Netbook vs Laptop

[pasty]

Our 17 year old has just announced she would like a netbook for Christmas. Being a bit of a thicko in these areas, I thought I would ask the sages of NSC for their opinions.

Her main reason for wanting one is that they are small. She is fed up of lugging her current laptop to and from college, and it is a bit on crappy side anyway.

However - are netbooks a gimmick or they are actually quite useful? She uses her current laptop mainly for t'internet and college work. She's addicted to Facebook, and does most of her college work on MS Word and Powerpoint. I've heard that netbooks are slow and cumbersome running windows applications like that and are primarily designed for t'internet use.

So, my question is, would she better of with a small laptop, or would a netbook do what I've described above okay?

 

[tedebear]

Oh dear - I don't even know what a netbook is! How un-techno am I

 

[dougdeep]

I have an Acer Aspire One, cost less than £200 and does everything I need, fits nicely into a small rucksack.

 

[Beach Hut]

The kids have Toshiba laptops and we have one Dell Netbook in the family that was around £250 from Tescos.

Netbook is very portable and light - took it on holiday and fine but as an adult with bigger hands it is easy to make spelling mistakes. NB no DVD reader etc either but quite a tidy piece of kit otherwise.

 

[clippedgull]

For what you have described, a netbook will be fine. Maybe consider boosting the memory to give it a little more space to work with the likes of Powerpoint.

 

[ManxSeagull]

I have a samsung NC10 netbook. I paid extra to have a mobile broadband card inside the unit rather than using an external dongle.

I also upgraded to 2GB of memory.

I generally use the netbook for remote working (word, excell, access, outlook, internet browsing) whilst out of the office and it copes fantastically.

One down side is it does not perform well with AutoCAD software; which is to be expected.

I previously has the Acer Aspire One which I gave to my wife when I got the NC10.

For internet browsing and word useage a netbook is fine.

 

[Wilko]

I have a little dell inspiron 10 netbook and it is superb. Only diff really to a laptop (other than size) is smaller storage space. For interwebz and college work it will be just perfick innit.

 

[bhaexpress]

A Netbook's prime purpose it to be used for surfing the net, the seldom have that much memory and some have solid state 'disks' which have very little storage. Also some use Unbuntu rather than Windows. If you want something that can download large files and use applications like MS Office a Laptop is better. Netbooks are very handy for travel though. They can also be augmented by Pen Drives and external hard disks.

 

[Fungus]

My Samsung NC20 is small and light, but has a 12 inch screen running at 1280 x 800, which is a lot more useful than the small 10 inch screens displaying 1024 x 600, or whatever. Keyboard is good too. No need for a CD drive - I download everything, including Open Office. I'm perfectly happy to use it for a 2-3 hour long lunch break, learning new programming skills. I still need a more powerful desktop for some things, though, eg. Dreamweaver.

 

[Hockley Blues]

I have an Acer Aspire One, cost less than £200 and does everything I need, fits nicely into a small rucksack.

Aye, got mine for £200 and well worth every penny.

 

[happypig]

I bought an Asus Eee when they first came out and I still use it as it's very portable; ideal for holidays/days out.
It's only got a 7" screen and small keys but it's ok for what it does and is an ideal complement for my desktop machine. I wouldn't use it as a laptop replacement though.
My neice has a 10" dell machine and that looks pretty good.

 

[pasty]

I have an Acer Aspire One, cost less than £200 and does everything I need, fits nicely into a small rucksack.

Aye, got mine for £200 and well worth every penny.

Where from guys? Can't find it under £250 online.

 

[beorhthelm]

what you have to consider is that the netbooks are as powerfull as a typical desktop/laptop of 4 or 5 years ago. counter to that, if you are using the latest versions of desktop software (ie MS Office) you need the higher performance of newer machines. If you have old versions, say Word 2000, 2003 or such then a netbook will be fine. personally, i wouldnt use one for anything that required alot of typing either way, so id rather a bit more weight for a proper screen and keyboard.

 

[Bozza]

Where from guys? Can't find it under £250 online.

The Acer Aspire One comes in a few different flavours. But this one, for example, is under £200 at Amazon...

Acer Aspire One D250 Netbook: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics Photo

 

[dougdeep]

Cheapest I can find from a company is this one. Mine was cheaper because I had Linux instead of Windows, but they don't seem to have that option now.

Acer One D150b in White Netbook LU.S550B.069 - Laptops Direct

 

[pasty]

The Acer Aspire One comes in a few different flavours. But this one, for example, is under £200 at Amazon...

Acer Aspire One D250 Netbook: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics Photo

Cheapest I can find from a company is this one. Mine was cheaper because I had Linux instead of Windows, but they don't seem to have that option now.

Acer One D150b in White Netbook LU.S550B.069 - Laptops Direct

Cheers chaps, and thanks everyone else.

Looks like we may have a happy 17 year old on Christmas Day

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Go online to Maplin and look for one of their B item Notebook. I bought my youngest lad a £320 one for £199. They are returned items or items that are new but have been returned as faulty but have been repaired. They come c/w a year guarantee. Cracking little beast, no moving parts apart from the hinged screen. It also is noce and wee so it fits in a rucksack/satchel or school/uni bag.

TNBA

TTF

 

[dougdeep]

I'd bring it to the Tap to show you Pasty but I won't be there until Boxing Day.