Best Netbook and why

budhabob

I'm thinking of investing in a netbook to complement my laptop, as I commute alot and the battery life is very appealing. I would just like peoples opinions and advice on which they find the best etc. I was in particular looking at the samsung nc10 as it is getting the best write-ups everywhere, however there seems to be newer models now, n120 and n310 etc. So how do these compare. Any opinions and reviews are greatly appreciately.

ablelocks

I just bought the asus 1000he - I had intended getting the nc10, but the better keyboard, battery life and touchpad* of the 1000he are what swayed me.

*better in the reviews - this is my first netbook so I've nothing to benchmark it against. I have to say tho' that having played with it for 10 mins this morning, the keyboard is very good, battery life according to the monitor is 7.5 hours remaining (grain of salt with that - once I start using it it'll be interesting to see how long I get out of it), screen seems very good, and sound is better than I expected from a netbook

snubbleste

I'm also looking to purchase a netbook OP. I'm torn between the Asus 1000he, Samsung NC10 and Lenovo Se10. Someone put up a review of 10inch netbboks before http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/10-inch-netbook-faceoff.aspx?page=1
I'm swaying towards the Asus

budhabob

cool, i'll check out the asus so and see how it compares.Thanks

Run_to_da_hills

Swear by the EEEPC 109 gone through two keyboards and one screen, (My fault) spares are readily availible.

conolan

Have a Samsung NC10. Excellent screen and keyboard.
No gripes, performs well.
I upgraded to 2Gb RAM and mostly use with a mouse becasue I HATE trackpads.

Effluo

The only negatory anyone could could come up about the nc10 is it's small trackpad.

There's slightly more differentiation between the netbooks these days.

Would you be interested in using mobile broadband for instance? Is microsoft office important?

Maybe when you look into these things you might find out what netbook you'd want!

budhabob

Mobile broadband isnt really an interest to be honest, but microsoft office is essential. the lack of a cd/dvd isnt really an issue. Been reading some reviews of the N310, and n110, tis tough to make a call. reliabilty is always a very strong reasoning for everything i buy.

Alanstrainor

Just use open office. It's a fantastic office sweet, with almost everything you could possibly need. The best part is that it's free!

Sephiroth_dude

Is it possible to netbooks with vista installed?they seem to only come with xp.

hobochris

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Is it possible to netbooks with vista installed?they seem to only come with xp.

why not? I've an advent 4211 with windows 7 on it.

AlmightyCushion

budhabob wrote: »

Mobile broadband isnt really an interest to be honest, but microsoft office is essential. the lack of a cd/dvd isnt really an issue. Been reading some reviews of the N310, and n110, tis tough to make a call. reliabilty is always a very strong reasoning for everything i buy.

If you need microsoft office you can buy it and download a trial version. When installing the trial version it will ask for a product key, just use the one in the box you paid for and you'll have the full version on your netbook.

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Is it possible to netbooks with vista installed?they seem to only come with xp.

HP had one with vista, the processor was pretty underpowered though so it wasn't exactly the nippyest.

Alanstrainor

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Is it possible to netbooks with vista installed?they seem to only come with xp.

You're right 99% of netbooks come with either linux or xp, but as said, if you have a licensed copy of vista you can install it. Although it won't be the quickest of OS's. I used it for a while on my advent but ddn't see the need for it.

conolan

You don't want vista on a netbook (or on anything else)

budhabob

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If you need microsoft office you can buy it and download a trial version. When installing the trial version it will ask for a product key, just use the one in the box you paid for and you'll have the full version on your netbook

Nice one for that, a handy tip

AlmightyCushion

budhabob wrote: »

Nice one for that, a handy tip

A more technical way but handy for programs that don't have a trial version like office is to use and iso ripper (I use lciso, small and does the job). This will create an image of the disk you can store on your computer. Then use something like daemon tools or virtual cd to create a virtual disk drive. You can then mount the iso using the virtual disk drive and use it like a normal cd drive.

Mycroft H

Is it possible to dual boot linux and xp on a netbook? And whats the best one under 400?

AlmightyCushion

landyman wrote: »

Is it possible to dual boot linux and xp on a netbook? And whats the best one under 400?

Yes it's possible to have more than one operating system on a netbook. The best in my opinion is either the nc10 or advent 4211.

Alanstrainor

landyman wrote: »

Is it possible to dual boot linux and xp on a netbook? And whats the best one under 400?

It sure is, i'm booting a few different os's on my 4211.

Sephiroth_dude

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It sure is, i'm booting a few different os's on my 4211.

What spec is your advent 4211?

Alanstrainor

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

What spec is your advent 4211?

Well i upgraded it a little, it's running the standard atom processor with overclocking(n270 i think), but it's got 2Gb of RAM and a 250Gb HD. Other than that everything is normal. Running xp, osx and hopefully ubuntu 9.04 tonight.

Sephiroth_dude

Just had a look at the 4211,tis nice.