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08-22-2009, 04:24 PM
|  | Supporting Curmudgeon Moderator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Suburban Chicago, IL | | | Do you have a Netbook? Which one? D'ya like it?
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We bought SWMBO an HP 1030NR netbook back in the spring and really like it. Now I'm looking for one for myself for personal and business travel use. My old Toshiba Tecra is on its last legs.
A netbook would work well for me - most of what I do is web browsing or VPNing to the office using Remote Desktop. I don't need super processing power, I don't game or crunch.
I have $350 in Best Buy gift cards in hand (from bank loyalty points), and I'm narrowing down what I'm looking at. I expect there will be decent sales at Best Buy for Labor Day.
I have a specific one in sight but I'm trying to keep an open mind and check them all out - I tend to keep stuff like this until it falls apart, I don't buy bleeding edge tech so I need to buy smart. One crucial thing for me is durability - the two HPs on the list below have aluminum/magnesium chassis and covers. The other two are plastic, but better than most.
Ones I'm considering now in order of desirability:
* HP 4120 - great, but $$$. Has Vista Biz/XP Pro.
* HP 5101 - successor to the 4120, I don't like it as much but it's almost $200 cheaper. Only has XP Home.
* Acer Aspire One D250 - pretty solid for a plastic machine, long battery life and Bluetooth.
* Toshiba NB205-N210 - not bad, nice keyboard but kinda flimsy.
So, if you have a netbook - comments please!
__________________
Ken
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.
As I cuddled the porcupine he said I had none to blame, but me. |
08-22-2009, 04:39 PM
|  | I fling carrots | | Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Make a left at the Taco Bell | | | I have the Aspire One (bought it from a fellow TB brother), and I absolutely love it. I've never tinkered with any others, so I cannot compare, however.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by MatticusMania  Strange to say it... but Perry is a man who understands. | Quote:
Originally Posted by macaroni tony Back in the day, I thought I was hard. I think we all know I was pretty much lying to myself  | |
08-22-2009, 04:50 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: New Jersey | | We bought a pair of Asus netbooks from Target about a year or so ago. I love it! For what I use it for, it's perfect -- mainly surfing, downloading email, youtubing (ocassionally), and reading this forum. It is light, fast (runs linux), all solid-state (flash hard drive), sturdy (has taken some hard falls), and small enough to tote around anywhere. The office programs that came with it are MS compatible, but I don't use it for work much, sometimes just some document reviews or online research. We also have several MS-loaded laptops and desktops (Win2K, XP, Vista) and most recently an Apple desktop, but I use the Asus most for my casual computing. |
08-22-2009, 10:22 PM
|  | No need to ask, he's a smooth... Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: West Midlands UK | | | Samsung NC-10 running XP here. It's the only one I have experience with myself, but it's a great machine; just as good as a decent laptop, really, but without the optical drive because of space considerations.
We just bought about 60 of these machines at work. Although it's not on your list, I would definitely check out the reviews online before spending your dough - they're all pretty positive. Battery life is nothing short of amazing.
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Originally Posted by SBassman | |
08-23-2009, 12:00 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Side SA | | | thinking about getting one, too...
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"The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear"
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08-23-2009, 04:18 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: NET | | I got an Acer Aspire One (120Gb HDD, running XP) about a year ago and have been using it every day. It really is a most convenient little thing, and has given me no trouble at all. I put in this tiny utility to make the keys click, which makes typing easier.
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08-23-2009, 08:58 AM
| | I fling carrots | | Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Make a left at the Taco Bell | | Quote:
Originally Posted by cdef ...I put in this tiny utility to make the keys click, which makes typing easier. | This is pretty neat.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by MatticusMania Strange to say it... but Perry is a man who understands. | Quote:
Originally Posted by macaroni tony Back in the day, I thought I was hard. I think we all know I was pretty much lying to myself | |
08-23-2009, 09:02 AM
| | I fling carrots | | Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Make a left at the Taco Bell | | Quote:
Originally Posted by cdef I got an Acer Aspire One (120Gb HDD, running XP)... | This is mine too. I considered getting one with a smaller flash-based drive, but adequate storage space for my data was important to me.
I will say that this Acer machine has been very durable. I tend to use it to surf while laying in bed. There's more than a few times I've accidentally dozed off and had it fall out of bed, with no ill-effects. The other night, I fell asleep and it somehow got wrapped up in the blankets. It was ridiculously hot when I woke, but continued to work flawlessly.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by MatticusMania Strange to say it... but Perry is a man who understands. | Quote:
Originally Posted by macaroni tony Back in the day, I thought I was hard. I think we all know I was pretty much lying to myself | |
08-23-2009, 09:39 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Side SA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by cdef I put in this tiny utility to make the keys click, which makes typing easier. | I listen to Steve Gibson's podcast all the time.
__________________
"The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear"
Mark Wilson is the greatest
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08-23-2009, 10:16 AM
|  | Registered User
Endorsing Artist: see profile | | Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: toms_river.nj.us | | Quote:
Originally Posted by NJL thinking about getting one, too... | Me too...
I'm kinda thinking about this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115577 |
08-23-2009, 10:30 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Side SA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by James Hart | sweet!
i really like Acer, i have a monitor that's been great and very inexpensive, i'm willing to give them a chance for a little netbook.. i got two mac's now i need a newer windows unit and i need to get a cheap used desktop for some Linux flavors, too..
__________________
"The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear"
Mark Wilson is the greatest
|
08-23-2009, 06:33 PM
| | Supporting Curmudgeon Moderator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Suburban Chicago, IL | | | I do like the Acer, but I'm leaning to an HP 5101 at the moment.
__________________
Ken
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.
As I cuddled the porcupine he said I had none to blame, but me. |
08-23-2009, 06:37 PM
| | Supporting Curmudgeon Moderator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Suburban Chicago, IL | | Quote:
Originally Posted by James Hart | From what I'm reading I'd be careful with that one - it uses an older Atom CPU that runs warmer and less efficiently than the newer N270 and N280 CPUs. The one I like is the D250 - it seems like a nice, solid machine.
I like the Dell Mini 10, too except for the fact that the RAM isn't upgradeable.
__________________
Ken
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.
As I cuddled the porcupine he said I had none to blame, but me. |
08-23-2009, 07:03 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Edinburgh & Dundee, Scotland | | | I have an acer aspire one.
Tho I do wish I had XP instead of the linux one !
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EB Musicman/Ibanez/Ampeg/Peavey/Marshall/Tech 21
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08-23-2009, 07:45 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Side SA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk I have an acer aspire one.
Tho I do wish I had XP instead of the linux one ! | what flavor of linux are you running on it??
__________________
"The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear"
Mark Wilson is the greatest
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08-23-2009, 08:52 PM
| | Registered User
Endorsing Artist: see profile | | Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: toms_river.nj.us | | Quote:
Originally Posted by HeavyDuty From what I'm reading I'd be careful with that one - it uses an older Atom CPU that runs warmer and less efficiently than the newer N270 and N280 CPUs. The one I like is the D250 - it seems like a nice, solid machine.
I like the Dell Mini 10, too except for the fact that the RAM isn't upgradeable. | The Z series is a little slower... but high res is most important for me. With 2gb of ram and 1366 x 768 resolution on a 11.6" screen makes it the perfect interwebz viewer.
The Mini 10v from Dell is interesting... it'll run Mac OSX pretty well (I know a couple guys doing it). Personally, I'm glad to be getting an XP machine with the big screen Acer. |
08-24-2009, 06:16 AM
| | Supporting Curmudgeon Moderator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Suburban Chicago, IL | | | The whole XP thing has me concerned. Most netbooks I'm looking at come with XP Home which I've never used. For about $100 I can upgrade to XP Pro, I'm trying to decide if that's beneficial. I'm worried about hogging down the machine - does XP Hoe run "cleaner" with fewer resources?
Sadly the HPs I'm looking at don't qualify for the free Win7 upgrade...
__________________
Ken
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.
As I cuddled the porcupine he said I had none to blame, but me. |
08-24-2009, 07:17 AM
| | Registered User
Endorsing Artist: see profile | | Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: toms_river.nj.us | | | Actually I just found realized only one version of the 'blue' 751h comes with XP pro. The red one I want is exact hardware wise but ships with Vista. I plan to upgrade it to a 7200 rpm hard drive as soon as I get it, so I'll just install my own copy of XP pro. |
08-24-2009, 07:18 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Edinburgh & Dundee, Scotland | | Quote:
Originally Posted by NJL what flavor of linux are you running on it?? | "Linpus"
Im just not used to linux tho. Quote:
Originally Posted by HeavyDuty The whole XP thing has me concerned. Most netbooks I'm looking at come with XP Home which I've never used. For about $100 I can upgrade to XP Pro, I'm trying to decide if that's beneficial. I'm worried about hogging down the machine - does XP Hoe run "cleaner" with fewer resources?
Sadly the HPs I'm looking at don't qualify for the free Win7 upgrade... | There isnt much in the way of differences between XP home and pro, not with day to day use anyways. My PC has XP Pro, my folks PC and laptop have XP home. Other than when tinkering (even then it isnt a huge difference), there isnt a difference.
__________________
EB Musicman/Ibanez/Ampeg/Peavey/Marshall/Tech 21
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08-24-2009, 07:20 AM
| | No need to ask, he's a smooth... Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: West Midlands UK | | I have XP Pro on one of my machines and home on another - I don't notice any real difference for day-to-day stuff. The machines network together fine.
Don't forget to check out the Samsung netbooks, Ken!  http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/lapto...1/samsung-nc10
"It can't boast the supermodel allure of Asus' Eee PC S101, sure, but with seven-hour battery life, great ergonomics and a much more sensible price tag, the NC10 sets the golden standard to which all netbooks must now aspire."
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