Netbook Vs small Laptop for college

jozi · 06-09-2008 3:31pm #1

My GF is going back to college shortly and was considering buying a net book, likely the wind/advent.

But what about a 12.1/13.1inch laptop. I know they are slightly more expensive but they have proper laptop spec and dvd drives. I can see one of these lasting much longer and being a better replacement of her old 15.4inch Compaq monster laptop.

Would she be better of streching her budget to a small laptop or get a netbook?
A netbook would be slightly more portable but also a little more restricting with the small screen and keyboard.

Had a quick read of a similar thread which mentioned the following laptops:
E System 1201 (is this in any way a decent brand?)
dell vostro 1310 (quite expensive)
Have seen a Samsung (q45 i think) in a shop, was around 800 euro which is quite a bit.

Are there others which might be concidered that i haven't mentioned?

trazix · 06-09-2008 3:48pm

Aldi has a small laptop in on sunday it has a 10" screen and runs Win XP sp3. €399 i think the price is.

Alanstrainor · 06-09-2008 4:00pm

trazix wrote: »

Aldi has a small laptop in on sunday it has a 10" screen and runs Win XP sp3. €399 i think the price is.

That's a netbook, and if you're buying a net book, steer clear of that particular model, buy the advent 4211, better and cheaper.
It really depends on what your gf needs it for really, i'm using a 4211 at the mo, which is a 10" net book and the keyboard is very usable, been typing on it all day with out issues. However it would be considered a "second" pc/laptop because of it's modest spec's. That being said, it will handle web browsing, word, excel ect, pdfs, music. And it has a 80Gb Harddrive which is enough for music and movies etc.
I'd advise going to pcworld or the likes and checking them out for size, that is the netbooks and the 12/13.3" laptops.

jozi · 06-09-2008 4:23pm

I initially suggested to her the EEEPc 901, then the wind (advent) came out. Now she wants to get rid of her old laptop and maybe a netbook just isn't enough. I know she's going to be spending lots and lots of hrs typing and browsing the net for material, which i think would be better with a bigger screen rather than a smaller one which brought me to 12/13inch laptops.

I seen the thread on here about the aldi deal, i'll steer clear as it's a lower spec unit then the pc world advent. I'm going to try get out to blanch tomorrow for a good look.

Oafley Jones · 06-09-2008 5:06pm

A netbook should only be considered a secondary machine, a back up to your home computer. They're grand for surfing the net for half an hour, but doing any productive work on one would be a major chore. Honestly, it would be a disaster to have one as a primary computer. I was using 12" ibooks through college and even they were uncomfortably small in some instances e.g. editing project/essays.

jozi · 07-09-2008 9:57am

Guys thanks for your insight on future cpu's, however it's way off topic and not in the least related to my OP.

bnt · 07-09-2008 12:05pm

Well, I went down a route somewhere between a netbook and a notebook - got myself an eee PC 1000 Linux model, then put XP Pro and Office 2007 on it. (You can also get it with XP Home pre-installed, but with a smaller solid state disk, and I have a license I could transfer)

It's a 10" screen, and the keyboard is made for adult-sized hands. It's not the lightest machine out there (1.3kg), but you can tell why: the build quality is v. good, and it has a chunky battery that gets me 5+ hours of active use on wireless internet.

The best advice I can suggest is to think of how it would be used. The standard Linux OS on the eee PCs has a limited number of applications, so if you want more you need to change it for something else (work). In my case I'm walking to university, then sitting in cramped lecture theatres, so size and weight are big issues that stopped me carrying my old 15" laptop. I have a separate desktop PC that I sync essential files with, so 40GB SDD (8 + 32GB) suits me better than a 80GB hard drive that gets hot and uses more power. I don't have to carry all my files around with me at all times - just the subset I'm likely to use.

jozi · 07-09-2008 12:38pm

Thats how i used to have it with my laptop in college. I used synctoys to sync between laptop and external drive, leave laptop in college and sync drive with pc.

I haven't seen the eee1000 in the flesh yet, it's not the nicest of the bunch (these things mater to a girl), linx wouldn't bother me much as i'd be installing xp on it anyway.

Run_to_da_hills: my old laptop had a removable dvd drive, i've had a 2nd hd in there instead since i got the laptop.

We are going to have a look in pcworld later today

AlmightyCushion · 07-09-2008 7:19pm

I actually really like the look of the 1000 series, especially the black one.

jozi · 07-09-2008 7:52pm

Haven't see the H1000 in person. Anywhere have them?

Had a look around pcworld and currys, she really like the wind/advent.
No complaints about the keyboard, she said it was fine.

There was a PAckard Bell there, black, circular touch pad, 13.3inch i think that she had a 2nd look at, was around 600 euro mark. Think she's going to be going for the advent. The acer 8.9inch one was quite nice to, desperate spec thou.

AlmightyCushion · 07-09-2008 8:01pm

PC World and Currys should have them. Maybe ask one of the sales guys to check for you.

Spipov · 07-09-2008 9:27pm

peats in blanch have a 1000 on display. 440 or 470 ish i think

ytareh · 07-09-2008 9:59pm

Check Elara.ie ...should be a good bit cheaper than Peats and you can collect it if live locally (to Naas Rd/JFK Industrial Estate)

Netbook Vs small Laptop for college

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