netbooks anyone

[stuball]

My wife wants a netbook to play games and access the internet with wifi
and hard wire...any experts out the that have studied up on these...
looking in the range of 250 with decent to very good specs...
of course she wants a selection of colors...Can anyone save me some time by pointing me to a good website..will check back later today....Thanks

Stuball

[SchagFactorToWin]

No web sites but:
A friend has a Dell netbook. He stopped using it because he hated the (to him) long boot times and poor 3G service (Verizon).

I have a Chrome netbook and like it. The SSD boots up fast and I have had no problems with Verizon 3G. I take it out in the evening so I can check on track conditions and scratches without being at my desk.

[Storm Cadet]

I have an ASUS and am very pleased with it! My daughter also bought one and she loves her too!

[bigmack]

Why get a mickey mouse netbook when the cost of laptops is pert' near that of a netbook? A netbook is not really a fully functioning computer.

[Pcon04]

Bought mine and it died two mos after the warranty

period.It gets to hot as the fan isn't cooling the HD so i read.

I went on line and there is a website with people talking

about this and they all have hp netbook doorstops like me. Never buy one



Pcon

[PeteKoch]

A netbook is not really a fully functioning computer.

Nonsense, mack. If you said iPad, I'd agree.

I've got a little Asus Eee and there's nothing I run on my desktop that I can't run on the netbook, Excel, Access, Media Player, etc. and it handles the 'waste of time stuff' like YouTube too. Got it for $200 when I caught it temporarily mispriced on the Best Buy site. I had a laptop, but it was too large & heavy, so I got this. Only drawback is that the keyboard is a hair cramped. But it connects to my Netgear router from over 100 feet when I take it outside. As for booting, it's got some kind of boot accelerator. It's not a brute, but I need fast internet data retrieval more than I need to crunch numbers and my connection is very quick.

[bigmack]

Nonsense, mack. If you said iPad, I'd agree.
How do you install software?

[PeteKoch]

I picked up an SSD at Walmart for @$35 and I already had an external CD/DVD drive (netbooks lack CD drives). The SSD is handy for transferring files to and from my desktop. I also keep image backups for both the desktop and the netbook on the SSD. Depends on your needs, but I find the netbook, with 3 USB ports, pretty useful and versatile. If you really crunch numbers, then you probably need something more powerful. Or you can run Linux. Just fooling aroung with Ubuntu or Mint from the CD, I found Linux faster than Win7 Starter from the hard drive. If I could live without a couple of my Excel add-ins and VBA, I'd probably go that route.

[Red Knave]

Stu

I think BigMack's got the right idea. You can get a 'real' notebook for $300. You will find the built in DVD/CD drive will be useful but the larger screen (even 14") is a huge benefit. Playing games at 1024/600 is pretty ugly. Even web surfing (especially with IE) will be a chore on a netbook since you have to scroll nearly every web page to see it all.

Having said that, my wife had to replace her HP mini and all she wanted was another HP. I might have bought a Toshiba, ASUS or Samsung otherwise. Pick a place like Costco so you can get the extra warranty and no hassle return.

Also, don't try to make a Mother's Day present out of it and don't ask me how I know that.

;)

[raybo]

We have an Acer Aspire 11.1", with built in card reader for loading/saving files. I'm on it now, as my desktop is still down. Have no complaints. Running Windows XP. 6 volt battery lasts a good while. Comes in several colors.

[mabred]

Ray

can u see alldata on it or do u print out

your pp's.Seems like it requires a lot of scrolling.

mabred

[chickenhead]

I will say on the Google machine I have they got a few things exactly right for a portable 'book.

12" -- big enough, but not unwieldy
Close enough to Full size keyboard to seem full size.
Lightweight and thin
Does not run hot
8 hour battery life
SSD
3G connectivity

The Mac book Air is similiar, but more expensive...but I've used a lot of laptops and netbooks, and the above is just about perfect for a portable computer. 12" and 8 hour battery are really the sweet spot I'd look for from any portable computer. If its used mainly for internet, those would non-negotiable main priorities.

The small screens on netbooks get very annoying very fast, the poor battery life, weight, and heat generation on larger machines can get very annoying very fast.

[fast4522]

I just got a refurbished Dell D420 2 gigs memory 80 gig hard drive XP class machine. I just hollowed out the battery that would only hold 1 hour used (removed cells) used empty battery to cover hole where battery was. The guts are Pentium M dual core 12.1 widescreen that displays 1280 X 800. The reason I picked this one is I have a battery pack thats rated perfectly to plug into where the AC charging pack goes and deliver 10 hours. The battery pack is hefty but the netbook is under 3 pounds with aluminium alloy shell. Everything I do is in Microsoft Access and Excel now and can not be bothered for tablets to catch up or get stable.

[raybo]

Ray

can u see alldata on it or do u print out

your pp's.Seems like it requires a lot of scrolling.

mabred

You have to zoom it down as far as you can, and still read the data. Even on a desktop, unless you have a 22" or larger monitor, you would have to zoom out a little to see a whole view.

I'm hooked to my 22" monitor with this netbook. So, it's just like I was using my desktop. The Atom processor isn't extremely fast, but it's not bad either. 6 to 8 hours of battery, depending on what you're doing. Nice little unit.

I run my spreadsheet on the 22" monitor while watching the tote and video on the 11" netbook screen.

[Capper Al]

I have a Dell netbook, and I like it. You need to get a battery with at least 6 cells to be able to last 5 hours without needing a recharge. I bring it with me when traveling, and it is a lot easier to carry around than a notebook or a laptop.

[JBmadera]

my favorite site for all things computer related:

newegg.com