netbooks are they any good?

[billbobaggin]

Hi i want to use word and email stuff, can anyone recommend a good netbook. Also have there been any pitfalls? cheers bill:-)

[hc4361]

Netbooks are excellent for the purpose they are intended for - browsing the internet on the move.
They are light, small and portable with a small screen and small keyboard, so typing for hours may be a problem.
Some are very cheap and keep their costs down by using Linux, a free operating system, instead of XP.
The most recommended are:-
AcerOne
Asus Eeee
MSIWind
Dell Inspiron Mini
Eee PC 901
Samsung NC10

Bear in mind they don't have dvd/cd and usually have a small hard drive and memory.

[beso]

Often they have no hard drive and rely on flash memory instead.

They sit somewhere between a PDA and a Notebook computer. Not suitable for serious computer work.

[chrisrob]

I manage everything I want to do on my Dell Inspiron Mini 9.
That is: web surfing, emails, word processing. It does have a small keyboard but I have small fingers and find no problems.
I also edit my photos on it OK and my mp3 collection.
True it only has a 16Gb "hard drive" but I keep a 32Gb card in the SD slot as a second hard drive and use memory sticks if necessary. I hardly ever use the USB DVD drive I have.

[rosandjohn]

thank-you all, bill:-)

[fo3nix]

I have the Asus 1000H.

It's great for travelling with, or light use, but I wouldn't want it as my main machine, for a number of reasons.

1) They're lower-powered, and thus slower than larger laptops. However, for email, web browsing, word processing, and even some light gaming, you won't notice a difference. They give good performance for these light uses, and last a long time too (I regularly get 4 hours' usage).

2) If possible, try the keyboard first. There are two issues here, size and key placement. Some of the smaller netbooks (7" screens or even perhaps 9" screens) have very small keyboards that aren't too bad to type with, just not great. They also tend to be of a lower quality than higher-priced laptops, which may be an issue if you are going to spend a lot of time typing on them. Also, on many of the netbooks, some of the keys are in weird and annoying places. For example, often the right shift key is right next to the up arrow key. This means that if you're a touch-typist, you could well end up pressing the up arrow instead of the shift arrow (I do).

3) Lots of them come with Linux. This is a free, open source, operating system, replacing Windows. It's very stable, fast, and more secure than Windows without any setup. It doesn't run Windows software though (not entirely true; you can use Wine software to use Windows programs, but it may be a bit of hassle). It will come with a web browser, email client, spreadsheet and word processing programs though. If you really need some Windows software that's only available on Windows, make sure it comes with Windows.

[fo3nix]

4) Right now I like the look of the Samsung NC10, or the Dell Mini 12, for a slightly larger netbook (the latter perhaps is more a 'small laptop', whatever the difference between a netbook and laptop is).

5) Flash storage. This is like the storage in post iPods, and other music players. It's great in that you can shake the laptop about and you won't lose your information, but it's bad that you usually don't get as much room to store stuff. This may be an issue if it's your main computer, but probably not if it's a secondary one.

[alfgbt]

Hi, I have a samsung NC10 & find it a brilliant little machine. Some reviews I read about it didnt give much credit to the size of the touch pad but I find I have no problems with it. The swaying point which made me buy this netbook was the boast of its long battery life which is to say awesome, a full 7 hours is the usuall. Would hghly reccomend this netbook to anyone.

[wideboy]

Hi Bill, I am using an Advent 4211 netbook just now - it is really an MSI Wind (early version). I love it and have used an external DVD to install all my stuff. I've also upgraded the RAM to 2GB and have 'flashed' the BIOS with an MSI one which allows me overclock the processor from 1.6 to 1.9 GHz with no problems (never overclocked before!).

The only drawbacks are the smaller Hard Drive (only 80GB but double what I had on an old laptop (newer versions, and the MSI Wind now have 120 or 160GB), and the screen resolution could be a bit 'longer' than 600 vertical for viewing web pages (I think most, if not all Netbooks have this limitation).

If I was buying one just now, I would be going for the Samsung NC10 if you can get it at a good price - I got a friend to buy one and am now quite jealous. It has a large hard disk and a very good battery life but it only has one memory slot so is limited to the 1GB it comes with or you may have to ditch that (someone will want it!?) to put in 2GB (if it can take it).

Otherwise, I would consider the newer MSI Wind with larger hard disk and loger-life (6-cell) battery. Prices are going up for this?

Someone mentioned the Asus 1000- a very good alternative but make sure you get a hard drive and Windows Xp - it may even replace your main desktop if you're not into video editing or games.

I've heard rumours though of new netbooks coming out with dedicated graphics for games etc.

Happy hunting and check reviews on-line.

Still fancy the Samsung NC10.

[wideboy]

PS. Bill, just found this offer on Amazon:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-10-2-inch-Mini -Notebook-1-6GHz-Windows/dp/B001GZC8K8/ref=pd_ bxgy_ce_text_c

Get all 3 items and delivery free.

[whqttt]

Not entirely sure why anyone would pay �360 for one, as you can get a full-sized machine for less than that. Unless, of course, you are desperate for something small.

Having said that, all of my children have netbooks - they do the usual things on them, web surfing, emails, msn, listening to music and watching films, and none of them have reported any issues. They have the original ASUS EEE.

[sqad617]

Sorry lads....I seem to be the only dissenter.

I have an ASPIRE ONE and the keyboard drives me mad.
One has to be so accurate as to not touch an adjacent key....which incidentally is not easy to do.
At times, after typying a paragraph, it has completely disappeared or that you have typed in the middle of the previous paragraph. I have an R key which is followed by whatever the PC wants to do.
It's a bloody nightmare....wish I had never bought it

Sorry chaps.