Considering Netbooks. Didn't I Already Post This?

[Inkmo]

[size=xx-small]Man, I swear! I could have sworn I already posted this but I can't find my earlier thread anywhere. Is asking questions about the best netbook verboten here, or did I perhaps forget to post the thread in the first place? That means I would have written the whole damn thing, clicked 'preview' and then closed out of that thinking 'job well done!' GEEZ![/size]

Aaaanyways, I'd better get around to what was in the old post, but in a super truncated fashion. Making a very long post into a short one, I've totally become enamored of these netbook things. I saw that Best Buy is selling the XP equipped EEEpc900, which has a gig of ram and a 16GB HD (well, the solid state equivelant. What is that, an SSD?) for fairly cheap. Considering I want to use one of these for a portable way to get on the web and chat in IRC, what is the best netbook? I'm shooting for small size and being cheap. I'd kinda like to be able to run graphics programs, but it's not a priority. I'd kinda been looking forward to using Linux in fact. It's not a deal breaker. However, I was a little disappointed when I was messing around with the non-XP model at the store today because I was expecting an OS more akin to Ubuntu.

Any thoughts? Are there any models other than the EEEpc that I should consider?

I damn near bought a new computer this afternoon.

 

[bhd812]

I own the Acer Aspire One in seashell white with the 160gb hard drive, 6 cell battery, and of course XP home OS.

Bought it to replace my old Dell lappy 5150 and boy does it do the job plus some! The Aspire seems a bit faster then the old pen3 that was in the dell.

I mostly use it to run iTunes for movies and music, movies play full screen without any hitch. I downloaded GTA2 and it plays perfect, though thats a really old game. not sure what kind of graphics programs you will use or what it will do.


after owning this aspire for maybe two weeks i can honestly say unless you need really major power for work or school a full blown Lappy is a waste of space.


one major CON of owning it is it gets more attention and questions then the iPhone, people just can not believe in the size and the features at the cost.

 

[AlanY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkmo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd kinda been looking forward to using Linux in fact. It's not a deal breaker. However, I was a little disappointed when I was messing around with the non-XP model at the store today because I was expecting an OS more akin to Ubuntu.

I've heard good things about Ubuntu Eee:
Ubuntu Eee
It's apparently very easy to put this on an Eee PC.

 

[psyllium]

I am using an Acer Aspire One netbook, the Linux version. I wiped the Linpus piece of **** OS off it, put an extra GB of RAM in it to bring it up to 1.5gb. Now running Ubuntu, it works good except for some issues with the wireless, which I hope will be fixed once and for all in the upcoming intrepid release...

Edit: fixed wireless, I think I had the hardware switch for it off!... der...

 

[Oublie]

I'm using an asus eeepc 901 for music, connected to my dac via usb to spdif connector. Love it plus uses next to no power. I bought it in order to create a 24/7 file server at home by linking it to an array of usb hard drives but atm it is being used for music only.

 

[Inkmo]

hmm. yeah, it's looking like the aspire one and the eeepc series are probably the ones to get right now. There are actually eeepcs in brick and mortars near my house so I may go that route.

I'm not really willing to go all in (I only want to spend about $300. The $500 that aspire one you have costs is a little too much for me right now), so the 900 with XP, a gig of ram, and 16GB SSD is probably gonna be the one.

Hey, do you guys know if those things come with a windows install disk? I mean, if it comes OEM with windows, I should get a disk, right? But these things don't have optical drives. I still want to have ubuntu, but if this computer has no ways to replace its windows install once I wipe it, I might be a little reticent to do so. Thoughts?

 

[Inkmo]

hmm.. it seems the aspire one has a better keyboard and more inputs. Huh, how does that affect audio? I didn't really check *what* inputs it has, just that it has more of them. I might put off getting a new mp3 player for a while if I end up with a computer with enough HD space. Oh, btw, it looks like the aspire has a mechanical HDD. Do you guys consider that much of a disadvantage?

For what it's worth, I'm attracted to the smallness and better battery of the EEEpc, but I've typed on that keyboard and it's a little bit of a pain...

 

[Oublie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkmo /img/forum/go_quote.gif hmm.. it seems the aspire one has a better keyboard and more inputs. Huh, how does that affect audio? I didn't really check *what* inputs it has, just that it has more of them. I might put off getting a new mp3 player for a while if I end up with a computer with enough HD space. Oh, btw, it looks like the aspire has a mechanical HDD. Do you guys consider that much of a disadvantage? For what it's worth, I'm attracted to the smallness and better battery of the EEEpc, but I've typed on that keyboard and it's a little bit of a pain...

The mechanical hard drive means that the battery will last less time. It's a bit of a balancing act you lose storage but gain battery with the eeepc's so it's really a case of choosing which is higher priority. I went for the ssd to lower power consumption as when i'm not mobile i'm using a usb hard drive with my music on it.

The inputs wont really make much difference

 

[Inkmo]

cool. thanks for your opinion. I'm kinda of the same mind, I think.

What do you know about their OEM OS situation. If I take windows off that thing, is it going to be impossible to put it back on should I decide I want it.

FWIW, I want the stripped down ease and lack of spyware/virus protection headaches I've heard ubuntu lauded for, but I might just opt to keep with being able to install scanner drivers and photoshop on it....

 

[trains are bad]

I sold my eeePC and bought an Aspire One, with 6-cell, 160gb hdd, and 1gig. I put Ubuntu on it. The battery life is key; it really lets you use the netbook the way it should...a 2-hour battery computer can't be a netbook imo. It's a crippled laptop...

 

[Inkmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trains are bad /img/forum/go_quote.gif I sold my eeePC and bought an Aspire One, with 6-cell, 160gb hdd, and 1gig. I put Ubuntu on it. The battery life is key; it really lets you use the netbook the way it should...a 2-hour battery computer can't be a netbook imo. It's a crippled laptop...

So you would suggest at my price point I focus on whatever will give me the 6cell battery? That's the one that's rated at 6600mA, was it?

 

[bhd812]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkmo /img/forum/go_quote.gif hmm.. it seems the aspire one has a better keyboard and more inputs. Huh, how does that affect audio? I didn't really check *what* inputs it has, just that it has more of them. I might put off getting a new mp3 player for a while if I end up with a computer with enough HD space. Oh, btw, it looks like the aspire has a mechanical HDD. Do you guys consider that much of a disadvantage? For what it's worth, I'm attracted to the smallness and better battery of the EEEpc, but I've typed on that keyboard and it's a little bit of a pain...

The Aspire one has two sd card slots but they both are not used in the same way. the card slot on the right sticks the sd card out a bit more, this slot is just a normal mutli card reader and used like so. but the slot on the left of the keyboard sticks the card in flush with the plastic AND automaticly blends it in the C: drive to enlarge your systems drive. the idea is if you have an 8gb ssd installed and slot in a 32 SDHC card then your systems memory will have 40gb of space, this is just an example.

 

[Inkmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhd812 /img/forum/go_quote.gif but the slot on the left of the keyboard sticks the card in flush with the plastic AND automaticly blends it in the C: drive to enlarge your systems drive. the idea is if you have an 8gb ssd installed and slot in a 32 SDHC card then your systems memory will have 40gb of space, this is just an example.

That sounds pretty boss. Does the Eee PC do anything like that?

 

[jahlivity]

Dell batteries are horrible. stay clear of dell..
biggest mistake made about purchasing my laptop for college was when i would use it in my room, i would often leave it plugged in. if you're going to do this, for longer periods of time... TAKE OUT THE BATTERY. 10 months later, my battery time literally is 8-10mins. LITERALLY, without exaggeration. dells these days are often much cheaper than what I bought mine for. you can upgrade, and their customer service is VERY HELPFUL .. UNTIL YOUR WARRANTY expires. then they don't help at all and require a 50.00 fee just to talk to their technicians about anything...

IMO costco would be one of your best bets. they're a little on the more expensive side, but you get a little better specs. also, the return policy is awesome, costco takes anything back, no questions asked.. for a while. i've returned psps, ipods, cameras, sometimes up to a year after purchased.. for full refunds too!

best buy also has those weekly sales in the newspaper with laptops for like 499.99. sometimes they have decent specs. most of the time they sacrifice a graphics card for more ram or a bigger HD but as you said, you aren't too particular about graphics. TOSHIBA FTW IMO. just sit tight and wait for the good deals.

good luck, hope this helped.

 

[craiglester]

90 days return period on a laptop from costco.

I've left my wife's dell Inspiron 6000 laptop plugged in for something like 3 years now.. and we get great battery life from it. I'd say you had a bad battery there. Bummer