Anybody have a netbook

[Ronstar]

My work laptop died yesterday - then read this thread and went to Best Buy and came home with an Asus eeePC 1005HA. Amazing so far - I'm starting to load software from an external drive - and lying around surfing

 

[clifp]

My project for this evening is to load software on my new Acer.

 

[FIREd]

The screen and keyboard are small, so I wouldn't use it every day, but it's a lot better than squinting at an ipod touch.

I actually only take my iphone with me on trips now, the laptop stays at home. Yes, I wouldn't write a dissertation on it, but I don't mind the small screen and key board at all. It is so compact and multitasking that I really don't mind (especially now that I am into traveling super light to avoid paying those pesky checked luggage fees). Before leaving home, I load up the phone with all the files/photos/movies/app/music/GPS maps I may need and off I go. Now I can also edit word and excel files, access/upload/download/edit files on my website via ftp, and even do some picture editing right from my iphone. So I have little use for a laptop most of the time (now if there was a way for me to upload pictures directly from my digital camera to the iphone, I'd be all set).

I still think that those netbooks are cool though and, in hindsight, I should have bought one of those instead of a laptop - I mostly use my laptop to surf the internet while sitting on the couch. I just can't seem to justify buying one right now. Perhaps when the laptop dies.

 

[Achiever51]

Recently went to a meeting where the speaker stored his presentation on his smart phone and used this Shop 3M: 3M MPro110 3M MPro projector to display it. The projector was only about the size of the phone!

Showing my age, but I remember when the first computer projectors cost $3K or so and came in their own luggage!

 

[DayDreaming]

I don't have a netbook (or even a laptop) but was considering getting one. The thing I wonder about is how easy or hard it would be to find a WIFI signal when I need it. I have enough trouble with getting a good signal for my cell phone sometimes. I'd hate buy a netbook for email & surfing, then never be able to use it on trips. Comments anyone?

 

[travelover]

I don't have a netbook (or even a laptop) but was considering getting one. The thing I wonder about is how easy or hard it would be to find a WIFI signal when I need it. I have enough trouble with getting a good signal for my cell phone sometimes. I'd hate buy a netbook for email & surfing, then never be able to use it on trips. Comments anyone?

I have the Eee 1000 and use it for travel. I find that it works well for most hotels and coffee shops that advertise free WiFi, but I haven't tried to use it on the street. I've seen small WiFi sniffers sold that help you locate WiFi signals, but have no personal experience with them.

 

[Trek]

I was thinking about the Samsung N110. Anybody have one? The keyboard seems pretty nice would suit my large hands.

Video review:

YouTube - Samsung N110

Price and spec details:

Amazon.com: Samsung N110-12PBK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 6 Cell Battery (9.5 Hours): Computer & Accessories

 

[Rustic23]

The Asus 1000HE is the best seller on Amazon. Looks like Samsung lowered their price $349, which is lower than the Asus. Ths Samsung rates higher in most articles I have read. However, I would like to see it before I would buy.

 

[HeatherF]

I think the N110 is an excellent choice. I did a lot of research this spring and it came down to the N110 or N120. I chose the N120 because the price was the same and it had just come out. It was one year newer and they had improved upon an already near-perfect design. I'm very happy with the N120 and highly recommend it to friends. Samsung took a great product, and actually listened to the consumer feedback and churned out a great netbook.

I was looking for the following: less than 3lbs; 10 hour battery life (minimum 5-6 of pure video watching - for travel); and a keyboard that reviewers raved about (which narrowed it down to HP, Lenovo, or Samsung).

Small differences between the 110 and 120: at the time the 120 had superior battery life - I see from your Amazon link that they've released some 110s with better batteries so it's a moot point. The body has smoother lines/design. They improved the sound - adding a subwoofer underneath. And, they switched to glossy screen - original 110 had matte - which is superior for outside use.

I'm not sure how much of this is entirely accurate now since they're releasing new and improved 110s -but for what it's worth, that was my criteria.

I think you'll be thrilled with either - I think Samsung has 'hit it out of the park' with their take on the netbook. IMHO.

 

[Trek]

Thanks for the review Heather. To be honest, I saw the 110 Samsung locally and looked up reviews for it oblivious to the fact that there was the newer N120 released. I agree the 120 does look better than the 110. The 110 in my link has a glossy screen too, which to be honest, I think I'd rather have matte for reflections while traveling, but if it's bright enough, the glossy is probably ok.

Price being almost the same, probably would go with the 120.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Just curious if anybody has one and if you have them to be a decent substitute for regular sized notebook while traveling?

I have a lenovo s10 netbook, my DS has an ASUS.

I like the portability and am VERY happy with the weight or lack thereof of the unit. I was lugging my lenovo laptop around for years and this saves wear and tear. Not only is it lighter and smaller but also needs a much smaller case/backpack/space in carryon. Much better for traveling.
Its a bit slower and my battery lasts only about 3 hours.
If you are using extensively for internet, then no problem. My fingers are smaller, so the keyboard is not an issue for me, but could be for people with bigger hands. test drive one.

My DS says he gets about 6 hours on his NB and that is why he bought it.

A side by side comparison, I have found that the sound on my lenovo is better then the ASUS. IMHO the lenovo also feels a bit more solid. They were in about the same price range at the time (last Christmas ... everything was on sale then).

 

[FUEGO]

I don't have a netbook (or even a laptop) but was considering getting one. The thing I wonder about is how easy or hard it would be to find a WIFI signal when I need it. I have enough trouble with getting a good signal for my cell phone sometimes. I'd hate buy a netbook for email & surfing, then never be able to use it on trips. Comments anyone?

So far I have been able to find a signal wherever we have gone. It may take a little searching, but eventually you can find one. Since I was spending a week in Vegas, I looked ahead of time for one in Vegas and found a good one (the Venetian hotel in the food court).

Around town, I love the netbook because it is portable and has a good battery life. I took the car into the shop Saturday for an hour or so and caught up on some emails and vacation planning. The tire shop didn't have wifi but the Staples next door did! It didn't allow facebook, but everything else worked fine.

Most McDonald's restaurants have very cheap wifi - something like $3 for 2 hours. And many other fast food restaurants or coffee shops have free wifi. Hotels are really a mixed bag. In my experience the low to mid level hotels have free wifi and the more expensive ones tend to charge an arm and a leg for it. Libraries also frequently have free wifi.

If all else fails and you travel a lot, there are a number of tiny portable wireless internet devices that run on cellular signals that run in price from $30-60. I don't have any first hand experience, but others have reported good success with them, and the price level is around what I pay for cable internet, although the wireless internet cards/adapters usually have a slower connection (still more than ample for general websurfing).

 

[Sue J]

I took my Asus EEEPC on a recent vacation. It was perfect for traveling. Our hotel had wifi in the room for $9.99 a day(!!), but an ethernet connection was free in their Business Center.

At home I keep it next to the couch in the living room so I can look up stuff or browse.

Mine is the one with flash storage, no hard drive, Linux OS and I bought a wireless mouse which is easier than the touchpad. It's great for browsing, watching videos etc but I wouldn't want it to be my main computer, just an extra one.

I keep it in a hard plastic case with a handle which was originally from a child's art/stationary kit. It has enough room for the mouse and a USB flash drive.

 

[FUEGO]

I use mine all the time in random places in the house. Kitchen - good for recipes, figuring out substitutions, or recalculating quantities for a recipe. Bedroom - listening to music, before bed surfing, e-reader (like kindle) for some pdf'd books and magazines. And of course back deck - music and surfing from the hammock, watching the sunset and wildlife.

The kids can take it, run to a different room and play games on the net or watch movies (away from parents).

 

[Goonie]

....In my experience the low to mid level hotels have free wifi and the more expensive ones tend to charge an arm and a leg for it. ....

A couple of years ago I stayed in a hotel that had WiFi, but charged something like $10 a day for it, and I decided it wasn't worth that amount just to check my email. So I decided to just play some solitaire instead. While I was playing, I glanced down in the 'tray', and it showed that there was a strong WiFi signal. So I checked it out....turns out it was the El Cheapo Hotel's WiFi from next door!!! FREE WiFi!!!

 

[ziggy29]

A couple of years ago I stayed in a hotel that had WiFi, but charged something like $10 a day for it, and I decided it wasn't worth that amount just to check my email.

The only time I've ever sprung for that was on business, since I knew I could expense it.

 

[Trek]

I haven't bought my Netbook yet (I hate buying computers because the technology is old by the time you open the box, ) which is probably good as I noticed today that HP is offering one of it's Netbooks (HP Mini 110) with Windows 7 Starter Edition loaded. All the other makes seem to still be offering XP which will be losing much support soon.

I think I'll wait until after the new year and see what's on offer then. I imagine Windows 7 will be available for most of them. That'll probably be as good a time to buy as any.

 

[ziggy29]

I think I'll wait until after the new year and see what's on offer then. I imagine Windows 7 will be available for most of them. That'll probably be as good a time to buy as any.

I just loaded 7 on my 1000HE on Friday. (I ordered it when Amazon had the upgrade for $49.)

I had to download and reinstall about 3-4 specific things manually -- the wifi, ACPI, SHE and I think one other thing -- but once I did it, all is well and it seems to run a little faster than XP. It's probably important to have that second gig of RAM in there though for one like this, though.

That was mostly just a toy for me to drag around and mess with, so it was no big loss if I screwed it up and had to flatline the thing and reinstall XP.

 

[charlie]

I really like my Sumsung N120. The screen on mine is glossy, but
I bought a matte screen cover and it works well. I hardly ever
use my desktop anymore.

Cheers,

charlie

 

[molly]

I also have the Samsung and use it every day. I only use my larger laptop as a desktop. I interviewed all the netbook brands and found the Samsung to have the very best keyboard and screen. Everybody that uses it when I travel or have company is extremely positive and has put it on their purchase list.

 

[kyounge1956]

Can netbooks run all programs that will run on a regular laptop—specifically genealogy programs? Parents & I recently went to Salt Lake City to do genealogical research and my laptop got heavy pretty quick. I'd love to have something lighter next time.

 

[Rustic23]

Kyounge,
I don't see why not. Are the genealogical programs processor hogs? If they require a real fast cpu, I would say not, however, as my BIL has been running genealogical programs on his 4 year old laptop, my guess is the netbooks will work just fine. Mine has a 160 gig hard drive. That will store a lot of names and pictures.

 

[megacorp-firee]

Can netbooks run all programs that will run on a regular laptop—specifically genealogy programs? Parents & I recently went to Salt Lake City to do genealogical research and my laptop got heavy pretty quick. I'd love to have something lighter next time.

Not an expert at this stuff, but my netbook (with an atom processor) runs considerably slower than my full blown laptop. I have enough memory, ...etc.
I notice it most when running spreadsheets.
netbook slow, laptop faster
So I think that anything that crunches or draws a lot may be a problem for a netbook

 

[kyounge1956]

Kyounge,
I don't see why not. Are the genealogical programs processor hogs? If they require a real fast cpu, I would say not, however, as my BIL has been running genealogical programs on his 4 year old laptop, my guess is the netbooks will work just fine. Mine has a 160 gig hard drive. That will store a lot of names and pictures.

Not an expert at this stuff, but my netbook (with an atom processor) runs considerably slower than my full blown laptop. I have enough memory, ...etc.
I notice it most when running spreadsheets.
netbook slow, laptop faster
So I think that anything that crunches or draws a lot may be a problem for a netbook

Mostly I was wondering if netbooks use the same OS as regular laptop and desktop computers, or was it Windows Mobile or Windows Pocket Edition or whatever the Windows for pocket size/pda type devices was called. My concern was about whether the OS of a netbook would be compatible with the program's requirement. Guess more research is in order. I don't know if the genealogy programs are particularly greedy of memory etc.

 

[Trek]

I also have the Samsung and use it every day. I only use my larger laptop as a desktop. I interviewed all the netbook brands and found the Samsung to have the very best keyboard and screen. Everybody that uses it when I travel or have company is extremely positive and has put it on their purchase list.

That's likely to be the brand I go with, but I'm waiting to see if they offer it with Windows 7 soon like HP is doing with it's Netbooks now. I don't want to buy a new computer with XP on it.