Notebook or Netbook

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MysticGold04

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Ok, I'm trying to decide whether I want a full size notebook or to get a Netbook. Only things I need to consider are screen size, memory upgrade options, etc. Speed is really not that important, and I really don't want to lug around a heavy laptop when I travel... Here's a couple that I'm looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114611

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115513

I'm also interested in the Compaq CQ50-215NR that is on sale at Best Buy for $399, (Athlon64/X2, 2GB, 160GB hd, NVidia Graphics) but so far they are sold out. My plan is to run XP Pro and/or some version of Linux. The Acer is only upgradeable to 1.5gb of Ram, but should be plenty to run XP/Linux.

Do any of you own one of the netbooks and care to comment on it?
 
The first question you should ask yourself is what you will be using it for. Netbooks are pretty much only good for occasional web browsing, email, and watching movies on the plane. Their CPUs (usually Intel Atom) aren't powerful enough for other tasks, plus the screens are too small to do any kind of serious work for extended periods of time.

I've had the MSI Wind (10" screen, Intel Atom, 1GB RAM (expandable to 2GB), Win XP) for about half a year now and I have been very happy with it, but again, I mainly use it for web browsing and email. I'm thinking of getting a bigger battery for it though as the original 3-cell one doesn't last - 1.5-2 hours at best.

EDIT: And if you decide netbook is what you want, check out Lenovo S10.
 
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Buy a Toshiba. I have owned many Toshiba's over the years and they are rock solid reliable, have great support, and the older ones from the 90's I have still work fine. I'm a Toshiba junkie for life! Check out their Net/Notebooks, you won't be sorry. I had an Acer bought for me from work and it was the biggest piece of junk I had ever used. Keys broke, static-mouse pad button broke. Screen had many dead pixels etc.
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The ACER notebooks are of cheaper construction, but the price reflects that.

I have a number of dead Toshiba notebooks.

You have to remember, I have experience with probably 1,000 different notebooks here.....

I recommend the ASUS notebooks because they have the lowest failure rate. A close second would be the older IBM thinkpads. I have not handled enough of the Lenovo ones to be able to draw a solid conclusion as of yet.

The Fujitsu notebooks are also of very high quality.
 
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I used to have a computer retail & service company for 10 years and sold many Toshiba's and never had a problem. I know the Asus are good too. But I really hate ACER because of what I have read/heard and experienced. I don't doubt you know your stuff. Was just giving my input from my experience. Toshiba is it for me!
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I guess I should specify my range in price! :) I want to spend no more than $500 on one. What is the most/best I can get for that? I'm assuming close to the Toshiba one I have linked. I like the Compaq CQ50-215NR, as I bought my daughter one of those for Christmas. I am not looking to be doing a lot of gaming and graphics with this, I usually just putz around on the net, edit small documents, etc. Though it would be nice to burn CD/DVDs I cant do that with a Netbook, although I could buy an external drive to do that with. I also have two other desktop machines, so this guy would mainly be for web browsing, etc. I might want to watch movies, etc on travel, though they would have to be either ripped to the HDD or buy and use a good capacity thumb drive.. (I saw a 64GB one on Newegg for about $50 or so after rebate)

I'll give the Asus ones a look, but I think they are going to be out of my price range. Just as a side note, the Acer machines seem to be selling like hotcakes and generally seem okay according to the reviews.... Guess you cant count on reviews alone.
 
Ive had a small 10"ish screen sony vaio since about 2002. It uses an ULV intel processor, 512 MB of ram, and XP, and has been great. The battery is a bit long in tooth, and putting in a lot of the newer updates has been a bit of a mistake speed-wise (thus I run opera as a browser).

Ive been really happy with the sony, it has a modem, ethernet and wireless, so its good for travel, and ive used it for that forever, including lots of MS streets and trips use bouncing in the car...
 
This isn't a netbook, but for $450 it's a great deal, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114611. Only issue will be to get XP drivers installed on it, but I'm certain Linux would work, except the wireless card may need some customization to function correctly in Linux. If you uninstall all of the Toshiba bloatware then Vista really won't be bad. If need be, spend another $50 and get 4 GBs of RAM, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231156.

If you want a netbook, get it if all you need is on demand access to web browsing, document editing, or e-mail. Other than that, go with a full sized laptop.

StevieC,
I'm with you on Toshiba computers, I'm on my 2nd and my 1st one still works. Only issues I had with it was the DVD/CD burners wouldn't burn faster than their lowest speeds without erroring, and there was a line in the bottom corner caused by a dirty connection from the LCD cable to the motherboard. I've swapped hard drives in it, but that's only because the drive was no longer under warranty.

I've seen computers of all brands die, Toshiba included, but it was a much lower failure rate than POS Dells, Gateways, and motherboard eating HPs (seriously, newer HPs that are out for about 1.5 years are constantly showing up with dead motherboards). HPs used to be much more reliable until around early last year. Then again, it gets you past the warranty, which is all the company wants.
 
I've seen too many recent Toshiba failures as well. We highly touted these things a few years ago, only to have all but two breakdown out of a batch of a dozen different ones. A few dead motherboards, a few dead screens, etc. Failure rate of 75% is not something we enjoy dealing with on a daily basis. We stick with Dell now for most purchases.

Acer is khrap for the most part. eMachines (desktops) in Latin mean "run away like NOW!". Low end HP & Compaq models haven't done us well either.

Asus & Dell are the names I would start with. NewEgg.com is your friend for keeping the price low.
 
Dell is garbage. I was a Dell Reseller for a while before they decided not to do that anymore and they were the biggest PITA. I wouldn't dare touch their computers. Desktops aren't bad, but the laptops are garbage. Just this last weekend I was visiting family and they had bought their daughter an Inspiron 5100 and the hard drive kicked the bucket while I was there. 3 days old! YUK!
 
my in laws bought a Dell Inspiron 1530 model I believe after I told them to not get Dell. Intel core 2 duo 2.6 GHZ, 6 mb ram, 600 gig HD. within two weeks, they had to take it back to best buy, the ram died. their having second thoughts on not buying the extended warranty now.
 
Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
6 mb ram

Well, there's a problem right there, unless you meant 6 GB.
LOL.gif


But why would they need 6 GB RAM? Are they running 64-bit OS?
 
Hmmm.. The Lenovos look nice, as well as the MSI Wind. What do you guys think of SSD drives? I heard that if you install Linux on one not to install a journaling file system because it will wear it out quicker? (The SSD) I thought SSDs were the next up and coming thing and that they would outlast HDDs? The Asus Eee PCs with the SSDs look good too...
 
Lenovo has always built a good unit in my opinion but they are very expensive for what you get in return. SSD hard drives are cool, but not necessary and aren't fully developed yet in terms of performance and space so I would stick with a traditional drive. Hitatchi, Seagate, Toshiba, Deskstar, Fujitsu internal hard drives in laptop seem to last a very long time. (listed in order from best to least. IMO)
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Not in Canada... Maybe just up here it's different.

I assumed the OP was in Lancaster, California, not Lancaster, Canada, but I guess he needs to clarify...
 
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