Netbooks pros cons and 7

[Corpsecrank]

I don't know what the general felling about netbooks is so far. I hear more and more about them and I even considered picking one up.

But the point of the thread is basically to gather some opinions thus far about the current netbook scene and find out who will be running 7 on one if they plan to buy or already own one.

Personally I think netbooks are a good option for people that would waste money on a laptop when they will never need the power of a laptop. I also think the portability over a netbook is a huge advantage.

I do however wish I could find a netbook with an AMD processor and not an Intel Atom. I see that the Intel Atom is the only option at the moment.

The downsides to netbooks right now is that they simply lack options for consumers. You basically get stuck running hardware from a very very limited selection. That fact alone is forcing me to wait for alternatives to what is currently offered. I simply refuse to buy another Intel product for my own personal reasons.

I also think that there is a limit to how much should be spent on a netbook before the price difference between a netbook and laptop starts to become an issue of its own. Why spend 600 bucks on a netbook with only a fraction of the power a laptop of the same price could offer. Not to mention a laptop at 600 would have an optical drive and room for expansion where a netbook would only have moderate power because of an extra gig of ram and slightly better graphics chipset from a 300 dollar model.

Lastly comes the OS. I think 7 is the only real choice for an OS on a netbook as far as windows is concerned. XP would be my second choice. Vista won't run on something so underpowered and I am not familiar with linux or that may be a viable choice right under 7.

 

[pparks1]

Personally, having used a couple of Netbooks...they are not a replacement for a laptop. They are really just a nice Internet appliance. With that said, the primary keys to me is 1). instant (or as close as possible to it), boot times. 2). Long battery life. 3). very low cost. Unfortunately, I haven't really come across a netbook which can meet these satisfactorily to me to replace my laptop.

I'm primary looking for something that I can put in my living room (say on the back of the couch). I can pull it out, read a few forum posts, make a couple of responses and turn it back off and go back to watching TV or a movie.

Having Windows on a netbook to me.....more or less defeats the primary purpose. A super fast, extremely lightweight OS that can run on very little hardware and provide outstanding life. And unfortunately, the cost of licensing Windows really does drive up the cost of the netbook.

I'm typing this message up right now on my wife's HP laptop. It's a core 2 duo, 3GB of RAM, a 320GB HD, has a DVD burner, runs Vista Home Premium, a webcam, a full keyboard with number pad and was obtained for about $550. And while I don't need this much power when I surf the web...I don't want to pay $400 and get 1/8 of the machine either.

 

[Taxidermista]

After getting tired of the 8.9" screen of my Dell Mini 9 and its useless keyboard now I'm getting tired of my Samsung NC10 10-inch screen, those 1024x600 are killing me. I need a couple of inches more so I will probably sell the sammy and buy the Lenovo S12 with a twelve-inch screen and Nvidia Ion chipset. I hope it will hit the sweet spot between netbooks and laptops.

BTW Windows 7 RC x86 runs smoothly on the NC10.

 

[7echno7im]

I own a lenovo s10 and it is great for keeping me connected on the go. The keyboard took a little getting use to. I almost wish I would have waited for the s12, but I love my s10. I will probably upgrade when it goes on sale with Windows 7 and sell mine. It has served me well all over the world and I have definitely gotten my money's worth already.

My s10 has been running Windows 7 since 7100 (now running 7600) and runs great with 2GB of ram. I tried Ubuntu, XP, and even Vista. 7 definitely runs the best.

 

[Skitals]

I'm typing this message up right now on my wife's HP laptop. It's a core 2 duo, 3GB of RAM, a 320GB HD, has a DVD burner, runs Vista Home Premium, a webcam, a full keyboard with number pad and was obtained for about $550. And while I don't need this much power when I surf the web...I don't want to pay $400 and get 1/8 of the machine either.

You pay more for less... bulk. How much does your wifes HP laptop weigh? A laptop is completely worthless to many if it's too bulky to carry it around and have it when you need it. I've found with bigger laptops, I leave it at home. It might be a faster computer, but it's useless at home and not in my bag.

I've got an Eee 900HA... greatest netbook ever, IMO. And FYI... battery life and speed is actually BETTER in XP versus any lightweight linux alternative. Slightly worse in 7, but I haven't done much testing yet. Getting a netbook with linux really doesn't save you much if any money. If it's a $20 difference in price, that seems like a fair price for a windows license. Then you have options, and can triple boot like I do

There are times I wish it was faster... and I definitely wish it had a higher res screen... but 99% of what I use a laptop for is surfing the net. And it does that beautifully. With Google Docs I can be productive, too

 

[pparks1]

You pay more for less... bulk. How much does your wifes HP laptop weigh? A laptop is completely worthless to many if it's too bulky to carry it around and have it when you need it.

The laptop is likely 6 to 7 lbs. 95% of the time it's sitting right on the kitchen table where we keep it. I've got a Dell Latitude E6400 that is my work computer and I carry it back and forth to the office on a daily basis. It's not really that much of a chore.

I've found with bigger laptops, I leave it at home. It might be a faster computer, but it's useless at home and not in my bag.

Getting a netbook with linux really doesn't save you much if any money.

For me, it's not totally about the money. Like I said, I mostly would want an instant booting, extremely light-weight OS with terrific battery life internet appliance. That's why I figured that the Linux distros would be the ideal choice because many of them are tiny and are no frills. I realize that this isn't the computing experience though that everybody wants out a netbook.

Then you have options, and can triple boot like I do

Well sure, if you want it to be a multi-purpose machine than you could certainly triple boot it. However, I'm not looking for a computer replacement, but rather a device to supplement my use....and I want it pretty much strictly for web surfing forum sites and reading email.

Again, I'm not criticizing anybodies use of a Netbook. The OP was looking for pros and cons and I've listed the various things that i don't necessarily like based on my expectations out of the device.

 

[Skitals]

For me, it's not totally about the money. Like I said, I mostly would want an instant booting, extremely light-weight OS with terrific battery life internet appliance. That's why I figured that the Linux distros would be the ideal choice because many of them are tiny and are no frills. I realize that this isn't the computing experience though that everybody wants out a netbook.

What linux distros are you talking about? Non of the distros I've tested are remarkably faster booting than XP. And like I said, battery life is always better in XP. If you look at the specs on Eee PCs available with both Linux and Windows, the stated battery life is significantly greater on the windows version despite the computers having identical specs/batteries. The power management just isn't as good with the linux kernel.

I love linux... it just isn't optimized enough for netbooks yet. If there is a great instant-on distro I'm not aware of, I would love to hear about it. But I've tried all the lightweight and netbook-specific distros I've heard of.

 

[SanityKills]

I have several EEE PC's in the house. The EEE 900's I'll probably not upgrade from XP due to low spec but I'll definitely update my EEE 900HA as long as I don't have issues like I did attempting to install W7 on the EEE 1008HA. The 1008HA had issues upon power up where Windows would boot right into hybernate mode. You'd then have to push the power button to put it into standby, then push it again to bring it out. I'm assuming these are issues that could be solved with a BIOS update on the part of Asus so I'll see about updating later in the game after W7 has been out for awhile and fixes have been addressed.

As far as netbooks with the smaller screens go, the entire point, to me, is to be small, light weight and portable. It is expected that smaller screens will exist to accomplish this goal. I disagree with the 10" screen movement. My EEE 900HA is the last of its kind and am not looking forward to the day when it dies. The 10" screen netbooks just aren't small enough in my opinion. Currently the 1008HA is being used as a cheap effective workstation running XP and is doing just fine for basic office work.

 

[Skitals]

To respond specifically to the OP: a netbook is all about portability. They are cheap, but it's not necessarily the best bang for your buck if you are looking for anything more than portability. You can get a 6+ lb laptop with great specs for cheap these days. But you will lose portability, and battery life.

Netbooks are great for surfing the net and some word processing. Not much more. If you want a multimedia (youtube and stuff is fine, but HD or even "high-res" hulu can chug) or a workstation, it's definitely worth trading some portability for power.

I miss my Vaio TR. That laptop was wayyyy ahead of its time. 10" high res screen, hdd, dvd drive, etc the size of a netbook. That was 6 years ago. Now we have lower res screens, no optical drive, and not any faster. At least netbooks are a couple thousand bucks cheaper

 

[Skitals]

I have several EEE PC's in the house. The EEE 900's I'll probably not upgrade from XP due to low spec but I'll definitely update my EEE 900HA as long as I don't have issues like I did attempting to install W7 on the EEE 1008HA. The 1008HA had issues upon power up where Windows would boot right into hybernate mode. You'd then have to push the power button to put it into standby, then push it again to bring it out. I'm assuming these are issues that could be solved with a BIOS update on the part of Asus so I'll see about updating later in the game after W7 has been out for awhile and fixes have been addressed.

As far as netbooks with the smaller screens go, the entire point, to me, is to be small, light weight and portable. It is expected that smaller screens will exist to accomplish this goal. I disagree with the 10" screen movement. My EEE 900HA is the last of its kind and am not looking forward to the day when it dies. The 10" screen netbooks just aren't small enough in my opinion. Currently the 1008HA is being used as a cheap effective workstation running XP and is doing just fine for basic office work.

I'm typing from win7 7600 on my 900HA... zero problems. There are instructions on eeeuser to get the acpi drivers and such installed and the hotkeys working. Everything works great!

I'm totally with you on screen size... 9" is perfect. Anything bigger and you are missing that crucial portability, which are really all that netbooks have going for them. You would think think with the bigger screens they would up the res. 1024x600 on even a 9" screen in unacceptable, imo. That's my main complaint about 7 on my eee... I love the taskbar but it takes up more screen real estate. Right now I have the taskbar set to auto-hide, which I don't prefer.

 

[7echno7im]

What linux distros are you talking about? Non of the distros I've tested are remarkably faster booting than XP. And like I said, battery life is always better in XP. If you look at the specs on Eee PCs available with both Linux and Windows, the stated battery life is significantly greater on the windows version despite the computers having identical specs/batteries. The power management just isn't as good with the linux kernel.

I love linux... it just isn't optimized enough for netbooks yet. If there is a great instant-on distro I'm not aware of, I would love to hear about it. But I've tried all the lightweight and netbook-specific distros I've heard of.

Hey Skitals, just to follow up on your post, there is an Ubuntu netbook Edition now. I haven't tested it yet but thought I would mention it.

Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix | Ubuntu

 

[pparks1]

What linux distros are you talking about? Non of the distros I've tested are remarkably faster booting than XP.

I was thinking of something along the lines of DSL or Puppy...or one of the varients. I don't have anything in particular since I don't own a netbook of my own...and my work place wouldn't be too happy if I removed XP from ours and put something else on there.

And like I said, battery life is always better in XP. If you look at the specs on Eee PCs available with both Linux and Windows, the stated battery life is significantly greater on the windows version despite the computers having identical specs/batteries. The power management just isn't as good with the linux kernel.

Hmmm...I was approaching this from the standpoint that a very light-weight OS wouldn't need all that much hardware...so scale the hardware back signicantly on a tiny OS and you get longer battery life. But like you said, maybe the ideal distro doesn't exist yet...or isn't friendly enough for the people to embrace.

 

[Skitals]

Hey Skitals, just to follow up on your post, there is an Ubuntu netbook Edition now. I haven't tested it yet but thought I would mention it.

Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix | Ubuntu

Yup the netbook remix branch has been around for ages, and there are a lot of distros based off it (easy peasy and jolicloud are two I have used). Jolicloud is promising, but I was having trouble installing from SD card (they only provide a flash image, I didn't have the patience to try making a bootable cd).

I cant wait to see what google comes up with with Chrome OS.

 

[schmoey]

Hmm. Interesting. Contrary to the post above, I find that on average, I get better battery life with Windows 7 than I do XP on my Acer Aspire One.

 

[bum]

I'm typing from win7 7600 on my 900HA... zero problems. There are instructions on eeeuser to get the acpi drivers and such installed and the hotkeys working. Everything works great!

My 1000HE is working great also. Instructions not needed for newer models, ASUS XP drivers readily install.

I'm totally with you on screen size... 9" is perfect. Anything bigger and you are missing that crucial portability, which are really all that netbooks have going for them. You would think think with the bigger screens they would up the res. 1024x600 on even a 9" screen in unacceptable, imo.

The 9" screens waste about an inch around the border so 10" makes better use of the available lid area without increasing the size of the unit. Giving it higher res, better graphics, faster CPU, etc. would be nice but you lose battery life or you'll need a bigger one which would increase it's bulk. These things were designed to be efficient as well as small.

That's my main complaint about 7 on my eee... I love the taskbar but it takes up more screen real estate. Right now I have the taskbar set to auto-hide, which I don't prefer.

By default, 7's taskbar is bigger. Change it's properties to use small icons and it will shrink. XP windows seem to have larger borders than 7's and looks ugly too. SSD support in W7 is another plus for netbooks.

 

[Corpsecrank]

I think the portability is a great thing and makes the pricing a little more justifiable however you can grab a small laptop and gain a serious advantage in power while only sacrificing a small amount of the portability. Since I am a guy lugging around 5 or 6 pounds really doesn't bother me its the bulkiness of a laptop that always kills the portability for me. I want something with a smaller screen in a laptop 10 to 12 inch screens are a huge improvement in portability over something 15 inch.

But I did look at smaller laptops as something more powerful yet still portable. I just couldn't find anything I was really happy with.

As far as usage? Mostly just a way to access the net from my couch or car. Maybe save junk to it at school and so on. And since the price is right and the portability is there I am really leaning towards netbook vs laptop.

My desktop is a powerhouse when I need to get real work done but if I get something portable I want just that something small that can keep me linked while I am away from the desk.

 

[Skitals]

The 9" screens waste about an inch around the border so 10" makes better use of the available lid area without increasing the size of the unit.

:sarc:

The 10" models have the same size border around the screen. The 10" models are MUCH bigger. Have you never seen the two side by side?

900HA: 8.86" x 6.69" x 0.79-1.33"
1000HE: 10.47" x 7.53" x 1.12-1.50"

That means the 900 series is approx. 78 cubic inches in volume. The 1000 series is 118 cubic inches. That is a 50% increase in its size!

The 900HA weighs 2.49lbs. The 1000HE weighs 3.2lbs. The 1000 series is 28% heavier.

They are not the same size. They are not even close in size. If you want to see what a 9" screen looks like in the 1000 series body, look at the 904HA. Now THERE is a big border around the screen

 

[settingsun]

I hope this thread does not turn into a netbook bashing thread! I have the Samsung N110 which is the replacement to to the NC10. It is by far the best tech purchase I have made in years!!. I am running Windows 7 and it runs very very well, not just ok but very well! I've got 2gb of ram which makes a difference I've also replaced the wifi and now have OSX86 running perfectly in dual boot. I bought this for the portability but it also has a 93% full size keyboard and is comfortable to type on for hours at a time. Battery life is arounf 7 Hours (get that from a laptop, I dont think so). I can also play video really well including HD. I have Unreal Tournament 2004 running on it with 35fps! all on a crappy intel 950 GMA. One funny thing about my laptop vs my netbook is that I cannot actually have my laptop on my lap! too heavy and too hot! lol Samsung is soon to launch a new model with dual core atom and an nvidia ion gfx chipset. Just to recap huge battery life, great keyboard and most of the function of a bigger laptop.
cheers settingsun

 

[bum]

:sarc:

The 10" models have the same size border around the screen. The 10" models are MUCH bigger. Have you never seen the two side by side?

900HA: 8.86" x 6.69" x 0.79-1.33"
1000HE: 10.47" x 7.53" x 1.12-1.50"

I wasn't making any comparisons. Maybe I didn't word it properly. I should've wrote: The 900 series screens waste about an inch around the border so a 10" display in them would've made better use of the available lid area without increasing the size of the unit.

They all can accomodate bigger screens than what they come with, including the smallest 9". For the 1000HE and later models, it's the larger keyboard that dictates its size and it too, should logically have a larger display. A netbook's keyboard and display width should be the same to make the best use of what's inherently available.

 

[Taxidermista]

Hmm. Interesting. Contrary to the post above, I find that on average, I get better battery life with Windows 7 than I do XP on my Acer Aspire One.

With my NC10 I get around 6 hours on XP and 4.5 hours on W7.