Mini Laptop

[Flameethrower]

Was wondering What do i need to look out for when buying the mini laptops. Im wanting to buy one with the 120-160gb hard drive to store files. Which ones are the no no. I need full function laptop with windows to do basically a full laptop would do. I hate them email/internet only ones.

i found one at a great price and what you think. IM staying under $300

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11377164&whse=BC&Ne=5000000+4000000&eCat=BC|84|78453&N=4034819%205000029&Mo=10&No=10&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav= (http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11377164&whse=BC&Ne=5000000+4000000&eCat=BC|84|78453&N=4034819%205000029&Mo=10&No=10&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=)

[Flameethrower]

tomorrow night ill be going to stores that actually carry it so i can play on them and see how it feels. Thanks

[Sir Barton]

The Acer isnt too bad, but you should go out and play around with them. Make sure you get one with a nice comfortable keyboard.

[UnseenMenace]

I can not think of much less appealing personally than running WinXP on an underpowered processor with a gig of ram which may be shared with the graphics.

The biggest problems with the netbook/mini laptops imho is that people in general do not wish to accept what they are, and that is a convenient way to surf the net, check email, communicate with family and friends.

People want these to be functional small laptops with enough hard disk space to download media, and this is why a lot of people end up disappointed as the media playback is not great, neither are the speakers, the keyboard is also not something you would want to work on for long periods of time.

imho as well Windows is a very bad choice for such a small screen and you would be better off with a netbook specific linux distribution which is made for such a small screen.

[Flameethrower]

Thanks for info. im not doing anything major on it. im mainly getting it for my reptile breeding business. so i can keep computer biz and reptile biz separate.

Itll only be used to make and print out shipping labels, transfer money from paypal into bank and setup to accept credit cards for people that buy snakes from me.

[Sir Barton]

I think a netbook would suit you well for your intended purposes. I have an MSI Wind U120 and it works flawlessly for what I do with it. Im running Ubuntu 8.10 Netbook Remix on it, and I seldom see it use more than 300MB of memory. I second not using Windows on a netbook...its more hardware intensive and not really made to work with it, as there are netbook specific distros out there. As long as youre not gaming or doing heavy graphical work youll be ok. If you want to surf, email, compose documents, listen to music, or watch movies (not HD), itll be good.

[Elluzion]

I highly recommend the MSI Wind U100, it has all the features you need and its overclockable! look it up! great reviews!!

[Know Nuttin]

Depending on what you are looking for, that Acer may not be the one you want. The 3 cell battery is a killer for me, it only lasts just slightly over 2 hours.

Netbooks would work as long as you understand that they are not the fastest machines and do not have optical drives.

Keyboard is very important if you intend to use it for long periods.

[MARCI]

I'd stay away from the 160gb models, get one of the SSD drives with linux. spend 30 bucks and upgrade the ram to 2gb.

It sounds like everything you do is web based. (paypal, email, and shipping labels)

I'm making the assumption you're printing from usps.com or paypal/cpm or fedex/ups websites?

[ou_phidelt]

I'd stay away from the 160gb models, get one of the SSD drives with linux. spend 30 bucks and upgrade the ram to 2gb.

It sounds like everything you do is web based. (paypal, email, and shipping labels)

I'm making the assumption you're printing from usps.com or paypal/cpm or fedex/ups websites?

I would disagree. The SSD's they put in netbooks tend to be dreadfully slow. If you go with an SSD do it for the solid state not the speed. The mechanical drive at worst is going to be the same speed but much larger capacity.

I definitely agree on upgrading the memory. You can get it for $20 from amazon and only a couple dollars more from newegg.

[MARCI]

Exactly ou, The smaller netbook seems to get tossed around more than a standard laptop, so the "shock proofing" from the SSD was my thought

[Flameethrower]

i ended up getting the EEE PC 900A with Windows XP. Its got the 16gb SSD and i have a 40gb USB 2.0 on it for other stuff.All in all its pretty fast after deleting the garbage Asus installed on it.

it came with the 16Gb SSD,1gb DDR2 667, WiFi b/g/n, Webcam 1.3MP, Mic All on sale at Bestbuy for 249.99 Out the door.

I did want to get the 120 or 160 but it was 100$ more and well that was a rip. Id love to Upgrade the SSD but the size i want is too much.
I cant seem to find SSD that will fit larger than 64gb on egg. the other SSD are too big.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609407

I also went with the SSD due to no moving parts Less heat/Noise and makes it lighter.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/3421051113_54cb330ff3_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3318/3421858982_b351222f68_b.jpg

[Flameethrower]

forgot to add all my shipping labels are printed off from shipyourreptiles.com.

Paypal is mainly used to check balance and or transfer money over onto the paypal debit card to pay for shipping materials, shipping price and labels. So far its doing its job.

[Sir Barton]

I was looking at that same ASUS at BB over the weekend myself...almost got it, but I decided to shop around a bit more and ended up getting the Wind U120. I had a 32GB 2.5" Patriot SSD hanging around, so I installed it and its much faster. Im getting read speeds of 93.85MB/sec with my 2.5" Patriot. I wouldnt worry about capacity as much as speed as far as SSDs go. If its your only rig, then youll need the space, but if you have thumb drives or SD cards, or storage space available on your network, just get a 32GB or 64GB SSD and call it a day ;). You can get faster 1.8" SSDs for the ASUS, itll really make it scoot!

[Flameethrower]

where can i find a decent SSD 1.8" i beleive mine is. Its bout same size as my ram chip next to it.

I know SSD isnt cheap but 64gb on egg for 159 is kinda High

With the added 40gb HD and 2gb SD and i got totla 58Gb of space. so that works out well for now.

[Sir Barton]

Im pretty sure yours uses the 1.8" mini PCI-E SSD. Have a look at this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609407

I take it thats the SSD you were looking at. A 32GB should be enough, as long as youre not too download intensive. The 32GB model is $85.

[Flameethrower]

anything i dl goes on the 40gb USB Hard drive. im adding a 16gb SD card in the sd slot.
Right now the SSD is 2.03Gb taken up so ill keep it that way.

Have you noticed these little things are mini ovens. when charging the battery everest reads 62oC Not charging its readind 53oC and when on direct AC power with the battery out it reads 41oC

[Sir Barton]

Mine stays relatively cool...it runs much cooler than my Toshiba Satellite. I keep the Wind in my lap and it still doesnt turn into an oven on me. The case on mine is pretty well ventilated. How do you like having a netbook so far? Everybody Ive shown mine to thinks I should have bought another plain laptop, but they completely miss the point about these. Its much easier for me to carry around, as my Toshiba weighs a good 8lb. When Im on the go I dont do more than download and web surf anyway...it fit the bill perfectly.

[Flameethrower]

SO far i havent used it all that much but enough to customize it to my likings. Other than that its perfect for what ill need. now all i need is a Sprint air card for when im out at reptile expos to still conduct my payments with credit cards.

Mine runs hot i believe cuz not many vents for the heat to leave. Thus making the keyboard WARM. then again i do all the work on that mini in the Snake room which is 82oF air temp.

[Sir Barton]

OT I know, but a friend of mine is a Gecko breeder...could you let me know the next time we have a local expo here in MI? Im in the Sterling Heights area.

[Flameethrower]

Go here. http://www.michiganreptileshow.com/

theirs a expo every 2nd Saturday of every month.

But im mainly , Tinley IL for the NARBC

[Flameethrower]

Bad news my sister picked up the laptop and set it down too hard and the WIFI died. It uninstalled its self and then was undetectable by device manager and Everest ultimate. So i took it back and got money back insted of tkaign a risk again.


On the other note Sir barton ill be in Taylor saturday for the Reptile show Buying, Not selling this time.