Anybody have a netbook

[Zero]

Here is my desktop monitor Monitor
Powered by a EVGA NVidia GTX 275 graphics card and with 1920 x 1200 resolution, that is a lot of real estate.

Highly recommended. Usually pops up on sale for $279 or so. Sometimes lower.

 

[tuixiu]

Trust me man, coming from someone who develops software full time for a living, if you pay a little more to get one of the newer high res netbooks you'll be just fine.

When you're at your desk you use the VGA-out to hook up a nice widescreen monitor and run it in dual monitor mode, with the bigger external monitor for your development environment and the netbook screen for testing/email/etc.

Mine has a Geforce 9400m graphics card so no problems pushing pixels on two displays at once, and when you're on the road you can still work since 1366x768 is wide enough for something like Visual Studio or Eclipse.

 

[Zero]

For traveling after retirement, I never considered the benefits of doing programming on a netbook as a big plus. I was looking mainly for a cheap kick-around computer to log and surf, make travel plans, store a few photos, etc. And not worry if some some fellow vacationer plops his 50lb rollon onto the top of my computer bag.

Trust me man, coming from someone who develops software full time for a living, if you pay a little more to get one of the newer high res netbooks you'll be just fine.

When you're at your desk you use the VGA-out to hook up a nice widescreen monitor and run it in dual monitor mode, with the bigger external monitor for your development environment and the netbook screen for testing/email/etc.

Mine has a Geforce 9400m graphics card so no problems pushing pixels on two displays at once, and when you're on the road you can still work since 1366x768 is wide enough for something like Visual Studio or Eclipse.

 

[tuixiu]

iphone

 

[NW-Bound]

Just came back from the local Fry's Electronics store where they have a sales of a Lenovo 10" netbook for $249. The store opened at 7AM, and I got there at 7:30. There was a long line waiting to be served by 3 or 4 sales clerks, but the wait was only 15 min. A certain 15" Toshiba notebook for $299 was sold out, but they still had the little netbook. It appears that most people who wanted one bought it early already.

I got my netbook to bring home to my bride as a late Christmas present. I could tell that she has been desirous of one to replace her 7-yr old IBM Thinkpad. Yet, she kept saying that I really bought it for myself. But I already have my own 13" notebook. Women! I think my wife said that so she would not feel guilty of the money I spent. And it was not much money either!

 

[NW-Bound]

Earlier in the week I received my Lenovo IdeaPad S10e from NewEgg for $229. It is 10.1", and has a nice size keyboard, very close to normal size, surprisingly. The build quality is superb and I'm now a big Lenovo fan. "Only" 1GB and 160GB HD and 3 cell battery but I got exactly what I paid for. Lenovo S10e

So far Office 2007 is on it and working flawlessly. Also loaded a small photo editor that came with my Canon DSLR, and my scanner, printer, etc.

What's not to like. Next time that deal comes around, it's worth considering.

Just saw that the one I got is a S10-2. I did not do any research, and simply got this because the sales price put it at the level I was prepared to pay for the more popular Acer. Search the Web just now and saw that there are places selling it for more than $300. Other than a 6-cell battery vs. the 3-cell, what else is new compared to its predecessor S10e?

Well, it doesn't really matter. The Missus is pleased, and that's all that counts. I am posting this typing on the little keyboard. Had to turn off all the bars that Internet Explorer default settings cram onto the screen. Good grief! Won't they leave at least a couple of inches of screen for the user?

These netbooks are really cute and a technical marvel. It's going to be fun traveling with one.

 

[ERD50]

Had to turn off all the bars that Internet Explorer default settings cram onto the screen. Good grief! Won't they leave at least a couple of inches of screen for the user?

Don't know about IE, but on my netbook with FireFox (running Ubuntu Linux), if I hit F11 (IIRC), that takes the browser into a "full screen" mode - much more usable that way. IE may have a similar thing, and I 'm pretty sure I've seen it with FF under Windows.

-ERD50

 

[bruce1]

F11 changes IE to full screen mode also

 

[NW-Bound]

Thanks, guys. I have been using Google Chrome myself and its tab bar is not at all obtrusive.

 

[ziggy29]

These netbooks are really cute and a technical marvel. It's going to be fun traveling with one.

What I love most about mine is that I can get about 7 hours on an average charge in power saver mode and wifi turned on. I found a utility which shrunk my XP partition to ~40 MB and I have the rest (almost 120 GB) on a Windows 7 partition, and I also boot Puppy Linux (a light version of Linux) from a 16 GB flash drive. It's really a pretty versatile thing once you get past the small display and the fact that you can't really run video all that well on it. But for garden-variety stuff, it's more than adequate.

I'm such a geek.

 

[FUEGO]

FYI for you netbook newbies - you can set the task bar in XP to disappear when you aren't moused over it. And you can drag and drop it to the right or left of the screen too (so it is oriented vertically instead of horizontally). Helps free up a lot of screen real estate on my 10" dell mini. Still loving mine and amazed at what ~$200 will buy you. Just wish I had a better battery since I get under 3 hours life out of mine (only occasionally an issue).

 

[NW-Bound]

By the way, this Lenovo comes with Windows 7. Don't know yet what is really "new" and "improved" about it, other than to change the WiFi setting, I had to spend a few minutes pulling down different menus to find out where they have moved it.

That wouldn't bother me when I was younger, but don't you other geezers find out that when your remaining time on earth is getting shorter, you get more impatient when you feel your time is wasted?

 

[W2R]

By the way, this Lenovo comes with Windows 7. Don't know yet what is really "new" and "improved" about it, other than to change the WiFi setting, I had to spend a few minutes pulling down different menus to find out where they have moved it.

That wouldn't bother me when I was younger, but don't you other geezers find out that when your remaining time on earth is getting shorter, you get more impatient when you feel your time is wasted?

Not really, but then I am generally a "7" instead of a "3" when it comes to general happiness. Just kidding - - I do find that wasting my time is more annoying than it once was. But, in this case, I wouldn't feel my time was wasted because I usually like learning a new software package and often find that sort of activity to be rewarding in its own way, somehow.

 

[NW-Bound]

But, in this case, I wouldn't feel my time was wasted because I usually like learning a new software package and often find that sort of activity to be rewarding in its own way, somehow.

Not to sound argumentative here, but if the "new" software allows me to do "new" things intead of "old" things but in a merely "different" way...

Well, I guess there might be something really "new" in Windows 7, and I'll just have to look for it. I have been underwhelmed by recent Windows versions that are more "new" than "improved". But I am just a grouchy geezer before his time, and who rates himself a 3 on the happiness scale at that, so don't nobody listen to me.

Where's my curmudgeon certificate?