New netbook.

[stevo1210]

I'm looking for a new netbook at the moment and I really need help in choosing one. I can get 50% off the price when I do my tax returns next year... though I'll have to pay full price for now

There's too many brands and choices on the market and all it does is make me more confused... so what's a good brand and model of netbook?

I do however need at least a 10" screen and that's about it. CPU wise... I don't really care since it's onlyto type down uni docs.

[acstech]

Re: New netbook.

Well my MSI Wind U100 has been performing flawlessly the whole time I've had it. The U100 though is getting pretty old in terms of design though.

I would recommend one with the NM10 chipset and the 6-cell battery. Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152170

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

I had a look at those HP mininotes today and the base is nice and flat with no holes of any sort... and also no memory cover. O.o

Are the Dell Inspiron minis any good?

[ratdude747]

Re: New netbook.

stay FAR, FAR away from eee's!

my 1000H_ units were crap... the 1000Hb blew a card reader within 3 months and my 1000HEb that replaced it had a usb port blow up and later, blew a screen (dropped it, but they are known to crack them simply by picking them up the wrong way).

honestly, i would find a used Pentium m baded subcompact like i did if the tax credit would cover it. if not, i might go for an acer one, the dual card readers are a nice touch.

be sure to buy some sdhc cards to go with it- very handy! (i used one for a live usb ubuntu disk/backup unit). sdhc's will boot way faster than a usb stick... especially if it is a higher speed sdhc. i think you can even put your restore dvd on one somehow (big enough card+ .iso), which no longer ties you to an external dvd.

[willawake]

Re: New netbook.

hp have nice driver support unlike sony

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

stay FAR, FAR away from eee's!

my 1000H_ units were crap... the 1000Hb blew a card reader within 3 months and my 1000HEb that replaced it had a usb port blow up and later, blew a screen (dropped it, but they are known to crack them simply by picking them up the wrong way).

honestly, i would find a used Pentium m baded subcompact like i did if the tax credit would cover it. if not, i might go for an acer one, the dual card readers are a nice touch.

be sure to buy some sdhc cards to go with it- very handy! (i used one for a live usb ubuntu disk/backup unit). sdhc's will boot way faster than a usb stick... especially if it is a higher speed sdhc. i think you can even put your restore dvd on one somehow (big enough card+ .iso), which no longer ties you to an external dvd.

*cough* my brother has a 1000HE at the moment for school. 1.5 years later it's still working well. Maybe we were just lucky... I dunno.

Anyway, I don't want anymore second hand shit. The tax rebate does cover for it, but still I want a brand spanking new in a box unit. I'm never happy with the condition of anything second hand... unless it's cheap then I won't complain.

As for an SDHC card... I don't really see the point of it if the restore partition is already on the netbook and also the fact that I've only used like 5GB out of 120GB on my current netbook. As for installing applications... my external pocket hard drive does that for me.

My eyes are now gleaming at the Dell Inspiron mini. It's a tough little unit in my opinion... and also the cheapest out of all netbooks at only $350. It is also the one with bluetooth connectivity in that price range.

[ratdude747]

Re: New netbook.

sounds good...

[digge]

Re: New netbook.

I would look at screen resolution when deciding. Most netbooks have a fairly low res on the screen witch makes browsing web a pain since you have to scroll all the time, works fine for typing though if thats all youre going to use it for. My dads eee is working well for him at least however i dont like the resolution on that one. Not sure if there are any 10" with an ok resolution on them though (by my standards good ).

[c_hegge]

Re: New netbook.

I'm going with acstech. I think the MSI wind is pretty good.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

Toshiba NB300 any good? It's a few extra dollars over the Dell...

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

We just got a cart full of the eeePC's. So, in about a year, I should be able to tell you how reliable they are. Specs seem nice enough with a 1.6ghz dual core Atom processor.

We also have a cart or two of the older Wind's, and I don't think there's been many problems with them.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

My eyes are back on the Dell Inspiron mini 10 due to its sturdy design... but can this unit handle 2GB of RAM? I'm curious to know...

[toastygoodness]

Re: New netbook.

the dell minis have issues. lotsa firmware and battery problems. its not as sturdy as you think.

the acer aspire ones have performed flawlessly and are sturdier than they look. my buddies and i have been abusing them and they've still worked well. if you can, get the one with the dual-core athlon neo, its faster and longer battery life.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

Are you sure Acers are good? I had a Travelmate before and the hinges cracked... same with a wide range of people. My uncle bought his daughter an Acer Aspire one 10"sometime last year and the chassis is already cracked. O.o

As for the Dell Inspiron mini 10, what battery issues does it have exactly? as for firmware, what are the firmware issues? I'm just a bit un-easy that it can only handle 1GB RAM maximum. O.o

[toastygoodness]

Re: New netbook.

Are you sure Acers are good? I had a Travelmate before and the hinges cracked... same with a wide range of people. My uncle bought his daughter an Acer Aspire one 10"sometime last year and the chassis is already cracked. O.o

As for the Dell Inspiron mini 10, what battery issues does it have exactly? as for firmware, what are the firmware issues? I'm just a bit un-easy that it can only handle 1GB RAM maximum. O.o

well that's one of the issues. usually the power module on the boards just mess up and the battery isn't detected at all. this tends to happen after 90 days. also, trying to update the BIOS or EFI (my aspire one has EFI) is usually impossible (the update will fail or some nonsense will happen) on dell minis... though dell says you can fix most of the problems with a firmware update.

i used to have a friend that would push dell, that's all they bought. but they've had so many lemons and POS that they just went with the aspire one, and she hasn't had any problem with it, even tho she's a uni backpack abuser.

i dunno how your cousin cracked her chassis so early, but who knows. i've only encountered the 11.6 and 9-inch (original and slightly newer) ones.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

So many choices grrr... otherwise I think I'll just get a HP mininote or an Asus eeepc 1001 series. Down side is that they both don't have bluetooth.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: New netbook.

Have you looked at smaller notebooks (13") compared to netbooks? I ask because I was considering a netbook but ended up settling for a 13" laptop. It's still very portable, but it's not so cramped and it's got all the goodies, including bluetooth and 4GB of RAM.

[ratdude747]

Re: New netbook.

he might not have the $$$ for a full blown notebook. after all, he burns it on a new smartphone every year...

what did i say about eee's? they have 0% quality (designed to be replaced in a year and a half)... most netbooks tend to be, but some more than others.

my used pentium m dell latitude d400 worked out well... compact but good bang for the buck.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

he might not have the $$$ for a full blown notebook. after all, he burns it on a new smartphone every year...

what did i say about eee's? they have 0% quality (designed to be replaced in a year and a half)... most netbooks tend to be, but some more than others.

my used pentium m dell latitude d400 worked out well... compact but good bang for the buck.

LOL... that's true... new smartphone every year... I'm waiting for my $400 something Nokia C6 to come sometime soon.

I spoke to a few people who had eee's in my lecture room today and they are merely impressed with them. So I think it's down to the HP Mininote and the Toshiba NB300. I like the design of the mininote better because it has a nice straight and flat base (no memory slots?). But then again the sexy design of the Toshiba NB300 blows me away!

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

If you're considering the eeePC, go for the 1201n. It's still small and light, but you can see a 12" screen and the keyboard is spaced out enough that its not cramped. Still no optical drive, but it does have BT. This is the model that we just got 30 of for a cart and they seem nicely built. 2 DIMM slots, 1.6ghz dual core, and 250gb HD. Nice specs for a netbook.