Best 10" notebook?

[UnrealAlex]

I just began looking through them and there are so many. Just off the top of my head, theres the Acer Aspire One, Lenovo S10, MSI Wind and HP Mini-Note

Has anyone does research and figured out the best one, best price, upgradability, ram, etc?

What would you guys recommend?
I'm looking to buy it on ebay for the cashback. So far I'm looking at the MSI wind because it has 1GB of RAM, free shipping and after cashback it is ~300.

 

[ozzlo]

I haven't found a good mini notebook I liked yet for two reasons.

1. Keyboard is too small
2. with how tiny they are, they only get 2-3 hours battery life and no the battery is not upgradeable. I haven't looked at every model but the ones i've looked at all have a tiny 3 cell battery.


At one time I owned an Dell XPS 1210. absolutely loved it. Light weight, small but still functional, 8+ hours battery life. You could prolly pick one of those up on ebay for 6-800.

 

[aja]

Possibly out your price range, but the Asus N10 series are amazing for a 10" form factor. See one here

Have a look at this review for some ideas also.

The Asus eee and the Acer one are both good choices. The asus eee can be customized a lot, depending on how good your soldering skills are.

Battery life should be your top priority. You dont want to get a mini lappy only to drag around cables and extra batteries.

I haven't found a good mini notebook I liked yet for two reasons.

1. Keyboard is too small
2. with how tiny they are, they only get 2-3 hours battery life and no the battery is not upgradeable. I haven't looked at every model but the ones i've looked at all have a tiny 3 cell battery.

1: Try the Hp mini note. According to the review linked above it has the best keyboard. But the C7 chip makes it a bad choice

2: The 6 cell versions of the Asus eee get over 7 hours of usage.

 

[Dapman02]

I am getting my MSI wind tonight and I'll take some pics and say how it is. I think I am a good canidate for this because my hands are HUGE.

 

[CoachB22]

For me the choice has come down to the MSI Wind or the Samsung NC10. The Wind can be configured with a large HDD and a 6 cell battery that will give you ~ 5 hours runtime (depending on settings/tasks). The Samsung comes with a 6 cell standard. Both have near normal sized keyboards and 10" displays. Prices are comparable.
Good luck!

 

[UnrealAlex]

I haven't found a good mini notebook I liked yet for two reasons.

1. Keyboard is too small
2. with how tiny they are, they only get 2-3 hours battery life and no the battery is not upgradeable. I haven't looked at every model but the ones i've looked at all have a tiny 3 cell battery.

At one time I owned an Dell XPS 1210. absolutely loved it. Light weight, small but still functional, 8+ hours battery life. You could prolly pick one of those up on ebay for 6-800.

Well the newer ones have like 90% regular size keyboards and 6 cell batteries that give 5-6 hours battery life. I believe the Mini Note has the largest keyboard with MSI Wind the next largest.

From what I gathered, the Mini Note has the best screen.

I am getting my MSI wind tonight and I'll take some pics and say how it is. I think I am a good canidate for this because my hands are HUGE.

Looking forward to it Dapman

I havent heard about the Samsung, I'll check it out now.

Edit: Nothing really stood out for the Samsung. Right now I'm looking at Dell and their Inspiron Mini 12. Seems pretty nice too. So hard to decide
What I'm looking for is :
Portable
Good Keyboard
Good battery life
1-2GB of ram
Bright screen
and looks good on the exterior.

 

[Dapman02]

Well the newer ones have like 90% regular size keyboards and 6 cell batteries that give 5-6 hours battery life. I believe the Mini Note has the largest keyboard with MSI Wind the next largest.

From what I gathered, the Mini Note has the best screen.


Looking forward to it Dapman

I havent heard about the Samsung, I'll check it out now.

Edit: Nothing really stood out for the Samsung. Right now I'm looking at Dell and their Inspiron Mini 12. Seems pretty nice too. So hard to decide
What I'm looking for is :
Portable
Good Keyboard
Good battery life
1-2GB of ram
Bright screen
and looks good on the exterior.

The problem with the dell is that you have to pay tax i believe, also there ssd only, so very little drive space. Newegg or ups dropped the ball on shipping so I won't have my wind until tomorrow.

 

[Know Nuttin]

Pretty much everyone has a 6 cell available. Lenovo's is coming, the HP Mini 1000 hasn't been announced yet though.

The Inspiron 12 only allows up to 1GB memory (all the chipset allows)
HDD is a 1.8" PATA drive. Not as many options for upgrading it as a standard 2.5" sata and it's 4200rpm so it's not that fast.

 

[Bender]

I love my Lenovo S10! I have upgraded the HD to a 320 GB Seagate 7200 RPM and memory has been upgraded to 2GB. Battery life is fine for me but if you need more they are coming out with a 6 cell battery. Upgrading and taking this thing apart is quite easy. Right now you can get one for $399 on ebay and use live cashback!

 

[Know Nuttin]

I love my Lenovo S10! I have upgraded the HD to a 320 GB Seagate 7200 RPM and memory has been upgraded to 2GB. Battery life is fine for me but if you need more they are coming out with a 6 cell battery. Upgrading and taking this thing apart is quite easy. Right now you can get one for $399 on ebay and use live cashback!

The S10 is a great looking book. My only qualm with it really is there are only 2 USB ports and that doesn't work well with devices that need 2 ports for power since they are on opposite sides of the laptop. The ExpressCard inclusion is interesting. Had they released it with a 6 cell, it would garner more attention than it is now, that seems to be a major sticky point for many on forums (myself included).

 

[Deadbot1_1973]

I know that it may seem a small thing, but I had been looking at one for my step-daughter. The thing that is stopping me is this. For the same amount of money(all parts figured in) I can get a decent 15.4 inch base with an integrated optical drive. I'm sorry, but it just seems to be a pain to have to carry a separate drive with if I should need to watch a dvd, install software, or want to backup. I understand that there are other options than cd/dvd, but most software is distributed on disks and most times that she will want to watch a movie on it, it will be a new release with little or no time to make a rip to a hard drive. If you don't need an optical drive, then by all means, go for it. If you ever see a need for an optical drive, then the 10 inch netbooks are not the answer.

 

[ou_phidelt]

They are called netbooks for a reason. The obviosly were not designed for watching DVD's and such. They are secondary machines at best, for most of us they would probably be third in line. They are meant for surfing the net out on the deck or at the coffee shop, not general use, although they can do so. It sounds like your daughter would be much better off by a lower end 15.4.

 

[FudgeNuggets]

I'm not a big fan of MSI products.
I've messed with the Acer in the store and it was nice.
HP just lowered their prices $40 on the Mini so I think I would prob go that route. Take into account that RAM is now like < $20 a GB and I'd use that $40 to make it 2GB.

 

[Know Nuttin]

I'm not a big fan of MSI products.
I've messed with the Acer in the store and it was nice.
HP just lowered their prices $40 on the Mini so I think I would prob go that route. Take into account that RAM is now like < $20 a GB and I'd use that $40 to make it 2GB.

The problem with the HP Mini is that it uses 1.8" drives (either SSD or HDD) so upgrading them to larger capacity drives is limited moreso than using standard 2.5" drives.

Also, the 1.8" drive included is a 4200rpm, which I've seen tests done on, only shows 25MB/sec reads. That's horribly slow no matter how you cut it.

 

[sofort]

I bought an Asus EeePC 900HA (8.9"). I love it! It gets 4-5 hours on a 5200mAh battery, has a 160GB 5400RPM 2.5" hard drive that gets about 60MB/s read/write (which can be swapped out for faster SSD as it gets cheaper), upgradeable RAM, upgradeable wifi (or anything else you want to put in the mini pci express slot). Except for the processor (BGA N270), it's just as upgradeable as a normal laptop.

I'll have to disagree with ou_phidelt, though. While it's true that netbooks are intended to be secondary or tertiary laptops designed just for web surfing and simple computing, most owners are getting so much more out of their netbooks than that. Except for newer games, I have all the software on my 900HA that I have on my desktop (photoshop, dreamweaver, office, etc...). It handles almost everything my desktop does, it just takes a few seconds longer. It can even play back HD content (720 works flawlessly, 1080 drops too many frames).

When it comes to netbooks, you either love them or hate them. I sold my nicely equipped 15.4" HP notebook since I found I never used it away from home. It takes about a month to adapt to the small keyboard, but after you get used to it, you might actually type faster on it than a desktop keyboard (I do, since there's much less travel).

Size really does make a difference. If you allow yourself enough time to get used to the smaller keyboard, you will never go back to a full size laptop.

I bought mine new on eBay through ExcaliburPC's eBay listings (I can't remember their eBay name, but I'm sure you can find it) while cashback was at 30% for $261.75 shipped. I think cashback is down to 8% now, so it won't be as hot of a deal, but still not bad.

If you want a 10", I would suggest the 1000HA (HA means it has a hard drive and Atom inside). It's being replaced by a more expensive slimmer model that has a smaller battery with all the same specs (not worth it), so ASUS just released a $40 rebate for the older model, bringing the price to around $380 or so. Since it's only an upgrade in design and a downgrade in battery, I would stick with the 1000HA.

Good luck on your netbook purchase! I'm not going to spam a link to a certain Eee user community that I visit often, but after you make your purchase (if you go with any of the Eee models), you might want to stop by that forum. There are quite a few guides, hacks, etc...

 

[Dapman02]

I'm not a big fan of MSI products.
I've messed with the Acer in the store and it was nice.
HP just lowered their prices $40 on the Mini so I think I would prob go that route. Take into account that RAM is now like < $20 a GB and I'd use that $40 to make it 2GB.

Whats wrong with MSI products. From what I have seen they are pretty good.

 

[Know Nuttin]

If you want a 10", I would suggest the 1000HA (HA means it has a hard drive and Atom inside). It's being replaced by a more expensive slimmer model that has a smaller battery with all the same specs (not worth it), so ASUS just released a $40 rebate for the older model, bringing the price to around $380 or so. Since it's only an upgrade in design and a downgrade in battery, I would stick with the 1000HA.

HA doesn't mean that it has a HDD and Atom inside necessarily. While it is true that is the case with the 1000HA, the 1000H has an HDD and an Atom inside as well (along with BT and wireless-N, which the HA do not have).

 

[amazon10x]

For me the choice has come down to the MSI Wind or the Samsung NC10. The Wind can be configured with a large HDD and a 6 cell battery that will give you ~ 5 hours runtime (depending on settings/tasks). The Samsung comes with a 6 cell standard. Both have near normal sized keyboards and 10" displays. Prices are comparable.
Good luck!

After a few weeks of research, I came down to the same two models. From everything I saw, the MSI Wind would be the best. Then I found the Samsung NC10 and it is sturdier than the Wind, lasts 1.5 hours longer, and has a better keyboard. It does cost about $50 more but I think it will be worth it.

I'll probably buy on before I head back to school at the end of January.

 

[LmpPns]

Samsung NC10 has a great keyboard, look, LCD, etc.

Typical Atom 1.6/1GB DDR/Intel GMA 950 build.

Has the best battery life of any netbook (8+ hours) and high build/plastics quality.

 

[Know Nuttin]

Samsung NC10 has a great keyboard, look, LCD, etc.

Typical Atom 1.6/1GB DDR/Intel GMA 950 build.

Has the best battery life of any netbook (8+ hours) and high build/plastics quality.

it's only 8+ hours if you don't have anything turned on (wifi/BT).
Expect more like 6-6.5 hours actually doing something on it.
It is a great notebook and if it had actually come into stock in Canada and at around $450, i would have gotten one right away.
I think the Asus and Lenovo offer the easiest routes in terms of upgrading ram/hdd. Lenovo's wlan card is harder to upgrade to than the Asus models. Only of concern if you intend to add/swap components.