Gee, what type of computer did you have when you were 10?

Probably just like mine, a chalkboard. :)

The HP Mini 110 is cheap, average specs, and has the best keyboard, I think.

I'm probably going to choose between it and the Lenovo S10-2, which has the Ion chipset/graphics, higher test scores than the Mini 110, but not as good a keyboard.

Would love to get her a MacBook Air but $1500 is steep - would rather put the extra $1K toward a DSLR. Wife thinks it is time to go DSLR but the ones I'd consider (full-frame, meter w/ Nikon Ai/AiS lenses) are still way expensive. $2600 body-only seems to be the price of admission (Nikon D700).

"$2600 body-only seems to be the price of admission (Nikon D700)."

John,
That admission price is pretty pricey. That's coming in from the top end. There are "lesser" models that would make most pros very content.

Sherwood

When I was 10 I would go to work with my Father and his computer was in a big room with all sorts of tape on reels and punch cards. This laptop has 250gig of memory. Pretty sure it has more storage and computing power then his did. Funny thing, he was with Naval Underwater Warfare. They had a bigass budget then and had all the best...

I friend of mine worked at the FAA when they were just getting computerized. They had rooms of tape drives and they could not shut off the computer because too many tubes would blow. My friend was a programmer and wrote super tight code. After he retired back in the days of 640K DOS 2.0 he wrote a program that would let you scroll back up a DIR list. He was embarrassed because it was a memory hog, it took 2K.

WHy an air? I got Calvin the lowest end macbook. Set it up with Bootcamp and he can run XP and game (where he uses FRAPS to capture in-game videos) then switch to Mac and use iMovie to edit, Office for WP, etc.

If you want FF is a dSLR, right now the Sony a850 is cheapest but still $2K. Next year FF might drop down towards the $1500 range but maybe not. That's a whole 'nother discussion...

The standard MacBook won't fit in her book bag and weighs too much. Really, it is nutty how many books, notebooks, etc she carries.

For the DSLR, I want to go Nikon and FF because I have a lot of MF Nikkor lenses I want to use on the DLSR. These are lenses that I usually use on stationary subjects, and it would cost too much to get them in AF anyway, or they don't make them in AF. For example, an AF Nikkor 85mm f1.4 is well over $1K. No thanks, I'll use my MF version.

We have an Acer Aspire One with XP, 1GB RAM and 160GB HD. It works perfectly for what we need. It would probably benefit from the additional 1GB of RAM, but it manages fine for web browsing and I can even play Top Gear episodes from a flash drive without any problem. It's size makes it perfect for sitting on the sofa in the evening or taking on trips for internet access, as easy as carrying a paperback.

Okay, Santa is bringing dearest daughter a netbook. Here's details in case anyone is shopping too.

I bought the HP Mini 110 from Costco for $340. With Win 7 Starter, alas, so I'll probably upgrade to full Win 7 someday. I chose this one, despite the higher price and poorer specs (compared to the alternatives, see below) because I thought its keyboard was definitely superior.

Alternatives -

Costco had the Acer Aspire One with Win XP Home for $300. This machine has better specs than the HP, with Bluetooth and 802.11N.

The best deal I found, in a chain store anyway, was at Radioshack. They have the Lenovo S10 for $280 (that is with no 3G contract or other strongs, also for free w/ a 3G contract). This may be the version of the S10 with the nVidia Ion chipset/graphics, I didn't check, but anyway is a great price.

I may swing by Costco. Those sound pretty darn good.

I pulled the trigger on 2 of the ACER Aspire 10.1" units. WOOT had refurb units for $229.99 plus $5 shipping (for both!). I won't get them before Christmas, but mom and wifey will end up with Netbooks. With Tax and shipping, $503.34 for both.

Red get a new Dell Laptop, but it won't arrive until mid January.

I bought the same one off WOOT a month ago. Red. Biggest issue with them seems to be battery.

If the battery on those things gets run all the way down it won't charge. Easy fix though, just make sure it has the latest firmware and reset the power manager, remove battery and wall power, hold power button for 20 seconds and it's reset.

Some people were reporting getting the upgraded 1.66 processor and or Bluetooth. Shipping did take a while as mine came out of the depot in Jersey.

You're a good son and husbandy.

Daughter and I were driving yesterday. She tried so hard to convince me that I should intervene with mom and let her have her own computer.

She needs it for school (very true), she's been studying really hard and getting good grades (true), someone else is always using the Mac when she is trying to do her schoolwork (also true), she doesn't like the family Mac and wants a Windows computer (horrifying but true), she's really responsible and doesn't email or chat with anyone she doesn't know and doesn't have or want a Facebook page (also true), blah blah blah (true true true).

Nevertheless, she's not getting her own computer until she goes to college. (Not true, but I sure enjoyed saying it - being evil is so fun).

Urrgh. Setting up daughter's netbook. IE is covered with HP and AOL co-branding; have to download and install Firefox. Norton Antivirus 2009 nag screen keeps coming up; have to download and run Norton Removal. Have to download and install AVG Free. Windows needs updates; have to download and install 150MB of updates. Windows won't allow changes to the desktop image; have to download and install third-party app. Etc etc and allthis needs repeated restarting. I've spent over 2 hours getting this machine set up. Reminds me why I buy Macs for myself . . .

I do like this little machine. I may buy another and Hackintosh it.

That is my plan with my acer. Right now there are only 2 that are 100% hackable, the Dell Mini 9 and one of the MSI Wind boxes.

The Acer 10.1 needs ethernet and sound worked out.

Everytime I santize a machine to give to a family member, I format the drive and reload the operating system. The update cycle is usually a PITA, not because it is difficult, but because you can only download and update a certain number at a time. I have the SP2 & SP3 loads handy, so takes care of most of the updates from my very old XP disks.

I will be doing this on 2 machines, and loading open office on them, plus firefox, thunderbird and lightning. My Wife's machine will get a load of Quickbooks, Adobe Acrobat, and Office 2003. It should allow her to be on the road with the machine.

Update:

My new notebook arrived. My old Dell had 3GB of RAM. So I pulled the 2GB module out and popped it into the Acer Aspire 10.1. Big difference in how it starts and runs. I will be upgrading my other 2 netbooks to 2GB of RAM.

I really like this thing, except for the touch pad. It is not the fault of Acer, I don't like touch pads in general.

No the Acer trackpad really just sucks. Too small, odd sensitivity.

My MacBook trackpads rock.

I prefer a trackpoint.

apple-itablet to be announced january 27th , will be the deal! Can't wait to get 1 myself! I've had all the problems with the mentioned brands of computers, never again!she would be able to keep it for 6-7 years, microsoft 7ista sucks, doesn't have bill Gates anymore, does have Balmer( a complete joke)!It's going to be revolutionary & good for school