Netbook - best value?

Baked.noodle

Hi, I'm looking for a good value netbook for under €300. I found an Asus Eee pc in Argos for €250, and it seems like good value.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5086799.htm

What do you think?

Torqay

The price is very good indeed, at Komplett it is listed for €309 (although out of stiock)

I have a couple of older ASUS Eee PC myself (a 701 4G and 2 1005HA) and there was never anything wrong with them.

Baked.noodle

That's great! I would be willing to pay a bit more for better build quality, if something else was available. I saw an Asus Aspire one in Currys for €300 and its very nice. I don't know which would be better.

Torqay

I wouldn't touch an Acer with a 12 ft barge pole... but that's just me.

Baked.noodle

Indeed, it is an Acer, not an Asus. Thanks again.

go for something with 2gb ram instead of 1gb.

Alanstrainor

glasso wrote: »

go for something with 2gb ram instead of 1gb.

Aye, you may be better off investing a little bit more on a machine a bit better than a netbook. 1GB is simply not enough.

Torqay

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Aye, you may be better off investing a little bit more on a machine a bit better than a netbook. 1GB is simply not enough.

The problem is, Microsoft has limited 10" netbooks to 1 GB RAM, so if you want more memory, you'll need to buy 12" or bigger. Or buy an aftermarket upgrade, 2 GB DDR3-PC8500 cost 26 yoyos at shop4memory.com

Of course you can always nuke Windows 7 Starter and install XP... then 1 GB RAM will leave you with system resources in abundance.

But even Windows 7 is manageable with 1 GB if you turn off the greatest resource killers (search/indexing, superfetch, etc.)

Jarren

A bit over your budget OP

Acer Aspire One 722 11.6 inch Netbook - Black (AMD Dual-Core C-60 1GHz, RAM 2GB, HDD 320GB, LAN, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/buy/shipaddressselect/handlers/continue.html/ref=ox_shipaddress_ship_to_this_1#d=1

366,68 Euros delivered if you can stretch it that far

gman2k

I think most Netbooks ship with just 1gb, but a 2gb upgrade is cheap and a DIY.
BTW 2gb is the max you can put in a netbook, and it is worth it!

Torqay

Jarren wrote: »

A bit over your budget OP

Acer Aspire One 722 11.6 inch Netbook - Black (AMD Dual-Core C-60 1GHz, RAM 2GB, HDD 320GB, LAN, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/buy/shipaddressselect/handlers/continue.html/ref=ox_shipaddress_ship_to_this_1#d=1

366,68 Euros delivered if you can stretch it that far

The AMD C-60 is a good bit slower than Intel's N2600, which isn't exactly a powerhouse of a processor.

AMD may offer some bargains for gamers and system builders but I wouldn't go near any off-the-shelve computers or laptops with AMD chips.

Jarren

Nope but bigger screen/hd/Windows 7/extra ram makes the difference .

Torqay

Jarren wrote: »

Nope but bigger screen/hd/Windows 7/extra ram makes the difference .

Extra RAM is cheap and mobility is usually the reason why people buy netbooks so the bigger screen size is not necessarily a sales argument.

Jarren

RAM is obviously cheap but everything adds up and it would be actually very good sales argument.The extra vertical res on the 11.6's is a big bonus though, 600 pixels is a bit too small.

You can't argue with that .

Torqay

Personally, I find 1024 on 10.1" easier on the eye than 1366 on 11.6".

But that's all down to personal preferences.

And the Eee PC X101 for 249 Euro is a very good deal, I don't find any offers under €300 in Ireland.

Jarren

True regarding the Argos deal , it is actually very good.

Even on Amazon.uk they are dearer

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-X101CH-10-1-inch-Netbook/dp/B007HZE9RG/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1343225281&sr=1-4

Value wise it can't be beaten.

Torqay

Jarren wrote: »

Value wise it can't be beaten.

Not even by computeruniverse.net, they have the X101CH for €255... and a few Eee R11CX (same specs basically) for €229, but they all ship with Ubuntu.

The CH is basically the same model with a smaller battery (4 hrs as opposed to 6 hrs) and thus 80g lighter. The cheapest of the CHs goes for €240 at Argos, it's pink/white. Speaking of the colours, I find the white keyboard much better, especially in poor ambience light. The white X101 costs €283 at Argos.

it's a bit of hassle finding out the right ram type, buying it and installing it tho...
you'll need to buy a 2gb stick and basically dump the 1gb stick that came with it as there's going to be only 1 ram slot.
what's 2gb cost - 40 euro I'd say.
cheaper to buy a netbook with 2gb in it from the start.
this netbook has hdmi tho -that's good.
about the screen size - 11.6 inch screen is a lot more usable than 10 inch
10" screens are a pain.
There is usually feck all weight difference in the difference between 10 and 11.6 netbooks so still as portable.

Torqay

glasso wrote: »

it's a bit of hassle finding out the right ram type, buying it and installing it tho...

Au contraire, crucial.com is very easy to navigate and they'll tell you exactly which type of memory can be used with your laptop (PC3-8500 or 10600 for the model in question, 2 GB of which cost around 25 yoyos).

As for replacing the memory in an ASUS Eee PC, it's one screw to open the hatch, not exactly the most challenging of tasks.

glasso wrote: »

cheaper to buy a netbook with 2gb in it from the start.

Hardly, even with a memory upgrade, this Eee PC X101 will cost €272, which is still well within the OP's budget, you won't find a 11.6" "netbook" with 2 GB RAM at this price.

glasso wrote: »

10" screens are a pain.

Now, now... the "daddy of all netbooks" had a 7" screen and it was not a "pain" at all.

25 even with postage....
simple to change I agree but for many people even swapping ram could be a bit daunting...

small screens are a pain imo - try typing a document on 10 inch or below - cramped keyboard and headache from small screen!

come on those 7 inch eee pc's were a novelty more than anything else - had ridiciously bad specs also did they not. I noticed that a lot were up for sale after a couple of months.

Torqay

glasso wrote: »

25 even with postage....

€17 with postage here.

glasso wrote: »

come on those 7 inch eee pc's were a novelty more than anything else - had ridiciously bad specs also did they not.

I beg to differ. When running the Celeron at 900 MHz (the nominal speed of the processor) the 701 4G beats any single core Atom netbook hands down. And thanks to its solid state disk it fires up in 20 seconds or even less, depending on the OS and tweaks applied.

glasso wrote: »

I noticed that a lot were up for sale after a couple of months.

Those were mostly 701 2Gs (the CPU was throttled to 540 MHz and the memory could not be upgraded) or certain later 4G models (ASUS scr3wed up the specs and used some very slow MLC-type SSDs which made them extremely sluggish) but the original 701 4G was a fine piece of hardware. Upgrade the RAM to 1 or 2 GB and it will even run Windows 7 like a charm.

I know what I'm talking about, I still have mine and use it quite a lot for work. Very handy because it a lot smaller and lighter than its sucessors (of which I have two as well) and it can take quite some abuse thanks to the excellent build quality and the SSD.

BostonB

Will that one in Argos do HD video?

Torqay

BostonB wrote: »

Will that one in Argos do HD video?

Sure, the Intel GMA 3500 will play 1080p, no problem.

Jarren

^ So I can play HD video on this netbook without shutter/lag?

Never owned an netbook so that is why I'm asking

Torqay

Yes you can, whether it makes sense on 1024x600 is another question.

But via VGA or HDMI on the big screen, no problem.