Netbooks

[Tanner]

I'm buying a netbook. I'm leaning towards the Acer Aspire One right now (the cheapest one with the 8GB SSD and 512MB RAM). When I was first looking at them, I was an Asus Eee PC man but after reading reviews and looking through prices, I think I'm going to go with the Aspire One. What do you think? Peruse this chart, if you'd like.

[TheSeer]

Personally I'd go for the Eee's because of battery life.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

My recommendation goes to the Eee 900 series.

[scythe]

Are you looking more in the 7" screen range or the 10" screen range?

[Tanner]

I would prefer a larger screen to a smaller screen but it isn't really a deciding factor. The keyboard size of the Eee's is an annoyance. The reason I will not be buying an Eee 900 is because the price is an additional $200 for 4GB and half an hour of battery life. That is not even mentioning the smaller keyboard and lower CPU speed as compared to the Aspire One.

[Donfuy]

Well, I'd go with the Eee PC 901. My mom has one, and it's sweet (specially its battery life and quality), and it has 1GB of RAM, which helps.

I myself have the Eee PC 701, the first netbook, which has a 7" display, and it's awesome, believe me. It's incredibly fast for it's size and superbly resistant. And you can sense the quality (I've seen many aged Acer with only one year of usage (low quality plastics and batteries).


The main thing about these netbooks is portability, and without battery life, you're killing it.


And, by the way, keep in mind the Eee PC has 20 GB of SSD (one of 4GB and other of 16GB) for the Linux version.



And scythe33, the Asus Eee Pc 701 is now a bargain. Here at Portugal it costs 150€, and that's so goddamn affordable, for this little wonderful piece of hardware. But I guess he wants a 9" laptop.




OH, and what about the HP Mini?
^^^Before I saw what you guys wrote.

Uhm... Tanner, you're confused.

Eee PC 701--- 4GB SSD, 3 hours of battery life

Eee PC 901 --- 20 GB SSD, 7 hours of battery life

And typing is easier on the eee pc, because it has inclination, and the keyboard isn't that cramped.

[Tanner]

I was looking at the Eee 900, not the 901. Nevertheless, the reason I'm getting this is because I want something small, mobile and cheap. So an extra 200 dollars is still a deal-breaker.

I do agree with the portability thing as far as battery life is concerned but I would be mostly using it at friend's houses or at the library. Places where power outlets are easy to come by. I also have a power adapter for my car so road trips are not an issue either. I can see battery life being important but not so much in my circumstance.

[Chase]

I don't know whether the price will be within budget, but the Sony Vaio P is coming out soon so you might want to look at that. As with HP's new Netbook.

[T3chno]

Oooh. A HP netbook.

/does research.

This one is nice but comes with a $400 price tag.

[Kablizzy]

Yeah, the new Vaio P is amazing. Probably not gonna drop in stores until mid-march, though.

[SlappyMcGee]

Yeah, the new Vaio P is amazing. Probably not gonna drop in stores until mid-march, though.

I saw it on engadget. Looks pretty amazing, and every single one of the guys working there has one.

[Tanner]

The Vaio P looks hell of nice but "knowing Sony, likely not real netbook-ily priced". D:

[scythe]

I think I found something for you, Tanner.
http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-GNET2800 ... rid_pt_0_0
It's cheaper than the Aspire One ($300 vs $390, and you can get a used one for $270), but got similarly high reviews (oddly, the black and yellow versions got 4.5 and the white one got 3.5, but that's random drift I guess). As a possibly-important side note, if you decide to take the linux jump, it comes with Ubuntu (which is good), and not the Linpus that comes with the Aspire One (which sucks). Benefits of linux include a free neckbeard, the ability to confuse people before you get to the predicate of a sentence, and $2/year savings on deodorant costs.
No, really, it's a great system, runs fast and won't get viruses, and you can get support like this

[Tanner]

Hey, so I actually bought the Aspire One on Sunday (and used it all last night during the Superbowl). I ended up paying $299 from Future Shop and, since I didn't have to pay for shipping and handling, I figure I got a pretty good deal. That said, I love this thing. The battery may get less efficient as time goes on but as of right now I'm getting about three hours per charge. The webcam that's built in is better than the one I had before. The 8GB SSD doesn't work as quickly as I thought it would, which is strange to me. When installing Open-Office 3, it just sat there for ever! The resolution makes good use of the screen even if I don't have much pick for wallpapers anymore. The heat dissipation is very effective and it sits comfortably on my lap when in use. I got the Windows XP Home version because I know I can boot Fedora 10 from a USB key but I've never seen that done with Windows and I sort of wanted the best of both worlds. All in all, I'm very pleased.

[Donfuy]

Yeah, the new Vaio P is amazing.

I can't really see where's the big thing about it.

It has a fuckin' trackpad, which is not great.
It has a 8 inch display, with a exaggeratedly high resolution for its size.(oh god! my eyes!)
The looks? The price.
The RAM? Well, that's a good thing, but only because it's expandable up to 4Gb (my Eee can have 2GB, at max).
The processor? A slower (1.3 GHz) version of Intel's Atom (where the HP has a 1.63 GHz processor).
The battery is decent.

And that's the far I can go, without having it in hands.

AND IT HAS THAT FUCKING TRACKPAD!

Hey, so I actually bought the Aspire One on Sunday (and used it all last night during the Superbowl). I ended up paying $299 from Future Shop and, since I didn't have to pay for shipping and handling, I figure I got a pretty good deal. That said, I love this thing. The battery may get less efficient as time goes on but as of right now I'm getting about three hours per charge. The webcam that's built in is better than the one I had before. The 8GB SSD doesn't work as quickly as I thought it would, which is strange to me. When installing Open-Office 3, it just sat there for ever! The resolution makes good use of the screen even if I don't have much pick for wallpapers anymore. The heat dissipation is very effective and it sits comfortably on my lap when in use. I got the Windows XP Home version because I know I can boot Fedora 10 from a USB key but I've never seen that done with Windows and I sort of wanted the best of both worlds. All in all, I'm very pleased.

Have you bought the blue or white version?

Doesn't the touchpad buttons feel strange?

[Tanner]

Have you bought the blue or white version?

Doesn't the touchpad buttons feel strange?

I got the white version. Every touchpad feels strange to me but I also bought a Logitech Wireless USB Optical Mouse.

[EdoI]

Okay guys, I have a question:

What is netbook? I mean, what happened to notebooks? What's the difference?

[Tanner]

Okay guys, I have a question:

What is netbook? I mean, what happened to notebooks? What's the difference?

Netbooks are essential just smaller, cheaper, cut-down versions of a notebook. They typically have screens smaller than 10" and lack an optical drive.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

As more people progress to using online resources more often than local ones, the best value for an average user becomes a portable gizmo with internet access.