Netbook, anyone?

[jyl]

I'm thinking about buying my 13 y/o daughter her first notebook computer.

She'd use it for MS Word, web browsing, email, YouTube. Maybe some videochatting.

Since her backpack is already packed (these kids do 3 hours of homework a night, jeepers) I'm interested in a very small sub-notebook. And since the notebook may well get stolen at school etc, I'm interested in not spending a ton.

I see these "Netbooks", usually with the Intel Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, integrated graphics, 8GB flash memory or a small hard drive, 10" screen. HP makes a nice-looking one, the Mini 1000 (daughter likes the swirly design on the case). $499.

Anyone have a Netbook? Is it okay? Thoughts?

[87coupe]

The HP mini is nice. Also, look at the Asus Eee Pc, and the Acer Aspire One. Costco has the mini and Aspire One right now - the mini is $499 and the Acer is $399 IIRC. Target has the Asus in two different configs, one of which sells for $299. I don't believe any of them come w/ an optical drive ... something to keep in mind.

[87coupe]

And if you don't know already optical drives are available in slim external USB models.

[island911]

Originally Posted by 87coupe

.... Also, look at the Asus Eee Pc, .....

That's the first thing I thought of. You may also want to consider one of the Nokia internet devices, like the N800 or N810. Even smaller, with built-in web-cam, skype ... linux OS

[jyl]

The Asus is a possibility.

The Nokia is not, because she'll use this to do homework on - researching on web, grabbing pics, typing reports, sending them to print, etc. Pretty much needs MS Word.

I have thought about a MacBook. They are a bit bigger and heavier, though.

[87coupe]

Big price jump for the MacBook - seems a bit overkill for her usage. Stick w/ the netbooks.

[87coupe]

BTW, for fun, can anyone tell me how this is related to what we're talking about?

[87coupe]

[Paul_Heery]

I'm typing this on my netbook. I picked it up a few days ago. I looked t all of them and wound up with an Acer Aspire One. They all have pretty much the same features. I went with the Acer because it has the closest thing to a real keyboard. The Asus has only one shift key, the HP is cramped, the MSI felt awful and the Dell seemed like it would fall apart after a short period.

After I bought this, the first thing I did was remove XP and install Ubuntu 8.10. Everything on the netbook worked with no tweaking (wifi, sound, storage cards, webcam, 3d video, etc) Then, after using it for a while, I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it. UNR made the whole user experience much more enjoyable. (pic below)

I use it mostly for email and surfing Pelican. But, I have also found that I've been using it a lot for work. VPN client, SSH, RDP and a USB aircard lets me take this thing everywhere and be available at a moments notice. This thing fits easily into the glovebox of my 951, so I don't have to worry about leaving a laptop out in the open.

So far, I'm very pleased.

[Tim Walsh]

I've got an EEE 701 that I've had for a year now, it goes with me just about everywhere. For office and internet applications it works great, my only grip is the smallish keyboard. I can type on it, but I don't think I'll be doing any major papers with it, the keyboard is just too cramped. OTOH the new Asus machines are much better(the 9xx and 10xxx models). The single shift key never bothered me, since I only use the left one anyways. The other issue I've run into is that photo processing is quite slow on it, but it's still usable for that unless you're running through thousands of photographs.

I think a netbook would work well, and would prevent all that junk that ends up on a machine after time since everythings already installed.

[alf]

I went down the same route several weeks ago and ended up buying a couple of IBM T42s that were returned from leases off the bay for $300 each. I have boys that are tough on their gear and the netbooks I looked at would last maybe a week. Girls might differ.

[id10t]

I've played with 3 of the dell netbooks - 2 running Linux, one with XP on it. Get the one with Linux on it...

BTW - OpenOffice is very MS Office compatible - my coworkers and I share docs all the time and they have no idea I'm not using MS Office.

[jyl]

Thanks for all the thoughts. Quite a bit of experience with netbooks in this group.

The MacBook isn't going to happen - too big/heavy, too expensive. Also I want her to be familiar w/ both Mac OS and Windows, and right now we use Mac OS at home, so might as well have a Windows netbook.

The used Thinkpad etc idea is interesting - I will think about that. She's careful with her stuff, in the sense of not breaking it. But she's also prone to wander off and leave her stuff unattended.

You know, I have used Open Office, and I recall that it was just fine. Maybe I'll go that route.

Last question - anyone use a SSD drive in their netbook? Any advantages to that, vs a 60GB HDD?

[Tim Walsh]

Originally Posted by jyl

Last question - anyone use a SSD drive in their netbook? Any advantages to that, vs a 60GB HDD?

I've got a 4 giger in mine, it's not much after the OS is installed, about 1.5Gb, but it also has an SD slot, so I store most of my data on a 2Gb SD card, though it'll take the Hi-cap SD cards as well.


As for durability I think it's actually better than a normal laptop, I have to problem tossing my netbook on my bed/couch/chair since I know there isn't a hard drive to crash/jar. It's all solid state.

[RPKESQ]

Try a Dell Inspiron Mini 9. It is small, light, durable (SSD) and cheap (starting at $349) Mine has 1 GB DDR2, 16GB SSD, Mobile Broadband and a 1.3 MP webcam.

SSD are great, currently available in several sizes (16, 32, 64, 128 GB, etc.) the Kingston ones have the most advance design. No downside for normal use, shockproof, moisture resistant and faster than conventional HDs.