Does anyone have 1st hand experience with the current offerings of netbooks? I am not trying to replace my desktop, just gain some mobility within the house, occasional wifi use. Linux or XP ? I do you Yay-Hoo messenger for Voip calls, but that's hardly a deal-breaker...........
Thanks, Chebbie_sb (Dave)
I have an eee PC from Asus. I bought mine with Linux just to get the memory configuration (20 gigs of drive, all solid state) I wanted, played with it for a while that way. Every bit as easy to use for day to day stuff, if that's all you're doing with it.
However, since it was purchased mainly as an in-car tuning laptop, I wiped the Linux and installed a trimmed down version of XP so I can run my tuning software.
Dollar for dollar, it's tough to beat the eee. Get one of the 10 inch screen models with the Intel Atom chip unless you're like me and wanted the absolute smallest footprint you can get. Don't worry about memory, a 2gig ram module can be swapped in for around $40, and even the larger solid state drives are coming down in price.
I love my MSI Wind. I picked it up for $300 120-GB HD and a gig of ram and 1.6Ghz Intel Atom processor. Throw in another $22 for another gig of ram (there is an empty slot in there) and run a new bios and BAM! I can toggle between 1.6Ghz and 2Ghz overclocked while plugged in or 1.6Ghz and 800Mhz on the battery. That also bumps the video memory up to 224-MB The 3-cell battery gets me 2 hrs of word processing and there are 6 and 9 cell packs available. I am running XP no problem, I'm not really interested in running Linux but a Friend of mine is running OSX on his Wind. It's super light, quiet, and cool. The keyboard is very usable as well. The track pad does suck though, wireless mouse is pretty much necessary. The lack of a DVD/CD drive has been a little bit of a pita for older software instalation but I'm going to pick up an case for my old laptop DVD drive to use as an external. This might help too. http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/eeepc-wind-faceoff.aspx
I just bought one. I have the Acer Aspire One. I LOVE it. I use mine for mobility on campus, and I take notes with it in class. 2 gig of RAM, 180 gig memory, 10" screen, 280 bucks out the door.
I was debating between the eee, the HP, and my Acer. I ended up with the one I got because I have fat fingers, and the buttons were bigger.
I have the Acer Aspire One in the 9 inch model. I use mine mostly for having a computer to carry with me at campus. I'll use it in my lab to pull up documents to reference while I'm working. I have the 6 cell battery and its great.
I'm running XP on mine currently, at some point I'll try a Linux variant on it but for while using it at school it is best to keep it the most compatible with the other systems at school.
Oh I also use it for some very light touch up for my photography using Lightroom.
A coworker just ordered a Wind (I think) to use solely as an in-car tuning tool for Megasquirt. I think they have great potential there - small enough to fit in the glovebox, you could simply leave it in the car all the time. I've been flirting with the idea of picking up a 10" model for my wife to use for websurfing, email and iTunes. That's all she needs, and they've got the right amount of horsepower. Since we have an NAS box, it doesn't even need much storage space.
I have one of the 9" screen eeePcs and I love it. It's running XP and runs my GPS, XM tuning, and OBD-2 diagnostics and display all at the same time while driving without hiccup. It's also great for transferring photos from my digital camera to an external hard drive while I'm out taking pictures, or recording video via a couple of cheap web-cams in the car or on the bike. Couldn't be happier with it.
Wife and I have XP Acers like maroon92's, and love them. Build quality seemed a little better than the eee's we were comparing.
The 6-cell wasn't offered when we bought them, but the 3-cell isn't too bad, I can usually get around 2 hours of video playback on flights.
Does basic tasks without issue, OpenOffice, web, video & audio playback, photo, etc. Very handy when you don't want to pack a normal laptop for a meeting or trip.
I have a Dell. It runs XP. It is great to travel with and I plan to use it for my megajolt setup whenever I get around to installing it on the car.
me want so bad
I have a Sony Vaio that I keep in the bedroom for last minute surfing and podcast downloads. It has a docking station with decent speakers so I use it to play CDs too. It runs XP. I love it except for some of the propriatary SONY bs that you have to deal with sometimes.
I have a Dell XPS 2010, which hardly counts as a laptop it's more of a portable desktop. On it I have a both Vista and XP depending on what I am up to that day. I love it, and I have loved every Dell I have owned. Once you get rid of the factory install they are great! 
