Netbook Recommendation
Bean
Posts: 8,129
I recently purchased a netbook from Wal-mart (I know, not the most hi-tech store). So far I have been very impressed with it. It is an Acer Aspire One.
Here are the specs:
1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor (just as fast as my 1 year old desktop)
Windows XP Home Edition
1 GB RAM (none used for video)
120 GB Hard drive (windows says it's 144 GB)
8.9" Screen 1024x600 (supports 800x600) really bright and easy to read
3 cell battery, 2 hour run time (I already ordered a 9 cell for 7 hour run time)
3 USB ports (1 on left, 2 on right)
1 VGA port (no adapters needed)
2 Memory card slots (1 SD only for semi-permanent storage)
Ethernet port RJ45
Built-in WiFi b/g
Built-in Web cam
Mic/Headphone jack
2.3 Pounds according to my postal scale
If you have any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer them.
Well worth the $298 price tag.
Bean
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There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. Make sure you don't cross it...
Post Edited (Bean (Hitt Consulting)) : 2/19/2009 3:05:27 AM GMT
Here are the specs:
1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor (just as fast as my 1 year old desktop)
Windows XP Home Edition
1 GB RAM (none used for video)
120 GB Hard drive (windows says it's 144 GB)
8.9" Screen 1024x600 (supports 800x600) really bright and easy to read
3 cell battery, 2 hour run time (I already ordered a 9 cell for 7 hour run time)
3 USB ports (1 on left, 2 on right)
1 VGA port (no adapters needed)
2 Memory card slots (1 SD only for semi-permanent storage)
Ethernet port RJ45
Built-in WiFi b/g
Built-in Web cam
Mic/Headphone jack
2.3 Pounds according to my postal scale
If you have any questions about it, I'd be happy to answer them.
Well worth the $298 price tag.
Bean
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There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. Make sure you don't cross it...
Post Edited (Bean (Hitt Consulting)) : 2/19/2009 3:05:27 AM GMT
Comments
How's the keyboard to type on? Have you had any issues with the smaller keys?
-Phil
I type ALOT so it does slow me down slightly. It takes some getting used to, but it is very functional. Not too cramped, but I do keep hitting the "F" keys when I go for a digit key. I wouldn't want to write a book on it, but for normal typing it's fine. I'd rate it a B+.
I don't like any touchpad, so I often use a USB mouse. The touchpad is small and that makes it even worse for me. I'd rate it a C.
Bean.
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There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. Make sure you don't cross it...
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I got my Aspire 1 right after Xmas from Costco ($349 then), and I'm very happy with mine.· I use mine while I'm·away from home. While·away,·I have a second monitor, a usb mouse and keyboard plugged in.· Using the second monitor w/ extended desktop feature, I've had a browser opened to the internet, the Parallax usb o'scope plugged in and running, the Prop tool running with the propeller proto board, and a usb mouse.· The Aspire doesn't bog down at all!
The only complaint I have, and what others have said in reviews, is the right and left buttons on either side of the touchpad take a lot of force to "click".· You got a good deal on yours, though if I recall correctly they offer a pink aspire one that's cheaper than the other colors.... don't tell me you got the pink one....
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Bad spellers of the world untie!
I got the blue one.
Here is my list of gripes:
Touchpad buttons are on the left and right side. This is just non-standard and gets some getting used to. And yes the buttons are a little hard to press.
The finish is so glossy that is REALLY shows fingerprints.
I wish the webcam had a shutter so you could cover-up the lens (I've heard stories....)
I tried Microsoft Movie Maker using the webcam and the video lags the sound by about a 1 second. I haven't found anyway to fix this, but I'm sure there is.
I would have paid more for a model with the 6-cell battery (5 hour run time).
The speakers are okay, but I wish they were a little louder. Hard to hear in even a semi-nosey environment.
I have mine setup to go into hybernation when the lid is closed. I wish it would startup when the lid is opened without having to press the power button. BTW it's ready to go in less than 15 seconds from hybernation.
None of these are show-stoppers. And I would have purchased it even if I knew about all of these beforehand.
Bean.
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There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. Make sure you don't cross it...
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I do bump my head on the 2G SSD, but the SSD means I won't get a click of death on the thing (and I carry it everywhere in the inside breast pocket of my coat).
Enjoy - I bought the same model about 6 months ago. Where did you find the 9 cell battery and what did it cost?
FYI you don't NEED to use the mouse buttons near the trackpad. If you double-touch the touchpad, it works the same as double-clicking the left mouse button. I use this feature regularly.
Forrest
Shame that Walmart is killing my business with these.. [noparse]:([/noparse]
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
Check out: Protoboard Introduction , Propeller Cookbook 1.4 & Software Index
Updates to the Cookbook are now posted to: Propeller.warrantyvoid.us
Got an SD card connected? - PropDOS
I got it from ebay here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=300293276224
But I haven't received it yet, so I cannot say if this seller is good or not. I'll post when I get it to let everyone know if it's okay.
I'm also looking at getting an external CD/DVD drive http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=310122026334
Bean.
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There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. Make sure you don't cross it...
Post Edited (Bean (Hitt Consulting)) : 2/19/2009 8:50:28 PM GMT
Honestly, though, I don't think they'll replace a 'regular' computer. You'll still need a Desktop or Laptop to get work done. Although I kept my mini-note, I ended up getting a T400, which is really, really nice and came in at about $1,200. It's built like a tank, but it's also a tad thick & heavy. I really wanted the X200, but $2,000 is a little rich for my blood.
I wrote an article about how Palm invented the netbook, here. You might find it interesting.
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A friend of mine bought an Asus eeePC laptop last year for his wife and they are fairly happy with it as a netbook. He had no issues connecting to his wireless network, seeing his server and fileshares, etc. However, when he bought a second one with Linux, he was much happier with the unit.
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~~ dRu ~~
I have also one of the Acer Atom 9 cell model with a 160GB and upgraded to 1.5GB RAM. I love this unit especially when travelling and surfing wireless around the house. I have the black colored. I prefer this over my Asus eeePC (which I was planning to mod just like the ones doing it in the eeePC forum).
The Acer Atom one, of course, I am going to leave it intact. Mostly of my propeller work though, I use my used Dell D600..this one still has the legacy serial/parallel and usb i/o. I use it for most of uprocessor hobby work.
The thing is, the speaker's Smile.
It isn't good in loud environments.
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BWIN ON DA POWAH WIFIN U!!!
(This means the Plutonium Isotope Nuclear Fission And Fusion Reactor Battery Pack you've been hiding inside your jacket!!!)
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- Rick
That all changed with the EEEpc. I got 701 with only 4Gbytes of solid-state ram and manditory Linux. Though the screen was tiny and the keyboard cramped, my world changed forever. It was easy to carry, not subject to theft problems, and two severe drops on concrete from over one meter did nothing to it. It went everywhere, including three week holiday to Thailand where I used it preview digital photos and to keep in contact with friends via email and Skype. The people I was traveling with thought it rather absurd at first, but were all borrowing it for their needs by the end of the trip.
Later, I discovered the joy of being able to switch OSes and to rebuild an entire OS in 20 minutes as 4Gbytes is not much to deal with. I also was unaware of how much I enjoyed the speed of the booting of a solid-state hard disk system, but it meant that I could quickly turn on the computer, do a simple task and turn it off to conserve battery life. A spare 8Gbyte SDcard or USBmemory stick can hold all your confidential material and a back up image in case the netbook is stolen.
Finally the EEEpc began to fail. Something in the battery and charging system went haywire, so I replaced it with a Toshiba NB250 with a regular 200Gbyte hard drive and W7 Starter. I partitioned the hard drive and installed Ubuntu Linux on half, while the W7 Starter remains available for things that specifically require a Windows OS.
The Toshiba NB250 is okay, but certainly NOT as good as the EEEpc. I don't need 200Gbytes and it boots slower. Also, Toshiba doesn't particularly support Linux (a loyal Windows company) and the audio is horrific with only one tiny speaker. The Toshiba power supply is bulky to carry along, whereas the EEEpc had a small wall wart that even had folding prongs - very compact and slick.
Conclusion, I would love to go back to an Asus product. Everything I have purchased from Asus has been above par. They even manage to be the ONLY Taiwanese company that gets immediate releases of new Intel products because one year they bailed out Intel from a problem with Intel's in-house fabrication of motherboards.
Acer? They started as and remain pretty much an OEM maker of computer peripherals, not the motherboard. They do a pretty good job, but have a certain lack of savy in regards to what the leading edge is doing. I actually worked for a year in San Francisco for a company that sold Acers and I would install and service them. Like-able, but not passionately love-able as Asus is.
Asus also has been very transparent to Linux users.
These days, Asus has divided into two companies. Its branded company that may not be easy to acquire in the USA and its OEM company,now called Pegatron, that is often under the hood of some of the better brands in the USA. So you might have to actually look at the motherboard to confirm you really have an Asus OEM. (Try looking at a motherboard inside a product from little old HP).
When I finally move on to my 3rd notebook, I suspect I will try to return to Asus and very much desire to have solid-state storage. That may not be easy to resolve. But Asus does have the iPad clone, an Asus EEEpad Transformer that I am attracted to. This is more expensive, but has a lot of iPod similar features AND can be hacked in Linux.
What's not to like? The EEEpc has had reasonably good audio with two speakers, but earphones are very handy (I use a cheap mono earphone as I hate fumbling with a headset and lots of wires).
And on all three, the machines run faster and are more stable in Ubuntu Linux. They also never require a dime for AV protection or registry cleanup.
Commercial OSes are for little old ladies and sissies.
My Asus Aspire is blue, and happens to be one of the series with a small SSD instead of spinning platters... It sucks when the SSD dies...
The keyboard was good, though...
My HP Compaq Mininote is the current 'carry places, don't care if it gets thrashed' machine.
It's decent, handles a lot of stuff I sometimes need to run (OBD-II SW, PronterFace for the printer, stuff like that)
I also have the original netBook; the Psion netBook, 32MB RAM, 190MHz StrongARM, EPOC R5(last edition before it changed name to Symbian) 8hour battery life, GREAT keyboard.
(No HDD, this is PDA-type tech. 13MB is used as 'virtual ROM' to hold the OS image, the rest is for files and running programs. Programs in 'ROM' doesn't allocate RAM for anything but working memory. No 'program load'.)
Networking is 'optional', but older Cisco 350 WiFi cards supposedly works very well.
(You also have FIR - Fast IRDa, which is nice for netBook - netBook transfers)
I also have a small 400MHz 'something or other' netBook... somewhere...
It was actually good enough to write on, as long as you didn't try to work on long .rtf files.
netBooks can be useful tools as long as you remember the limitations they have.
(Which unfortunately both buyers and manufacturers seems to have forgotten these days. If I want a small, powerful computer with all the doodads, I'd buy a HP EliteBook 25xx model, not a netBook. A netBook is supposed to be as cheap as possible and still offer basic functionality.)
The primary attraction was that if it was stolen or damaged, it was easy to replace. In mobile computing, this aspect has a lot of appeal. Does anyone really need ultra-fast processing for text editing?
I actually find it easier to both read PDFs and write code when inspired (rather than when I get home and have the desktop, but other things to do). More accomplished creative work is the appeal.
They are still sold regularly on ebay. Along with the model 102.
Bean
A post from the past!
Actually, I bought the same kind of netbook at about the same time. It's a nice little machine.
I use it for programming my 'bots and with my telescopes for astrophotography.
My only complaint was I could never find a red one... till I broke down and purchased a blue model. :-{
Amanda
I was a bit disappointed that the EEEpc 701-4G I had provided for a modem plug and then not provided the internals and inserted a rubber plug.
There are still tons of uses for a dial up connection. One doesn't have to push all and everything through the Internet and wireless is a bit too easy to snoop.
Nothing wrong with black at all. It's just that my planner, pen/pencil set and Blackberry are all red and the blue netbook kinda munged the theme I had going. ;-)
Amanda
-Phil
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