Netbook Recommendations (OT)

I posted on this subject about 2 years ago and recevied a lot of helpful advice that assisted me in my buying decision.

Fast forward to now and we're looking to purchase one as a birthday present for our roommate. She already has a laptop (Dell) that she uses as her primary computer. She has seen our Toshiba netbooks and commented that something this size would be good to take on a staycation or a long weekend trip home. She understands the limitations and once again, this would be just to travel with....not her primary computer.

I'm guessing that the field has changed since we last purchased our Toshiba's. We like our netbook and would opt to go with a newer version of this (Windows 7) unless we had some suggestions/recommendations to the contrary.

Time is not on our side....her birthday is Friday but there's both a Fry's and Best Buy in town so assuming it's in stock, this likely won't be an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help or insight you can provide.

Dan

Depending upon the use, you may not need much. For a low end one, you'll want at least 2 to 4 Gb memory, a good display, CPU speed and cores don't matter much for lower end types. Make sure you have antivirus installed.

Mid to upper end, more memory, quad core (should be the norm) seperate video processor with its own memory (not shared).

The main thing here for Windows 7 will be memory, the more the better. Instructions for those multiple cores are just being written, so it's not going to be much of a difference for a year or two. Video card and memory will go along way. Make sure you have a seperate video card with its own memory, else you'll get major slow downs on graphic intensive programs.

On any laptop, LONG battery life. If you can find a perpetual one, that's the ticket. However since there isn't such a thing, get the longest lasting battery you can find.

Honestly, if you’re thinking about a Netbook I'd go with one of those new tablet devices instead specifically either a Motorola Xoom or Ipad 2. They are more portable and where as a lot of times Netbooks can be painfully slow since the operating system and applications on these type of devices were written for this portable format you don’t end up waiting for things load or the device to load windows. If you can wait till summer/fall Asus is coming out with one for $399.

I don't think they can wait, the birthday is 2 days away!!

We. and by "we", meaning my wife, has both a netbook, and an iPad.

Yes, she is spoiled!!

The only "big" drawback to a tablet, is if you want to do a lot of typing on it.

If you just want to search the web a lot, or read a lot of books, a tablet is the way to go.

If you want a "mini-computer", then the netbook, is the way to go. I don't think you can run excel on a tablet, but I could be wrong.

Toshiba still makes a nice netbook, but I'd go check 'em out at a few places.

Yep, missed that two days part lol, and yes if one needs to do a lot of typing a tablet probably isn’t the best bet. Otherwise I’d still prefer a tablet over a net book as most people will find it easier on the eyes and they provide a more peasant user experience. Since they are buying right now, they might be able to find a very good deal on a first generation Ipad.

(I just looked it up you can get a first generation Ipad for $399)

I've had a Dell Mini for about a year and its great. Paid under $300 for it. FWIW

I've got an Acer Aspire One that I've been reasonably happy with, but the lack of ability to install more ram requires me to be pretty choosy about what I install. Firefox just completely bogs down the system so I use Chrome. I was in Office Depot last week and was talking about that to one of the sales people and he said that at least some, (perhaps only one, I can't remember), of them were shipping with 2 GB ram now instead of one. That's my only suggestion; go with 2 GB ram if you can.

I have a ASUS netbook with touchscreen.
Love it - can use as computer, media player, e-book reader and has full keyboard and SSHD.

Also look at new Dell duo Inspiron 10.1" screen.

Thanks everyone for all the great info and suggestions.

Given the time constraints and her desire to type on it (emails), I think we're going to pass on the tablet. We looked to get one personally but with already having laptops, netbooks and Kindles, we found it to be a bit redundant.

Barb is in LV while I'm home in FL so she is tasked with getting this sorted out; using the recommendations made herein.

When we purchased our Toshiba's, they had 1 GB RAM but I upgraded them and it did make a significant difference so we're definitely conscious of that.

Once again, thanks to all.

Dan

You're very welcome, Dan!!

You've provided some great info. on various threads - I thought it was the least I could do.

- Dave