Anyone use a Netbook

I've got an Acer. Love it except for battery life. The standard battery lasts 2 hrs. or less... but at $268 brand new it was a great deal.
I wouldn't be surprised if ASUS makes all the motherboards for these things, they all seem to have the same specs, just different packaging.

Ed

 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/engadgets-holiday-gift-guide-netbooks/

 

Its not a trial, regular version. Just the scaled back so it doesn't clutter up the resources. Don't worry, you won't have to pay more for Windows 7 later.

 

Windows 7 Starter only allows for running 3 programs at a time...not much of a problem for it's intended use.

 

I'm in the same boat looking at netbooks for travel. here's what I've gathered/been told:

definitly get windows 7 operating system (starter is on the netbooks) vs. Windows XP. just a better OS and with the quick startup, that's the best part w/ the netbook.

almost all have 1GB of RAM and can upgrade to 2GB for not much $$
most come with 160GB hard drives, some of the newer ones come with 250GB. good if you have movies or itunes with lots of songs.
10.1/10.5" screens are the norm

most don't come with microsoft Office, so you either have to buy it separate ($$) or run Open Office. I will probably go with Open Office (free!) unless i hear otherwise.

battery pack- some have 3 cell, some have 6 cell. if you plan to use it a lot away from power, get the 6 cell battery pack. up to 9 hours run time. nice for flights.

so far I have I've been looking for christmas deals on a 10.2", 1GB Ram, 160GB hard drive, Windows 7 starter, 6 cell battery pack, but they are all about $350. have been tooking at Toshiba, MSI, Acer, Dell and HP.

am I missing anything (or anyone seen any deals?)?

 

I bought a Lenovo S10-2 earlier this year. It's been absolutely awesome. I would buy one again.

 

I have a $300 Asus Eee, it is OK. Not great, but for $300 it is a darn good piece. I had to return the first one I got cause the "T" key was sticky on it. The one I have now developed a little screen anomaly after a few months use where a little cluster on the right side of the screen are dead. Hasn't bothered me enough to take it back for exchange.

Have a co worker with a Lenovo, and it seems nearly as bulletproof as normal lenovos. Wish I would have spent the extra $100 and got the lenovo.

 

I very nearly bought a Lenovo a couple of weeks back. The only thing that stopped me was when I went to CompUSA to buy one, (they had them in stock and on the shelf to actually touch and operate), I went onto superbikeplanet just as a test browse, and opened up a picture, and only about a quarter of the photo showed on the screen. In other words, it was way too big for the screen size.
I'm just wondering now if there's just an adjustment one needs to make in the computer so that the picture comes up in screen size?
I really want one of these little things, but that's a problem. Operator error, maybe? Anyone?
Not to get off course on the thread, BTW, just wondered if this is normal and you just have to scroll around on a picture to see it all.

Cheers
Barry

 

For those uses, the Acer is perfect. I've had mine for 18 months or so, dead reliable, it's been across the country, it commutes on a motorcycle, and it's my at-track GPS lap timer computer. Batter life is about two hours, but that's the only drawback. And you cannot beat the price.

p.s. For loading programs, I just copy the program from its CD to a memory stick on the main computer, then use the memory stick to load the program onto the Acer. I've found virtually no need to buy an external drive.

 

I currently have the HP mini and have had nothing but good luck with it so far. Ive had it about 6 months, and use it daily.
It has XP on it, with the 3 cell battery, 1 gig of mem., 160 gig HD. I have itunes, office 2007, photoshop, and a couple other programs on it that run fine.
I bought it at best buy on sale for $299.00. Here it is on HP's website if you want a further look.

http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/mini1000/?tafcjnef=fy09&ppc=DSp182827938#/Mini110Overview/

 

Its designed for emerging markets....and apparently netbooks.

 

This is because Microshit support for XP will end in 2011... IIRC. I'm gonna be stuck paying for an upgrade to 7 "lite" or learning to use some other OS.
Shoulda waited until it came installed on these things.

Ed

 

It's not a Lenovo thing, it's a browser setting. You just have to enable Automatic Image Resizing in the browser, and it will resize images to fit the browser window. It's turned on by default, but sounds like someone turned it off in the settings of the computer you looked at.

 

Asus Eepc 1005HA (black or pink) - $261.75
http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Asus-Eee-PC-1005HA-Black/product/CEBBCCBB

I added it to my cart, and it came up as $349 quoting: "There was a discount for this item, but it has been used the maximum number of times. You can now purchase more at the regular price."

I realized that is crap, so I called and they honored the $261.75. After KY sales tax and next day shipping ($12) it was $290.18.

 

I have one,, upgraded the RAM to 2Gig,, I have an external CD/DVD,, its cool to just carry around,, so small and easy to use

 

Bought my wife the new Acer One with the 10" screen. Opened it last night. Man, it makes my old one look like a dog turd. And I LOVE my old one ...

 

Thanks, mate. Now I have to reconvince myself

Cheers
Barry