About Netbooks.

[Touti]

I need to replace my Mom's Laptop.  I'm thinking of giving her mine and getting myself a Netbook instead.  Does anyone here own one of those ?   How do you like it ?

[Najemikon]

Well, I don't know about prices in your neck of the woods, but I wouldn't fancy them. This BBC report from only the other day sums up how I've looked at them for a while. There was a time I was seriously considering one... BBC: Technology changes 'outstrip' netbooks

[RossRoy]

I have an Asus eeePC 900, and while the form factor is fun because it's really small and lightweight, I have to say it's crap. It's slow as hell mostly because of the SSD. The keyboard is quite a but cramped if you are going to do any decent amount of typing. The 10" screen is a bit small and the native resolution of 1024x600 is lacking.

Do yourself a favor, if you want something small and lightweight, get a normal 13" laptop.

You'll thank me later.

[snowcat]

I was considering getting a netbook but I was told in two shops I would be better off with a smaller laptop. Netbooks are ok, but are notoriously slow.

I agree with Sébastien get a small laptop!

[Touti]

I'm really confused now.  I wanted a Netbook for 3 reasons

1: Battery Life
2: Lightweight and easy to take with me when I go on the road
3: Something I can mount into my truck but that wouldn't take up too much spage.

and I'm really only gonna use it for email and internet surfing.  The problem with Laptop is I haven't seen one yet that can go on for more than 2.5 to 3 hours without a recharge, that's really a problem.  I hear the netbooks with a 6 cell batteries can go up to 10 hours, even more if you run Linux instead of windows.

But you're all making me think again now....................am I gonna spend 400$ on it only to regret it ?

[Touti]

Oh......and budget was also an issue which brings me to another question if I were to go with a 13" Laptop.  Would you trust low priced machines like MSI, Gateway and EMachine ?

How they these guys offer computers having more stuff than the big names and yet be half the price ?  There's got to be a catch somewhere.

[snowcat]

I currently have a 14inch Medion laptop... its not a very good make but all I use it for is word processing and the internet.... it works fine for what I want it to... its pretty fast too, and ive had it for two years.


It cost me about £250 I believe when I got it new.

[Najemikon]

Eric, it sounds like a Netbook would be just right for you as ease of use would outweigh the performance and feature hit, but my problem is justifying the cost against those hits.

So far as those brands go, MSI are trustworthy as they are a major hardware manufacturer of motherboards and graphics. Gateway have had ups and downs, but have been going some years. I always recommend with laptops that people go for mid-range, because entry level can be low-quality, but top-end are untested. The mid-range are usually popular models that have proved themselves. It's worth checking the cost of upgrades; put a better drive and memory in and you'll impact on battery life, but remember 2.5 hours must be at constant use. Basic web-browsing without using the hard and optical drives so much would surely be more. Plus, if you're mounting it in a vehicle you can use portable 12v chargers I would think.

E-Machines I'm less familiar with, but don't be concerned that you aren't including the Big Names like HP and Dell. While they are the frontrunners, there is also a lot of crap included you don't need and they release their fair share of unreliable models.

Emma gives a good example with Medion. I wouldn't touch 'em with a barge pole! Yet she's had no problems for two years and you can't argue with that.

[Touti]

I checked the specs on the Asus eeepc 900.  Good god no surprise you're not satisfied Seb, I don't know if they were all the same when you bought yours but today's Netbooks are very different.  The ones I'm looking have hard disk ranging in size from 160 to 250 gb, they have a 1.6 Ghz processor with 512 kb of L2 cache and a 667 Mhz bus.  They must fly compared to yours.

I have a Laptop here which I never use in the home and never take with me because it's too big and the batteries don't last.  I did however checked for 13" Laptops after Seb's suggestion which was smart............good grief they're more expensive than at 15.6" one. 

[RossRoy]

At the time I bought my 900, it was the best available model. What I didn't know was that a newer, spiffier model was coming out just mere weeks later. 

My boss bought an MSI (I don't know which model), and he has a hard drive in there (160GB), and his flys compared to mine, but I still find it a bit slow.

One of my client was looking for a small laptop. She was looking at netbooks, and I suggested she look for small regular laptop. She ended up buying a 13" Dell laptop, and she's been happy with it. But price wasn't an issue for her at all, it was really all form factor and portability.

[Touti]

There comes a time in life where one must make a man of his wallet and make a decision.  After reviewing the options I decided to go with the Netbook.  This is the one I ordered.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220551

[Najemikon]

Looks good, Eric! Good for you...

[Touti]

Thanks Jon.

I don't think I'll be disappointed.  I'm fully aware that will in no way run as fast as a "normal" computer and it's not what I ask of it.  I am however convinced that, has you so mentioned yourself, the form factor, the weight and the battery life will outweigh the low speed many times.

And since the only program I use that needs windows is my mapping/navigation/gps'ing program I was thinking maybe I could set it in dual boot and have Linux on it.  Surely Linus would be faster than Windows for doing emails and internet browsing and also probably less hungry on power.

[DJ Doena]

I also thought about buying a netbook for when I travel with tha train and am not in the mood for a book. But the missing DVD drive always stopped me even though I have enough material on AVI from a source that shall remain unnamed.

Maybe one day it will be a spur of the moment purchase just like most things I buy.

[snowcat]

That's another reason I went for a laptop, I needed a disc drive.. before I had my portable DVD player I used to watch DVDs on it all the time.