So I might finally bite the bullet and get a netbook.
Im not entirely sure why I want one, other than to replace my brick of a laptop which hardly gets used as it is. I like to tell myself this is because it is old and clunky with a missing key and weighs so much its not really*portable*
So I have two questions for netbook owners:
1: Do you really find it useful, especially if you have a decent desktop PC at home?
2: What do you recommend, are there any really good value for money deals/units out there at the moment?
Get any with a resolution higher than 1024x600. Its very very very restrictive.
Also, if you can get one thats ION based.
Tbh, Subnotebooks are better than Netbooks.
If it has to be a netbook, the EEE 1201N is a worthy contender. But its not cheap.
Thanks, my budget is £200-£300 :D
I wouldnt bother tbh.
I had an MSI Wind U100, and it was a PITA. I now use an old Dell D505. Its just as fast but it has a bigger screen.
Squeeze and extra £20 into your budget.
https://www.simplyasus.com/ASUS_EEE_PC_1201NL_738267.html
Its not got the Dual Core (Just the standard Netbook Atom chip) but it has a decent resolution and ION Graphics.
Im currently posting on a Custom Very-PC Broadleaf with an Atom Processor, and just installing office 2007 you can feel its underpowered compared to the proper dual core Broadleafs Ive been configuring over the last few days. Think long and hard about what you want to do with it.
I love my HP Compaq 311c (1101SA).
£300 - Single core Atom, ION, 1366 x 768.
I stuck an extra 2gb Dim in it to bring it upto 3gb and a clean stripped out version of XP.
Plays 1080HD Video perfectly at about 8% CPU due to the ION (MPC-HC) and can happily play on big screen via HDMI.
4-5 hours battery life with just standard use, dim screen. 3 hours when watching 720p Video with quite high brightness (on XP). Some people have been reporting 6 hours but Im always running on wireless with screen brightness on medium.
Interesting stuff. Im still undecided on it. Main uses would be:
Connecting to my microscope to control the video camera when Im using it
When I go off on various trips/fieldwork being able to transfer pictures from my camera to free up space and using a 3G PAYG dongle sorting out emails and whatnot.
Thats pretty much it, as I know I wouldnt be able to run photoshop or anything like that on it. I might hold fire for a while longer and see if they make any more advances in the tech that might make them more powerful, as Ive been meaning to get a new xbox for my bedroom with a wireless adapter for ages...anyone know any good xbox elite deals? :D
I love my netbook. I got a Virgin Freedom netbook when they were handing them out free and im massively supprised how cabable it is, its only an Atom with 2Gb ram but its happy running Win7 ultimate, photoshop or (non HD) video.
I love the simplicity of it, its great as a sofa laptop, when you dont need the screen real estate. My main laptop almost never gets used now.
It sounds like youd benefit from hacing one with a longer battery life (mine is about 2 hours which can be annoying when travelling), other than that, £300 should be plenty for a long battery ION netbook, cant think of anything specific right now.
Ive got an Acer One A150 which everyone slated. 150GB HDD, upped it to 1.5GB Ram and stuck Windows 7 on it and its absolutely awesome. Dont know what people dislike about it I take it everwhere and use it for just about everything.
Quote from: soopahflyIf it has to be a netbook, the EEE 1201N is a worthy contender. But its not cheap.
thats not a netbook, its a relatively small laptop thats branded as an EEE.
Anything bigger than the original EEE 700 has missed the point TBH. Theyre not about speed, capacity or screen size, a netbook is about being robust enough and small enough to take anywhere and provide basic connectivity and office apps.
Mine lives in my bedside table so I can watch/listen to iPlayer without having to find enough space to set up my full size lappy. It also fits into the top of my camera kit bag and acts as an image tank and basic editor when Im on holiday.
I can do anything on my EEE901 that I can do on my desktop or lappy, it just takes a little longer and I have to scroll more often.
BTW personally I would avoid the 1201N. I was thinking about waiting for it instead of getting my HP Mini 311c becuase its dual core but battery life is terrible! 2-3 hours compared to 5-6 hours on the single core netbooks.
thats alright for some reason but battery life was important to me.
Another note is the that the much loved Samsung NC10 is on offer at sainsburys for £179.99 - insane 10 hour battery life and quite nippy on XP.
Battery life isnt actually all that important to me to be honest. Sure I would be taking it with me on field work, but its use would be more where Id be stopping for a break/lunch and needing to update some records or send an email etc. It wouldnt be a case where I need it on all day to record differential GPS recordings or anything! As to other uses, I dont camp or use public transport or anything like that so dont anticipate being more than 2 hours away from a power socket :D
Mind you if the difference between a dual and single core is minimal in terms of performance, and substantial in terms of battery life, I wouldnt want a dual either...
Ive got a Wind U135. Latest N450 Atom. No massive speed or performance improvements over the previous N280 Atom CPU, but its got a nice screen, nice keyboard and its light. Last about 3.5-4 hours for general use on the 3-Cell battery.
The winning reason was partially the Screen is good, and partially the chicklet style keys a-la Mac/Sony Vaio. The resolution isnt the best (standard 1-24x600), but its a capable little machine.
http://www.netbooklive.net/best-10-inch-netbooks-at-the-moment-2168/
decide what personally you want me.
My biggest thing was screen resolution, so I got a HP 1000
I use mine in the car & when onsite to read instructions/documentation & surf the web..
hence screen res the deciding factor.
do you know what you want a mini for? maybe hold off & get a slate or ipad?
I had thought about a tablet, but to be honest dont need touch screen. The primary reason is to replace my laptop which is about 5 years old and pretty much the same spec as the netbooks are, but weighs maybe 3x as much and probably has only 10-20 hours of life left before the screen totally dies (It has 3 vertical lines of dead pixels down the right) and is missing a key. The screen was nice though :D
Ive got the dell mini 9, which I mostly just use with my camera, for viewing photos, uploading and controlling the camera.
Its a very good netbook, just the keyboard is a little small. I dont think they make the 9 anymore but the mini 10 is better in terms of keyboard. The screen quality is great on these, the coulours are very good hence going for the Dell.
However a mate has got one of the samsungs and uses it as his every day laptop and he is very pleased with it, the only thing he mentioned was the amount of scrolling he now has to do due the the netbook screen size / resolution.
So Im very happy with the Dell and the Sammys seem to have a lot of good reviews...
Must admit I have been tempted by the samsungs with the 97% fullsize keyboard. But the resolution may be a letdown :/
Quote from: DoomsI love my HP Compaq 311c (1101SA).
I stuck an extra 2gb Dim in it to bring it upto 3gb and a clean stripped out version of XP.
The specs say 1x dimm up to 1gb, Is that a lie or something? Do they just use laptop memory? The ability to upgrade the ram would be a big bonus I guess :D
Microsoft forced all netbook suppliers to state max of 1gb and 160gb HDD when running XP... google around for the details.
The 311 has 1GB onboard (soldered) and an extra slot which you can stuck a 2GB in to bring it upto 3GB :)
Care to elaborate on what you used in yuor extra slot? (Laptop I presume...DDR2? 800mhz? etc?) I just want to get an idea of the additional price. Expansys has the 311C for ~£250 now but I know laptop memory tends to be a bit more than desktop etc. I presume the extra slot is accessible from the back by taking out a few screws?
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=HP%20Mini%20311
2GB
Part #: CT1120856 • DDR3 PC3-10600 • CL=9 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR3-1333 • 1.5V • 256Meg x 64 • • more details
£46.99 - Was only £40 when I brought it in Feb.
Indeed its just 4 screws and a panel on the bottom.
A note about the 311c - The 1000 series (1000, 1010, 1020) are slightly older than the 1100 series (1101SA - mine, 1120 etc) - the only difference is Wireless N.
Hmm, good to know, I didnt know there were different versions (I assumed something like adding wireless N would have caused a bigger naming convention such as 311N etc :/)
Expansys only has the 1010, and as my router at home is N I guess itd be best to opt for a newer version. Any recommendations on good laptop/netbook dealers? I dont mind getting a refurb unit if that saves ££ :D
Quote from: Doomshttp://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=HP%20Mini%20311
2GB
Part #: CT1120856 • DDR3 PC3-10600 • CL=9 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR3-1333 • 1.5V • 256Meg x 64 • • more details
£46.99 - Was only £40 when I brought it in Feb.
Indeed its just 4 screws and a panel on the bottom.
A note about the 311c - The 1000 series (1000, 1010, 1020) are slightly older than the 1100 series (1101SA - mine, 1120 etc) - the only difference is Wireless N.
Whu?! nearly £50 to get 2Gb?! sh*t Im glad this thing Ive got here only has DDR2! I know that one is a beefy machine, but for the price it ships at I would be expecting 2Gb to start off with. Cost me £9 for the extra 1Gb here!
I know, its a bitch and you cant get any accurate information off the HP/Compaq sites as they dont seem to know the spec themselves.
I spent the best part of a month researching these damn ION netbooks before figuring it out (and deciding on the 311).
They havent been out long (4 months?) so refurb Im not sure about.
When I got mine couple months ago E-buyer was cheapest, the 1101SA was £5 less than the 1010 :P
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=311c-1101SA&hl=en&cid=8383742628144290596&sa=title#scoring=p
Heh
Its £17 cheaper than the 1010 on ebuyer now, though they arent the cheapest. I wonder how the prices are calculated, whether the price increase is intentional to make some people think the 1010 is a bit better as its a bit more expensive, to shift the old stock, or whether its just calculated based on stock remaining versus the trade price etc.
Cheers for the help. I think I will be sorting something out this afternoon :D
http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/641480/dell-mini10v-1011-back-at-outlet-sh
Ended up getting a Mini 311c 1101SA and have some ram on the way to up that, and then it is better spec than my old laptop :D
I must admit I am surprised by how well some of these apps run.
Ive already managed to BSOD it once already within 24 hours though ><
Just been working on one of these, thought it might have been interesting.
Seems Im too late though.
http://www.codemicro.com/store/product/BP/D4201200B206/Refurbished
Dell Latitude D420
Latitude, Core Duo 1.2 GHz/2 MB,
FSB 533 MHz, RAM
512 MB,
HD 1x60 GB,
Floppy - None,
Optical Drive -
None, LAN 802.11b, 802.11g, Gig
Modem, 1394,
Win XP Pro, OS License Only, Silver,
TFT 12.1 WXGA (1280 x 800)