laptops, fewer moving parts so less prone to breakage and I think that translates to better heat/power usage too?

[ubuntu-freak]

Eee PCs have the best battery life. The following link will give you plenty of food for thought:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/AdvSearch/default.aspx?rewrite=netbook

[zeronothing]

I just recently bought the Asus EEE pc 901 and it is awesome. tigerdirect had a deal in November for the 901 for only 350 plus free shipping. its great, has 12gb storage, Intel atom, 8.9 inch screen, wireless N, webcam, 1gb ram, etc. the thing is very portable, handles web, standard def video, music, etc. I love the thing and use it constantly. come to think of it, I'm using it right now. the one downside to it might be the keyboard. I have skinny fingers but if your someone with hefty fingers you might have problems. other than that, its a great portable netbook.

[zeronothing]

plus I forgot to mention up to seven hours of battery life. it has a 6-cell battery that is great for those longer trips. just wanted to throw that in....

[hotweiss]

Hi,

I'm looking for a netbook to take travelling, and I wonder if anyone has any ideas which suits my needs.

What I'm looking for is:
Cheap.
Doesn't have to be the latest or flashest model.
Good battery life.
Preferable SSD (even 2 GB is enough).
Run linux/ubuntu.
Possibly able to run compositing in kde4.

I've found a HP 2133 for 199 pounds. That sounds good, except that the battery life is only about 2.5 hours. It comes with a 120 GB HDD, so I'm guessing an SSD would be more power efficient. Am I wrong there?

Thanks for any pointers.

Trust me you don't want a SSD drive in your notebook. The ones that they put in them are just horrible.

[klange]

Trust me you don't want a SSD drive in your notebook. The ones that they put in them are just horrible.

How so? I'd say that's exactly what you want in a netbook, and the only problem with the ones they tend to ship are small sizes (which is why I got the biggest one Dell offered when I got my Mini...)
With an SSD, most netbooks have no moving parts, making them truly portable and much more resistant to damage.

Mini 9: Higher price, but it's fast, four hour battery life, no moving parts, comes with Ubuntu lpia preinstalled.

[neu2buntu]

get what im talking to you on now an ACER ASPIRE 0NE im using the 120gb model and with afull install of ubuntu 8.10 and its great and fast too..... batt life is roughly 2hours but just depends what you are doing too it could be more... the keyboard is good ..you will have to install through usb but that is easy enough just google unetbootin and the rest is easy......really hope you choose it you wont be dissapointed:guitar:and its down to £200

[neu2buntu]

yeah and you dont really want an ssd drive as it will wear quickly,well unless you format it at ext2 but this makes your install complicated

[jrusso2]

It seems the magazines like the MSI Wind and the new ASUS EEE PC with the bigger screen and keyboard the best. I would get the XP one with the bigger hard drive and more ram and install Linux on it personally.

[linuxguymarshall]

If you want it to come with Linux then get the Dell Mini 9.

Otherwise get the Lenovo S10. Just got mine for Christmas and I must say it is brilliant.

[Helios1276]

I just recently bought the Asus EEE pc 901 and it is awesome. tigerdirect had a deal in November for the 901 for only 350 plus free shipping. its great, has 12gb storage, Intel atom, 8.9 inch screen, wireless N, webcam, 1gb ram, etc. the thing is very portable, handles web, standard def video, music, etc. I love the thing and use it constantly. come to think of it, I'm using it right now. the one downside to it might be the keyboard. I have skinny fingers but if your someone with hefty fingers you might have problems. other than that, its a great portable netbook.

Have to say I'm not a fan, the keyboard is just to small to be practical and don't get me started on the default Xandros.

[krauser530]

If you want it to come with Linux then get the Dell Mini 9.

Otherwise get the Lenovo S10. Just got mine for Christmas and I must say it is brilliant.

Ive been looking at getting the S10 but there are so many netbooks its hard to decide on one. Have you installed linux on it? how are things like battery life and compatibility with drivers/wifi/etc?

[3rdalbum]

The Aspire One is good. I was getting 3 hours of battery life (3 cell battery) on Linpus, and now on Ubuntu I'm getting 2 hours. It's worth it though. The SSD is 8 gigabytes which is fine - it's a netbook, not a video editing workstation! Compiz works on it (on Ubuntu; strangely, Compiz is preinstalled on Linpus but will not start) but I don't use it because it conflicts with the Ubuntu netbook interface.

[hotweiss]

How so? I'd say that's exactly what you want in a netbook, and the only problem with the ones they tend to ship are small sizes (which is why I got the biggest one Dell offered when I got my Mini...)
With an SSD, most netbooks have no moving parts, making them truly portable and much more resistant to damage.

Mini 9: Higher price, but it's fast, four hour battery life, no moving parts, comes with Ubuntu lpia preinstalled.

They are pretty bad, and cause the system to bottle neck all the time. Due to the horrible SSD's I destroyed my EEE901 when modding it to fit a new hard drive. I had to take it apart to remove the SSD's and then I had to cut some plastic out so that my new 8 mm hard drive would fit. Upon reassembly I accidentally tugged on LCD cable and separated something in it.

[Asham]

To me, the Samsung NC10 looks like one of the better alternatives. Most importantly, it has an okay keyboard layout! You don't go nuts while typin'. :D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131014

It's a little more expensive unfortunately. Don't know yet how it works with Linux since mine has not arrived yet.

/Adam

[Kernel Sanders]

The NC10 without a shadow of doubt is the best netbook on the market at the moment.

Just how positive can I be?

[TenPlus1]

As far as I'm away, the MSI Wind is the most compatible with Linux to date, although to be fair their is a special version of Ubuntu Eee for the Asus Eee...

[Jon Bradbury]

Regarding the NC10, it is the best at the moment. I have an eeepc and have also owned the MSI Wind and neither can compete with the NC10. Battery life is exemplary and the screen and keyboard are excellent. Just has a titchy mouse pad - but getting a wireless mouse like the Logitech VX Nano makes it a joy to use.

Work is ongoing with Ubuntu 8.10. See these links for more info. At the moment, the main sticking point is how the fn-keys work (mostly they do not - there are workarounds but to use the keys as intended a kernel patch is required) and I can't see a means by which the bluetooth and wireless can be switched off from within Ubuntu. Other than that it all works pretty well. Compiz looks particularly neat on it. Anyway... those links:

http://nc10ubuntu.wordpress.com/
http://nc10ubuntu.forumcircle.com/
http://nc10linux.wordpress.com/

Happy New Year!

[motang]

Hi,

I'm looking for a netbook to take travelling, and I wonder if anyone has any ideas which suits my needs.

What I'm looking for is:
Cheap.
Doesn't have to be the latest or flashest model.
Good battery life.
Preferable SSD (even 2 GB is enough).
Run linux/ubuntu.
Possibly able to run compositing in kde4.

I've found a HP 2133 for 199 pounds. That sounds good, except that the battery life is only about 2.5 hours. It comes with a 120 GB HDD, so I'm guessing an SSD would be more power efficient. Am I wrong there?

Thanks for any pointers.
I have been thinking about getting the HP Mini 1000 (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/search/search_request.do;HHOJSID=QTbhJYzLxyrNfj6tpP1nlqP7 1TMMxwknQS2C1CJnSKmsZp78Stym!-93161144?InkToner_Search_Query=&Printer_Search_Query=&Cartridge_Search_Query=&printerOrCartridgeSearch=&Search_Query=mini+1000&submitSearchTop=%C2%BB). I am still waiting for the MIE version (http://www.engadget.com/photos/hps-new-mini-1000-and-mie-linux/1124253/) which runs on Ubuntu with a custom UI (comes out in Jan.). I have heard many good things about it and it seems like a very solid netbook.

[klange]

If money were less of a concern, and if people didn't have this fear of SSDs, I'd recommend the Dell Mini 9: It may cost more than all of the other ones, but it comes with Ubuntu (optimized for the Atom), has great specs, wonderful battery life (with wifi and bluetooth on, I get 4 hours of life with the regular 4-cell battery that came with it, they're *supposedly* going to ship a 6-cell soon, which will probably yield another two hours or so), and the SSD is a PCIe card, so it's easily replaceable (though not quite with an HDD, but at least you can put something else in there). My favorite part of the Mini is that it has absolutely no moving parts (and still ventilates nicely). I think there may be an unused mini-PCIe slot, too, but I'd have to go grab a Phillips to see.

But, yeah, it costs quite a bit more... I paid $490 as my final price for a complete setup, after both discounts, tax and shipping.
If you want something cheaper, the only problem I've ever heard about the Aspire One was battery life.

[Steveire]

Thanks for the advice.

My EEE 901 arrived today. Here's some reasons I chose it.

It has a 20GB SSD which I'm happy with as I'm not going to take my penknife to it (:confused: come on, you blame SSDs after you mess about like that?) and I plan to keep my data on amazon S3 when I go travelling, so I don't need a lot of storage. It has a 6 cell battery which they advertised as giving 6 hour battery life. It was only e270 after the delivery charge that they don't mention on the site (I thought that was illegal here...). And finally, I know I'll be able to get kde trunk working on it. I'm not too worried about the xandros thing either as I'll probably put ubuntu on it.


Cheers.

[speedwell68]

Got the Mrs an Acer One A150 512mb and 160gb HDD. Very good it is too. The default Linpus Lite sucks IMHO, so I dropped Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it. I have done some tweaking and managed to get the battery out to a little over 3 hours.