devicemanage
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join:2002-03-16
Chalfont, PA
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| Netbooks Anyone?
I have been thinking about getting one for travel. A friend has the Samsung NC10 and I love it, has a nice keyboard, 1gb ram and 1.6 ghz atom processor and 6 cell battery. All netbooks specs seem to be the same but has anyone played with a few different models to see which really infact has the best one out there. Verizon FIOS is sending me one for upgrading my service and its a hp compaq so I'm not sure if I will keep it. Thanks...
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CylonRed
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join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
1 edit | Some discussions here:
»Netbooks? Worth it?
»Smallest PC's out there |
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PeteC2
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1 edit | Good referrals CylonRed!
devicemanage, I have the HP Mini 110-1030NR and the best thing that I can say is that my wife and I increasingly find ourselves using it when out on the deck, around the house, and when on the "go!" It is what it is meant to be: Great for web-centric usage, runs MS Office just fine, and even ok for light photo preview/editing. The HP Mini 110 runs cool, quiet (even with the traditional hard drive), and the design and overall "build" seem to be of very nice quality.
Until the next generation of netbooks, with improved graphics (nvidia has a new chipset) and possibly dual-core Atoms and AMD mobile cpus come out, the 1gb ram/Atom N270/280 cpus/10.1" screen/etc. are all more similar than not. I do recommend the versions with a 160gb hard drive over the small, and somewhat slow SSDs (these tend to be not the faster SSDs on the market). It comes with less "crap-ware" than many notebooks that I have used, but I did ditch Norton's (got my own favorite AV software) and MS Works, since I already have a licensed MS Office 2007 (nice, because you just enter your licensed # through the MS Office "trial" version that comes with it, and you are up and running). Wireless connectivity and range are on par with all of our notebooks.
Specifically, the HP Minis have a simply great 92% full sized keyboard, which to me is the best netbook keyboard out there to date, although many of the newer netbooks have keyboards that are very similar or close in usability. The other feature that I prefer on the HP Mini 110 series is the non-glare style screen. The glossy screens do provide a slightly brighter "pop" to colors, but as we take the netbook out in all kinds of lighting conditions, I find the non-glare screen far preferrable in outdoors environments.
XP Home, which comes with the HP Minis, is a very good match performance-wise, and although you can upgrade the ram to 2gb, there is really no discernable advantage! I tried it, since I have the ram lying around, but could see no compelling reason to do so, WinXP at 1gb runs just fine.
The biggest "complaint" that I might make on this mdel is that at a given battery size (the 110 comes with either a 3 cell or 6 cell battery), there are netbooks that get better battery run time, though the HP is not "bad". I got mine with the 6 cell battery, and I have no issues with run time. The 6 cell battery design is a bit diferent, in that it is designed to extend downwards, which can be both good and bad! When using the 110 on a desk or table, it puts the keyboard and screen at a perfect angle for typing/viewing, but of course, at the same time, that adds some bulk to the unit...all a matter of taste as to whether one likes this design or not (I prefer using this on a table/desk surface anyways, so for me, it is great!) Obviously, the 3 cell version is a slimmer profile.
Do be aware that the track pad on the HP minis has an unusual design, with the mouse buttons on the right and left side of the track pad, certainly did take little adjusting to, but really, after a very short time, it ceased to bother us at all, but not all will agree with that!
My wife likes to browse, play on-line games (non-graphics intensive) and pay bills on-line. I also take it on the road for work, where I can track clients, keep in touch with co-workers emails, and edit/bang out documents as needed. I tremendously prefer taking this on the road to my office notebook!
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SMCinAZ
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Glendale, AZ
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1 edit | reply to devicemanage
I got the ASUS EEE PC 1005HA-P, and I have to say it is the best Netbook available, hands down. 10+ hours on battery, faster 1.66 processor on the faster 667 mhz bus, and the thing works great. None of the others I considered matched the specs and battery life. I put in a 2GB memory stick and the thing just runs flawlessly. |
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devicemanage
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Chalfont, PA
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Thanks for the information - I have heard about the Asus model, lots of people feel the same as you SMCinAZ. Looks like I will try my Compaq Mini 110 out just because its only going to cost me $100...
Please keep the posts coming if you feel compelled to - thanks again!
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PeteC2
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| reply to SMCinAZ
said by SMCinAZ  :I got the ASUS EEE PC 1005HA-P, and I have to say it is the best Netbook available, hands down. 10+ hours on battery, faster 1.66 processor on the faster 667 mhz bus, and the thing works great. None of the others I considered matched the specs and battery life. I put in a 2GB memory stick and the thing just runs flawlessly. That is a very nice netbook...outrageous battery run-time (though I do question the compromises to get that much run time). I am not overly impressed with the Atom N280 running the 667mhz bus however. I have tried netbooks with both the N270 and n280 cpus, and on a Windows XP OS based system, I could discern little or no difference in performance. The current Atom processors are not fast enough to tax the system bus, and there is no practical difference between a 1.6 versus 1.66 mhz processor speed.
Having said that, I think that the ASUS 1005H-P is one very nice netbook!
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Loco
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join:2002-11-09
So Cal
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| reply to SMCinAZ
said by SMCinAZ :I got the ASUS EEE PC 1005HA-P, and I have to say it is the best Netbook available, hands down. 10+ hours on battery, faster 1.66 processor on the faster 667 mhz bus, and the thing works great. None of the others I considered matched the specs and battery life. I put in a 2GB memory stick and the thing just runs flawlessly. Who sells those ? I guess i'll check NewEgg first.
I wanna get one for my youngest daughter (age 10).
She has a really nice desktop machine in her room, but keeps talking about those mini-notebook pc's.
Christmas will be here soon ! |
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SMCinAZ
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join:2000-11-29
Glendale, AZ
clubs: | I got mine on Ebay. |
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Loco
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join:2002-11-09
So Cal | said by SMCinAZ :I got mine on Ebay. Thanks, amigo ! |
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Fluker
join:2005-04-07
West Lafayette, IN
| reply to devicemanage
The rate that good new netbooks are entering the market makes for pleasant surprises every time I look, but the Lenovo S10 is still a well built machine for it's price. Top off the memory to 2gb and it's a quick little browsing machine that still gets 8hrs/charge |
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bevo1
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join:2002-07-25
Fort Worth, TX
clubs: | reply to devicemanage
I got a Lenovo S-10 a couple of weeks ago and am very happy with it. Nice bright display and the QuickStart loads in 12 seconds. $240 on the Lenovo site. |
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devicemanage
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Chalfont, PA
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Well I have been using the HP/Compaq Mini for quite some time and it really holds it own. I take it on trips like I planned, tethering via my cell phone and for surfing the net, email a little facebook - its all good. Prob going to upgrade the memory to 2 gigs down the road - but its fine. Great keyboard too, its actually a pleasure to type on it. Everything about this netbook works great. I highly recommend it, but the Asus still has it beat hands down with the battery life. Buddy of mine has one and loves it too!
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ggma1126
ggma1126
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join:2008-08-30
Claymont, DE
| reply to devicemanage
I just purchased an Acer Aspire AOD250-1695 anyone have any experience with the acer aspires ? Got it on sale at office depot for 299 with win 7 starter - was looking all around for a netbook and problem was I wanted a win 7 one was looking for one that was bluetooth enabled but for the extra money to get that option I can use the bluetooth dongle I already have since it comes with 3 usb ports. I wanted this just for light work since I have my HP laptop for work related stuff and more heavy duty stuff. Read some good things about this one so time will tell. Any input will be appreciated |
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PeteC2
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1 edit | ggma1126, I have not owned that model, but my wife sells them where she works and they are a top selling model.
Hardware-wise, they are right on par with most of what is out there for netbooks right now. High points would be the ultra slim design, bright screen, and low cost. Negatives might be the slightly sub-par keyboard (but really not that bad IMHO), and ok, but not stellar battery life.
Initially, this model had some issues that needed fixing via a bios update, but I believe that this has since been corrected.
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ggma1126
ggma1126
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Claymont, DE
| Pete thanks for the info I ordered this online to be picked up at the store but am now also looking at the HP 110-1125NR I heard that it was cumbersome to upgrade the memory in the acer as I definitely would want to upgrade to 2gb Mem - so at this point I am undecided on which one to go with I think the only drawback I see is that with they HP they load down with excess software which I know can be removed. think I am going to go to the store and compare the 2 side by side |
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ggma1126
ggma1126
Premium
join:2008-08-30
Claymont, DE | reply to PeteC2
well I took the plunge got the acer aspire 250 I wanted this as a spare something to use aside from my hplaptop - so far so good tho I am going to upgrade to win 7 prof from the starter version |
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PeteC2
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clubs: | I think that you should be happy with that model. Upgrading to 2gb ram is not at all difficult to do.
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sawman
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join:2002-04-25
BC KS | reply to devicemanage
I like the ASUS I got, but the wife is getting it when I get a 15" laptop. I'm tired of scrolling the little screen to read anything. |
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DSL_Steve
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join:2003-11-28
Woodbury, CT
1 edit | reply to devicemanage
I was going to get a NetBook, but got a 17" Toshiba laptop instead for $348.
»www.pcworld.com/article/170191/g···day.html |
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PeteC2
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| OK, if I wanted a chunky, desktop-replacement sized notebook, then that was a very nice deal, however, I already have notebooks...I bought a netbook for it's outstanding portability. They are two completely different critters for completely different purposes...
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