Netbooks, yes, no?

[slicer4ever]

so, i was forced to use my mom's netbook for about 2 weeks whilst my laptop was sent in for repairs, in that time my reason's for hating netbook's was strongly re-enforced, whilst i understand that their sole purpose is to be used for internet, even doing things on the internet seemed like a hassle, the smaller screen really made alot of sites appear squashed, playing/doing anything flash related usually required me to scroll up/down the window in order to fit the flash content perfectly onto the screen

attempting to do anything in conjunction was also a pain, usually ending up in freezing the pc for several seconds, also, i'm not certain why, but when trying to figure out what was the cause, it seemed that windows task manager reported explorer.exe to be consuming alot of cycles when i was attempting to do some file browsing, and at times, the explorer crashed on me, I'm certain i didn't acquire any viruses(doing the same stuff i am on my laptop, so nothing new)

my mom's netbooks spec's:
HP mini
OS - windows 7 starter(unbelievable that m$ even put out that POS)
cpu - 1.6xghz(don't remeber the last number) single core intel atom
ram - 1GB ddr2

i couldn't change the os otherwise my mom would have bitched about it, but anyone else have an opinion on netbook's, and your experiance?

 

[Dan]

I have an MSI Wind (well, an Advent re-brand) and I agree, it does indeed serve it's purpose for web browsing, but flash applications and certain programs can be a pain in the ass. Obviously it can't be used for gaming, but surprisingly, Photoshop worked really well on it.

I used it for a few months whilst my main PC was out of order, I still use it now, and I can't say I don't hate it; I'm rather fond of it. It's very reliable.

 

[eldiablov]

I'm typing this from a netbook, I've used one as a main machine for nearly a year. I'm pretty happy with it, coding can be a pain in the ass on it though but I don't mind. The portability of it far outweighs the minor annoyances it gives me.

 

[Hardrive]

I have had a Dell Mini 9 for over a year now. Pretty much all true netbooks have the same hardware (1.6 ghz atom, Intel integrated video, some kind of wireless card, 1-2 GB of RAM). Out of the box, I upgraded mine to a 32 GB SSD and 2 GB of RAM. Yes, the performance is nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. The performance did surprise me sometimes though. I was able to run Counter Strike 1.6 in a pinch at a friends house when I came home one weekend. I will admit, however, it does choke on multitasking. Not as bad as your experience, but that could be because I'm running a lightweight Ubuntu installation. Flash rapes performance in Linux at least. I made sure to install the Firefox FlashBlock addon.

I didn't get this to be my primary PC (I have a nice gaming desktop and a Linux server for that). I bought this to be a small, lightweight PC that I could take with me to class and throw into my backpack. And I got everything I wanted; the computer is so light I don't feel it in my backpack and it works just fine for taking notes and slacking off in class. A benefit to a netbook is that many of them have no moving parts, so you don't have to worry as much about jolts they may take in your backpack. Another benefit to a netbook is that they're cheap as hell. If I did wind up breaking this thing, it costs about as much as the warranty to replace it. So I look at my netbook as a lightweight, durable, expendable computer.

 

[MenaceInc]

I've had my MSI Wind (advent rebrand) for nearly a year and found it awesome to use for emulation. Until last night I had Windows 7 Ultimate on it and it ran beautifully. For web browsing I used Chrome, not because it ran the best (side benefit) but because it had the biggest render space for the webpage out of IE, FF and Chrome.

I installed Snow Leopard on it last night just to mess about with it and it runs pretty dam well as well. Just need to sort out the emulators but snes9x 1.52 mac port works perfect, same as the windows version.

 

[FrozenIpaq]

I would personally pick a nice 12" laptop than a textbook any day but when you get a computer for just a few hundred bucks whose complaining? Go the price they are great little machines but they are not to be used as a primary computer. Casual web browsing should be fine with some music and word processing. If Windows 7 struggles try Windows xp since it has a smaller RAM footprint and should help with more demanding apps or use.

 

[Hellcat]

I got a Samsung NC10 NetBook....
- 10"
- 250G HDD (formerly 160G)
- 2G RAM (formerly 1G)
- Win7

and it's pretty much the only thing I use at the moment.
I do ALL my work on it, up to some 3DS-Max every now and then.

Of course there's compromises to take, esp. due to the small screen size and resolution, but for me the "being mobile" factor makes fully up for that.
I'm not at home much, and being able to use my NetBook literally everywhere (work, train or wherever I just am) because of the small size is a huge "yes" for me.
I tried that with my old 15" notebook, and while using it at work was OK, already using it while on a train was a pain - it just took too much space.

Like said, so far it managed everything I threw at it.

A 12" Note-/NetBook with a higher resolution would be even better, I assume, since 12" is still small enough for having the mobile factor and higher resolutions are always better.
But those start costing A LOT already, NetBooks (around 10") are nice cheapish usually.... another benefit of those.

I hope there'll be a 12" NetBook with a nice price tag eventually, might like get it then.

 

[Seth]

I live just fine with a netbook I have a Hp mini 200, does everything I need for my killing time as school kinda of thing, the only thing I wish it can do is run hulu, but netflix seems to run just fine on there so it also a good way to pass the hours.

 

[Zero]

I haven't personally used a netbook, but I have a few friends who swear by it in uni. I can understand their appeal, but I prefer a 13" laptop style model.

They're also insanely cheap, I'd like to see a comparison between a similarly priced netbook and an iPad.

 

[FrozenIpaq]

I haven't personally used a netbook, but I have a few friends who swear by it in uni. I can understand their appeal, but I prefer a 13" laptop style model.

They're also insanely cheap, I'd like to see a comparison between a similarly priced netbook and an iPad.

For productivity the netbook reigns supreme over the iPad. The iPad is a luxury web browsing device (and limited at that) with some decent games. If the iPad was priced more competitively I might recommend it but it's just very impractical right now when netbooks are so cheap

 

[Josey Wales]

IME the problem with Netbooks is people buy them and then get pissed when they dont have the capacity or ability to be Notebooks...

Buyer beware

 

[slicer4ever]

eh, i guess after listening to you guys, the main problem for me, was that i had no other computer to go to, so trying to do my normal work turned into more of a hassle then with my regular laptop

 

[Zero]

I think that's where the dislike for netbooks originate; Josey hit it right on the head.

 

[Serideth]

IME the problem with Netbooks is people buy them and then get pissed when they dont have the capacity or ability to be Notebooks...

Buyer beware

Yeah I'm with you on this.

I bought a decent one a while ago and ended up selling it and buying a desktop.

 

[Hellcat]

I think that's where the dislike for netbooks originate; Josey hit it right on the head.

Pretty much, yes.
I got mine (like stated) with the mobility factor in mind to most, I knew I'd be stuck to 1024x600 and not really Core2 performance.

But knowing that and right now, typing this with easy while sitting in the train.... I love my NetBook

Really depends on where your focus is and what you plan on doing with it - and if you can life with waiting a few seconds longer every now and then.
Most disadvantage is the resolution IMO.... but in time, there'll be higher res'ed displays and hopefully some nice 12" NetBooks.... we'll see....

 

[Abe Froeman]

I love mine as well. It sits underneath the glass on my coffee table and we pull it out whenever we need to do anything quick on the net.

 

[gr34t3st]

The IT coordinator at my High-School uses it whenever she's at home. She calls it her sofa laptop. I think that if you only use it for what it's made for (word processing, basic web surfing, and e-mail), then it does what it needs to. I don't own one but from my experience with them, the screen would really bother me. Plus, it's inexpensive. You're not paying to have power; you're paying for portability.

 

[Hardrive]

You're not paying to have power; you're paying for portability.

You're barely paying at all. Netbooks are dirt cheap.

 

[Seth]

There not dirt cheap,most netbooks are in he 300 range while most of the lower end laptops are in the 500 range.

 

[MenaceInc]