Netbook

[crankyoldman]

As congratulations for getting into grad school and also to help me with said grad school, my parents are going to get me a netbook. As I've mostly been doing calculations lately making sure that I will have enough to eat the next two years, I actually have utterly no idea what kind of netbook I'd want to get. This would actually be really helpful, as my current laptop is essentially used as a desktop (it's far too large and bulky to be moving around much, the advantage of it being a laptop is that I seem to move once every couple of years and desktops are harder to move).

Anyway, so anyone that has a netbook or other extremely lightweight laptop, what are your suggestions? I mainly need something that will take good notes, allow me to do a bit on the web, and write papers and things. Looking for good battery life, Windows, light weight, and a minimum of fuckery. If it's on the cheaper side (without being shit), that's also nice, as I don't want them to spend a lot (they're sort of moving to Maryland, and thus their cost of living is going to go up).


So yeah, lemme know!

Comments

[yukie]

I use an Asus EEE and got it off TigerDirect, which is a BLOODY AMAZING discount/warehousy-type electronics site. Asus makes some really good stuff.

I bought this kind because my nerdoriffic friend Roadbusta recced it and because its graphics aren't integrated--meaning I can watch youtubey stuff on it without the endless lag from hell.

Hope that at least slightly helped XD

[crankyoldman]

It's looking to be between an Asus EEE and a Toshiba Mini judging by the comments from people, thanks for the tip!

[thene]

I love my Toshiba Mini. It's pretty dang tiny (no CD drive) and has I think about 6-7 hours battery life. Comes with Windows 7, which it really shouldn't because the base model has only 1gig of RAM, but since I bumped it up to 2 it's been a pretty happy beast - I stopped using my desktop after I got it, except for the occasional game (because this thing is OK for video but never going to do games). The only fuckery is a built in mic and webcam, which is nice for chatting to UK friends. I think they're about $250 - it was a gift from a dear friend, so I'm not quite sure. It is also a really nice shade of blue, if that helps.

[crankyoldman]

Unfortunately, it looks like all the netbook models now for Toshiba contain like Windows 7 Starter, which isn't a full version of the OS. I tend to not mess with things that don't give me a full OS. Which is sad because I liked the price and minimal fuckery that seemed to come with it. Looks like I'm going Asus, provided I can find somewhere to buy it from that will give me warranty (I don't buy computers without a warranty, even if I'm not actually buying them... I'm paranoid and have a tendency to break keyboards without trying).

Looks like everyone's going more the tablet route, it seems. Which, I'm not against tablets but if I'm taking notes and shit I want a legit keyboard. XD

[thene]

:(, yeah - I've not had any huge problems with 7 Starter but now changing your desktop backgrounds is a premium feature I wouldn't blame you if you just didn't want to deal with that bs.

[rynigans]

Congrats, again, on getting into grad school! I'm no computer expert, but I've had two laptops and seen others go through far more. I'd advise you to avoid Dell and HP if possible. HP's tend to run a little hot in my opinion; my last hp needed a cooler under it almost constantly. The keyword with hp is "bloatware," so you can expect to spend hours taking that off your machine. Moreover, the hp laptops sometimes get a power source issue after a couple of years that prevents the charger from charging your battery. It's not an easy (or cheap) fix, and that's why I currently have my Dell. This laptop has caused me even more grief; it bsod'd in seven months, and I had to get the hard drive replaced. Now, it runs smoothly...if I don't keep too many files on it. Dells run cooler than hp, and they're slightly better about the bloatware. Dell also has a better battery life than hp. I'm guessing that these things would most likely carry over to the netbooks, too, since they seem to be pretty ubiquitous issues for both brands.

I'd probably recommend Asus over the three "core" suppliers (i.e Dell, Toshiba, and HP). If you look at the other brands, you're pretty much paying for the casing and brand name. The guy whom Dell sent to fix my computer said that at the "inexpensive" level, those three brands pretty much use the same hardware. Despite this, one of my peers has absolutely no complaints or issues with her Toshiba laptop, and my dad, who has the same model, has never had an issue with his. So, Toshiba seems to last the longest of the three despite the computer guy's claim. My office mate has an Asus netbook that has treated him wonderfully. Don't expect too much power out of it; my office mate, for example, struggles to get his netbook to handle a full-screen Youtube video. It's fine with word processors and the lot.

Well, I wasn't expecting that much to come out of my brain. Take of this what you will; this is simply my personal experience, and I don't claim to be an expert. Good luck! I hope you're a lot happier with your machine than I am with mine.

[crankyoldman]

My main machine is actually a Dell, but it is a business-class desktop replacement type laptop; heavy, but runs really well. I've had it for five years now and the worst issue I had was I needed to get the graphics card replaced (hence why I got the warranty) due to some stupid on my part. XD It runs the indie art games with lots of graphics that I like to play really well, so it's serving its purpose.

But since this is a netbook and not a beast I need to run other things, I'm probably going outside the Dell family. Thanks for the tips!