Hi All, I am looking for a netbook to go travelling over the summer with but after my travels I will use it to take into uni on a daily basis. (i.e. my main needs are portability and battery life). The question I would like to ask is how much should I be looking to spend to get a system that will not date too quickly. Any and all suggestions welcome! Cheers
All netbooks pretty much use the same internals (1gb ram, 1.6ghz atom cpu etc) so really they are pretty dated already, however this gives them a longer battery life as the components are low power. with a netbook your really just looking at battery life and form facter, to see which suits you.
if you are going to be using it daily at uni, I would go for something with a bigger screen. Have a look at one of the computers using the Intel CULC processors perhaps, there are some linked to in the review of one recently. Speaking from personal experience with a 12" laptop at uni, it is nice having your own computer with you and it being on the small side really helps. I wouldn't want anything smaller though as the screen would become too useless for me.
What Cupboard said, if you're planning on using it for uni projects etc, a CULV -bases laptop would be ideal as you'll have a screen on which you can actually work. Netbook screens (and keyboards) are way too small for long use imo. You can still get 8-10 hours of battery life if you choose the right laptop
CULV Laptops are the better choice for daily use if you're willing to spend the money. Also you'll get 1366x768 resolution, and from 12" upwards bigger keyboards. (11" and 10" (netbook) are about the same keyboardwise) If you want to go on the cheap, 10" netbooks can't be beat for price. You've got the "old" Atom N270/N280 (@~1,6Ghz), the slower clocked but even leaner Z520/530 (@~1,3Ghz) and the "new" Atom N450 (@1,6Ghz). Cost are about the same, the N450 seems to have the best batterylife. Downside is mainly the small screen resolution (1024x600) in the lowest pricerange. Win XP copes with the standart 1Gb memory, Win7 appears to run better with an upgrade to 2Gb memory. If you're looking for a "Netbook" with 1366x768 resolution, Win7 and 2Gb memory, you may as well (better) go the CULV route. My choice for something cheap at the moment is the ASUS EEE 1001p with WinXP. Or if you don't mind the glossy screen the HP Mini 210 with Win7. The Win7 10,1" ones should come with Win7, additional WiFi-bgn and bluetooth and are about 300euros at the moment (in Germany), where the WinXP, WiFi-bg no bluetooth 1001p comes 250euros. Then again I'm biassed, as it fits my needs.
if your looking for a system that wont date too quickly dont even bother with a cheap netbook. they only just mange browsing the net and typing the odd word doc here and there. they are deadfully underpowered for todays needs especially if your going to use it daily at uni. even a cheap 15" laptop for around £300-350 will floor a netbook for performance and have decent battery life providing you set it for energy saving
That depends on what you define as "decent" though. If you need over, say, 4 hours, it's very hard to get that on a cheap 15" notebook.
yeah i guess but turn down the brightness, turn off unused parts, slow the CPU down and should increase the battery life quite a bit. the tests for battery life assume normal operation. id take a massive boost in performance an sacrifice an hr or 2 battery life anyday. suppose it depends what your doing with the lappy. if the OP is gunna use it daily when he gets to uni a netbook is gunna be frustrating slow
My missus has an NC10 to do everything she needs from uni work for her computing degree to streaming those horrible American reality shows and watching movies and TV from her external HD. We've even swayed in to some gaming with Empire Earth 2 on just above min and some nicely nostalgic Diablo 2. She gets around two and half to three hours battery life hammering the megavideo and watching whatever she's leeched on to HD. Otherwise for work she still seems to get four or five hours which isn't bad after nearly two years usage.
The answer depends upon what exactly you mean by daily usage at Uni. If this is going to be the only computer that travels with you to Uni, I'd definitely get something with more oomph than a netbook; a CULV-based ultraportable seems like a smart idea. However, if you're taking a semi-decent desktop with you to Uni too (like me, for example) then a netbook is the ideal underpowered-long-battery-life note taker. Oh. For the record, any non-upgradeable system - laptop, netbook, notebook, whatever - they all date much, much faster than a good desktop. So expect to junk this thing when the battery dies and a replacement is half the cost of a new computer, basically.
