We've had a computer death in the family, and I am considering buying a netbook. I thought ASUS was the way to go, but now I see excellent reviews (PC World) for a Toshiba (205?). Any recent experience anyone?
I will admit to having loved my 8.9" Acer netbook - although the keys were a little small on the keypad. I gave it away (My father really, really wanted it), and almost regret doing so.
I have also used an MSI wind - bought for an Aunt who used it for a few months and then threw it on the floor in a fit of anger never to work again. It was OK - I had nothing against it, but it didn't "WOW" me.
I am currently typing this on a Lenovo S10e (I am on holiday in Italy) - a 10.2" screened netbook. It is unstylish, but functional - and I picked it up for a very good price. I have no complaints at all.
I think netbooks are pretty much of a muchness - same chipset and processor - minor variations in screensize and RAM. The Lenovo is certainly far better in terms of access to the hard drive memory BUT if money were no object, and I needed to replace this netbook tomorrow, I would probably buy an Acer or Samsung.
TimW
Posts: 909 | Location: Hampshire, UK | Registered: 28 March 2005
I'm still thinking about getting a netbook and I've also seen the good reviews for the Samsung. I'm planning a trip to Best Buy again to see if they have one so I can try it out. My biggest issues with the netbooks are the keyboard and mousepad. I want one that has a longer battery life so I'm seriously thinking about the Asus and increasing the memory to 2gigs. But I am not crazy about the keyboard. I prefer the HP but the battery life and ports are not as good as other netbooks.
I bought the eepc in july. 160gb hard drive 2gb mem. Win XP. I like it. I have not used it on a trip, actually leaving for Australia tonight, but I have been using it out on the ranch and for a few days when I had a crash at work. Seems to work well, I have the 10.5 screen. No problems so far. Consumer reports has a review on them. mine has the 6 hour battery which I think is a must. JHMO
I may have been confusing the Samsung and Toshiba. Here's a review that mentions the Samsung. It is a couple months old and there may be a newer model. I can't remember which brand I saw at Best Buy. It may have been the Toshiba and I think I decided against it because it was more expensive. But that was a couple of months ago.
I just bought the Samsung N110 and its fabulous. I had originally planned on the Asus 1005HA but after reading a whole bunch of reviews on Amazon it seemed its reliability was in question. The Samsung got great reviews, it has a 9 hour battery, and so far I can't say anything negative about it.
Originally posted by Marta: I'm still thinking about getting a netbook and I've also seen the good reviews for the Samsung. I'm planning a trip to Best Buy again to see if they have one so I can try it out. My biggest issues with the netbooks are the keyboard and mousepad. I want one that has a longer battery life so I'm seriously thinking about the Asus and increasing the memory to 2gigs. But I am not crazy about the keyboard. I prefer the HP but the battery life and ports are not as good as other netbooks.
I suspect I just need to jump in and get one.
Marta, the Samsung N110 has a 9 hour battery and the keyboard is very normal, a chiclet style much nicer than the Asus keyboards which I didn't like at all. I didn't even bother to upgrade to 2GB memory, so far the 1GB if fine for my purposes, I guess it depends what you might want it for, but my essential use is 1) downloading photos (not editing, just downloading); 2) email/web; and 3) watching video on planes/traveling. I did a test run yesterday and watched a whole movie from the hard drive, no buffering issues, no dropouts, worked great.
don't confuse that model (the NC10) with its newer replacement, the N110. Same essential but improved battery life, improved trackpad and a few other things.
Btw, the thing I didn't like about the Toshiba 205 was that the battery sticks out in the back tremendously, making it much larger than its specs would indicate. That was enough to make me cross it off my list.
Thanks Janet. This is really helpful. I thought there was a newer model. I had not spent any time recently researching so you've helped a lot. Marian, thanks for asking. Perfect timing. I hope they have it at Best Buy so I can try the keyboard.
Any time, Marta! And thank you, thank you Janet. I will try to get to Best Buy after Rosh Hashanah (my AmEx billing cycle ends midweek, so perfect timing here too. )
Glad to be of help. BTW, I got mine at Buydig.com (which I use often because its always no tax, free shipping for me.) Using Bing cashback I got about $22 off the posted price. Bing cashback is a no-brainer, it really works!
Bummer - my local Bestbuy did not have any Samsung netbooks on the floor. They did have the Toshiba. I did not like the keyboard at all. The spacebar was too narrow and I really had to scrunch my hand for it to work for me.
They said they would not have the Samsung back on the floor in a while because they are not restocking until the release of Windows 7 next month.
yeah, if you are not in a rush it might pay to wait until the units with Windows 7 come out. For my purposes I really didn't care, XP is fine and I wanted to have it all set up in time for my trip to South Africa.
Originally posted by Jane: Can you use photoshop or other editing software with a netbook?
Technically yes, but it is far from ideal. I find the main limitation is screen size.
Memory is becoming less of an issue- originally Microsoft would not allow netbooks to have >1Mb RAM if installing XP (They would really like to kill off XP forever and netbooks just got in the way).
I use an old version of Corel photopaint - it is about 7 years old, so thinks a 1.6mhz processor and 1gb RAM to be a very good spec!
Another favourite gadget is a £5 rubber roll up USB keyboard - packs to about the size of a coke can but has normal keyboard spacing. At that price, if desperate I can dump it if packing space becomes too tight.
TimW
Posts: 909 | Location: Hampshire, UK | Registered: 28 March 2005
Originally posted by Jane: Can you use photoshop or other editing software with a netbook?
I can run my editing software just fine (Picture Window Pro) as it has a very small footprint, in fact I can run it off a thumb drive if I need to, and certainly with 1 GB; one of the things that makes it so great. However, Tim is right that the biggest limitation is screen size. Netbook screens are 1024 x 600 which is really not sufficient for any kind of editing, other than perhaps culling out the bad stuff. I don't even bother doing that until I get home. But its nice to at least view your photos and see what you've got.
Update: I've order the Samsung 110 from J&R for my daughter, who is right now computerless. No store that I could find has one in stock to try out, but J&R appears to have the best total price.
Well, my daughter is much more into aesthetics than technology, so she would have liked it better if we could get it in pink. But now that she knows it's highly rated we are both looking forward (as I've been taking care of her e-mails for about two weeks now. )
Its actually very cool looking in black with red trim. Also--and this isn't noticable unless you look at the cover in very good light--if you look at it just right you will see that its not solid black, but black with red luminescent specks
They do not have DVD/CD. That is part of the way to keep the weight down. If you are looking to play movies, you can download them to the hard drive or usb drive.
If you are looking to play movies, you can download them to the hard drive or usb drive.
This is true, but not quite as simple as just downloading. You need to "rip" the DVD's into a manageable format/size, just as you rip CD's to MP3s. For this, you need special software. I have found a great program called DVD Catalyst which will convert your DVD's to play on any portable device (including netbooks.) www.tools4movies.com There is a free version, which will convert for things like cell phones, iPhone, Palm, etc but for a netbook you need the $10 version so you can convert to avi format.
To play full size video off the hard drive on a netbook (or any PC for that matter) you also need DivX (free) www.divx.com which gives you the codecs to play full-size, HD video.
This all may sound complicated but actually its quite simple; the only logjam is that it takes quite a long time to rip a full DVD, up to two hours or more. I let them run overnight.
Thanks Janet - you read my mind. I was not certain how to do it. I was wondering if you did something to rip them or if you were downloading them from a service like Netflix.
How did you move it to your netbook without a DVD drive? Did you network your PCs? I've also heard of people using USB/flash drives.
For years I have traveled with lightweight small laptops--around 4 lbs with battery. These have dvd drives. I haven't found the weight to be a burden and the advantage of the drive is a big one. Is the absence of a drive the only benefit of a netbook over a small lap top or are there other reasons? I am needing to get a new machine and am not sure what to do.
Netbooks are designed for connecting to the net. That is supposed to be the main goal. Many of those sold in Italy include either built in or add on net keys.
If you want to expand it the USB ports should let you add a drive. An earlier poster already mentioned getting a bigger USB keyboard. Obviously the more stuff you add the less portable it is.
Nick, thanks for that info. I know I could google and find out all I need to know, but, it is so much easier here when all the extraneous stuff is out and clear answers come through.
Does this mean that netbooks connect to the net differently than a regular laptop or that connection is the main purpose and normal computer work is less efficient? What is the main difference between a netbook and a notebook?
Most of the netbooks have specs similar to several year old laptops. So slower CPUs,less memory and less storage. For most people the power is enough for normal computer use.
Really aimed at people that need to connect anyplace any time. Instead of using a small cellphone screen you get the bigger netbook screen.
How did you move it to your netbook without a DVD drive? Did you network your PCs? I've also heard of people using USB/flash drives.
Marta, this is simple, I just used my portable hard drive (USB)..I have several I use for backup.
Jane, Nick is right that the primary purpose is NOT to replace a full-size laptop, but to use for travel and anywhere where weight and size is a consideration. It is optimized for wireless connections but does not connect any differently than any other laptop. Lots of students are getting them to take to class for note-taking and internet connection.
The other appeal is the low cost. I'd rather take a $350 item traveling then a pricier full-size laptop. My old laptop was pretty lightweight at 3.8 lbs but my netbook is 2.8 lbs and that pound does make a difference when you are also carrying 20 lbs of camera equipment
I would not use this as my only PC, for sure, and if I needed a laptop to actually do serious work on I'd opt for a full size one. But the netbook suits my needs exactly.
Marta, this is simple, I just used my portable hard drive (USB)..I have several I use for backup.
Of course! I keep forgetting about that option. I have two on my PC and another small portable. I haven't had a laptop at home before so I keep forgetting about the obvious.
I'm am soooo tempted to get one soon. I'm a little worried about waiting for Windows 7. These are slower machines and even though Windows 7 is supposed to be much faster - I'm such a doubter. I want to stay with XP. My guess is it is going to be hard to get them with XP after Windows 7 ships because MS is doing everything it can to stop supporting XP (yeah, I know this is another issue staying with XP).
Jane - I don't have a laptop now and I mainly want one for travel or taking around town. I don't want something large because we also travel with a bit of camera gear and I'm trying to keep the electronics gear to the minimum.
Yesterday my new netbook arrived and following my son's instructions, I have networked my DVD drives from my desktop machine so they can be seen and used by the Netbook. It was very easy to do this. Apparently you cannot burn using the drives this way but I was able to load software with no trouble. Here are the instructions he sent: Networking DVD drives Hope this helps. BJinNM
My situation is that I have a big laptop as my main computer--it's very powerful, dual processers, lg. capacity, etc. I use it as I would use a desktop computer. It weighs a lot.
Then I have a smaller laptop which I also use heavily for normal computing purposes. It is wirelessly connected to the big one, Casey's Lenova laptop and the printer. I also travel with this one.
If I were to get a netbook, it would be a 3rd computer (plus Casey's.) I think that is too much so guess I'll stick with what I have. Since I only have a little, bitty digital camera I don't need to compensate for that.
Of course, we also travel with Ipod speakers, GPS, portable DVD player, symphonic headphones, ethernet cable and all that goes with these things. We have one carry-on which is nothing but electronics. I should say that we only do all of this when we take our long trips of a couple months--not when we are on short ones.
I'm a little worried about waiting for Windows 7. These are slower machines and even though Windows 7 is supposed to be much faster - I'm such a doubter. I want to stay with XP.
well, that's a tough choice; I guess if I were buying now and there wasn't a rush, I would wait a month for Windows 7, it does sound like its a smaller, faster OS and has been getting good reviews. And as you point out, at some point Win XP won't be supported, although I think that's a long way off--there are just too many XP users out there. I wonder though if prices may go up a bit for the Windows 7 machines. Unfortunately, there is no easy upgrade path from XP to 7, my understanding is that you would need to do a total reinstall to upgrade.
on the other hand, I'm fine with XP on this machine because I really have no intent to use any software on it other than web browser and media players. I dont' need all the bells and whistles.
UPDATE: The Samsung Netbook has arrived, and my daughter and I started setting it up. No problems with keyboard. If it were mine, I'd set it up to make the type size bigger on the screen, but she's got young eyes.
Costco has the Acer Aspire One AOD250-1389 for $399.99 in stock, not on their website. It comes with Bluetooth, webcam, built in mic, 6 cell battery, protective sleeve, wireless mini-mouse and external CD/DVD player.
Denise
Posts: 340 | Location: Central California | Registered: 12 February 2006
As for the wifi security password ---- I set up my own when I got a new router last year, and I can't remember it exactly. I'll have to keep trying if I want to try the wifi on my daughter's netbook.
ah we should start an N110 club Hmmm the wifi is easy, for mine I needed to do nothing! (but yeah you do need to remember your password!)
Marta that's a great price! Did you use Bing cashback? I paid about $365 from buydig but with the cashback it came to about $342.
the only negative on the N110--and this is the case with most of the netbooks now--is that it is a fingerprint magnet, with that glossy cover. I am forever polishing it
At J&R, my cost was $349.99. But that was with free shipping and no sales tax collected. I have a feeling that within NY you would pay sales tax to them, and that much further than NY metro area the shipping would not be free.
It is here! I am so excited. The keyboard is perfect. The track pad is okay - I'm not used to one so I don't think it would matter one way or the other.
It was a breaze to setup and I got on my wi-fi right off. This will be fun. I'm definitely planning on taking it to Hawaii in December.
I'm attaching a picture. I put a US dollar bill next to it for scale.
Since I have never done this, how do you travel with a 10.1" netbook? I can see how the smaller ones would fit in a purse, but the 10" ones seem to big to carry around all the time.
Denise
Posts: 340 | Location: Central California | Registered: 12 February 2006
)
But now that she knows it's highly rated we are both looking forward (as I've been taking care of her e-mails for about two weeks now. 
)
Of course! I keep forgetting about that option. I have two on my PC and another small portable. I haven't had a laptop at home before so I keep forgetting about the obvious. 
We have one carry-on which is nothing but electronics. I should say that we only do all of this when we take our long trips of a couple months--not when we are on short ones.
