Small laptop advice

bombidol

I may be in the market for a small laptop soon. 10" to 12" ultra portable is the buzzword. I seen a lovely mac laptop in the states a while back that was 10" but never picked it up. PC or Apple, doesn't matter. Any recommendations

AlmightyCushion

You might want to check out this thread. It's about the asus eee laptop. It may not be what you want given some of the specs (really small harddrive) but definitely worth a look.

NullZer0

They dont make 10" Apple Notebooks

BanzaiBk

I have an Asus EEE PC which I love for notetaking, checking my emails, IMing etc. It's definitly not for everyone, keyboard is fairly tiny and the screen is only 7", with a 4GB flash card as storage. If you were going to use your ultraportable as a secondary basic computer then I would reccommend it, however if you want to run powerful apps steer clear. In 2008 though Asus have said they are going to be releasing a 10" Eee with 8GB flash memory, and that will probably be the model to get.

I have previously owned a Sony Vaio TX series laptop, with an 11" screen. I loved that thing to death; fantastic battery life, great features, lovely keyboard, looked the business, etc. Unfortunatly I had it stolen while I was on work placement in Japan and couldn't afford to replace it. That's my biggest bugbear about the Vaio, the cost. I won my TX in a raffle at work so never had to shell out, but if I needed a new tiny but powerful lappie I'd shell out for a TX again or whatever its equivalent is.

The mac you probably saw in the states was a 13£ macbook, as there has never been a 10" mac. The smallest was the 12" ibook/powerbook iirc.

Ghost Train

Would agree about sony, they look great and are great when it comes to packing in features to small laptops

Lenovo make very small laptops with x60/x61. Good keyboard & very solid. Not widescreen though and if you liked the apples the lenovo might be a bit plain for you

bombidol

Must have been the 12" one cause this was tiny as hell. Sales dude told me it was 10" oh well.

bombidol

I should add too, that this is mainly going to be used for writing. I need something small for when im on the move for taking notes etc. I have a laptop already but its too big to be dragging around all the time.

BanzaiBk

What's your budget?

bombidol

Dont really have one in mind to be honest, just looking to get some ideas on whats out there before I put aside any money.

zenzen

BanzaiBk - where did you get your eee pc, i'm looking for one at the moment. i've looked all over. maybe its just available online?

BanzaiBk

I don't think you can buy them in the shops at the moment, I got one direct from Asus and one from laptopsdirect. Ordered another of laptopsdirect due for delivery next week.

AlmightyCushion

Check out elara.ie they have quite a large range of laptops and they allow you to search by screen size. Here is all the laptops under 14".

There is a samsung near the bottom of the page that is 12.1" and has a great spec for just over a grand. Here's the link. The cpu is a T7500(2.2Ghz), 2GBs ram, 200GB hard drive, 6 cell battery, built-in bluetooth. The graphics are rubbish in it but if you are going this small that is to be expected.

zenzen

thanks BanzaiBk! will look on laptops direct

BobTheBeat

BanzaiBk wrote: »

... In 2008 though Asus have said they are going to be releasing a 10" Eee with 8GB flash memory, and that will probably be the model to get....

Turns out that was actually a rumour (for the time being). Lots of blogs still reporting it though. When contacted Asus said " We will have 8G with the same form factor and 7” screen size as the Eee PC 4G now.

There are no plans for 10” at the moment."

But that pretty much leaves the door wide open! There is going to be a flurry of these ultra portable SFF notebooks in the next 12 -24 months. The trend has definitely been set by asus

BanzaiBk

Heard about that, pity really 'cos the EEE is giving me terrible eyestrain.

gandalf

Can that SSD be upgraded cause this baby is exactly what I am looking for if so!

AlmightyCushion

It should be easily upgraded. I think they are a 1.8" drive. Any 1.8" drive should work fine in it.

gandalf

Asked the question on laptopsdirect and they said no, hmmm. Any of you lads who have one have any opinion on this?

If I can upgrade the SSD then it becomes that backup solition for photos that I need when I travel.

Elara: Kin

Even if you could replace the SSD you will most likely void the warranty by opening it up.

Offalycool

Was in PC world in Galway the other day. They have a nice Advent with a "12 widescreen. Intel pentium duel core at 1.6 Ghz, 160 Gig hard disk, 2 gigs of ram. DVD burner and Vista home premium for 800 Euro. Really nice and looks well put together. I think the Eee Pc is a nice Idea poorly implemented. This may be twice as much but its has many many more uses.

BanzaiBk

Offalycool wrote: »

Was in PC world in Galway the other day. They have a nice Advent with a "12 widescreen. Intel pentium duel core at 1.6 Ghz, 160 Gig hard disk, 2 gigs of ram. DVD burner and Vista home premium for 800 Euro. Really nice and looks well put together. I think the Eee Pc is a nice Idea poorly implemented. This may be twice as much but its has many many more uses.

Care to elaborate? The "idea" of the Eee PC was for education use (i.e. children and youths) and maybe a little nod to the ultraportable market but no more. If you can't see that then you don't understand what the Eee is for.

beserker

i read somewhere you cannot upgrade the disk becuase the chips are soldered to the mb.there is no disk as such. you can get 8GB sdhc cards for 80 quid ish from komplett though and it has 3 usb ports for portable drives. it has a 1024x786 video out which is handy. i use mine at work with screens and projectors and it woks great. as regards hd space i have xp with all the updates, office 2003, photoshop elements and dreamweaver, dev c++, mediamonkey, vlc, nod32, sygate and some other bits n pieces installed and i have 683mb left. its deffo not the best media device. it streams great n everything but the screen and speakers just about do youtube justice not to mind an good divx:) ammm battery sucks too. i get around an hour and half with wireless on and doing work.keyboard is tiny too. still tho i love it. 300 quid for this is a good deal. hopefully sony et al will try to compete at the <500 level!

Offalycool

BanzaiBk, I think you are confusing the Eee with the OLPC concept.