Best Netbook for Ubuntu

[CaptinGoogle]

There was is an older thread of this that was posted back in 2008: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1006177

But since computer technology gets better even in the passing of one year I thought of making a re-post.

So here I ask the Ubuntu Community what have you found to work best for you? What I really look for is something with an Ubuntu friendly video card; namely because I really want the graphics to be sleek and smooth. Other things I find important are a small screen size and long battery life.

[Gawains Green Knight]

I like my eee, everything works but battery life is nothing special. I just put linux mint LXDE on it and it runs great.

[krapp]

I love my Eee PC. Get it with a dual core Atom and it'll run at a brisk pace. It's small, light, quiet, cool, energy efficient, and 100% Debian and Ubuntu compatible (from personal experience). However, flash and video playback can be slow at times. I don't know about DVD playback as it doesn't have an optical drive.

[Copper Bezel]

I'll third the Eee, and no problems with DVD playback here. I have an Eee S101 that I've been running for the past year and a half, and it's simply the best device I've ever had. Dependable, durable, and pretty.

Flash still stutters occasionally, but generally not if you're on AC and not actively doing anything else, and I'll still run a video in half-screen while I'm doing something else without too much lag.

Aside from installing Eee Control for the ACPI scripting, I haven't had to tweak anything to my hardware. Suspend and resume used to kill the WiFi card, but there was a simple fix and I found it wasn't needed under 10.10+.

Graphics are smooth as hell. It's quite insane - desktop effects are prettier and quicker than any netbook's have any right to be. As of 11.04, I don't experience any audio hiccups, either.

My Enlantech trackpad is a dream under the Synaptics drivers, but I don't think it's fully supported in Oneiric (I lost the three-finger-tap gesture trying the 3.0 kernel, and drags were extremely fidgety.)

[drawkcab]

Asus eeepc x101 or Lenovo x120e

[Nytram]

I have an eee 1005ha and all the hardware works great, no problems watching videos and about 6 hours battery life on Linux.

[makitso]

I have a Gateway LT31. I would not suggest it for Ubuntu since it has the ATI graphics card and that has caused nothing but problems. Only a hack allows 11.10 to work reasonably.

[koleoptero]

I would wait for a netbook with the new atom cpus that were released recently. The old ones were not powerful enough to even play HD video.

I wouldn't go for higher spec netbooks either since they tend to suffer in terms of battery life.

[azangru]

Does Lenovo X220 count as a netbook? :D I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with Linux on it - it looks real nice.

[snowpine]

CaptinGoogle, have you seen this list?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks

[pokerbirch]

I bought a Toshiba NB-100 a few years ago. Came pre-installed with Ubuntu NBR and never had any problems. Have recently upgraded it to Mint 11 and had no issues.

[CaptinGoogle]

Thank you very much for that link, I found it to be very informative. I have decided to go with the Asus Eee PC 1011PX. I found a page on the Ubuntu website that said it was certified to work with Ubuntu 32-bit, which is enough to strike confidence in me.

http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/hardware/201101-6992:201103-7454

Once I purchase it I'll re-post with my findings.

Thank you all for the suggestions.

[flyfishingphil]

CaptinGoogle, have you seen this list?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks

Great reference to determine what go get! Thinking about getting one for my business based on ability, size and weight. This covers just about everything you can think of.

Thanks for the heads up info.

[SeijiSensei]

I'd be curious to hear how well it plays 720p/1080p content. This review (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-3150.23264.0.html) of its graphics card, the Intel 3150, doesn't sound promising.

"Therefore, the performance of the [Atom] N450 and N470 with GMA 3150 is currently not sufficient to watch H.264 encoded HD videos with a higher resolution than 720p. HD flash videos (e.g. from youtube) are also not running fluently on the Atom CPUs."

If it can run 720p effectively, that's probably sufficient given its maximum resolution of 1024x600 unless you intend to connect it to an external monitor or HDTV.

[drawkcab]

If it can run 720p effectively, that's probably sufficient given its maximum resolution of 1024x600 unless you intend to connect it to an external monitor or HDTV.

I am a bit disappointed that my atom ion nettop doesn't run 1080p video. On the other hand, I'm averse to downloading a 7-10 gb file when I want to watch a movie anyway so 720p is good enough.

If you want superior video performance you should look at the AMD E350 platform rather than the atom series.

[meh_phistopheles]

My personal opinion on this matter is against netbooks. I've had an eee pc 1005ha since last summer that I used as my main computer until last week when the screen broke. In terms of why the screen broke, I think that is most likely attributable to the fact that I walk everywhere, and I have a bag that hangs at my hip and is constantly bouncing off my body. Though I think Asus deserves at least some blame for making a computer that only lasted a year.

But that's besides the point. I could easily replace my screen or see if just a wire is loose or something, but I have absolutely no desire to. That tiny screen resolution was seriously starting to bug me, and the slow performance wasn't helping the matter. I just pulled my old laptop out from 2006 which, ironically, runs faster than my netbook from 2010.

So my experience is I've owned a netbook, am never going to buy one again, and would not recommend one for anybody. Certainly not as their main computer, which mine was.

If I could go back in time, I would buy a cheap desktop where I think that whole "more advanced technology at cheaper prices" expectation you have is more accurately reflected in the finished product. Buying a netbook is like going back in time 4 years, performance wise.

[ranjank]

I own a Samsung NC108-A4IN. Ubuntu works perfectly in it. But for some reasons using Elementary OS on it.

[Stovey]

I've been using a netbook as my main (only) computer for over 2 years, and I like it alot. At home it is plugged into a 19" monitor, when I travel it is very convenient.

It's an Acer Aspire 1810T running on 11.10 64 bit. No problems that I have noticed, in fact it seems quick to me.

[snowpine]

I've been using a netbook (Asus 900ha with Scientific Linux) as my only computer while I am in the process of moving. You don't need the latest & greatest hardware to surf the web and word process.

[Primefalcon]

I got an 900ha eeepc and everything works 100% straight out of the box, no extradrivers or anything needed

[BrokenKingpin]

I have an Acer Aspire One and it works great with Ubuntu, and they are pretty cheap compared to some other netbooks.

There is currently an issue in the Kernel that affects a large number of netbook touchpads (including some Aspire One models), so before buying a netbook I would check to see that this is not an issue on that model.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/737051

There is a workaround mentioned in that bug report, but it is not a full solution. Hopefully this gets fixed sometime soon.

[a2j]

yep, asus eee pc

[wolfen69]

I have an Acer Aspire One and it works great with Ubuntu, and they are pretty cheap compared to some other netbooks.


I have the same one and got it for $200 at Target. But after upgrading the memory, hard drive(60gb ssd), Crystal HD card, and accessories, I'm into it at about $400 now. But it runs Lubuntu like it was made for it.

[krapp]

My personal opinion on this matter is against netbooks. I've had an eee pc 1005ha since last summer that I used as my main computer until last week when the screen broke. In terms of why the screen broke, I think that is most likely attributable to the fact that I walk everywhere, and I have a bag that hangs at my hip and is constantly bouncing off my body. Though I think Asus deserves at least some blame for making a computer that only lasted a year.

But that's besides the point. I could easily replace my screen or see if just a wire is loose or something, but I have absolutely no desire to. That tiny screen resolution was seriously starting to bug me, and the slow performance wasn't helping the matter. I just pulled my old laptop out from 2006 which, ironically, runs faster than my netbook from 2010.

So my experience is I've owned a netbook, am never going to buy one again, and would not recommend one for anybody. Certainly not as their main computer, which mine was.

If I could go back in time, I would buy a cheap desktop where I think that whole "more advanced technology at cheaper prices" expectation you have is more accurately reflected in the finished product. Buying a netbook is like going back in time 4 years, performance wise.

So your complaint is that you broke your netbook?

Also, I don't think anyone suggests that netbooks be your only computer. You aren't supposed to watch movies or play games on a netbook. A cheap desktop (that has an optical drive, for instance) and a netbook is probably the finest combination!

[as2000]

The only issue I have ever had with my eee was the stock wifi card. A quick purchase at New Egg and all is right with the world. The touchpad is a little bit sensitive on 10.04, but I use a wireless mouse with it. I had an Aspire one that worked great until I fried it by blocking the vents.

[meh_phistopheles]

So your complaint is that you broke your netbook?

i think you need to go back and reread my post, because i gave the blame mostly to myself.

to reframe my previous post though, i don't mean to be flaming netbooks, i'm letting the op know about the negative sides to netbooks, in case he/she doesn't know. for example, i didn't know how annoying that non-standard 600 pixel height resolution was going to be until i downloaded a bunch of programs that didn't fit on my screen. people should know about these things before they decide to spend $300+ on something.

[Gawains Green Knight]

Netbooks are awesome. I really love the feel of my old cloudbook. You hold it like a psp, with the mousepad controlled by one thumb and the buttons with the other. Overall the cloudbook was a pain to run linux on, as the hardware wasn't properely supported (don't get me started), but not seen another like it in terms of the mouse configuration....

[Mars11]

My Cr-48 ran Ubuntu perfectly. Though, I guess you can't get those anymore. The retail Chromebooks would probably run it even faster (Dual-Core Atom).

[viperdvman]

I run an Asus EeePC 1015T as my mobile computer. It has the AMD "Nile" V105 and ATI Radeon HD 4250. It runs Ubuntu 11.04 very well, and even runs Ubuntu 11.10 on LiveUSB very well too.

The only problem I've had was with the Catalyst driver that downloads in 11.04 by default (11.4 or 11.5) using Additional Drivers. It runs Compiz very decently, despite a little more lag than the open-source, it runs my anime (avis and mkv's) very smoothly, but it runs Adobe Flash like crap. Watching YouTube videos in even 360p is super choppy with the Catalyst drivers. Now, I haven't tried using something totally different to play online Flash content, nor have I tried the later versions of the Catalyst drivers, so I can't make any definite conclusions.

[Cowchip7]

My Dell mini 9 has been running strong for about 3 years. :P

[CaptinGoogle]

I apologize for taking many months to respond, but school has been rather time consuming for me.

Either way I purchased an Acer Aspire One. To be honest I'm not all that happy with the battery life and getting the microphone to work was a hassle. Also the web camera does not work. I believe the web camera itself is defective and not just an issue with Ubuntu.

Well thank you everyone for responding and making suggestions. Again sorry for responding so late after the fact.