Need to buy a Netbook which one?

[HEINER]

I need to buy a netbook which one? What do I need to look for? Are some better that others?

Thanks for any information you can give us.

Betty:)

[sjcruiser]

It's not a Netbook, but I love the 13" MacBook/Macbook Pro. It took me a little time to get use to going from Windows based PC, to Mac, but I'm glad I made the jump/change.

[FoghornLeghorn]

I love my Toshiba netbook.

 

My fingers are big, and I have long nails....the keyboard is easy to type on for me.

 

Do your research for the price and features you want and then go and actually type on it and get the feel. Since it's smaller you need to see how the keys feel.

[janetz]

I need to buy a netbook which one? What do I need to look for? Are some better that others?

 

Thanks for any information you can give us.

 

Betty:)

 

This is the Ask a CRUISE question board. ;)

[Essiesmom]

I had a Sony viao for over five years, it still works fine but has a tiny HD. It is netbook size, has a CD drive...But it was time for a replacement, and instead of a netbook, I got a slightly larger Lenovo x100e. It works great, and can function as my full time computer if necessary. EM

[flamomo]

I love my Asus 10" netbook that I have used as my travel computer for the past 4 years.

 

When you start shopping, check the battery life ..... 6 cell has the longest unplugged use time. I didn't know about checking that when I got mine, and mine is only a 4 cell .... but I get 3 1/2 hours of unplugged use time with that, so I am not complaining.

 

As someone else said, try the keyboard ... some have small keys and feel cramped when typing.

 

Many do not have CD drives, so if you are planning to use it to watch movies, that's something else to consider.

 

BTW ............ It's OK to ask about things like netbooks on this thread ..... after all, you're probably planning to get a netbook to take on your next cruise!!! Right???

[LHT28]

We have an ASUS as well but no hard drive so it used up the space very quickly We have the extended battery life up to 6hr now down to about 5 after 4 years

Get one with a HD 7 the longer battery life

[ger_77]

I've had my Acer Aspire One 8" for the last 2 years and love it. I can download all my photos onto it every day, thus clearing my digital card for the next day's shots. Before I purchased an e-reader, I downloaded e-books onto it and used it instead of dragging a bunch of paperbacks along with me.

 

janetz: I'm giving this person the benefit of the doubt, in that she is looking for a netbook to bring on a cruise.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Wolfie469]

Look on ebay for a good price on a MacBook Air. An 11" screen is little more than a netbook and the Air is light. An iPad is easy to carry, but has limitations such as won't play Flash movies.

[sail7seas]

I love my Acer Aspire Netbook. I've had it about 2 1/2 years and it is serving us very well. Easy to travel with yet a big enough screen and keyboard to make for comfortable use. It weighs about 2 or so pounds, battery life of about 5 hours. I got a great shoulder case to carry it and we never travel without it.

[glasgow_canuck]

I also have an Acer Aspire One netbook. I love it!

[HEINER]

Thanks, everyone for all the great information. I know now some of the things to look for. C/C friends you are the best:)

And yes we need it for a cruise next year we have a trip to SA. 10 day land trip then a 30 cruise. That why I need a netbook.

Again Thank's

Betty

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I love my Toshiba netbook.

 

My fingers are big, and I have long nails....the keyboard is easy to type on for me.

 

Do your research for the price and features you want and then go and actually type on it and get the feel. Since it's smaller you need to see how the keys feel.

I would just upgrade the ram

[scottbee]

It's not a Netbook, but I love the 13" MacBook/Macbook Pro. It took me a little time to get use to going from Windows based PC, to Mac, but I'm glad I made the jump/change.

 

You can buy 3 or 4 netbooks for the price of the cheapest mac laptop.

 

That being said, I'm very happy with my Dell Mini 10 (which was under $300)

[mamaofami]

I also have the Acer Aspire one. I think it's nine inches. I 've had it for two years and really love it.:)

[chipmaster]

Honestly the differences are very small and even though the brand name on the side are different the processors almost always come mostly from two companies ( one much bigger than the other ), disk drive from one of two companies and almost certain ALL built in the same huge factory / city in southern China and tested than stamped with a different name on the outside.

 

Find the one withe the features and price you want. The reliability and such is really a crap shoot. Go with any of the bigger names; ASUS, Toshiba, HP, ACER, Lenova etc. and its a toss up.

 

I need to buy a netbook which one? What do I need to look for? Are some better that others?

 

Thanks for any information you can give us.

 

Betty:)

[gepaza]

Betty, one clarification of a complaint mentioned in the thread about tiny Hard Drives. You can get netbooks with Solid State Drives or with Hard Drives. The SSD are quite fast and stable, but are really tiny (like 16 Gigs) as opposed to standard HD's at probably 160 Gigs. Unless you intend to use this computer only for limited purposes, I would recommend going to the NB's with larger HD capacity.

 

Otherwise, your SSD can fill up pretty fast with programs and/or data. You can use High Capacity SD cards for both programs and data storage, but it becomes a hassle to keep up with which card you have any particular thing on.

[chipmaster]

I believe the other poster was talking about the "orginal" netbook. What it had wasn't technically a SSD but really a bit of NAND flash memory.

 

In those days the few MegBytes of flash was cheaper than a couple hundred GB of traditional harddrive, but the most important thing was power and formfactor as the thin HDD was still very expensive and the netbook was truely just a thin and no frills surfing computer.

 

These days I have yet to see a "netbooks" with SSD. Almost all SSD come with 250GB or more in general. If you find a ultrathing laptop with SSD its almost for sure a higher end model as you are correct SSD are fast, stable and still expensive compared to what the HDD gives you.

 

Betty, one clarification of a complaint mentioned in the thread about tiny Hard Drives. You can get netbooks with Solid State Drives or with Hard Drives. The SSD are quite fast and stable, but are really tiny (like 16 Gigs) as opposed to standard HD's at probably 160 Gigs. Unless you intend to use this computer only for limited purposes, I would recommend going to the NB's with larger HD capacity.

 

Otherwise, your SSD can fill up pretty fast with programs and/or data. You can use High Capacity SD cards for both programs and data storage, but it becomes a hassle to keep up with which card you have any particular thing on.

[gepaza]

I believe the other poster was talking about the "orginal" netbook. What it had wasn't technically a SSD but really a bit of NAND flash memory.

 

In those days the few MegBytes of flash was cheaper than a couple hundred GB of traditional harddrive, but the most important thing was power and formfactor as the thin HDD was still very expensive and the netbook was truely just a thin and no frills surfing computer.

 

These days I have yet to see a "netbooks" with SSD. Almost all SSD come with 250GB or more in general. If you find a ultrathing laptop with SSD its almost for sure a higher end model as you are correct SSD are fast, stable and still expensive compared to what the HDD gives you.

 

chipmaster, it is obvious that you are much more technically sophisticated than I, but I have one of the Dell 9" mini's and it has only a 16 GB SSD. I thought that was really cool for the first couple of years, but since then, have been frustrated at my decision to buy the Dell rather than a competing model, which had a 160 GB HD. I thought I would be using it only for travel (email, browsing, etc.), but found myself wanting to expand the horizons. Even using the portable apps does not make that storage capacity grow. :)

 

Other than that, the Mini has been everything I expected - light, compact and handy.

[MMMD]

I need to buy a netbook which one? What do I need to look for? Are some better that others?

 

Thanks for any information you can give us.

 

Betty:)

 

We have always had good luck with HP computers, and they have great online customer service if needed.

 

We have the dm1z series. We customized it a bit, but even the 'ready to ship' model is a good price for what you get.

 

Just last week we purchased the Touchpad. My husband already has the iPad and I wanted something different, so back to HP.

 

I actually use the Touchpad more than the net book.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to buy.

[G.M.T.]

I need to buy a netbook which one? What do I need to look for? Are some better that others?

 

Thanks for any information you can give us.

 

Betty:)

Buy a branded netbook i.e. ACER, some thing to consider when buying:

a. Go for a 10 inch screen, anything smaller then you will need binoculars.

 

b. SD Card storage or hardisk, I prefer hardisk usually about 250 GB, I load my iPod stuff (and iTunes) and take 2 small speaker, music in the cabin. Load all your previous cruises videos and photos - to show off on your next cruise. Can also load DVD films for viewing on sea days.

 

c. Memory, normally the netbook will come with 1GB, upgrade to 2GB, will improve performance.

 

d. External DVD drive for load software and burning DVDs.

 

e. At least 3 USB ports, you can use your netbook to charge your camera's rechargeable batteries.

 

f. Small external mouse, you won't then get arthritis in your fingers using the touch pad..

 

g. If you will be doing a lot of typing consider getting one of those rolled up USB keyboards.

 

h. Battery life should be at least 5 hours, the newest models promised 8 hours plus.

 

i. Built in Webcam, to use when calling home, a photo says more than a thousand words.

 

j. Built in WLAN function, Bluetooth function could also be useful for sychning your cellphone.

 

k. Windows 7 as operating system.

 

l. Photo and video software package (one is included with windows 7) so that you can edit them onboard.

 

m. Only load the software that you will need, saves on performance.

 

n. A good carrying case (padded for protection).

 

Thats about all that I can think of at present, but I am sure it is not a complete list.

 

Ron

[t60]

I love my netbook on a cruise. With my first netbook, the keyboard was small and the letters were grey on black keys, so they were very difficult to see. I ended up buying white stick on letters. My current netbook has white on black and is a lot better.

I always take several flash drives so I can back up photos etc. I also take one of those gooseneck lights

My current netbook has quite a bright back lit screen (useful in bright sunshine) and 7hr battery life, ideal for using around the ship. However with all netbooks they´re small but the electric cables, DVD drives are just things to find more room in the case. This would be the same for those roll up full size keyboards or mouse.

The more usb ports the better

See you next year in Rio

Sandy in Spain

[HEINER]

You guy's have more information than the guy's at Best Buy.

So this is what I have come up with.

Acer Aspire One AOD257 Netbook 10.1" 1GB 250GB

Acer Aspire One A0722 Notebook 11.6" 2 GB 250 GB

What is the difference in a Netbook and Notebook is it just the size?

Thank's so much for everyone's help:)

Betty

[Kooolmomma]

I also have an Acer Aspire One netbook. I love it!

 

I, as well love my ACER Aspire One. In fact, I am using it on vacation right now

 

It is small, lightweight and even fits in my pocketbook!

[G.M.T.]

You guy's have more information than the guy's at Best Buy.

 

So this is what I have come up with.

 

Acer Aspire One AOD257 Netbook 10.1" 1GB 250GB

 

Acer Aspire One A0722 Notebook 11.6" 2 GB 250 GB

 

What is the difference in a Netbook and Notebook is it just the size?

 

 

 

Thank's so much for everyone's help:)

 

Betty

Its mainly the smaller size, together with a smaller harddisk ,less RAM and less money.

 

The Acer Aspire One is a great machine.

 

Ron