Netbook?

[Captain Rooster]

Just read an interesting personal tech article in the New York Times online.

What do you all think of these devices?

[Aggie]

I have no idea about this stuff!

I just wanted to say HELLO there Captain Rooster!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

You're missed around these parts!

[Don Stugots]

I was going to ask the same question since I could use a 2nd laptop for show stuff.

Hi Rooster.

[boosterp]

Netbooks are just that, for the net. Many are just fine for their served purpose. The Acer Eeeis one of the top rated ones around.

Eee (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2340593,00.asp)

[Liverspot]

I have been reading about these a lot lately, I may get an Acer

Development of the netbook (http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/17-03/mf_netbooks)

[Death Metal Moe]

Check this Ronfez.net thread out about Netbooks:

Netbook Thread (http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77641)

It seems that Acer has about the lowest priced netbook I've seen out there. I've also learned it looks like you can't upgrade the Acer's RAM without voiding the warranty and a somewhat more complex task of opening the netbook up to get at the RAM slot.

I have been HEAVILY examining the Asus netbooks. I found there's an almost identical netbook from them for the same price and it also has an easy to get at RAM hatch on the bottom.

I have also recently found out that there's a 9" and 10" screen Asus book that use the exact same netbook body. So it might be worth an extra $50 to get the larger screen without increasing the size or weight of the netbook.

This is the one I'm considering picking up. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220443)

But with smaller size comes smaller performance. DO NOT expect these things to do any heavy lifting so to speak. They have small processors so that means slower processing speed. The keyboards are smaller and I've read a lot of people complaining about the placement of certian buttons they're used to on full sized keyboards. Of course men with larger hands may find the keyboards on netbooks cramped.

The graphics card is an extrememy basic which means no games made within the last 5 years or so will even play on it. And with the small screen playing a game won't be that great an experience anyway.

The speakers are very small so you won't get outstanding external sound from it. That is one VERY common complaint I've read on Amazon and Newegg across all the brands. But what can you expect from a 2 pound netbook? Dolby?

There is no CD or DVD drive on it at all, so you'll have to either network your PC drive to it by sharing it or buy an external CD or DVD drive to load certian things on it. Also, no DVD movies.

But they are great for everyday web surfing, taking around with you and general computing. I was considering using one as an MP3 player in my car but decided against having to use a mouse while I'm driving. I still really want one though. I'm thinking of just getting it to end my tortue and hoping I get a job that utilizes it.

[underdog]

netbook thread (http://ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77641), kind of.

I love the things.

[Captain Rooster]

Thanks for the replies ... and HI EVERYONE! So cool to think you guys remember me ... been very busy.

Here's the link to the New York Times article (and video): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/technology/personaltech/26pogue.html?_r=1&ref=personaltech

Hmmm ... that may not have worked as planned ... again? (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/technology/personaltech/26pogue.html?_r=1&ref=personaltech)

OK ... well ... these things look like glorified phones to me ... I may just save for a cheaper laptop.

[Death Metal Moe]

Thanks for the replies ... and HI EVERYONE! So cool to think you guys remember me ... been very busy.

Here's the link to the New York Times article (and video): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/technology/personaltech/26pogue.html?_r=1&ref=personaltech

Hmmm ... that may not have worked as planned ... again? (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/technology/personaltech/26pogue.html?_r=1&ref=personaltech)

OK ... well ... these things look like glorified phones to me ... I may just save for a cheaper laptop.

That would be my advice, honestly. These things are kewl as hell, but I have a full size laptop for a reason: It does everything my desktop does. These netbooks are good really as extra computers in my opinion, not as a primary one. Mainly for the lack of a disc drive and shitty video chip.

Keep an eye on different tech sites like Newegg.com, Amazon.com, Tigerdirect.com, ecost.com and woot.com for various daily deals and sales. Then take a spin around Walmart, Target, Best Buy, PC Richads and any other retailer's websites for any upcoming in store shit and online exclusives.

If you have the coin to drop I would highly recommend doing what I did for myself and had my grandmother do: Go directly to HP's official website and build a machine. I love these things.

[boosterp]

Acer 16" (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2325451,00.asp)

$850 (http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/EP48455152.htm?utm_medium=productsearch&utm_source=google)

Better price?

Better system, $750 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115539)

Or
$600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115538)

Steer clear of HP, Sony, and Gateway due to their poor marks in customer service through to reliability in an annually independent survey.

[Death Metal Moe]

What? HP is the Shizzle, for rizzle my nizzle!

Eh, now I hope it never breaks.

[boosterp]

What? HP is the Shizzle, for rizzle my nizzle!

Eh, now I hope it never breaks.

It's an article in PC World for Feb 09 which is backed by another independent group.

[Death Metal Moe]

It's an article in PC World for Feb 09 which is backed by another independent group.

Shit. Well I hope the bad press forces them to get better, kinda like the horrible Dell word of mouth that seems to have turned them around a lot in the past few years.

At least, I hope it happens at HP before I have to use my warranty.

[SatCam]

I am posting from a Dell netbook right now



freaky i know!

[styckx]

I never thought I would need one but I bit the bullet and decided to buy a netbook. I honestly didn't think I would like it but I had to at least try one.

I love it. Perfect for work or any other place where lugging a laptop out to check email or browse the web is more of a hassle then a convenience.

$298

Acer Aspire One

1.6ghz Intel Atom Processor
1gb RAM
160 hard drive (not a SSD)
weighs just over 2lbs and 3hrs of battery life
3 USB ports
Ethernet
SD slot
Wifi
Built in Webcam w/ Microphone
XP installed

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g37/styckx/IMG_0827.jpg

[styckx]

Ok, so after 3hrs of playing with this.

Pros:
Fast for the size
Screen is beautiful and easy to read even at 1024x600 on the 10.1 inch screen.
All webpages fit on the screen nice, no sides scrolling
Battery life roughly 2hrs with heavy use.
Super light
Webcam quality is actually very good
Fan is quiet
Doesn't get very hot at all.

Cons:

Small keyboard. Not really a con, you know what you are getting when you buy one of these. It took me a few hours to train my hands to rest different but now I can type almost as fast as I can on a full sized qwerty keyboard

Power adapter plugs into the side. I wish it was in the back and out of sight.

SD Card slot is a little awkward when putting a card in. Tight fit

Uninstalling all the normal crap they toss on here. Google desktop, McAfee, Carbonite, Acer Arcade etc etc etc.

For $298 this is a steal though. 160gb of space is more then enough for a netbook and really a gracious amount considering the SSD models give you only a fraction of that size. The 1gb of RAM is perfect for XP and probably even Windows 7. Works just like a low end big laptop. Maybe a tad slower cause it's a Atom processor.

[Death Metal Moe]

I never thought I would need one but I bit the bullet and decided to buy a netbook. I honestly didn't think I would like it but I had to at least try one.

I love it. Perfect for work or any other place where lugging a laptop out to check email or browse the web is more of a hassle then a convenience.

$298

Acer Aspire One

1.6ghz Intel Atom Processor
1gb RAM
160 hard drive (not a SSD)
weighs just over 2lbs and 3hrs of battery life
3 USB ports
Ethernet
SD slot
Wifi
Built in Webcam w/ Microphone
XP installed

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g37/styckx/IMG_0827.jpg

Nice man. I got the 8.9" screen in Copper for a fucking steal from Wal Mart's website.

I agree with everything you've said so far as far as pros and cons. For whatever reason I didn't have a lot of shit to uninstall, maybe it was an oversite or maybe it was the difference between what they automatically load on the 10" and the 8.9". Or maybe I'm just so used to it by now I almost unconsciously did it.

I haven't even tried putting an SD card in the slot yet, I'll keep your warning in mind.

Only thing I was really considering was the RAM upgrade but now that I'm using it I'm not sure I need it. Everything seems to run smoothly with the 1 gig. I think you can only up it to 2 gigs anyway and I think I read it only recognizes 1.5 of that anyway. Plus you basically have to take out the entire mobo to get at the RAM so I'm pretty much going to leave it alone until I find something it does too slowly.

[Snoogans]

they look gay in that one commercial. Plus that guy is such a douche.


I find something hot about the chick though

[styckx]

Oh yeah, didn't see about the real Netbook thread until just now. Maybe a nice mod can merged this to the end of that or something?

I'm going to try to install Mac OSX on this tonight. From what I hear these mini netbooks are near perfect hardware wise to run Mac OSX

[boosterp]

Styckx, do you have the right hack to install OSX on a machine built for Windows?

[ToiletCrusher]

Asus makes one loaded with linux.

I've read that it's easier to load OSX on those machines even though they are practically the same specs.

[styckx]

Styckx, do you have the right hack to install OSX on a machine built for Windows?

Yeah, they are all over torrents. I just noticed though, this netbook of mine uses the same exact wireless card model as my laptop.

I installed OSX on my laptop just fine but the wifi wouldn't work. I've done some reading and apparently the bios with acers and how OSX works makes it a pain in the ass to get going.

I'll hold off for now. XP is working just fine. I love this little guy though. I want to pick up the 6 cell battery so I can get 6hrs of life out of this thing(probably more like 4-5 under normal use). The 3 cell holds it own though.

[boosterp]

Asus makes one loaded with linux.

I've read that it's easier to load OSX on those machines even though they are practically the same specs.

The BIOS is completely different on Apple's mobos made solely by Intel due to the proprietary nature of OSX. It is an anti-compete bullshit thing that Jobs set up some time ago so you'd have to buy Mac hardware.

Asus Linux machines are the same thing as their Windows machines minus the stupid lil sticker on the machine. You'd have to either have a crack or you'd have to pull the BIOS and replace it with a Mac compatible BIOS. The crack just tricks OSX into loading onto the computer and tricks it to starting up when you power on the machine.

[styckx]

The BIOS is completely different on Apple's mobos made solely by Intel due to the proprietary nature of OSX. It is an anti-compete bullshit thing that Jobs set up some time ago so you'd have to buy Mac hardware.

Asus Linux machines are the same thing as their Windows machines minus the stupid lil sticker on the machine. You'd have to either have a crack or you'd have to pull the BIOS and replace it with a Mac compatible BIOS. The crack just tricks OSX into loading onto the computer and tricks it to starting up when you power on the machine.

I've read on the aspireoneusers forum (http://www.aspireoneuser.com/ great site and forum).

Apparently people have been messing around w/ bios hacks to get around that Bios cock block. The fuck if I'm fucking with the bios though. Flashing an upgrade. NP, flashing a hacked firmware.. No thanks, not worth the brick.

[boosterp]

I've read on the aspireoneusers forum (http://www.aspireoneuser.com/ great site and forum).

Apparently people have been messing around w/ bios hacks to get around that Bios cock block. The fuck if I'm fucking with the bios though. Flashing an upgrade. NP, flashing a hacked firmware.. No thanks, not worth the brick.

have a Linksys/Cysco router? Ever hack it? Same thing. If it does not work you flash it back with the back up that you made. Hacking your laptop BIOS is the same, just back it to a floppy first. Award, Phoenix, etc all have a BIOS backup built in.

Oh, if you look around (of which can not be posted publicly) there are ways to make most Intel variations of the WiFi work under OSX.

[styckx]

have a Linksys/Cysco router? Ever hack it? Same thing. If it does not work you flash it back with the back up that you made. Hacking your laptop BIOS is the same, just back it to a floppy first. Award, Phoenix, etc all have a BIOS backup built in.

Oh, if you look around (of which can not be posted publicly) there are ways to make most Intel variations of the WiFi work under OSX.

The Atheros 5007 wifi cards on these Aspire Ones seem to be very hard and you got to do some flaky shit to get them working and that's not even promising. Most people are buying dell cards off ebay, cracking open their Aspires and replacing them to get wifi in OSX.

No biggy. OSX installs are more of a novelty project. XP works fine.

[boosterp]

The Atheros 5007 wifi cards on these Aspire Ones seem to be very hard and you got to do some flaky shit to get them working and that's not even promising. Most people are buying dell cards off ebay, cracking open their Aspires and replacing them to get wifi in OSX.

No biggy. OSX installs are more of a novelty project. XP works fine.

Totally agree. And I forgot about the Atheros cards used. The usb dongles are so cheap now anyways.

[Freakshow]

I bought a Samsung NC10, decent reviews and about as much as I could afford. Couldn't load the most recent iTunes, though.

I am currently bluetoothing through my cell phone to use the internet. No complaint there either...