Netbooks pros cons and 7

Corpsecrank · 19 Jul 2009

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 · 19 Jul 2009

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 · 19 Jul 2009

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 · 19 Jul 2009

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 · 19 Jul 2009

pparks1 said:

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 · 19 Jul 2009

Skitals said:

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.

Skitals said:

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.

Skitals said:

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 · 19 Jul 2009

pparks1 said:

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 · 20 Jul 2009

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 · 20 Jul 2009

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 · 20 Jul 2009

SanityKills said:

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.