Anyone here have a netbook? Minilaptops itt ->

[EtUL]

Been looking at some netbooks as I'm happy with my desktop and a high end laptop would be a waste for what I'd use it for, mainly a larger PMP and a internet machine. I was just wondering if anyone here has had any experience with them, as I seem to be sitting right on the fence atm among the ones I've looked at. Some are weak in things like memory (dell minis) while others lack simple things like external speakers. Even if they're shite I'd like the option to not use headphones, y'know?

So anyone here have themselves a little laptop?

[Doombrain]

it's OK for travel with G3 and you could work from one, but you wouldn't want to for more than a few hours.

[mjrpes]

Netbooks are great. You can good deals from the Dell outlet store. I bought one recently for $230 (Windows version) using a 20% off coupon from slickdeals...

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread ... &t=1149809

[Grudge]

I've got an EeePC 901. Works great for me. Make sure you get one with a 6 cell battery.

[EtUL]

I'll have to keep an eye on slickdeals, at that cheap it'd be hard not to.

I'm still hesitant tho, I really want external speakers but a few things about the dell turn me off. 4hrs battery seems pretty shit as far as these go, and on that slickdeals 230 dollar mini9 it only has the 8gb drive, which from what I read leaves you ~2gb free space. Of course I plan on supplementing it anyway with a flash card, but still.

A few hundred mini9's in the refurb'd section kind of makes me uneasy too. Hopefully they fell off a truck and weren't just returned for being shitty, lol.

[Chupacabra]

asus and some others have a keyboard too small that gets annoying. the best ive seen is the samsung netbook.

[unarmed]

I have an eee pc 1000h. If you decide to get a netbook make sure you get a 6 cell battery. If you want to save a few bucks, look for one with a hd instead of a ssd. The ssd's that they come with are generally worse then the hd counterpart anyways.

[obsidian]

I have the Aspire One. Works great, had it since September, brought it with me on vacation to China so I could dump ~30GB of photos onto it. Running Windows XP and Ubuntu on it. Thinking of seeing how Windows 7 runs on it but have been too lazy to install it.

Performance on most netbooks are going to be about the same since they house the same processors and screen resolutions. What you are going to be comparing are some of the extras like 3G, Bluetooth, webcam, USB/memory readers, etc. IMO, the larger screens in the 10" varieties are not really worth it since they are more expensive and still the same resolution. Keyboard size and layout is going to be important since some netbooks (like the smaller EeePC's and MSI Wind) are really hard to type on. Performance for most of these budget SSDs that they put in these machines generally suck so I chose to go with the traditional HDD (and having something to dump photos on for previews on location is great).

I've toyed around with quite a few of them, the Asus EeePC, HP Mini, Dell Mini9, MSI Wind and the Aspire One. Some of these netbooks like the HP are really pricing themselves out of the game since the whole point is for something extremely small and cheap, but with some of these nearing $600 with all the bells and whistles, you're getting into normal laptop categories. So I went with the Aspire since it's one of the cheapest ones and the keyboard wasn't too annoying to type on.

[EtUL]

Yeah some like the samsung 10" look tempting, but with a coupon code I just found a black mini9 with the 16gb hdd, xp, 1gig of memory and BT for 280 shipped.

The samsung looked nice from the hdd and battery life view, while also being slightly bigger, but its nearly 200 bucks more.

I just keep refreshing my cart right now at dell while i'm debating.

[unarmed]

The reason I went with the eeepc 1000 is because the larger screen allowed for a larger keyboard. The keyboard size is just right. Anything smaller would be hard to get used to.

[EtUL]

Yeah that is a definite neg with the dell, in fact I read they moved the ' key which would take getting used to, but once again the cost is making it hard. Just gotta remember to keep refreshing that page as I look cause I was lucky enough to find the exact dell i'd build.

[4days]

fixed a friend of a friend's sony vaio z series the other day (HD probs). nice to look at, but what a shitty little machine.

[EtUL]

Well fuck it, went ahead and ordered the dell. We'll see how it is, if it sucks ass there's always the 21 day return policy. Refurb'd plus a coupon got me it for 280 before tax, a new one built the same is 434 so not too bad. We'll see how it is monday or so.

(edit) well later if it takes them 5 days to ship out an already made machine like they say.

[Dr_Watson]

The reason I went with the eeepc 1000 is because the larger screen allowed for a larger keyboard. The keyboard size is just right. Anything smaller would be hard to get used to.

i used someone's eeeeeeeeeeeepc in a class once to see how it was, and I totally agree. the keyboard is every bit as usable as any laptop, but any smaller and you mind as well just get an iPod touch.

[EtUL]

The reason I went with the eeepc 1000 is because the larger screen allowed for a larger keyboard. The keyboard size is just right. Anything smaller would be hard to get used to.

i used someone's eeeeeeeeeeeepc in a class once to see how it was, and I totally agree. the keyboard is every bit as usable as any laptop, but any smaller and you mind as well just get an iPod touch.

I already have an archos 605 which is comparable. some things it lacks, but some things it beats the ipod in.

really tho, after I got the dvr station for it which lets me record tv and also play anything on the archos, plus whatever i had shared on the network, on the tv or my projector, i didn't really have a need for it other than a music player.

[unarmed]

I've heard some good things about the dell. All the netbooks basically have the same hardware in them so all you have to worry about is the build quality.

[Ryoki]

I got one of those Acer minilaptops. I'm pretty happy with it - even though i can't really do anything other than write / email / surf on it. The little keyboard takes only a short time to get used to, imo.

[mjrpes]

I haven't had any trouble with the dell keyboard. It takes a little time to get used to but as long as your fingers aren't sausages you shouldn't have trouble. It's MUCH better than the 1st generation EEE laptop I got.

[EtUL]

Yep, posting on it now. Neat little guy but it'll take a bit of getting used to. The ' next t0 the left arrow is a bit weird, I may try to program the ; key to it.

[Foo]

Can anyone recommend a netbook with a reasonable (i.e. bigger than 8.9") screen and integrated 3G modem?

I've got an HP nc4010 at the moment with a dock and all that business, but I'm gifting that to my dad, and I'll be off travelling in a months time or so (NZ, scotland, anywhere else I can afford until I run out of cash) so something I can use for that would be great...

I'd like one that can output 1080 but this is absolutely not essential. Just a nice-to-have.
WinXP only none of this Linux twaddle. Fair play to the neckbeards but I'd like something that'll work with all my other shit and not sit in a corner like a backwards third cousin.

[Giraffe }{unter]

The reason I went with the eeepc 1000 is because the larger screen allowed for a larger keyboard. The keyboard size is just right. Anything smaller would be hard to get used to.

i used someone's eeeeeeeeeeeepc in a class once to see how it was, and I totally agree. the keyboard is every bit as usable as any laptop, but any smaller and you mind as well just get an iPod touch.[/quote]

I already have an archos 605 which is comparable. some things it lacks, but some things it beats the ipod in.

really tho, after I got the dvr station for it which lets me record tv and also play anything on the archos, plus whatever i had shared on the network, on the tv or my projector, i didn't really have a need for it other than a music player.[/quote]

Now that you got your notebook I guess it's safe to jump off topic...

What do you think of the Archos? I'm looking for something for traveling especially now with the little one. I don't want to carry a portable DVD player and DVDs considering all my media is ripped upon purchase and stored on my network,

WHat's the battery life like with video? My travel times are usually 6 - 8 hours