Technology What do you guys think about netbooks??

[OpalOnyx]

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Hey guys,
I'm wondering what you all think about netbooks. My school recommends the one below. Does anyone have this one?

"Most Portable Netbook PC: Asus EeePC 1000HE: 10" screen, Intel Atom N280 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, VGA adapter. Weight about 5 lbs. 9 hour battery life. Price range: $390-$400.
Note: If you buy this small inexpensive netbook, consider getting a 20" display and external DVD drive for home use."

For me, portability is a huge deciding factor. But I also want to make sure I get something that's gonna be reliable and not go kaput on me at the worst of times. Any input is appreciated!

 

[billw]

They are a trendy compromise that few people seem to be very happy with. Students may be the exception. The keyboards can be small and awkward, the processors are slow, and the storage is often small. No optical drive means your life can be difficult if you need to reload the system and don't know how to do it. As a result of their low performance, they will become obsolete more quickly than full-size laptops.

I have had an eeePC for two years and I use it at school. I am really happy not to lug around a full-size laptop, but only because it is supplemental to a larger machine I keep at home. There is no way I would want to use a netbook as my main computer.

 

[DrBowtie]

Hey guys,
I'm wondering what you all think about netbooks. My school recommends the one below. Does anyone have this one?

"Most Portable Netbook PC: Asus EeePC 1000HE: 10" screen, Intel Atom N280 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, VGA adapter. Weight about 5 lbs. 9 hour battery life. Price range: $390-$400.
Note: If you buy this small inexpensive netbook, consider getting a 20" display and external DVD drive for home use."

For me, portability is a huge deciding factor. But I also want to make sure I get something that's gonna be reliable and not go kaput on me at the worst of times. Any input is appreciated!

Most people in my class have iPhone and a regular size laptop. Use the iPhone for the quick email/surfing and then the full size when you need to get serious work done.

 

[futile]

I'm pretty technologically oriented, and I bought my first laptop about 5 years ago. I destroyed it in around 2 years by playing too many computer games, so it was obvious to me that a top-of-the-line $800 desktop and a $350 netbook (Hell, even multiple netbooks) was way more cost effective than a $2,000+ laptop that would only last me 2 years.

It depends on what you are using it for, though. The only thing my netbook can't do is play Hulu at full resolution. Honestly, it fulfills the vast majority of things I need a computer for, but I have my full-sized desktop at home for playing games, long typing sessions, etc.

 

[sunset823]

I'm a big technophile, and I bought a netbook (Asus eeepc 1005HA) my first couple of weeks of school, and it has been god's gift to medical school to me. I don't ever print out powerpoints, I just type my notes straight into the slides. The best thing is that the battery life on this is amazing, I don't ever have to take the power cord with me, even if I am at school for 8 hours, it will run, on at full brightness and everything, for about 8 hours straight. Plus, I chat with my friends on gmail during lecture 😉

I have another aging, huge desktop-replacement Dell, but I rarely ever use it, it is slow as hell and looks ready to poop out on me any moment. I will be buying a new desktop replacement or thin-and-light before next year, but my netbook is still my main computer.

I also have an Ipod touch, and that is really useful as well, I take that with me to anatomy lab sometimes cuz I have netter flashcards uploaded on there (it is well protected, no worries haha). I don't think you really need an Iphone, the touch does everything you need without the expense of the phone service.

I guess, in the end, you can never have too much technology if you want it. I'm the kind of person who is like a kid in a candy store, or a girly girl at the mall, when I'm at Best Buy, so I try to stay within my means, but everything I have has and will come in handy.

 

[JonathanMD]

Good for light traveling. Bad for medical school.

The two things I need in my laptop are a huge screen and a normal sized keyboard. The netbooks don't have either of them.

👍

 

[DoctwoB]

Do yourself a favor, get a real ultraportable computer with a CULV processor core 2 duo processor. They are sooo much faster than netbooks, with similar battery life and much better keyboards, while still being small enough to carry around in your backpack daily

http://www.amazon.com/UL30A-X5-Ligh...ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1266852185&sr=1-3.

is one example,

I'd buy a new (but older model) lenovo tablet, such as an X61t, which can be had for 650 off ebay. You get the portability, battery life, tablet functionality, and a much much faster processor (Core 2 duo vs. atom), for a bit more money.

 

[45408]

My wife just got a lightweight Dell Inspiron with a 15" monitor with some pretty decent specs for $425. If you're going to get a netbook, I'd find a cheaper one or just buy a full-size laptop for $400-500.

 

[Tolip]

It depends on your needs.
Asus makes quality products.

 

[Nikki2002]

my boyfriend got me one for christmas this year. It's an Asus Eee Seashell netbook.

It's a really cool little device. Extremely light and portable....but it just doesn't run as fast as a regular laptop. Plus there is no CD-ROM drive...and if you want to upgrade to the full windows edition, expect to drop another $80.

The quality seems good....but you can tell that it's not built to take the same beating as a laptop.

also--I've tried listening to recorded lectures online (from class) through windows media player and it won't play them smoothly--there are pauses in the recording every few seconds. I think this just has to do with the processor speed but really I have no idea.

I have a Gateway laptop that I've had since 2006 and that's what I use primarily. I has the full windows/ office on it and it does everything I need it to do.

I guess I thought I would take that little netbook with me to class all the time....but really I don't. I see people have them in class, but they usually just play around on them when they are bored with lecture.

Bottom line, IMO netbooks are great for surfing the web, checking email, having fun. But you need a real laptop to actually have some computing power.

I guess there are probably netbooks out there with better stuff in them, but you'll pay more...if you are paying like $500 for a netbook, you might as well get a laptop. I think there are things called "mini laptops" so maybe look into those instead??

 

[MilkmanAl]

My wife just got a lightweight Dell Inspiron with a 15" monitor with some pretty decent specs for $425. If you're going to get a netbook, I'd find a cheaper one or just buy a full-size laptop for $400-500.

👍

 

[Nikki2002]

Most people in my class have iPhone and a regular size laptop. Use the iPhone for the quick email/surfing and then the full size when you need to get serious work done.

you can use an ipod touch to surf the web wirelessly for free if you don't feel like having a ~$80/month phone plan.

 

[Raryn]

I hate netbooks with a passion. It doesn't matter if the battery life is 8 hours if I can't type due to the small keyboard, can barely see anything on the tiny screen, and the computer craps out if you ever try doing anything strenuous with it.

My primary computer is a 15" Macbook Pro, and I'd say it was worth every penny. Its not like the thing is even that heavy, and it easily fits in a normal sized messenger-type schoolbag.

 

[silverhorse84]

you can use an ipod touch to surf the web wirelessly for free if you don't feel like having a ~$80/month phone plan.

And if you get a macbook pro instead, you'll get the ipod touch for free (I think it's dependent on when you buy it though).

I love my macbook and will probably never go back to a pc again! My school is pc oriented, so I use parallels - so far haven't had a single problem.

My macbook is by far not the heaviest thing I carry - in fact, I believe it may be the lightest.

 

[Raryn]

And if you get a macbook pro instead, you'll get the ipod touch for free (I think it's dependent on when you buy it though).

I love my macbook and will probably never go back to a pc again! My school is pc oriented, so I use parallels - so far haven't had a single problem.

My macbook is by far not the heaviest thing I carry - in fact, I believe it may be the lightest.

As I understand it, the free ipod deal is only during the summer and only if you are buying it through their "education store" (you get discounts for having a .edu email address).

Given that we should all have .edu email addresses, if you're going to be buying apple hardware, you may as well buy it through the apple education store anyway 😛

 

[richse]

I use the ASUS EeePC 1008HA and I love it. The keyboard is 95% the size of a normal keyboard and I have no complaints typing on it. It's not going to do any gaming obviously but I have not had a problem with any school related uses included watching lectures. It also does well for watching movies. I originally had Windows XP on it and now I have windows 7 and it runs really well on either.

I have a regular size laptop from my job before school but I haven't touched it since getting the netbook.

 

[plauto]

if you end up not going to class much, that little thing will be the most frustrating thing you have ever bought. Half way thru my 1st year I bought a 24" iMac. It's big enough to have 2 full windows next to each other (great for path lectures, where you can have the lecture video and the ppt open together and taking notes is really convenient). Too bad they did not have the 27" screen last year. When I go to class I just use my iPod touch for emails and such.

 

[Dr Oops]

Netbooks are perfectly fine for med school. The only thing you need to worry about is the keyboard and screen size. If you dont have a problem with those then you can get a netbook and not worry about it. Netbooks have plenty of processing power for checking email and powerpoints, hell even smart phones can do these things.

If portability is really the biggest factor you can go wrong with a netbook.

 

[asing011]

I am pretty happy with my netbook... its portable, reliable and it saves me paper. The battery life is about 7 hours so I dont have to carry around my charger. All my notes are in one place and the speed is pretty good too.

 

[vin5cent0]

Depends what you want to use it for. If it's basic things like word doc, browsing the net, etc, they're great. For more complicated tasks, they tend to be underpowered, as does the one you posted up.

 

[bioteach]

I LOVE my netbook for medical school. I have a Dell Inspiron 15" screen. The keyboard is 92% of full size, so when I need to do some serious typing I use my home desktop or one at school. It is perfect for taking notes in class, viewing powerpoints, surfing the internet, and its extremely portable. My battery life is 9+ hours, so I don't have to worry about finding an outlet wherever I am (as many of my full size laptop owning classmates do). Its absolutely perfect for fitting in my backpack with my notebooks and texts. I am really glad I decided to get the small guy rather than a full size laptop. I love it.

That said, it is only an accessory for me. My "main" computer is a desktop at home. If its going to be your only computer, go with a full size laptop or desktop...but as a light little portable accessory for school work, it's perfect.

 

[Cogito ergo es]

I love them.
I've had mine for about two years now and I'm considering buying a eeePC to replace it (I bought mine when they first got out, let's just say that 3-cell battery was the only option available at that time and for 3+hours lectures, it doesn't do well).

It runs as fast as my desktop computer, you get used to the keyboard size (and screen size) after a little while, and the portability is really convenient.

In the end, it all depends on what you expect it to do though.
You won't be doing 3D rendering on it, that's for sure, but for the rest, it's pretty adequate.

 

[JJMrK]

A 13 or 14 inch thin and light is probably a better option if this is going to be your full-time, desktop replacement computer.

 

[1UP]

Some people here seem to be misconstruing the definition of a "Netbook".

A Netbook is a mini-laptop with a "clamshell" configuration that has a screen no less than 9 inches and no more than 11", weighs 3 lbs or less, has no integrated optical drive, has an Atom or Celeron processor (or equivalent), has no significant internal expansion capacity, has a battery capacity of at least 5 hours, runs a full OS (Windows XP SP3 or Windows 7 Starter), and has limited RAM and HD capacity.

Anything with a larger screen and/or weighing more that runs a full OS is an "Ultra-light" or "Thin & Light" laptop. Anything with a smaller screen but still running a full OS is an UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC). MID (Mobile Internet Device) is a moniker that can also be applied to devices in the UMPC category.

 

[richse]

Some people here seem to be misconstruing the definition of a "Netbook".

A Netbook is a mini-laptop with a "clamshell" configuration that has a screen no less than 9 inches and no more than 11", weighs 3 lbs or less, has no integrated optical drive, has an Atom or Celeron processor (or equivalent), has no significant internal expansion capacity, has a battery capacity of at least 5 hours, runs a full OS (Windows XP SP3 or Windows 7 Starter), and has limited RAM and HD capacity.

Anything with a larger screen and/or weighing more that runs a full OS is an "Ultra-light" or "Thin & Light" laptop. Anything with a smaller screen but still running a full OS is an UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC). MID (Mobile Internet Device) is a moniker that can also be applied to devices in the UMPC category.

I agree with most of what you said but the screen size you mentioned is too narrow. Asus practically defined the netbook and they sell them with screens as small at 7".

 

[Cogito ergo es]

I agree with most of what you said but the screen size you mentioned is too narrow. Asus practically defined the netbook and they sell them with screens as small at 7".

7'' is just painful, I've got a 8.9'' and I'm already having trouble with screen size.

 

[OpalOnyx]

Thank you for the helpful comments, everyone. 🙂 I'm still debating between a small PC and a netbook. My friend says he can get me a sweet discount on IBM/Lenovo laptops (so maybe I'll shell out some cash for the solid state paneled kind). Or my other option is a desktop (main) + netbook (portable accessory) combo.