Which Netbook Do You Have?

[desertgrandma]

So, I was at the mall this morning.

RadioShack has the Acer Aspire One there for $349......forget which model.

Having never actually touched one before, I thought it was cute as a bugs ear. The keyboard was adequate, and had I not started this thread, or asked about these in another thread, I would have been tempted.

Thanks to you guys, I think I'm going with the Asus. Daffy's HP would also be a winner, but out of my price range.

I also gotta say the young sales lady was less than helpful. she immediately steered me to a more expensive model, "because it has capacity for a AT&T card." Told her we were with Verizon and only got a spiel on how much better At&T was for bluetooth connectability. The I asked her if this model has the same 'innards' (meaning processing, etc) as the other. she looked at me like I was having a senior moment and said "I don't believe I've ever heard that before, exactly what are you asking about, ma'm? I tried to explain it was the processor I was asking about and she went right back to the blue tooth capability.

'sigh. God I hate salespeople who want to sell what they want to sell instead of what the customer wants.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I also gotta say the young sales lady was less than helpful. she immediately steered me to a more expensive model, "because it has capacity for a AT&T card." Told her we were with Verizon and only got a spiel on how much better At&T was for bluetooth connectability. The I asked her if this model has the same 'innards' (meaning processing, etc) as the other. she looked at me like I was having a senior moment and said "I don't believe I've ever heard that before, exactly what are you asking about, ma'm? I tried to explain it was the processor I was asking about and she went right back to the blue tooth capability.

'sigh. God I hate salespeople who want to sell what they want to sell instead of what the customer wants.

Yes, well, if she mentioned "bluetooth connectability", it doesn't seem as if she knows what she wants to sell, either. Neither Verizon nor AT&T would have anything to do with "bluetooth connectability" as Bluetooth is a short-range wireless protocol.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Yes, well, if she mentioned "bluetooth connectability", it doesn't seem as if she knows what she wants to sell, either. Neither Verizon nor AT&T would have anything to do with "bluetooth connectability" as Bluetooth is a short-range wireless protocol.

I think she was talking about tethering the netbook to a data enabled cell phone with BlueTooth for internet access, and it can be done on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint. T-mobile can do it too, but their data rate is much slower, as well as any number of local/smaller carriers. It just depends on the hardware in your phone, and the cost of the data plan the carrier has.

That, by the way, is why I'm taking my Acer back, no BlueTooth so I'd have to tether my cell phone with a USB cable (inconvenient)

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by wodin

I think she was talking about tethering the netbook to a data enabled cell phone with BlueTooth for internet access, and it can be done on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint. T-mobile can do it too, but their data rate is much slower, as well as any number of local/smaller carriers. It just depends on the hardware in your phone, and the cost of the data plan the carrier has.

That, by the way, is why I'm taking my Acer back, no BlueTooth so I'd have to tether my cell phone with a USB cable (inconvenient)

I think there are few plans that allow tethering, albeit, majority of cellphones I've used can be tethered. What I'm arguing is Bluetooth connectivity just isn't the proper term. Besides, since the salesperson was specifically mentioning AT&T, I'm guessing the laptop they're trying to sell has built-in 3G or an express card slot which accomodates the AT&T adapter.

As for Bluetooth, I bought a teeny tiny adapter for $2 from FocalPrice. So far, it seems to work quite well.

[kazbates]

DG - I looked into getting a mobile broadband card so that I could connect from anywhere. We have Sprint. I thought I could just add another phone to my account and pay an extra $10 per month and as long as we stay under the total family minutes, it would be okay (we don't even come close to using all our minutes each month). Unfortunately, that's not the case. I would have to get a separate plan just for the broadband card because they charge that by Data Usage. The plan would cost about $60 per month and I would be additionally be charged for any data usage over 5GB, which the girl told me would only happen if I download a lot (which I don't).

Needless to say, if I want to use my netbook anywhere outside of my house, I'm going to have to find places with the WiFi sign!

[desertgrandma]

I don't care about the 'phone' part.

Probably, 95% of the time, whatever I get will stay home. However, someday I shall take it to Barnes and Noble, go to the Starbucks section, and log on to MobileRead. Maybe I'll get a someone to take a picture of me reading on my K1 with the netbook in front of me......

Or, I could take it to school and fool around on my lunch hour......

[wodin]

Originally Posted by kazbates

DG - I looked into getting a mobile broadband card so that I could connect from anywhere. We have Sprint. I thought I could just add another phone to my account and pay an extra $10 per month and as long as we stay under the total family minutes, it would be okay (we don't even come close to using all our minutes each month). Unfortunately, that's not the case. I would have to get a separate plan just for the broadband card because they charge that by Data Usage. The plan would cost about $60 per month and I would be additionally be charged for any data usage over 5GB, which the girl told me would only happen if I download a lot (which I don't).

Needless to say, if I want to use my netbook anywhere outside of my house, I'm going to have to find places with the WiFi sign!

Yup! The carriers have got a lock on the mobile data service right now, and are making hay while the sun shines. There are ways to get mobile broadband cheaper but generally involve a lot of hassle. One way is to get an AT&T GoPhone, provision it for “MediaNet” which is AT&Ts marketspeak for mobile broadband, then put the SIM card in your broadband card that you bought on eBay. Twenty bucks a month, no contract. Did I mention hassle? Also there are bootleg ways to tether a cell phone, but like stripping DRM, don’t get caught.

Here in Hawaii we have a local cellular company called MobiPCS that has mobile broadband for $35/month no contract. You might check out the local guys in your area.

[taosaur]

You can usually get away with light tethering on an unlimited data plan--forums, news sites, that sort of thing. Before I drowned my phone (have my SIM card in a GoPhone until I can get a break on something decent), I would sometimes plug it in if I felt like browsing on the train. They only get worried if your data use spikes into the multi-GB range.

I didn't even think about it at first--I foolishly assumed that my "unlimited data" plan entitled me to "unlimited data." Live and learn

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by taosaur

You can usually get away with light tethering on an unlimited data plan--forums, news sites, that sort of thing.

Did that with my old Sony Ericsson phone. To minimize my bandwidth usage, I made a Firefox Portable folder which had graphics, Java and Flash disabled, and Adblock Plus installed. Only had EDGE/GPRS, though, and even with pure text, it was almost unbearably slow.

[wodin]

Wodin's Adventures at Wal-Mart

Originally Posted by wodin

I have an Acer Aspire One AOD 250 that I got at Wal-Mart for $312. The first thing I did was loaded Windows 7 on it, and I’d like to report that it runs beautifully.

This morning I began restoring the factory configuration in preparation for returning it to Wal-Mart. It’s not that I don’t like it, I do but there are a couple of problems.

1. The battery life of the 3 cell battery is MUCH shorter than I had been led to believe (2 Hrs)
2. The box said it had Bluetooth, not so!
3. The box and the sticker on the computer said it was WWAN ready but the PCI Express slot was not powered, and the switch to power it is not there.
4. It will only support 1.5 GB RAM upgrade, and that’s not documented, I had to find it in a blog.

As soon as I confirm that my credit card has been credited, I’ll be ordering an Asus EEE PC 1000HE on line. They are somewhat more expensive but they support 2 GB RAM, have an advertised 9.5 hr battery life (real world more like 7), and have Bluetooth.

Well, I got home tonight and finished up the restore, packed up the Acer and headed for Wal-Mart. When I got to the customer service desk the lady was computer illiterate, and quite correctly called for assistance from Electronics.

Twenty minutes and three calls later this pimply faced kid shows up and asks me “What’s wrong with it?”

I tell him “The box says it’s got BlueTooth and 3G, and it doesn’t have either!”

So he looks on five sides of the box, and can't see where it says that, so I have to point him to the side he didn't look at, the front!

He says “It does too have BlueTooth, we’ve sold a lot of those and they all have BlueTooth.”

I say “It doesn’t have BlueTooth!”

So he starts it up, and finds that it has a virgin OS load ‘cause I just restored it to factory default. So he asks me if I’d started it. I tell him “Yes, I just restored it to factory default.”

So he goes through the startup procedure making it no longer factory default, and brings up the wireless manager. He says “See! See! It’s got WiFi!”

At this point I’m getting really P.O.ed! First he called me a liar, now he’s calling me stupid. But I kept my cool and just said "It's got WiFi but no BlueTooth."

I said “Look, the girl who sold it to me said I could bring it back, no questions asked for fifteen days. Just credit my card.”

“Well, don’t you want to exchange it?”

“No, you don’t have anything that I need!” I didn’t say that I wouldn’t buy anything from him if he had the last store in town, but I wanted to!

I’m beginning to understand that this little punk is not only pimply faced, but he’s also snotty nosed, and under no circumstances should he be allowed to interface with living people.

Oh well, I got my card credited, and my Asus EEE PC 1000HE is on order from Amazon with a 2GB memory stick. Now it’s wait, like I should have done in the first place.

[desertgrandma]

Great. Let us know how you like it!

[mtravellerh]

For me it's very easy to have an internet connection wherever I go with my Aspire One. I have an integrated 3G connector and an unlimited data plan (7mb/s) connected with my home internet access and my TV(digital HD over VDSL). That's quite common here in Luxembourg and there are three providers here battling it out for TV, Internet and 3G plans. All together sets me back around 100 $/month. But then again, our country's really small and well connected (lots of IT here)

This 3G connection is available wherever I go but has speed issues when I'm in the open countryside (getting as slow as standard ISDN used to be). And yes, we do have a countryside and lots of wood.

@wodin: Acer has a 6 cell pack available boosting the battery time something fierce (about 5 hours for me)

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by wodin

Wodin's Adventures at Wal-Mart

Well, I got home tonight and finished up the restore, packed up the Acer and headed for Wal-Mart. When I got to the customer service desk the lady was computer illiterate, and quite correctly called for assistance from Electronics.

Twenty minutes and three calls later this pimply faced kid shows up and asks me “What’s wrong with it?”

I tell him “The box says it’s got BlueTooth and 3G, and it doesn’t have either!”

So he looks on five sides of the box, and can't see where it says that, so I have to point him to the side he didn't look at, the front!

He says “It does too have BlueTooth, we’ve sold a lot of those and they all have BlueTooth.”

I say “It doesn’t have BlueTooth!”

So he starts it up, and finds that it has a virgin OS load ‘cause I just restored it to factory default. So he asks me if I’d started it. I tell him “Yes, I just restored it to factory default.”

So he goes through the startup procedure making it no longer factory default, and brings up the wireless manager. He says “See! See! It’s got WiFi!”

At this point I’m getting really P.O.ed! First he called me a liar, now he’s calling me stupid. But I kept my cool and just said "It's got WiFi but no BlueTooth."

I said “Look, the girl who sold it to me said I could bring it back, no questions asked for fifteen days. Just credit my card.”

“Well, don’t you want to exchange it?”

“No, you don’t have anything that I need!” I didn’t say that I wouldn’t buy anything from him if he had the last store in town, but I wanted to!

I’m beginning to understand that this little punk is not only pimply faced, but he’s also snotty nosed, and under no circumstances should he be allowed to interface with living people.

Oh well, I got my card credited, and my Asus EEE PC 1000HE is on order from Amazon with a 2GB memory stick. Now it’s wait, like I should have done in the first place.

I HATE having to return stuff when the clerks are complete idiots. I fact, I hate having to shop where the clerks are complete idiots. Seriously, he thought WiFi and Bluetooth were the same thing?? Well, his universe sounds much simpler than this one ... maybe I'll move there.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I HATE having to return stuff when the clerks are complete idiots. I fact, I hate having to shop where the clerks are complete idiots. Seriously, he thought WiFi and Bluetooth were the same thing?? Well, his universe sounds much simpler than this one ... maybe I'll move there.

Getting wireless technologies confused seems to be pretty commonplace. Look how often one hears people who really should know better say that the Kindle has "WiFi"!

[wodin]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I HATE having to return stuff when the clerks are complete idiots. I fact, I hate having to shop where the clerks are complete idiots. Seriously, he thought WiFi and Bluetooth were the same thing?? Well, his universe sounds much simpler than this one ... maybe I'll move there.

No, he didn't think WiFi and BlueTooth were the same thing. He thought he could convince ME that WiFi and BlueTooth were the same thing.

I could see the wheels turning in his pea brained little head, Ah, here's a technologically challenged old fut, he doesn't know any better, if I show him WiFi, I'll be able to convince him that he's got BlueTooth. What the little twit didn't realize is that I've been playing with technology since long before he was born, and in fact have been able to parlay it into rather well paying employment on the order of ten times or so what he's making.

I call it the McDonald's syndrome. You know, when the burger flippers in the back drop the burger on the floor, pick it up and slap it on a bun, and laugh at all the dumb customers who are eating it. All for minimum wage!