Posted: 3/18/2010 9:21:19 PM EDT
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I need one. Something small light weight that I can carry around to do some word processing and check email something I
could hookup to the desk top where most of the work will be done. So Hive educate me one what kind I should get. |
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I've got an ASUS EEE701 that I bought close to two years ago. It's basically a "netbook" that pre-dates the term "netbook".
At the moment, pretty much every netbook out there runs on the same Intel Atom processor and comes with the same 10" screen. For most companies, the only difference between one model and the next is the memory and disk storage. ASUS has a little more variety, offering different screen sizes. For light use, I'd stick to machines with solid state drives instead of hard drives. Generally having to run an electronic motor to spin the HD platters kills battery life compared to most solid-state drives. If you're after portability and will have a full PC to do the heavy lifting/storage, don't worry about the fact that your machine has a small drive. My EEE 701 has a 4GB solid state drive, and that's been enough for web browsing, word processing, and finances. One thing I truely hate about most of the non-ASUS netbooks is the screen size. ASUS was pretty much the original for the budget sub-compact notebooks that we now all call "netbooks". Yeah, Sony and a few others did sub-compact notebooks in the bast, but ASUS was the first to make those in quantity for under $500 instead of Sony's $3400. Anyways, the original ASUS EEE PC's came with 7" screens. ASUS then re-arranged the speakers to get a 8.9" screen fit in the same physical package (I think it increased by around 0.1" in one dimension to get the bigger display...). Other than ASUS, all of the netbooks you see in the US are 10.1" displays. The difference between a 10.1" and a 8.9" netbook is HUGE. 1.2" may not sound like much, but at this scale it's significant. I'm sure if you do some looking on Google you will be able to find a side-by-side picture of a 8.9" vs 10.1" netbook. Personally, my next notebook will probably be either an ASUS EEE 901 or a ASUS EEE T91. The 901 is basically a refined EEE 701. 8.9" screen, Atom processor, 16 gig internal flash drive, and an 8 hour battery life. The EEE T91 is basically a tablet version of the EEE 901 that uses a slightly smaller screen and slower processor, but I'd consider it since I tend to use my netbook as an ebook reader and the tablet form-factor seems ideal for that use without sacrificing the ability to use the netbook as a normal L-shaped laptop. |
| Toshiba has some good models... keyboard keys are individually isolated instead of in one massive set... keyboard is 95% the size of normal keyboards instead of 82% like some others... USB pass through charging means you can charge USB devices when the computer is hibernating... long battery life. |
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Asus are pretty much the original, and still the standard. I have a samsung I absolutely love, it has a better keyboard than the Asus ones and the other features are directly comparable. The SO has a Samsung GO that he's very happy with. He bought it specifically because of the positive comments on the keyboard. Jane |
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Quoted: Asus are pretty much the original, and still the standard. I have a samsung I absolutely love, it has a better keyboard than the Asus ones and the other features are directly comparable. Asus came out with Chicklet style keyboards on their latest generation. My 1000HE has that style and was a big selling point for me. Plus the really long battery life, 8hrs I think. Real happy with mine. |
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I don't know what you plan to do with it, but the standard netbook out now is a single core atom w/ onboard video. There are a couple netbooks out there that have nVidia ION video chips on them, which is a huge improvement over onboard video, but they're the more expensive netbooks right now and if you're just doing internet / email you don't need that. I'm waiting for the 2nd half of 2010, when the next generation netbooks will be coming out with dual core atom CPUs & the nVidia ION2 video chip, that's a decent step up in netbook power. |
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Love my little Acer Aspire One. Does everything I need a portable to do. +1 I bought mine last summer when I rode my KLR to Alaska and back. Traveled well in the panniers and allowed me to keep in contact with home, write my "travel log", check on reservations at campgrounds, find tire repair shops, etc. Stay Safe, AGreyMan |
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Have an Asus EEE PC 1000 series. Has a 10 inch monitor and 1.6 GHZ atom proc with 2 SSD drives (8GB and 32GB), Came with linux and 1GB of memory. I upgraded the memory to 2GB for 20 bucks myself. I bought a 32GB SD card for extra storage (music and movies mostly). I installed XP on it (it comes with an XP driver disk, you provide the XP disc). I love this thing. Here is my advice on any of them.
Go with a 10inch screen. Smaller is too small. Go with 2GB or more RAM. If battery life is important, go with all SSDs and use SD cards or external drives for extra storage. I would go with Win 7 or XP for OS with linux 3rd. If you go with XP, disable the page file. I had lots of page file activity and it slowed mine down a lot. Turned off the paging file and no trouble. No trouble with programs either. I primarily use mine for watching movies on the go (it does movies amazingly well, I was very very surprised), reading ebooks in bed or on the go, surfing the net on trips and in bed, older games on airplanes or in the car, plus the usual stuff - email, minor word processing etc. I even used it to rip a few movies with an external DVD drive when my main computer went down. It did fine, just needed about twice the time due to the slower Atom processor. I heartily recommend Asus. |
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Right now using an ASUS 1005PE-PU17 and it's been totally awesome.
14 hour battery (getting about 12 hours of actual use) that I can literally leave the thing unplugged all day during classes and boots up in less than 30 seconds cold. Since I am on break now, I charged this netbook about 2 days ago and it is still running with 37% left. Virtually I never have to bring the charger. But if you are migrating from a high-end laptop, do not have expectations for this to play all videos or multimedia. I can do Hulu and Youtube fine as long as it is using the lower quality settings. If you want higher multimedia capability, you can resort to the netbooks equipped with the Nvidia ION, at the expense of lower battery life. |
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Toshiba has some good models... keyboard keys are individually isolated instead of in one massive set... keyboard is 95% the size of normal keyboards instead of 82% like some others... USB pass through charging means you can charge USB devices when the computer is hibernating... long battery life. Bought the wife a Toshiba for Christmas, she loves it dearly now. This is after saying she didn't want to give up on her old Dell laptop - then it died two weeks before Christmas, so we went out, found a model she liked, and I ordered it on NewEgg. Sub-$400, 10 hour battery life, stupid lightweight. All in all a nice little rig. |
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Asus Eee PC 1001P: Our Favorite Netbook
If you like a "Anandtech" opinion. That being said, I have a 701, 900SD and an Acer AO751H... and a AW m11x on order. :D EDIT: Or on the cheap: Lenovo IdeaPad S10 4333-36U Netbook - Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, 10.1" WSVGA, Windows XP Home, Black Make sure to use Bing cashback too. I got 15% on a good day. |
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If you don't need cellular internet, you can get one just about anywhere for $300. If you do need cellular internet, Verizon sells an HP for $199 with a 2-year contract ($60/month data plan). The beauty of the Verizon-HP is that the cellular modem is integrated and not a USB dongle. |
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Asus Eee PC 1001P: Our Favorite Netbook If you like a "Anandtech" opinion. That being said, I have a 701, 900SD and an Acer AO751H... and a AW m11x on order. :D EDIT: Or on the cheap: Lenovo IdeaPad S10 4333-36U Netbook - Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, 10.1" WSVGA, Windows XP Home, Black Make sure to use Bing cashback too. I got 15% on a good day. That Lenovo is a good deal, just upgrade the RAM to 2gb and you will be set for exactly what you are trying to do. Otherwise, if you need more computer, bump up to the Asus 1201n check it out here |
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Lenovo just came out with some new netbooks.. the s10 is getting awesome reviews.. Resonably priced too. Lenovo has always made good machines. The S10's been out for close to a year in the USA now, and the S9 is NOT going to be available in the USA at all. In terms of specs, the S10's really aren't anything special compared to what's already on the market. EDIT: As for the Lenovo brand name, they had a terrible reputation until IBM got out of the PC business and sold off the ThinkPad line to Lenovo. The Lenovo hardware that was basically designed by IBM is pretty damn solid. The pre-IBM Lenovo stuff I don't have any experience with but I've heard bad things. The post-IBM, non-IBM designs (newer ThinkPads, S9/10, IdeaPads, etc.) haven't impressed me much. |
Stopped in the best buy in Fond du lac WI just in time to hear a guy ranting about them not stocking anything. Sure enough after finally finding someone I was told they only had 1 ASUS in stock, a crappy red color . Followed the guy next door to staples. No luck even tried Walmart they were out. I get home to and decided to order one on the internet guess what the satalite is down I finally log on and find one at Amazon .com I ordered a Asus 1005HA. $285.00 They charged $13 for shipping when I printed out the receipt it showed free shipping. Finally someone who had what I wanted and in stock
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Quoted:
Toshiba has some good models... keyboard keys are individually isolated instead of in one massive set... keyboard is 95% the size of normal keyboards instead of 82% like some others... USB pass through charging means you can charge USB devices when the computer is hibernating... long battery life. typing from a toshiba netbook right now. great battery life and easy to type on. |
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One more vote for Acer ( have an A150 and an A531 )
The A150 had a BIOS Problem ( black screen of death ) I had to fix ( Bios update via USB stick ), otherwise it was working great the whole time and I still have it as a back up. Right now I use the 531 and I really, really love it and take it with me whenever I go anywhere with my backpack ( even to work ;) |
| Acer 8.9 has served me well in fieldwork, and I have a larger Asus. Both are durable and function flawlessly. The Asus models are very light and seem to run cool, you can tell everything in their design is based on portability and battery efficiency. I got the Acer because I found it new for $249 with the larger hard drive, Asus has some good options for solid state "hard drives" if you want something for harsher use. |