Netbook Computer Recommendations

[Peter_374293316]

We want to be able to access e-mails, internet banking and surf the web (usually to check the weather prospects!)when we are on holiday (mainly in the UK, France and Spain). We're looking at netbooks around the £170 to £250 mark and wonder whether to go for a Linux based OS or Windows XP, hard disk or SSD. We would appreciate any advice and/or recommendations, or your experiences.

Peter

 

[swpostie]

Hi Peter,

I got myself a netbook just before Christmas, for similar reasons to yours.

I took advantage of an offer from Orange for a free Eee 901, subject to signing up for a 2yr 3G contract (the netbook has a built-in 3G modem).

I pay

 

[Peter_374293316]

Hi Peter,

I got myself a netbook just before Christmas, for similar reasons to yours.

I took advantage of an offer from Orange for a free Eee 901, subject to signing up for a 2yr 3G contract (the netbook has a built-in 3G modem).

I pay

 

[WilliamLX]

Peter, as Rupert has said Windows is easier to use, but for your use I would recommend a cheaper Linus based model with solid state memory. A number of reasons but the primary ones are that Linus will be faster on these modest machines and you do not need the HDD which is easier to damage in touring and eats the battery compared with solid state storage. After all of internet and email you will barely need to go into the depths of the operating system, and FireFox browser looks and works the same in Linux as it does in Windows. Same for Thunderbird email client.

 

[WilliamLX]

Hi Peter,

I got myself a netbook just before Christmas, for similar reasons to yours.

I took advantage of an offer from Orange for a free Eee 901, subject to signing up for a 2yr 3G contract (the netbook has a built-in 3G modem).

I pay

 

[Maginnis]

Beware of Linux, it's not compatible with all mobile broadband (assuming of course you're planning to get a USB dongle/SIM. If you are planning to use the WI-FI available on site then the above is not an issue.

Last weekend we did the whole netbook thing and went with the Advent 4312 from PC World. It came out highly in all the netbook reviews I could find. It has a SIM slot too which means you can put the Broadband SIM directly in it instead of needing to use the Dongle (which I'm sure I would break/lose). It has a 10" screen which is perfect, I think it's 120G hard drive and 5G RAM. Price was

 

[xtrailman]

peter

I really can't see the point of a netbook, other than for students, who have to carry it about.

My mine reason the the screen size, my old lap top is 14" which is fine, but with the netbook you have to scroll a lot more.

I bought a 17" at xmas which is even better for home use, but not as portable as the old 14" for caravan use.

But which ever one you go for get the highest memory, mine has 4GB, with a 2 Duo t5800.

 

[Peter_374293316]

Peter what point in getting it if you don't subscribe to 3G? How else to you propose surfing the net or accessing your email while in a caravan? Note the EU has introduced a law which means that 3G roaming charges will be much lower in EU countries than has been the case.

William

Thank you for your comments.

In the interests of being brief (my wife says I often go round the houses) I didn't say in the original post that we live in France most of the year. The cost of mobiles here is expensive and coverage often poor. We intend to use sites or cafes with wifi which are more and more common especially in holiday resorts. Had we been living in England I would probably have also considered an O2 contract with an iphone. Even then the monthly cost/minimum contract period far exceeds the cost of a netbook.

Peter

 

[Walter_374354699]

peter

I really can't see the point of a netbook, other than for students, who have to carry it about.

My mine reason the the screen size, my old lap top is 14" which is fine, but with the netbook you have to scroll a lot more.

I bought a 17" at xmas which is even better for home use, but not as portable as the old 14" for caravan use.

But which ever one you go for get the highest memory, mine has 4GB, with a 2 Duo t5800.

Vista 32 bit can only see 3Gb so no need to buy 4Gb

 

[WilliamLX]

Ray there is a point to a netbook. First and foremost they are cheaper than a full laptop, more portable (weight wise) and will run for longer on a battery charge. They are perfectly good for email and browsing and light office type use. In short they are ideal for the type of use many people take a laptop with them in the caravan for. Now there is a growing trend to keep up-speccing these machines, ie more memory, HDDs etc and I really do not see the point in these as they defeat the point. A HDD is delicate and eats battery life etc and the higher spec means they enter laptop price range.

Also if like you, you have an old laptop past its best as far as being your main PC is concerned, then I would say, ditch Windows, install Linux (you will be surprised how fast an old PC can seem running Linux rather than XP) and use it rather than buying a netbook (this is what I have done). However not every one has such a machine sitting around.

 

[12vconvert]

Ray there is a point to a netbook. First and foremost they are cheaper than a full laptop, more portable (weight wise) and will run for longer on a battery charge. They are perfectly good for email and browsing and light office type use. In short they are ideal for the type of use many people take a laptop with them in the caravan for. Now there is a growing trend to keep up-speccing these machines, ie more memory, HDDs etc and I really do not see the point in these as they defeat the point. A HDD is delicate and eats battery life etc and the higher spec means they enter laptop price range.

Also if like you, you have an old laptop past its best as far as being your main PC is concerned, then I would say, ditch Windows, install Linux (you will be surprised how fast an old PC can seem running Linux rather than XP) and use it rather than buying a netbook (this is what I have done). However not every one has such a machine sitting around.

I have to say the netbook's are great, im posting off one now, a Dell Inspiron mini 9 on Vodafone, similar deal to the one's above

 

[GillC1]

Ray there is a point to a netbook. First and foremost they are cheaper than a full laptop, more portable (weight wise) and will run for longer on a battery charge. They are perfectly good for email and browsing and light office type use. In short they are ideal for the type of use many people take a laptop with them in the caravan for. Now there is a growing trend to keep up-speccing these machines, ie more memory, HDDs etc and I really do not see the point in these as they defeat the point. A HDD is delicate and eats battery life etc and the higher spec means they enter laptop price range.

Also if like you, you have an old laptop past its best as far as being your main PC is concerned, then I would say, ditch Windows, install Linux (you will be surprised how fast an old PC can seem running Linux rather than XP) and use it rather than buying a netbook (this is what I have done). However not every one has such a machine sitting around.

Peter,

I can recommend the Samsung NC10 Netbooks, they are used by our students in school, they have 1mb ram and 160gb hard disk. They are basically as laptop but smaller and without a cd drive

 

[GillC1]

Peter,

I can recommend the Samsung NC10 Netbooks, they are used by our students in school, they have 1mb ram and 160gb hard disk. They are basically as laptop but smaller and without a cd drive

sorry that should have read 2gb ram

 

[richardpalmer]

ASUS Ee PC for me. It's fantastic, and great VFM @

 

[Peter_374293316]

Many thanks for the replies. The problem I'm having is finding anywhere selling a netbook with SSD and Linux - which I think would be my preference. I like the idea of 6 to 8 hours of battery time. However, I still have an open mind and since I had a Dell laptop before I retired and had no problems with the hard drive, I haven't discounted this option yet.

Richard

Does your ASUS have XP/Linux os SSD/hard drive and where can I buy one for

 

[xtrailman]

Walter

I am not a expert on computers, i was advised by the computer mags i read to buy as much ram as possible preinstalled.

So i bought an Aspire 7730, which comes with 4gb, i find it strange if as you say it can not use it?

William

I understand what you are saying, but for my use the netbook was a waste of time, i hate having to constantly scroll.

Further i nearly always have the laptop on mains, so battery life is of no interest to me.

I no nothing about Linux, and have 3 different ops on all three computers! All do the job i bought them for.

The Aspire i bought purely for downloading photos and broadband, i am very happy with it but am not making out that it is the bee knees, it simply does the job, and at the price i was happy to pay. Rather like my bailey, and xtrail.

 

[Peter_374293316]

We have decided to take the plunge and I think..... we will go for the Samsung NC10. Though, after a bad Microsoft day on the desktop (crash after crash) yesterday we were seriously going down the Apple Macbook route. Very expensive but the thinking was along the lines of "why should we splash out such a large part of the cost of our new netbook to pay for the XP Home licence when Bill Gates' bl*@*y operating system cannot cope with simple things like surfing the web, spreadsheets and e-mails.It would have future-proofed us on the move, and at home for the next few years. Dream on.

Anyway many thanks for all your advice.

 

[Walter_374354699]

Walter

I am not a expert on computers, i was advised by the computer mags i read to buy as much ram as possible preinstalled.

So i bought an Aspire 7730, which comes with 4gb, i find it strange if as you say it can not use it?

William

I understand what you are saying, but for my use the netbook was a waste of time, i hate having to constantly scroll.

Further i nearly always have the laptop on mains, so battery life is of no interest to me.

I no nothing about Linux, and have 3 different ops on all three computers! All do the job i bought them for.

The Aspire i bought purely for downloading photos and broadband, i am very happy with it but am not making out that it is the bee knees, it simply does the job, and at the price i was happy to pay. Rather like my bailey, and xtrail.

FYI

the "4GB" maximum memory limit of 32-bit Windows is purely theoretical. In practice, the max memory is something significantly less, equal to 4GB minus your video card memory and the address space allocated to a couple other hardware resourcse. Typically, the realistic maximum memory is somewhere betwee 2.5GB and 3.5GB.

 

[DianneT]

What ever version of Windows are you running on your desktop. I have had Windows 98 and now have XP on my desktop and Vista on my laptop I have never had any problems with either. Must be your broadband ar set up that is the problem. I am now in Austria and having no trouble with Vista surfing on the web and emailing with wifi on site. or thro USB to mobile.

 

[Peter_374293316]

We bought the Samsung NC10 for

 

[Surfer]

Apparently Ubuntu is the platform to use these day as it is better than Windows or Linux.

 

[mistermac]

I won an Asus Eee notebook. It's solid state, boots up in about thirty seconds and operates with Windows XP.

Little storage space, but there are easy ways round this - a 32gb memory stick or SD card for example.

Once you've got your head round the fact that it's not a laptop for doing laptoppy things - ie storing info, then it's great. Surfing and e-mail is just brilliant, though I find it difficult to touch type with such small keys!

I think mine should've retailed at around

 

[ShadySadie]

Hubby was gifted a couple of Acer Aspire One's. Fast start up on XP and runs window office, loaded with Skype and works fine. Ideal for travel use.

 

[WilliamLX]

Apparently Ubuntu is the platform to use these day as it is better than Windows or Linux.

Ian Ubuntu is Linux!