ZaReson are awesome people.

[Legendary_Bibo]

I'm going to purchase the Teo netbook from them in a few days, and I asked them if they would be willing to do a special order to put an 80gb SSD in it, and the guy who runs it upped me even better and told me that they would put it as an option on their website. Sweet! I asked Best Buy, and other places, and they always told me they would charge extra with their "Geek Squad", or whatever. I can't wait to get it!

[juancarlospaco]

Teo netbook is nice.

[msrinath80]

I wonder why they don't have a dedicated section in ubuntuforums like system76 does? Perhaps they only install ubuntu but don't support it? Can anyone comment on that??

[Legendary_Bibo]

I wonder why they don't have a dedicated section in ubuntuforums like system76 does? Perhaps they only install ubuntu but don't support it? Can anyone comment on that??

What do you mean about support? Like if something goes screwy I can ask them for help?

[earthpigg]

what happened to the 8 gb ssd options and $250-300 netbooks? :(

with these ancient moving part hard drives and prices, netbooks are getting crummier and more expensive over time.

not that this is specific to zareason, of course.

[Legendary_Bibo]

what happened to the 8 gb ssd options and $250-300 netbooks? :(

with these ancient moving part hard drives and prices, netbooks are getting crummier and more expensive over time.

not that this is specific to zareason, of course.

Yeah, I always heard and read that SSDs were best for netbooks considering how you're usually more mobile with them, and it helps with the battery life. I guess the SSDs didn't sell as well. People just see it as less memory for more money, and so they can't justify spending that much more. My Teo I'm getting with an 80gb SSD, and an extra gig of RAM (also carrying case, and a new flash drive while I'm at it (My old one is having issues with how the plug slides out which causes connection issues)) will be around $600-$700, which to me isn't a bad price compared to the ones I've seen, and it comes with Ubuntu pre installed and optimized.

[samalex]

I wonder why they don't have a dedicated section in ubuntuforums like system76 does? Perhaps they only install ubuntu but don't support it? Can anyone comment on that??

I've wondered the same thing. One reason I went with System76 was because I got to know the folks (both users and folks from System76) on the forums and felt comfortable with their products. Plus with the history of posts on the forum most support problems have either been addressed or have quick turnaround generally by the community.

Also having a tie to Ubuntu Forums for me kinda validated System76 when I didn't know much about them or ZaReason. I've read-up more on ZaReason and I would buy from them if need be, but I like the relationship I've built with System76 and the community of users on the Ubuntu Forums so my next system will probably be from System76 as well.

Sam

[Delvien]

Yeah, I always heard and read that SSDs were best for netbooks considering how you're usually more mobile with them, and it helps with the battery life. I guess the SSDs didn't sell as well. People just see it as less memory for more money, and so they can't justify spending that much more. My Teo I'm getting with an 80gb SSD, and an extra gig of RAM (also carrying case, and a new flash drive while I'm at it (My old one is having issues with how the plug slides out which causes connection issues)) will be around $600-$700, which to me isn't a bad price compared to the ones I've seen, and it comes with Ubuntu pre installed and optimized.

For a netbook, that's WAAAAYYY too expensive.

Ebay = better option. Save you 300-400 bucks that way.

[Sporkman]

Does ZaReason design their own hardware like System76, or do they re-brand existing builds? (Or rather, to what extent does either System76 or ZaReason design their own hardware?)

I like the idea of hardware designed with Ubuntu linux in mind...

[cascade9]

AFAIK, neither system76 or zareason 'design' their own hardware. Specing the pasts is a close as they get.

The desktops are off the shelf parts, and the laptops are sourced from hardware manufacurers (eg- the serval profesional was a clevo m860tu, at least the old models were. No idea on the newer models....)

[forrestcupp]

I asked Best Buy, and other places, and they always told me they would charge extra with their "Geek Squad", or whatever. I can't wait to get it!

That's awesome. But you can't really blame a giant corporation like Best Buy for not being able to be as flexible as a small computer company.

[msrinath80]

I've wondered the same thing. One reason I went with System76 was because I got to know the folks (both users and folks from System76) on the forums and felt comfortable with their products. Plus with the history of posts on the forum most support problems have either been addressed or have quick turnaround generally by the community.

Also having a tie to Ubuntu Forums for me kinda validated System76 when I didn't know much about them or ZaReason. I've read-up more on ZaReason and I would buy from them if need be, but I like the relationship I've built with System76 and the community of users on the Ubuntu Forums so my next system will probably be from System76 as well.

Sam

I totally agree. In fact, the first time I make a radical move to buy a laptop from a manufacturer who isn't among the corporate ones (like Sony, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba etc.) I would be a little apprehensive. But the experience of the community with System76 as evidenced by the threads in their sub-forum gave me all the confidence I needed. Either way, Please note that this is far from saying Zareason is bad or anything even close to that. It's just a matter of personal risk when you make a bold venture to get a laptop from a non-conventional supplier, and therefore it helps to know they can be trusted :)

[MasterNetra]

For a netbook, that's WAAAAYYY too expensive.

Ebay = better option. Save you 300-400 bucks that way.

Price wise maybe, but better chance of receiving crappy pirated crap, and there are ways, I've, heard, that people can jack up their ratings. Got to be really careful with ebay.

[Finalfantasykid]

Next time I get a computer, it will almost certainly be from ZaReason. Their computers are beautiful, and from what I have heard are built using very good hardware(not just spec wise, but well built), and will last.

[Legendary_Bibo]

For a netbook, that's WAAAAYYY too expensive.

Ebay = better option. Save you 300-400 bucks that way.

I got a $1000 grant though. :D

After this, buying the Playstation Move, and a few games with the money I'm making at my job is going towards Christmas presents for the family. Blu Ray Player for Dad, Kindle for my brother, and some cool gadget for my mom.

[3rdalbum]

what happened to the 8 gb ssd options and $250-300 netbooks? :(

with these ancient moving part hard drives and prices, netbooks are getting crummier and more expensive over time.

The 8 gig SSDs were absolutely, shockingly terrible. Running even a couple of post-release updates for Ubuntu would take hours simply due to the ridiculous latency on those drives. Bootup was quick but login was slow, up to a minute alone for login.

I offloaded my 8 gig netbook to my girlfriend and bought a new one with a 160 gig HDD. The battery lasts longer and the disk speed is MUCH better.

Bigger capacity SSDs are much better because their controllers and memory technology are more modern; but they are a bit expensive to put into netbooks.

The HDD is a bit more expensive than the cheapo SSD, and netbooks now come with 1 gig of RAM instead of 512mb; but they also come with Windows and this probably causes the majority of the price hike.

[Legendary_Bibo]

The 8 gig SSDs were absolutely, shockingly terrible. Running even a couple of post-release updates for Ubuntu would take hours simply due to the ridiculous latency on those drives. Bootup was quick but login was slow, up to a minute alone for login.

I offloaded my 8 gig netbook to my girlfriend and bought a new one with a 160 gig HDD. The battery lasts longer and the disk speed is MUCH better.

Bigger capacity SSDs are much better because their controllers and memory technology are more modern; but they are a bit expensive to put into netbooks.

The HDD is a bit more expensive than the cheapo SSD, and netbooks now come with 1 gig of RAM instead of 512mb; but they also come with Windows and this probably causes the majority of the price hike.

Besides the processor (I don't know how an Atom compares to other processors) I think I'll have a pretty fast netbook. I'm just waiting for my check and for ZaReason to update their site. I noticed they moved the laptop case bag drop down menu to the top, but that's pretty much it. I'm going to have 2gb of RAM, an 80gb SSD, and a six cell battery with Ubuntu (I heard Compiz doesn't play nice with UNE). I just want the thing to boot up quickly like my laptop, and have eye candy.

[inobe]

what happened to the 8 gb ssd options and $250-300 netbooks? :(

with these ancient moving part hard drives and prices, netbooks are getting crummier and more expensive over time.

not that this is specific to zareason, of course.

it's to bank on till it's ready, 'they are ready'

sort of like one step forward, two steps backward.

what's most annoying is they think no one can see the anti transition taking place.

but of course these mechanical hard drives must triple in price before they become useless.

[earthpigg]

The 8 gig SSDs were absolutely, shockingly terrible. Running even a couple of post-release updates for Ubuntu would take hours simply due to the ridiculous latency on those drives. Bootup was quick but login was slow, up to a minute alone for login.

I offloaded my 8 gig netbook to my girlfriend and bought a new one with a 160 gig HDD. The battery lasts longer and the disk speed is MUCH better.

Bigger capacity SSDs are much better because their controllers and memory technology are more modern; but they are a bit expensive to put into netbooks.

The HDD is a bit more expensive than the cheapo SSD, and netbooks now come with 1 gig of RAM instead of 512mb; but they also come with Windows and this probably causes the majority of the price hike.

this was not my experience at all. i cannot relate to any of this.

my Dell Mini 9, with an 8gb ssd, boots to desktop in something like 20 seconds if i turn off the login screen (not using stock ubuntu, obviously, as that would be silly).


Running even a couple of post-release updates for Ubuntu would take hours simply due to the ridiculous latency on those drives.

this, especially, i have no idea how to respond to. either you are a liar, you have a defective unit, or (most likely) you freshly installed a release 5 months after it was released and took all the updates at once.

[3rdalbum]

this was not my experience at all. i cannot relate to any of this.

my Dell Mini 9, with an 8gb ssd, boots to desktop in something like 20 seconds if i turn off the login screen (not using stock ubuntu, obviously, as that would be silly).



this, especially, i have no idea how to respond to. either you are a liar, you have a defective unit, or (most likely) you freshly installed a release 5 months after it was released and took all the updates at once.

The Dell Mini 9 post-dates my Aspire One - SSDs get slower over time, and I was running development versions of Ubuntu qnd updating every day. So yours probably didn't get as much use as mine.

I am definitely not a liar, and I don't believe the computer was faulty. Booting is fast, login is slow, and even small updates took ages to actually apply (the System Monitor applets shows I/O Wait for up to 9 seconds while the disk light is on, seemingly without any data being written.

Maybe the Mini 9 has a better SSD... but I still can't believe that they are preferable to HDDs when you are talking about small capacity, low prices models.

[neu5eeCh]

I've wondered the same thing. One reason I went with System76 was because I got to know the folks (both users and folks from System76) on the forums and felt comfortable with their products....
Sam

Sam, I know this is totally off-topic, but I love your gravatar.

Ladies and Gentleman, I still own my TRS-80 pocket computer. It's fully functional and I still program with it. It's one of *the best* pieces of technology I ever bought.