New netbook.

[Per Hansson]

Re: New netbook.

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.

Acers are pure crap in my book
I have seen countless of them, all cracked in the plastic around the hinges

Reason for it is they inject mold the plastic too fast so it becomes brittle, so after a number of heat ups and downs it cracks (injection molded plastic that is done too quickly is very sensitive to heat, ironically enough)

But of course to inject mold something like a laptop plastic cover they need an injection molding machine capable of a pressure probably around 5000>10000 tons
These cost millions of dollars so it's no surprise the beancounters forces the factory to make them as quickly as they can

In the end it means one thing; they are not at all interested in a quality product

This several years old IBM Thinkpad T40 I have here looks like new, that's also the difference between a manufacturer with beancounters trying to get every cost down, compared to a company which actually makes quality parts (with prices to match)

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

Is the Dell Latitude D620 any good? I have a friend selling it for $300. He was honest though, the motherboard's been changed (his son poured juice on it) and the LCD has also been changed with a glossy one (because he wanted to). He's been using it since the beginning of our uni course as he sits next to me.

I held it in my hands and quite liked the build quality even though the screen is a tad big at 14" or so. The physical condition is pretty neat albeit some small opening marks to change the motherboard.

[ratdude747]

Re: New netbook.

latitudes are good... much more robust than a flimsy netbook,

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

So I should go for the latitude instead? When I checked online, it says the D620 has a magnesium alloy chassis? what the hell is that?

[willawake]

Re: New netbook.

it fucking cool thats what magnesium alloy is

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

it fucking cool thats what magnesium alloy is

Is it sturdy and strong though?

[willawake]

Re: New netbook.

its stronger than plastic. you can maybe dent it or scratch it though.
my hp has a magnesium alloy top cover. i just throw it in the rucksack no probs
usually seen on pro or high end laptops

how old is this unit anyway cos some parts maybe need replace after some time (battery like 3 years, hdd like 5 years)

i think its better to get a laptop than netbook but 14" is a tad bigger than i would want.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

its stronger than plastic. you can maybe dent it or scratch it though.
my hp has a magnesium alloy top cover. i just throw it in the rucksack no probs
usually seen on pro or high end laptops

how old is this unit anyway cos some parts maybe need replace after some time (battery like 3 years, hdd like 5 years)

i think its better to get a laptop than netbook but 14" is a tad bigger than i would want.

Well this laptop in question is about 2 years old. The battery is a brand new 9 cell one that my friend bought in February from Dell. Yeah 14" was bigger than what I was looking for, but $300 is a tempting price for a laptop that has performance of a Core 2 Duo CPU and 4GB RAM.

Oh and as mentioned up above somewhere, the LCD was replaced with a glossy one two days ago (it wasn't broken, he felt like it). And boy is it bright!

As for the HDD, it's the original 80GB one... but I was planning to yank it out and shove a 500GB or whatever in there.

[willawake]

Re: New netbook.

i agree. i was installing my dads new sony netbook and although i was interested in that stuff i will be sticking with my hp 12". i actually dont like the fact that the netbook is not stable it wants to fall over backwards and some other items (screen not so good, keyboard not so good, it slow too)

there is also toshiba t110 available here presently for a little more than a netbook. performance is probably better but not amazingly so.

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

I use a d620 daily for my work PC. I've got the core2duo 2ghz proc, 2gb of RAM, and a 250gb 7200rpm drive. Runs Windows 7 like a dream.

My arbitrary experience index ratings are:

Processor - 4.6
Memory - 4.9
Graphics - 3.6
Gaming graphics - 3.4
Hard disk - 5.9

Upgrading to a 7200 RPM drive is what made the biggest difference in overall speed of the laptop. Also, I have the more rare video chipset (Nvidia Quadro NVS 110M), which is why my graphics scores are higher.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

I'm not sure what core 2 duo CPU this unit has, but all I know is that it is a 2GHz one. I also believe this unit has the onboard Intel graphics. Graphics are the last thing I worry about since I'm a business/work orientated bloke.

Also, dood, what do you think about the d620 in terms of its quality?

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: New netbook.

+1 for magnesium alloy. My new Sony has it. It's nice.

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

I'm not sure what core 2 duo CPU this unit has, but all I know is that it is a 2GHz one. I also believe this unit has the onboard Intel graphics. Graphics are the last thing I worry about since I'm a business/work orientated bloke.

Also, dood, what do you think about the d620 in terms of its quality?

They seem to be plenty sturdy enough. Mine has seen quite a bit of abuse and keeps on chugging. The case is scratched and scuffed, and I don't really take very good care of it (throwing it around, etc). It's faster than my Optiplex 320 was, so I'm happy. I used to use it as my daily traveling laptop, but now it just hangs out on my desk as a desktop replacement. I use a d610 as my traveler now.

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

BTW- part of the "magnesium alloy" chassis on mine broke. There's a bit of metal that goes over where the CDROM slides in. I had to pull it apart to fix a fan issue once and it just fell out when I took the palmrest off. Doesn't effect usability for me, though. It looked like regular old pot metal to me, though I didn't try to burn it

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

So I should definitely opt for the D620 right? The price is so tempting and the build of this unit is fantastic in my opinion (or what I've felt).

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

It's heavier than a netbook, but nice screen and full keyboard... I've liked mine, but I wasn't carrying it in a backpack with a bunch of books, either.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

It's heavier than a netbook, but nice screen and full keyboard... I've liked mine, but I wasn't carrying it in a backpack with a bunch of books, either.

LOL my backpack doesn't contain any books. We use e-books. And besides, I drive to uni so the walk with the laptop is short (if I bother to park close) and also if I bought heavy books, they'd sit in the boot of the car and wait for me to get them after each lesson... or my friend brings his and we use that.

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

OK. I've just asked my friend about the notebook in detail. The CPU is an Intel T7200. The video card is an nvidia NVS 110. The new glossy screen goes to 1280x800 resolution. But the old un-glossy display goes to 1440 x 900. He says he can put the old LCD back if I want... what should I do?

[stevo1210]

Re: New netbook.

wait if the lcd is 1440 x 900... Is the text still readable? Cause my toshiba p25 has a 17 inch screen with that resolution and i find the text too small. O.o

[dood]

Re: New netbook.

Native resolution of my display is 1440 x 900 and I have no issues with readability.