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Netbook: Buy or Wait

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hydrata

hydrata

Member
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Joined
Jul 26, 2001
Location
Birmingham, AL
I really want a netbook and it's just a matter of time before I get one. I currently see fairly good deals on some older netbooks and refurbished models such as the Acer Aspire Ones. My goal for my netbook is to be able to do basic web surfing and communications and maybe some office products, as well as watch streaming shows.

Question is, should I go ahead and purchase one of these cheaper/older refurbished models? Will it suit my needs? Or are the new 280 atoms with the increase in FSB making enough of a difference to spend extra for one. OR, should I try and keep holding out until intel's G45 chipset comes out? (I've already decided I don't have the patience for nvidia's ion.)
 
If you're going to be streaming shows I would wait for the G45. You might be greatly disappointed with the media accelerator 950. I've heard bad things about youtube + netbooks, so I would wait if streaming video is important to you. As for the Atom 280, it will be a bit faster but it won't help you with the streaming video.
 
I've read a couple rviews that said the Asus Eee PC EPC1000HE with the new Atom N280 chipset does ok with YouTube and stuff like that. I've been looking for a cheap used laptop, but just about given up. They are either trashed or people are asking a high price. I'll probably pony up and get a new 10" Netbook like the Asus I mentioned or the MSI Wind U123 when they come out next month.
 
u might wanna wait.... suppossedly intel is commin out with a much lower power version of the atom 330 ... aka dual core atom 1.6ghz that is made for netbooks.

i love my dell mini 9 with xp pro on it... 2gb of ram and an 8gb ssd works like a charm.
 
Ok, so a few weeks ago people said wait a while for the N280 chipset. Now it's wait for the Atom 330. Next month it'll be wait for the next new thing. If you play the waiting game, you'll never buy anything. Help stimulate the economy, buy something now. As soon as I find the Asus Eee PC 1000HE for $350 shipped, I'm getting one.
 
the n280 isnt that much of an improvement as the most lacking areas of netbooks currently come down to chipsets and video acceleration.

If you want to play 720p or stream a lot of video content wait for something else, otherwise current options should suit you fine so long as the netbook isnt your main computer.
 
intel is said to have a new netbook chipset and nvidia has the ion platform both should be showin up in netbooks here within the next coupla months and will offer GREAT performance benefits.

I kno the waiting game is pointless sometimes but i honestly think you should wait... its kidna like back when c2d came out... everyone was raving about it and its performance and ur gonna go out and buy a prescott or 939 rig.
 
If the original poster has streaming video watching high on his priority list, I agree. Might be a good idea to wait for more muscle. However, I won't be doing that with a netbook.

Looks like you have a Mini 9, how do you load software? External optical drive or just copy the install CD to a flash drive?
 
batboy said:
If the original poster has streaming video watching high on his priority list, I agree. Might be a good idea to wait for more muscle. However, I won't be doing that with a netbook.

Looks like you have a Mini 9, how do you load software? External optical drive or just copy the install CD to a flash drive?
Click to expand...

i just used an external pata usb hd enclosure hooked up to an internal cd drive. Its ghetto but it works.

I installed a super nlited copy of xp pro... and used FAT32 on my small 8gb ssd instead of NTFS to limit random writes to a minimum. N e ways i got a full install of windows xp sp3 fully updated, with ms office 2003 (word excell and ppt), aim, google earth, ccleaner firefox and use right at 1.25gb of space. :eek:
 
Any idea on the release dates for netbooks with the new chipsets? I tried doing a quick google search and didn't really turn up any solid info. I know it should be within the next few months, but are we talking April/May or June/July?
 
If you are looking at netbooks that are refurbished or used I would get one now.

Netbooks with Atom N280 and GN40 will not come out until between 2Q'09 and 3Q'09 so it will be even longer until they come down in price.

If you want to do basic stuff as you said: web browsing, word processing, and email/chat then the netbook is great. Anything more I would say you either need a more powerful notebook or desktop.
 
I don't know, when I had my 1000H w/ 2GB of RAM I was able to watch youtube clips just fine.
 
Don't forget to check ebay, there are deals out there. I just scored an HP Mini for $230. 16GB SSD, 10" screen, and Linux. I really didn't thinl I would get it that cheap but I threw a bid in and what do you know. I'll enjoy the next few days until the wife sees the bank account. Deals are out there if you keep an eye out.
 
Yah, I hear those mini's are nice, as long as I don't want to store a whole lot of data. But can you stream youtube or hulu and other sites fairly well?
 
hydrata said:
Yah, I hear those mini's are nice, as long as I don't want to store a whole lot of data. But can you stream youtube or hulu and other sites fairly well?
Click to expand...

i dont have really any issues with you tube videos... maybe a lil studder ever now and then but if i just have the browser open and dont do anything else while havin the movie up its non issue.

I have also just found that offsetting the partition by 128 sectors gets rid of all the ssd studder!
 
i've never had a problem with youtube. the videos all play just fine on my samsung nc10.

for what you need it seems like you should just get a netbook now. they do everything you need just fine.
 
I barely bought an Acer one 9" and installed a cheap ssd drive in it. I'm surprised at how fast it is. I expected it to be alot more gutless. I've had the dell mini for a few months now and don't like it at all. I think the trick is to make sure you get one that has the full 2.5" hard drive so you have more options. Keep your eye out for the 6cell batteries also, they usually only tack on $20 or so to the new price.

My bro has the HP mini with a built in 16gb solid state. It's slow as a turtle compared to my acer just because its hard drive is so dam slow. I haven't seen the samsung up close yet but I bet it does pretty good. I can't see the point in suffering without one for half a year when they only cost $300 bran new. My opinion is get one and enjoy it. No reason to be waiting till the day after never for something new and exciting to come out.
 
Don't get one of the following: Acer, dell, hp, compaq, toshiba, sony, gateway, or lenovo. Thy are all huge piles of crap. Soldered on ram/cpu crap for crap life spans, ZERO customer service. They will leave you with the repair bill for EVERYTHING hardware related saying its physical dmg, and you caused it.

The only company I would buy a laptop/netbook from other than pclaptops is Asus. The Asus Eee is a rock solid FAST netbook. Solid state drive and can take up to 4gigs of ram.
 
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