Experience with NetBooks/Micro Laptops??

RayPA

RayPA

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OK, I'm going to try to squeeze this in here as a "photo accessory."

Does anyone have any experience with or opinions about the micro-laptops or 'net-books that they'd like to share (good, bad)?

I'm referring to the tiny stripped down ~38oz. laptops that have screens that are 9 - 10" wide. They are preloaded with either XP Home or Linux and use an SSD instead of a HD. They are optimized for the net, students, and business/creative note taking, such as. I doubt these things can run any version of PS, but I've seen them with StarOffice or OpenOffice suites. They would be a great option for travel and carrying around in a camera bag (see there, I made a connection!)--like a bigger electronic Moleskin. Keyboards are small, but the ones I've seen, like the linked-to ASUS is realy well made and low-cost.

Just looking for your experiences. TIA.


.
 
I had the 7" Asus, it was pretty cool. Tiny! Funky keyboard, kept hitting the wrong keys. But the main thing was the screen was too small. Maybe the 9" would be better. I used Linux as it would have just made it slower. The Linux version on the Asus was good. I sold it because I obtained a dead 2GHz MacBook for free which I then fixed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
digitalintrigue said:
I had the 7" Asus, it was pretty cool. Tiny! Funky keyboard, kept hitting the wrong keys. But the main thing was the screen was too small. Maybe the 9" would be better. I used Linux as it would have just made it slower. The Linux version on the Asus was good. I sold it because I obtained a dead 2GHz MacBook for free which I then fixed.
Click to expand...

Thanks, DI. Yeah, for me I'd rather have the 13" MacBook, but at ~$1k... I'm actually considering this for my daughter for her schoolwork, but I've been looking for a notebook, to use as a NOTEbook. The prices and the build quality are really nice.

.
 
I'm looking at the Linux version of the 12" Dell mini. I've seen the Acer Aspire One in Best Buy, but wasn't able to play with it much. The Aspire One keyboard looked WAY too small for me though.
 
I really wanted to love the 9 inch Asus but I just couldn't get comfortable with the tiny keyboard. Got a 13 inch Samsung instead (Q45) for a much higher price, but with a real keyboard and real computer specs.
 
Al, typing this from a 12" Dell. It is nice but not quite the same category as netbook.

IMHO if you go for a netbook, get the lightest and compact one. Original EEE was great at that, but the tiny screen. An EEE 900 or 901 is on the border line for me, and EEE 1000 is not really worth it. The point of such device it shouldn't strain you carrying much, and bigger models go into overweight league.
 
It completely depends on what you intend to use it for

I am currently typing this on my EEEpc 1000H; It is excellent for email, internet use, minor photo editing (I use picassa 3 for this machine) and some multimedia use

It's plenty fast, the 10 inch screen is a perfect mix of portability, compactness, but big enough for viewing photos online or in picassa. Great Wi-fi (though be weary of the latest driver update as its connectivity goes wonky, I rolled back to the original driver) and bluetooth capability. Also I have the one with the 6 cell battery, it gets great battery life...

Also I was pleasantly surprised with the touchpad; excellent responsiveness, responds to gestures very well and can be used subtly.

Nitpicks, the keyboard is not the best, though I have become used to the size and can now type faster on this keyboard than my fullsize logitech for my tower. Now I could not get used to the placement of the right shift key, so I rearranged the shift key so it's now located where the up arrow used to be, then re-arranged (also remapped)the arrow buttons so up and down are now to the far right and the left and right are now under my shift key ... much more natural and a lot faster to type with.

So I definitely like the EEEpc worth the 375 i paid for it; they keep getting better with each generation.

Edit: I should add I have the XP version with the 80gb harddrive and 1gb of RAM expandable to 2gb
 
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I have an old HP 800CT that was maxxed out years back that's looking for a new home. I have the CD drive, rebuilding CDs, docking station, extra internal mice, the works. Anyone can have it for $50 and shipping to where ever.

I looked at the ASUS at target the other day and found the key board too small for my fingers. Now mind you I loved the little HP calculator that ran MS DOS years back, could thumb type very quickly. This keyboard was between the that one and the HP 800, which I loved.

I really like the idea of solid state drives as they are bounce proof and draw almost no power. Linux is much more my speed than Windows. Dell sells either so at least you have a choice.

Sony V is way over priced for the market, very cool size, but I've not check the keyboard but it looks good. I'm not a big Sony fan as they are not very business focused.

I've had the G4 12" Mac and loved it, wish Apple would bring out an Intel box but I'm hoping they (Apple) will bring out an iTouch with a plug in keyboard. My son says that there already is a keyboard and mouse that you can use, perhaps through WiFi. I'd love a iTouch tablet about the size of a large paperback book, say 20GB in her, pay about $500. I think they'd sell like hot cakes.

I think the Netbook market is a bit young. Besides, I've got this great new Intel MacBook in Aluminum that I still have to justify to my wife.

B2 (;->
 
I have a 2ghz Macbook that's about two years old. I've yet to see anything to tempt me to trade it in except if I could afford a Macbook Pro. For when I need something lighter, I hope to add a iPhone in the near future (even though I really hate ATT... )

The netbooks are an interesting idea but the compromises necessary just leave them, for me, as neither fish or fowl.

William
 
I think that the time for the netbook is soon. I agree that they're a great concept, but I think they need bigger SSDs, better keyboards, and a bit more horsepower at the same price point before they can really come into their own.
 
Hi Ray

Hi Ray

I have 2 Asus 900HAs. They're great for loading SD cards into, mine were both 160HDD models, not SSD.

For me, they keyboards and screens are too small to use for general computing. I tried a keyboard on the Aser Aspire one, a bit better, but screen was still too small. I'm used to 1440 wide min., even on 14" screen, so am waiting for min. of 1024x768. The 600 is very limiting, though they do have a scrunch mode, or a scroll mode that enables 768 vert. Larger keyboards and screens at < 3lbs are on the horizon.

Try one out before buying, very hard to type on for me.

RayPA said:
OK, I'm going to try to squeeze this in here as a "photo accessory."

Does anyone have any experience with or opinions about the micro-laptops or 'net-books that they'd like to share (good, bad)?

I'm referring to the tiny stripped down ~38oz. laptops that have screens that are 9 - 10" wide. They are preloaded with either XP Home or Linux and use an SSD instead of a HD. They are optimized for the net, students, and business/creative note taking, such as. I doubt these things can run any version of PS, but I've seen them with StarOffice or OpenOffice suites. They would be a great option for travel and carrying around in a camera bag (see there, I made a connection!)--like a bigger electronic Moleskin. Keyboards are small, but the ones I've seen, like the linked-to ASUS is realy well made and low-cost.

Just looking for your experiences. TIA.


.
Click to expand...
 
So, I'm posting from an Acer Aspire One. I really love mine. $399 and it has Win XP, 160 HD, webcam, upgraded to 1.5GB RAM, etc.

I bought it for the specific purpose of using as a travel laptop for light duty web surfing and photo editing / backup. The Acer Aspire One has (2) SD card slots and a fantastically bright (if compact) 9" screen. On several trips now I've used it for daily backup of photos from my SD cards, and then mild review and editing of photos. I've worked with Picasa, and the performance is decent. Then, I installed Photoshop Elements and the trial of Adobe Lightroom. True, because of the moderate processing power and RAM, the startup time on these apps is a bit slow, and under heavy load the editing capabilities can seem to drag just a tiny bit. However, for the most part it works incredibly well for general photo editing and review. Zooming into to pictures to evaluate focus, general manipulation, filters, sharpening, etc. works great.

The other great thing is the size / weight for travel and portability. True, this is no where near as powerful as even the lowest end MacBook, but it's half the weight and significantly cheaper. With my 6-cell battery I get 4.5-5 hours of battery life with the screen at medium brightness, and with my medium to small hands, the keyboard is actually quite usable. Throw in a travel USB mouse and you're good to go.
 
Come on Mac fanboys, we know you'll buy a netbook as soon as Apple rolls out one 😉
 
varjag said:
Come on Mac fanboys, we know you'll buy a netbook as soon as Apple rolls out one 😉
Click to expand...

I'm sure some will do just that 🙂 OTOH, this is my only computer so it needs to be able to decently run things like Photoshop, iPhoto & much more importantly, CrossOver Games so that I can still play "Steel Panthers: World at War" as it's still the best war game on a computer & only, alas, for windog.

Even us poseurs know what we need to know :angel:

William
 
My mathematician kid had has his Asus eee for 9 or 10 months now and he's pretty happy with it.
Runs Linux and some high-end math programs. Foresters and biologists he did field work with like them for the weight and durability.
Display seems marginal for Elements.
 
I have an Advent which is a rebranded MSI Wind, it came with a 120gig hardrive can run lightroom though I dont edit, just use it for photo importing traveling. Its ok for basic functions word etc run fine and its ok on the internet. The screen is too small and low quality for photo editing but it weighs less than a kilo and thats great for travel and thats what i got it for. It was relatively cheep.
 
I got my eye on a HP MINI, the one with the ATOM processor, and the larger 40 (or was it 60?) gig hard drive as a possible notebook to take out on trips also where I can dump my cards easily. I have a 13.3 inch screen Sony laptop and even though its small and not too thick I dont find it all that convenient to take around.

Frankly I think this Netbook thing is a great idea and perfect for photographers, also when I am wasting an afternoon at starbucks it would be nice to have too (especially since my father has now has my laptop). As long as I can play some movies and look at some photos, other heavy duty stuff...thats what my big box at home is for.
 
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