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Nov. 11, 2008 7:51 p.m. rebelgtp HalfDork

Hey guys I know we have some computer geeks in our ranks here so I thought I would ask.

I'm looking to pickup a netbook computer to take with me to school on a regular basis as my regular laptop is to heavy and bulky. What are the best ones out there? I was mostly looking at the Acer Aspire One, however the Lenovo Ideapad S10 looks good also. I want something that is going to have a decent build and a I know Lenovo does quite well with their full size laptops. The only thing on the Lenovo is it only has a 3 hour battery.

So what do you guys suggest? looking at a $500 price cap and the 10-12" screen size preferably with a gig of memory or more.
Nov. 11, 2008 10:43 p.m. rob_lewis Dork

I'm on a Dell Inspiron Mini right now. I really like it and have no issues except for where the apostrophe key is located.

However, there are quite a few on this board that would rather wash a rabid wombat in week old cabbage juice than buy a Dell (and I assume it was out of your list since you didn't mention it.

FWIW, the Dell outlet has quite a few for sale. Most (if not all) are unopened returns.

-Rob
Nov. 11, 2008 11:09 p.m. EastCoastMojo HalfDork

Hey Rebel,

After playing with a Dell Mini 9" with a 1G ram and 16G hard drive I am about to pick one up for E36 M3s and giggles. I like everything about it except for where the semi colon is located. /sarcasm But seriously, the small keyboards do take a little getting used to. I like the convenience of having a laptop that I can easily throw across the room, and the little buggar is damn quick on the internets to boot. If it tanks on me, I can look forward to using it as a platform on which to groom a freshly washed wombat as well.

It will be quite a bit more manageable than my 2010 for travel in any case.
Nov. 11, 2008 11:14 p.m. rob_lewis Dork

If you get one, get it with 512K of memory and buy a 2 gig ram stick afterwards (less than $40). The upgrade is easy and the Mini will recognize it, no problem.

(Interestingly, to be able to ship it with XP, Dell couldn't offer more than a gig of ram, but 2 gigs works fine).

And ECM, when you do pick one up, you'll see what I mean. The apostrophe is on the bottom row, two over from the space key. It's a bear to get use to, especially if you go back and forth from a regular keyboard. www.mydellmini.com is a good site for ideas, upgrades, hacks, etc.

-Rob
Nov. 11, 2008 11:20 p.m. EastCoastMojo HalfDork

I am torn on the XP vs. Vista thing. I like Vista, but a lot of the drivers haven't been upgraded yet like the network card was not recognized by vista but worked fine with XP. Good call on the ram, Rob. And, I do totally get you on the apostrophe, but then, I always hit the semicolon when I am aiming for the damned thing anyway, so I guess I am somewhat ham-fisted and just used to it.
Nov. 11, 2008 11:46 p.m. MitchellC Reader

I would get the Acer Aspire One. $400 at Amazon gets you a 160 GB hard drive, XP, 1 gb memory, and most importantly, a 6-cell battery, which gives you about 5 hours of good use. I've read lots of reviews and it sounds like its keyboard is much better than the competition. I've been considering one of these for a take-to-school computer, since I use a desktop.

Just keep in mind what you are honestly going to use it for. It is made for internet use, word processing, and other relatively light programs that do not require much screen real estate or processing power. Remember that a lack of disc drive means that using it as a portable movie player will be compromised and installing programs means a USB drive or downloads will be necessary.

Edit: And the Aspire One has 512 MB onboard ram and 512 in a single slot. It accepts a maximum of 1.5 GB total RAM, and its installation is slightly more difficult than with other laptops (I can't remember, but I think it's under the keyboard).
Nov. 12, 2008 9:44 a.m. Keith SuperDork

If you're going to be using it for writing, I'd suggest trying to get your hands on one. Literally. Word processing is all about the keyboard.
Nov. 12, 2008 9:45 a.m. rebelgtp HalfDork

Yeah I looked at the Dell but the really small drive size and higher price compared to some of the other units kinda kicked it out of contention. I get some fairly large files for my school work on a weekly basis and I'm sure I would max out a 16gig drive really quick. I'm thinking I would need a minimum 40-50gig hard drive.

It will be no problem using it for its intended use as my full size laptop can handle games and I have my desktop for that as well. Also the no optical drive isn't a problem I have multiple flash drives and large capacity SD cards.

Yeah I read the Aspire One is kind of a pain to add memory to, you practically have to tear down the entire system.

There is the Asus EEE 1000 with the 40Gig SSD for around $470. Would there really be a need for the SSD over the regular hard drive?
Nov. 12, 2008 9:59 a.m. Rangeball New Reader

SSD over a regular. No real need. I think my research into the SSD's that Asus uses indicated theirs are slower than a regular 5400 rpm hard drive.

If you want to spend a little more, maybe wait for this... New 12" Asus laptop

Personally, I will be getting this in a few weeks. Samsung 14.1" But for me I am replacing an old laptop and only have one other computer which my wife and I share.
Nov. 12, 2008 12:51 p.m. oldopelguy HalfDork

My desktop machine died two weeks ago and I've been using my EEE-PC 900 as my only machine since. Truth is, the tiny keyboard sucks, but since I already had a USB wireless one for the desktop that problem only lasted about 10 minutes.

I use an external drive as by backup for the real machine, and it's easy enough to plug it in and access anything I need to. I've been nothing but pleased with it, and with SD cards so cheap now the drive space limitations haven't been a problem at all yet.
Nov. 12, 2008 1:06 p.m. billy3esq Dork

One of my coworkers just got an Aspire One. I played with it for a few minutes and it seemed perfectly fine.
Nov. 12, 2008 1:31 p.m. GameboyRMH SuperDork

SSDs are more durable than regular hard drives (well they put up to far more abuse but they might not last as long)...something to think about.

On an underpowered computer you definitely don't want Vista. Stick to XP, or Ubuntu if you don't want to use it for gaming (reliability +infinity)

It looks like the Aspire One would be a better match for what you want.
Nov. 12, 2008 6:05 p.m. rebelgtp HalfDork

Yeah I'm thinking the Aspire one is going to be the best fit. Then later once I get an external cd drive for it I can put ubuntu on it and call it good The Lenovo is very tempting but with no 6 cell battery currently available it kinda tosses it out as it only has 2 hours battery life, that is only 2 of my classes or half of my lab time.

Edit: Yeah just placed my order for the Acer Aspire One. We'll see how well it works when it gets here.
Nov. 12, 2008 7:56 p.m. Grtechguy SuperDork

I've been drooling over the little 2lb notebooks myself. maybe christmas
Nov. 12, 2008 9:24 p.m. rebelgtp HalfDork

Grtechguy wrote:

I've been drooling over the little 2lb notebooks myself. maybe christmas

Yeah this is actually an early Christmas present from my grandparents. They wrote me a check for $500 said go buy one now, you will get a card at Christmas.
Nov. 13, 2008 9:15 p.m. MitchellC Reader

Let us know how you like it. I may be getting one in a month or two. I'm already pretty much sold; I just don't have the cash laying around yet.
Nov. 13, 2008 10:04 p.m. rebelgtp HalfDork

I certainly will, I'm hoping that it will get here tomorrow but I'm thinking it won't be until Monday. Nice thing is I we have campus wide wifi so I can get online and pull from other sources than my books while working in the halls