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Netbook Users. Good Or Bad idea?

post #1 of 18
12/31/09 at 6:42pm
Thread Starter 
I've been meaning to pick up a netbook, mostly for my wife, who wants to carry it around.

But the geek side of me looks at those wimpy numbers (low CPU speed, darn Atom processors, smaller drive space, lack of expansion, e.g. no e-SATA, etc) and can't quite get myself to buy one.

So for you netbook users, would you buy one again? If so, which one, i.e. Win 7 Home vs. Linux vs. XP ?
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post #2 of 18
12/31/09 at 6:50pm
I own an ASUS Eee PC 1000H, and it is my sole computer. If I could afford one, I would buy an ASUS Eee PC 1201N, or Eee PC 1005PE which you can find reviewed here Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged? -- Engadget
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post #3 of 18
12/31/09 at 6:55pm
Yes, I would do it all over again and buy my Toshiba NB205-N310/BN-G netbook with Windows XP pre-installed. JonL, this is the top netbook with almost 9 hours of battery life and 3G mobile connectivity along with a full sized keyboard. I highly recommend getting a netbook because it is so darn convenient to go anywhere and not be hampered with a full sized laptop (unless you need the extra power and optical drive).
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post #4 of 18
12/31/09 at 7:45pm
I'm using an Asus 1008HA-P (I think that's the correct model number) with an Atom N280 and 2 GB of ram and it runs Windows 7. I currently use it for note-taking in class, using Word and Powerpoint. The power is more than adequate for me. Also, for the past month or so, my main desktop was down so I only had the netbook to use and it was able to run my daily tasks. Mine also has a 6-cell battery and can get anywhere from 6-10 hours of battery life.
I would definitely buy it again if I still need a computer on the go.

Side note: For multi-tasking, the computer does get bogged down, and it is noticeable. However, I rarely run a lot of applications at once. Usually it's AIM, iTunes, and Firefox.
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post #5 of 18
12/31/09 at 7:51pm
mikaronni, try using foobar2k instead of iTunes for music playback, it uses much less memory.
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post #6 of 18
12/31/09 at 8:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon L View Post
I've been meaning to pick up a netbook, mostly for my wife, who wants to carry it around.

But the geek side of me looks at those wimpy numbers (low CPU speed, darn Atom processors, smaller drive space, lack of expansion, e.g. no e-SATA, etc) and can't quite get myself to buy one.

So for you netbook users, would you buy one again? If so, which one, i.e. Win 7 Home vs. Linux vs. XP ?
there are a lot of "it depends" answers in your question.
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post #7 of 18
12/31/09 at 9:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon L View Post
I've been meaning to pick up a netbook, mostly for my wife, who wants to carry it around.

But the geek side of me looks at those wimpy numbers (low CPU speed, darn Atom processors, smaller drive space, lack of expansion, e.g. no e-SATA, etc) and can't quite get myself to buy one.

So for you netbook users, would you buy one again? If so, which one, i.e. Win 7 Home vs. Linux vs. XP ?
I do not personally own a netbook, but I helped my roommate deal with his computer situation. I built him a desktop and he ordered a netbook. It is probably the best computer setup I can think of. The netbook is awesome for mobile use and handles word, aim, firefox, and music just fine. All the things most users do on a laptop are fine on a netbook. He uses his netbook all the time. The battery life is great.

I know how you feel about the tech specs though, but lets be honest, nobody really needs a 500gig HD, a C2Q, and 4+gigs of ram for everyday computer use. I think the low voltage processors are great because they only work as hard as they need to and you only have to charge the battery every 6 hours or so.

The operating system is a toss up. I have only used Windows XP on my roommates, and linux might be great if it is being used by someone who is computer savvy, unless they have a new user-friendly version.

So is ESATA going to get big? My new laptop has an ESATA port and I have never used it. I've never even seen an ESATA compatible device other than online. Is it faster than USB 3?
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post #8 of 18
12/31/09 at 9:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bcpk View Post
mikaronni, try using foobar2k instead of iTunes for music playback, it uses much less memory.
With 2 GB of ram, iTunes is not an issue at all. I only meant if I'm running like 6 applications at once, it becomes a problem.
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post #9 of 18
12/31/09 at 9:54pm
From personal experience, I highly recommend a netbook with a full size keyboard as I have quite a heck of a time trying to type on mini netbook keyboards. I guess if you look while you type, it's not as big a deal, but if you are like me and don't look then the feel is completely off. Just a thought.
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post #10 of 18
1/1/10 at 12:10am
Just don't expect it to be like your desktop and you should be fine. Everyone that I talk to who complains about the performance is used to huge 17" desktop replacement craptops and those people need a reality check.

I just got a vaio P (1.3GHz) and I run my opteron on my desktop at 1GHz and it really doesn't feel any different so far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ksu06 View Post
I highly recommend a netbook with a full size keyboard as I have quite a heck of a time trying to type on mini netbook keyboards. I guess if you look while you type, it's not as big a deal, but if you are like me and don't look then the feel is completely off. Just a thought.
This totally depends on the person, I have barely any trouble switching from my model m to my U3. My only problem is I use it so infrequently I forget where the keys were moved to haha.

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post #11 of 18
1/1/10 at 12:32am
Atom processors are just obnoxiously slow. And Intel's retarded RAM limitations on the early netbooks didn't help.

I've had a Fujitsu Tablet PC with a 8.9" LCD for quite some time (typing this post on it right now on a flight back to LA) . It's a Core 2 Duo 1.33GHz CPU and I really can't downgrade to an Atom CPU in this form factor. I've had quite a few people think my Fujistu was a Netbook, though.

I do like the Atom CPU in my Viliv S5, which is a UMPC (MID). I really consider it a super PDA, but it's really nice to have such a small full windows PC that I carry with me all the time. It has a rather sizeable battery and combined with the energy efficient Atom, it's a great compromise. It's no desktop replacement, but it fits in cargo pants pocket.

-Ed
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post #12 of 18
1/1/10 at 5:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DayoftheGreek View Post
So is ESATA going to get big? My new laptop has an ESATA port and I have never used it. I've never even seen an ESATA compatible device other than online. Is it faster than USB 3?
Well, e-SATA can do up to 3 Gbits/s theorhetically, and USB 2.0 480 Megabits/s and USB 3.0 4.8 Gbits/s. This is not real-world speeds since usually something else will be the bottleneck.

But beyond speeds, I just don't like or trust USB protocols, controllers, etc. Everything plugged into that USB bus will influence everything else plugged in, and I have had at least two separate external USB drives and a couple of USB thumbdrives develop problems and issues over the last couple of years.

Seems like there's a ton of cheap USB implementations out there, resulting in USB controllers crapping out, or sudden corruption of USB drive master file table or partitions.

I haven't had any problems with my e-SATA drives yet...
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post #13 of 18
1/1/10 at 6:34am
Not sure what your budget is, but, even netbook are so portable, some notebooks arent that bad either, just take a look at MacPro 13 inch. They are very light and you can build them to your wish.

My expiriance with netbook was quite good, its very nice to have around, even you dont need one for portable use only. I tried one of my friends and it didnt bother me to use. One problem that his Asus had is the fact that things got hot after one hour, but I guess it depends on the model you have.
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post #14 of 18
1/1/10 at 4:32pm
I had a netbook, sold it. I have another one on order because I missed the form factor. ... Come to think of it; I've done that with some headphone equipment but I would never tell anybody.
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post #15 of 18
1/1/10 at 4:43pm
I recently got one of those atom 1024x600 netbooks. it came with xp home on it and I dualboot it with ubuntu netbook remix.

add in a small mouse or bluetooth mouse and its pretty usable on both os's. easily fast enough to do basic WP, web stuff, remote sysadmin even apps devel (code write/debug/run).

I think I gave up on how long it took to do a kernel build from source (linux), though. it was insanely slow for compute-based things. don't try using it for that but for interactive things where the network would be the slow part of your link (the wan connection) its ok. ie, the latency of a typical wan can just barely hide the slowness of the atom (lol!).

when I run vnc as a client to view my server desktop, its not exactly fast but its usable as long as I can resize my windows to fit inside 1024x600. even that can be hard but its doable.

key is: for $200 or less its a win. for more than $250, not so much. and 'new' ones are coming soon so its not the right time to buy right now...
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