I need a netbook. Feedback and suggestions are wanted!

[kaldor]

Can someone point me in the right direction for this?

Requirements:

- 8-10 inch display; NO MORE than 10 inches! (10.1 are fine of course)
- 3 hour battery life minimum
- Linux pre-installed or easily installable without a hitch
- 150-250 Canadian Dollars price range
- 512 MB RAM minimum
- 15 GB harddrive minimum
- At least 1 USB port

Operating System:

Preferably a KDE distro. Possibly openSUSE. If it is not powerful enough, possibly Kubuntu hardy. I don't want a "netbook" interface. I hate those. I have no issues with installing an OS. If it comes with Windows, I'll just remove it and replace it with another distro. As long as I can easily copy files, connect to my SSH server, type up small documents/notes on the go, and not worry abotu my battery dying every 30 minutes or so I am happy. I don't want to mess with wireless drivers etc. I don't need proprietary drivers either. I just want something like on my HP; most distros I throw at it run Linux without any alterations at all.


My reasons..

-I want a portable computer and my 13.5 inch HP only has a 45 minute long battery life. I have to lug around an 8 pound laptop with me as well as a cord. Then I need to put it in a bag. Too much hassle when going around places all the time.

-I want a laptop that I can use anywhere that will boot up quickly.

-Battery life is a need.




Note that the price range doesn't include shipping; I don't mind paying for shipping as long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

[doas777]

I think your price point may be the killer. I haven't seen any linux preinstall netbooks for less than 300USD. shop around though. look at system76.

[kaldor]

http://www1.dell.com/ca/p/inspiron-mini1012/fs

I was considering that. It's a bit above my price, but if it works and gets the job done I could do it. It comes with Windows XP. I don't want Windows, so does anyone have experience installing a distro on these?

http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?products_id=92

Beautiful, but nearly 400 dollars for Canadians.

[doas777]

i was told that lucid used the mini10 as it's baseline netbook test case, so hopefully everything will work perfectly.

Dell also ships the mini10 with ubuntu if requested, at least in the us:
http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/b/direct2dell/archive/2009/05/07/Ubuntu-Now-Available-for-Mini-10-Customers-in-the-United-States-and-Canada.aspx


check out these netbook compatibility reviews:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks

[bunburya]

According to XE, CAN$250 is equivalent to €190, and you wouldn't get a decent laptop over here (Ireland) for that amount. Are laptops much cheaper over in Canada? Because if not you may need to revise your price range.

[kaldor]

i was told that lucid used the mini10 as it's baseline netbook test case, so hopefully everything will work perfectly.

Dell also ships the mini10 with ubuntu if requested, at least in the us:
http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/b/direct2dell/archive/2009/05/07/Ubuntu-Now-Available-for-Mini-10-Customers-in-the-United-States-and-Canada.aspx


check out these netbook compatibility reviews:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks

Excellent, I thought they stopped shipping Ubuntu based netbooks at Dell!

I still have time to think about all of this though. This won't be bought until maybe late June or early July. Hoping I can get it in time for a trip to the Dominican!

I'd like to add that my pricerange is an estimate. If I can go a little bit under or over that's fine too. I just don't *want* to spend over that, but I am definitely not spending more than 300, since I usually find them in the 250-280 range.

Edit: How can I install a Linux distro on a netbook? USB drive? How hard is that to do? I kinda just want a "get up and go" netbook, which is why I don't want to mess with things and prefer a Linux preinstall.

[kaldor]

Also, what Linux Distro + DE is good on a netbook? I think I am nearly settled on a Dell Mini 10.

I want to avoid *buntu and GNOME. Is KDE too resource-intensive for a netbook? I've only used KDE4 on newer machines with at least 2 GB RAM and 2 ghz.

[CharlesA]

You can probably run KDE on it. I've got an Asus 1005HA that is able to run Backtrack (which uses KDE) with little problems. 1.66Ghz and 1GB of RAM. I've upgraded it to 2GB of RAM.

Then again, this netbook cost around 400 USD.

[formaldehyde_spoon]

Until decent ARM netbooks are available retail, the only netbooks I'd consider are:

MSI Wind U110 - advertised 15 hr battery life - good luck finding one
ASUS Eee 1005PE - advertised 14 hr battery life - $330 on Amazon
ASUS Eee 1015P(E) - advertised 13.5 hr battery life - not out yet?

[MC_Sketch]

look around on http://www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com/) they always have good ****.

[kaldor]

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspiron-1012?c=ca&cs=cadhs1&l=en&s=dhs

I am thinking this is what I am going to get. Hopefully Linux will work on it without much problem!

[coolbrook]

I'm not familiar with stores in NL. Have a look at NewEgg.ca or NCIX.com. I will likely buy from one or the other when I get my netbook. For your price range, you're probably looking at an entry level Acer or Gateway.

[kaldor]

Argh, Dell claims that the warranty is void if I install Linux.

Can anyone point me towards some good Linux netbooks? Zareason is decent, but System76 is a bit too pricey. I was excited about the Dell Mini, but I would rather have a warranty.

[aysiu]

I love how the Dell Canada Ubuntu page still exists but just doesn't list anything:
http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=ca&l=en&cs=cadhs1

[kamaboko]

i've got an asus eee 1000ha running lucid lynx (not netbook remix) w/2gb of ram and it works perfectly. it even runs skype with audio/video.

[kaldor]

EeePCs look awesome; too bad they're pricey.

And yeah, Aysiu, the Canadian Dell site never did get enough love :(

[KdotJ]

I have an HP Mini 210 and ubuntu runs perfect on it. Installed with no problems, except I had to update it while connected to my LAN via wired connection in order to get the driver for the wireless card.

I have run KDE on it, and it works good, although not as good as gnome.

The specs are:

10.1" screen
160 GB hard disk
1 GB memory
4 USB ports
Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor (64bit infact)

I paid £200 for it brand new

[zoomy942]

best netbook ever.

http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article.asp?item_id=720

lol - yeah - i wrote the article and had to plug it :)

[mamamia88]

Love my Samsung N130. had ubuntu on it for awhile but put win 7 home premium on instead due to poor wireless signal on campus

[kaldor]

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-10-1-intel-atom-n450-1-66ghz-netbook-lt2102h-red-lt2102h/10137393.aspx?path=66d40e0f751641d99e25071b9d26fff 2en02

That looks great. 300 dollars; not bad. Any Linux reviews for this one? Didn't see any!

[CharlesA]

Might be iffy on the video, but it should work well with Linux.

Too bad it doesn't tell you what chipset the WLAN is. =/

[kaldor]

I'd prefer to be able to view Youtube videos (no other flash sites needed) at least somewhat well. Though, my main uses will be chat and web browsing.

[CharlesA]

check here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1397371

[mamamia88]

After doing a little digging I managed to find driver page on gateway.com which reveals the wireless card that it has in it. it is either atheros HB95 or HB93. you will have to do some research to see if those work. here is the driver page http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?ref=step&st=browse&platform=10022&model=12450&os=12389&type=10095

[andrewabc]

What your asking isn't really possible. Not without getting a crap netbook.

If you get one make sure you can easily remove the HDD, so you can replace it with a SSD in the future. netbooks HDD are slow.

Make sure intel n450 processor
wireless n
6 cell battery

since you're in Canada, take a look at this from staples (http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?webid=864149&CatIds=&AffixedCode=WW&=&=&=)

review (http://www.anandtech.com/show/3679/gateway-and-acer-netbooks)

It meets my recommendations of removable HDD, processor, wireless, and battery. 3 cell version is $50 cheaper (but you'd get 4 hours instead of 8 etc). Comes with win7 which you can keep, but partition the rest of your ubuntu somewhere else. Dunno how well it works with ubuntu, probably the same as every other netbook.


-I want a laptop that I can use anywhere that will boot up quickly.
Then you'd need to install a SSD :P
Or I suppose hibernate/suspend could work fast enough.

[zoomy942]

if you want to save some money, get a netbook with a 7200 rpm drive

[libssd]

Can someone point me in the right direction for this?

Requirements:

- 8-10 inch display; NO MORE than 10 inches! (10.1 are fine of course)
- 3 hour battery life minimum
- Linux pre-installed or easily installable without a hitch
- 150-250 Canadian Dollars price range
- 512 MB RAM minimum
- 15 GB harddrive minimum
- At least 1 USB port

Go to your local Walmart (I know there is one in St. Johns). They probably carry several netbooks, including the latest Acer AA1, which goes for $299 where I am. For that price, you get the usual netbook package (1gb RAM, 160gb HDD, 1.6mHz Atom, multi-format card reader, 3 USB ports, built-in mic and camera), with a pretty good keyboard and trackpad (much improved over the AA1 D150, which I have). 3-cell battery should run for about 2 hours; Mine came with a 6-cell 5200 mAh battery that goes for about 6 hours. Three hatches on the bottom provide access to HDD, RAM, and WiFi radio cards.

If you know what choices to make, Ubuntu 9.04 can be installed in a partition (I used 32gb) of the HDD, leaving Windows untouched, in about 15 minutes. I can't guarantee that Ubuntu 9.04 or 9.10 will install "without a hitch" on the latest AA1, but see no reason why it wouldn't (famous last words). The only real hitch that I had was that it didn't automatically go into suspend when I closed the lid; upgrading to a newer BIOS (available from Acer) fixed that problem.

Because I travel a lot by motorcycle, I thought I needed a SSD, but so far (one year) the HDD has been utterly reliable. As a backup, I have 9.04 installed on an 8gb SD memory card. I have also owned the original AA1, with the 8.9" screen and 16gb SSD, and I would not recommend it. The SSD is slow, the screen is too small, the trackpad is terrible, and absolutely nothing inside the machine is accessible.

[kaldor]

Go to your local Walmart (I know there is one in St. Johns). They probably carry several netbooks, including the latest Acer AA1, which goes for $299 where I am. For that price, you get the usual netbook package (1gb RAM, 160gb HDD, 1.6mHz Atom, multi-format card reader, 3 USB ports, built-in mic and camera), with a pretty good keyboard and trackpad (much improved over the AA1 D150, which I have). 3-cell battery should run for about 2 hours; Mine came with a 6-cell 5200 mAh battery that goes for about 6 hours. Three hatches on the bottom provide access to HDD, RAM, and WiFi radio cards.

If you know what choices to make, Ubuntu 9.04 can be installed in a partition (I used 32gb) of the HDD, leaving Windows untouched, in about 15 minutes. I can't guarantee that Ubuntu 9.04 or 9.10 will install "without a hitch" on the latest AA1, but see no reason why it wouldn't (famous last words). The only real hitch that I had was that it didn't automatically go into suspend when I closed the lid; upgrading to a newer BIOS (available from Acer) fixed that problem.

Because I travel a lot by motorcycle, I thought I needed a SSD, but so far (one year) the HDD has been utterly reliable. As a backup, I have 9.04 installed on an 8gb SD memory card. I have also owned the original AA1, with the 8.9" screen and 16gb SSD, and I would not recommend it. The SSD is slow, the screen is too small, the trackpad is terrible, and absolutely nothing inside the machine is accessible.

I love St. John's! Too bad I live 45 minutes away in the same community that moneysense.ca rated as "worst place to live" in Canada :)

What are the policies with these companies with removing Windows? HP doesn't care, Dell voids your warranty. What about Acer? 300 is a pretty good price; my 150-250 range was an approximate.

[kaldor]

Just went to a Walmart to look around. I found an Acer Aspire One, not sure about the model number. In short, I love it; better than the other netbooks I saw there. $298.00!

I am thinking of (K)ubuntu since it seems to have less problems than the other distros for wireless. I just hope I can wipe Windows without losing warranty; Windows 7 Starter sucks, and I don't ever use/want/need Windows anyway, especially for this.

[zoomy942]

Just went to a Walmart to look around. I found an Acer Aspire One, not sure about the model number. In short, I love it; better than the other netbooks I saw there. $298.00!

I am thinking of (K)ubuntu since it seems to have less problems than the other distros for wireless. I just hope I can wipe Windows without losing warranty; Windows 7 Starter sucks, and I don't ever use/want/need Windows anyway, especially for this.

check the model number to be sure you arent getting an outdated cpu

[kaldor]

check the model number to be sure you arent getting an outdated cpu

Yeah, I wanted to do that but they were locked down and I couldn't get at them. all I could do was look at it and touch the keyboard. Nobody was on staff either; that's small-town Canada for you =/

Even so, will it matter much? Looked new enough lol

[andrewabc]

Just went to a Walmart to look around. I found an Acer Aspire One, not sure about the model number. In short, I love it; better than the other netbooks I saw there. $298.00!

I am thinking of (K)ubuntu since it seems to have less problems than the other distros for wireless. I just hope I can wipe Windows without losing warranty; Windows 7 Starter sucks, and I don't ever use/want/need Windows anyway, especially for this.

specs?

You do know that 3 cell battery vs 6 cell will only give you half the battery life?
The only upside to 3 cell is that they should weigh less.

If you want longest lasting battery life (5.5 hours of 720p video playback (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2965/asus-eee-pc-1001p-our-favorite-netbook/5)), you need 6 cell. Maybe 3 cell will do you fine, but you might not be able to finish a 2 hour 720p video, if you need video playback (say on a plane).

[kaldor]

specs?

You do know that 3 cell battery vs 6 cell will only give you half the battery life?
The only upside to 3 cell is that they should weigh less.

If you want longest lasting battery life (5.5 hours of 720p video playback (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2965/asus-eee-pc-1001p-our-favorite-netbook/5)), you need 6 cell. Maybe 3 cell will do you fine, but you might not be able to finish a 2 hour 720p video, if you need video playback (say on a plane).

Won't be used for much video playback, and I am nearly 100% positive it was a 3-cell. It had 160 GB and 2 GB, I didn't see anything else because it was covered up by pricetags etc.

[andrewabc]

Won't be used for much video playback, and I am nearly 100% positive it was a 3-cell. It had 160 GB and 2 GB, I didn't see anything else because it was covered up by pricetags etc.

2gb ram would definitely be good.

Futureshop 6 cell (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-10-1-intel-atom-n450-1-66ghz-netbook-lt2106h-white-lt2106h/10137392.aspx?path=2398597cf5df79c045f5d21d2c55476 3en02) for $330

different colour (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-10-1-intel-atom-n450-1-66ghz-netbook-lt2107h-red-lt2107h/10137397.aspx?path=b9192fb49e26d9c30f81ba84cd24f6a ben02)

Check to make sure HDD accessible. Although from some basic research, it looks like those types of models should.

[zoomy942]

Yeah, I wanted to do that but they were locked down and I couldn't get at them. all I could do was look at it and touch the keyboard. Nobody was on staff either; that's small-town Canada for you =/

Even so, will it matter much? Looked new enough lol

trust me - you DO NOT want an older Atom CPU

[andrewabc]

trust me - you DO NOT want an older Atom CPU

Yep, make sure not to get older n270/n280 atoms.

n450 is currently what is best.

[CharlesA]

My netbook has an N280 and hasn't had any problems. What are the disadvantages of this older CPU?

[Ibidem]

An Aspire One with 3-cell should get a bit over 2 hours; 3 takes doing everything right.
Acer is fond of the lowest grade CPUs they can find (expect an N270; 2 cores, no VTx unlike the N450); wireless is probably Atheros (a fairly new distro is best, and connection occasionally flakes out w/ ath5k) or perhaps broadcom (turn and run, unless you use Fedora 11+ or a few other distros).
The quality is low, but it's great for the stuff that's tuned for it.
Of course that's with the AOA-150, the bottom of the line save one (AOA-110).

Now seriously, Ubuntu (Lucid) installs pretty smoothly on my AOA-150 (aka zg5). Wireless, webcam, sound, and ethernet work, but update the wireless drivers or install Madwifi, since standard drivers fail when downloading 30+ MB files. SL 5.4 also works on here, though wireless is marginal.
I've gotten battery life up from ~2 hours to (purportedly) 2:45, following powertop exactly.
Intel graphics are not good, but working OOB (barring the GMA500).

The higher end AOA's are better in terms of hardware. Acer owns Gateway, and their netbooks are closely related.

Mandriva and Fedora are the most likely to work on every netbook (well, maybe not Ion).

[andrewabc]

My netbook has an N280 and hasn't had any problems. What are the disadvantages of this older CPU?

Intel Atom D510: Pine Trail Boosts Performance, Cuts Power (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2889/2) - Review

Basically cuts power usage in 1/2 for chip, and video card is slightly better.

If you're buying netbook right now, you need to get n450.

The main problem is the GMA950 on the older chip. The processor is fine (speed wise), but because it is matched with GMA950 it uses a lot more power.

Go here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMA950#GMA_950) and compare GMA950 and GMA3150.

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/intelpinetrail_122009194423/20956.png
n450 is 21.2 watts idle vs n230 39.1 watts

Hmm, slightly confused as to why eeebox n230 uses a lot less than intel945 n230, it really should use the same. Although it is true that eeebox only uses 20 watts power (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2537/5). (note: if buying nettop, make sure to get n330+ion)

[CharlesA]

Thanks for the info. I've been able to get around 4 hours or full screen dvd playing out of my netbook and 6-8 hours of normal web browsing. o.O

I don't expect to be doing any virtualization on a netbook.