Which Netbook Do You Have?

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by kazbates

Surprised? Yes. Upset? Absolutely not. It would be an honor. Anytime you're in Northern VA, drop on in. My doors is always open to you.

What a sweet thing to say. I am touched. Thank you!

[taosaur]

I have the MSI Wind U100 and love it, mainly due to ergonomics--the matte screen is easy on the eyes and the keyboard is comfortable, though the touchpad takes some getting used to. At $300 it was just inside my price range. If I were buying now and had another $100, I'd probably go for the Asus 1000HE, for the battery life. The EeePC keyboards were a dealbreaker when I was looking, but they fixed them on models from the HE onward.

As far as hard drive space, as long as you have another main machine, I'd give some thought to how you're going to use a netbook. If you're planning to dump every song and video from you main PC onto it, maybe you need a big HDD, but if all you plan on carrying are books, documents, pictures, and the occasional movie, you'd probably be fine with a cool, silent 16GB SSD + removable media. I'm currently using 21GB of 120, and 11GB of that is comics >_> If costs come down on SSDs with decent write speeds (and I get less broke), I will likely be swapping out my HDD. Not that heat or noise are even noticeable half the time, but when you're reading in a silent room, the disk spinning up is a little distracting.

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Thought I'd be clever and do a sole Ubuntu install on an old lappie. Process removed XP and forgot to install Ubuntu. Now lappie insists with no OS, no booting up .... I fear the disc partitioning has exposed existing HDD problems and the poor thing has died on me.....though i'm still persevering with one or two options to see if I can do "CPR" on it....

I did the same thing to an old laptop :P It'll boot to BIOS but won't install an OS. It'll even boot to an Ubuntu Live CD, but won't get through an install. Probably hard drive issues, though the DVD drive behaves oddly, too.

[kazbates]

I had completely forgotten to mention the battery life of the Asus 1000HE. It is reported to be 9 1/2 hours, although, I never seem to hit the high end when it comes to battery life estimates. Even my Sony battery doesn't seem to last as long as I've heard it should. But that 9 1/2 hours was definitely a selling point for me.

[desertgrandma]

According to the chart below, the Asus has a matte screen, while the Acer and Hp have the glossy screen.

Wouldn't this make a difference in reading/eye strain ability?

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Don't get me wrong, I know this stuff - but seems daft to install a 'free' OS onto a new laptop that has a paid for OS on it - that's my immediate concern.

....

It doesn't seem any more daft than to use Firefox on a Windows machine when you've got IE already built in. If it's the machine you want, just pretend it has no operating system...At the prices these days for these little machines, you'd not be saving much by not getting XP installed anyway...

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I did the same thing to an old laptop :P It'll boot to BIOS but won't install an OS. It'll even boot to an Ubuntu Live CD, but won't get through an install. Probably hard drive issues, though the DVD drive behaves oddly, too.

ditto,

It'll boot from an XP disc and start to install, about 30% in it'll turn off.
On a Ubuntu boot disc it'll give 2 lines of info, the last on the memory.
On a Ubuntu image disc it'll give me "NTLDR missing" error.

I also cannot get to a C: prompt...

It's a 'deadloss' me thinks...

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Looks like I may have sold my K1.

Now to make a decision. Arrrrgggggggggg.....

Could you all send me yours (HP, Asus and Acer) so I can play with them and decide?

Just buy the freaking Asus Eee 1000HE. If you don't like it, you can always beat the crap out of me the next time I'm in Phoenix. Or, actually invite me over to the house and have your husband do it.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Just buy the freaking Asus Eee 1000HE. If you don't like it, you can always beat the crap out of me the next time I'm in Phoenix. Or, actually invite me over to the house and have your husband do it.

Why does that sound like such a good idea???

BB has that model, but made to their specs. Its supposedly less powerful (?) Here is what one person says......and a couple of others agree. Would I notice the difference?

"This is NOT a full-featured Asus eee 1000HE. Look up the specs on the web. The "real" 1000HE has an N280 processor and the fantastic 9.5 hr battery.
I suppose this cut-down version was made just for BB."

[kazbates]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Why does that sound like such a good idea???

BB has that model, but made to their specs. Its supposedly less powerful (?) Here is what one person says......and a couple of others agree. Would I notice the difference?

"This is NOT a full-featured Asus eee 1000HE. Look up the specs on the web. The "real" 1000HE has an N280 processor and the fantastic 9.5 hr battery.
I suppose this cut-down version was made just for BB."

We saw that quote, too. The one at BB is the model 1000HEB and it only has a 3 - 5 hour battery life. It looks just like the 1000HE, so if you want physically compare netbooks, that's a good place to do it. We ordered mine online (I think her ordered it from Amazon). It was actually a little more expensive (maybe, $20-30 more) and you have to pay shipping if you want to get it quickly, but you can get the real 1000HE.

[All4Fun]

As I said in a previous thread, I own the Asus 1000HE. Amongst it's other great features, you will always appreciate the long battery life. Regardless of device, if you can't use the device when you need to, it makes it quite useless. The battery life of the 1000HE will reasonably ensure that won't happen the majority of the time.

P.S. I'm posting this from my 1000HE right now from Starbucks and have close to 6 hours remaining.

[All4Fun]

Also, something else to consider related to battery life. A laptop battery will lose it's full capacity over the life of the battery/laptop and are rated at their ideal conditions. For example, in 12-18 months, a 4 hour rated battery under ideal conditions may end up lasting 2.5-3 hours in reality and under normal conditions.

I'm fully expecting the same with the battery in the 1000HE which is currently rated at 9 hours with all power saving features on. In 2 years, if I still get 6 hours out of the battery, I will still be happy.

If you want more information about proper use, care, and maintenance of laptop batteries, you can go here: http://batteryuniversity.com/

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by All4Fun

As I said in a previous thread, I own the Asus 1000HE. Amongst it's other great features, you will always appreciate the long battery life. Regardless of device, if you can't use the device when you need to, it makes it quite useless. The battery life of the 1000HE will reasonably ensure that won't happen the majority of the time.

P.S. I'm posting this from my 1000HE right now from Starbucks and have close to 6 hours remaining.

My daughter started laughing when I said I was getting a netbook. She asked me if I was going to be one of those "people" who sit at Starbucks and use their laptops.

I'm getting one, going to Starbucks, and email her........dang young whippersnapper!

[All4Fun]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

My daughter started laughing when I said I was getting a netbook. She asked me if I was going to be one of those "people" who sit at Starbucks and use their laptops.
I'm getting one, going to Starbucks, and email her........dang young whippersnapper!

What's funny is that I happened to have my netbook with me while waiting for my daughter at the book store. I wanted to know what it was like being one of the "cool" kids.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by All4Fun

What's funny is that I happened to have my netbook with me while waiting for my daughter at the book store. I wanted to know what it was like being one of the "cool" kids.

And.............how was it???

[All4Fun]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

And.............how was it???

Well, after paying a ridiculous price for a "Chocolate Frappachino (sp)" for my daughter, I didn't feel very cool anymore.

Before anyone screams "Get Back On Topic!", my vote is still for the Asus EeePC 1000HE. The keyboard is laid out extremely well for a touch typist and you really can't beat the battery life.

On it's own, the battery life is what sold me on the device. Everything else was just pure gravy. It helps that the device is also well reviewed.