Netbooks?

[Sean]

Since I know that we have some VERY knowledgeable IT people on the board, can you school me on netbooks? I'm just starting to do research on them and want to know what to look for. What's crap, and what's not? What level of processors/components should be a minimum?

What I need:
- reliable
- mobility/compactness
- durability (if possible)
- media friendly ie: pics, videos and skype

Thanks for any help, in advance! :cheers:

[Sparker]

Samsung Series 9, Nuff said

Also the biggest thing that pisses me off about netbooks is the 93% keyboard size. I would def go with one that has a fullsize board or else you will be hitting the backspace key a lot.

[Sean]

Wow, that is nice. Unfortunately, a little too nice for me. Let me further add more details

- $200-330 range
- It will probably be heavily used for a year and very little after that.

[salsashark]

Went through this same search a while back while I was looking for something to pack on the bike.

Ended up going w/ a tablet. With the netbooks, I was concerned w/ spinning drives, but once you get into the SSD area, price goes through the roof. In the end, I could get half a computer for 300sh or a first gen ipad for the same amount. While traveling, the ipad fit the bill. It's no computer, but it did everything I needed it to do and worked quite well.

[Sean]

Salsa,
We do have an ipad, and really enjoy it. The only thing it can't do is upload pics off of a camera. If it just had a USB port I would be completely happy. :banghead:

[JonnyD]

Perhaps:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A
would work for you?

[Sean]

Perhaps:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A
would work for you?I didn't even know that existed. You just got bumped up on my xmas card list, JonnyD. :cheers:

[salsashark]

:lol: yep... that was my solution as well. It works really well.

My only beef was that the ipad sucked the video files off of my camera, then wouldn't play them because of the format.

[Sean]

My only beef was that the ipad sucked the video files off of my camera, then wouldn't play them because of the format.
What do you mean? What kind of camera/format are they downloading to?

If this is an option, I think I'll have to look into compact external HD's too. I think our ipad is only 16gb.

[JonnyD]

I didn't even know that existed. You just got bumped up on my xmas card list, JonnyD. :cheers:

Sweet! :cheers:

Got that kit for Mom when I replaced her computer with an iPad2, works great! (She doesn't use her camera for video)

"No, Mom... no, press the ONE BUTTON, yes, there's only one button on the front, press that one..."

Tech support for family got SO much easier with the iPad.

[Sean]

"No, Mom... no, press the ONE BUTTON, yes, there's only one button on the front, press that one...":spit:

[salsashark]

What do you mean? What kind of camera/format are they downloading to?

If this is an option, I think I'll have to look into compact external HD's too. I think our ipad is only 16gb.

Camera's a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H20. It stores HD video in mp4 format. I'm sure there's an app out there somewhere that could convert the videos to avi or play the mp4, but I wasn't that worried about it. I only had a couple and they didn't take up that much space.

[Sean]

I'll have to make sure I can find an app to make that work.

Thanks for all of the tips, guys. You may have just saved me a couple of hundred dollars!

[salsashark]

Had I known, I could have saved you a few more... I just sold my ipad w/ camera kit last week and the lady that bought it had no idea what she would do with the camera kit (buying it for her mom). Oh well.

[Graphite675]

I have a Asus Netbook that I purchased a year ago. It's great for compactness and just browsing the web but unless you need longer battery life I would just get a normal size laptop. I really miss the larger screen and keyboard.

The big down side for me was the lack of ability to play videos (movies). That was one of the main reason I purchased it. Thought it would be great to take on trips and use it as a movie play. It will play them but only lower resolution videos. Won't play the files from my GoPro HD with out reducing them.

.

[Sean]

Had I known, I could have saved you a few more... I just sold my ipad w/ camera kit last week and the lady that bought it had no idea what she would do with the camera kit (buying it for her mom). Oh well.No worries, thanks man. $30 is much easier to work with than $300 for a netbook.


I have a Asus Netbook that I purchased a year ago. It's great for compactness and just browsing the web but unless you need longer battery life I would just get a normal size laptop. I really miss the larger screen and keyboard.

The big down side for me was the lack of ability to play videos (movies). That was one of the main reason I purchased it. Thought it would be great to take on trips and use it as a movie play. It will play them but only lower resolution videos. Won't play the files from my GoPro HD with out reducing them. Are the batteries pretty bad in those? I guess it makes sense that they skimp on the screen resolution. Thanks for the feedback!

[Graphite675]

Are the batteries pretty bad in those? I guess it makes sense that they skimp on the screen resolution. Thanks for the feedback!


Well a normal laptop probably gets 2-3 hours at best and a netbook can probably go double that depending on what you are doing.

Like I said, I bought it to travel with (long plane flights) so I wanted the extra battery life but it's not a great movie player so it really didn't work out that great for me. I also have a full size laptop and I end up using that most of the time.

[brennahm]

Not sure why the netbooks ever got any play. Got the gf a Lenovo mini laptop last year for $300.