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Netbook On A Budget


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As the title my son wants to buy a Netbook and has saved around £200.

He is used to Windows XP and wants to use that as an OS if possible. Will be used for school homework so office apps are basically essential.

So he/me are looking for advice and some recommendations on the best buy within the budget he has.

TIA

Neil

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That's a pretty good price, what are these netbooks like? Are they just like a laptop from about 3 years ago or are they worse? :unsure:

Ive got one.. as far as I can see the only advantage over normal laptops is the size and easier ability to carry it round with you. Thats about it. To be honest its wasted on me as it never leaves the house.

Disadvantages are that the keyboard is fiddly, the graphics quality is poor compared to a full screen laptop. No CD / DVD drive....downloading XP isnt as straight forward as you think if you have Linux.

Speed wise mine is okay for web browsing..its got a 900 celeron processor, 1 gig of ram although easily upgradable to 2. Battery life is poor, they get hot quite quickly and this can result in a slowdown. Forget playing any games although it will play a few basic ones (appreciate not designed for games).

I use my desktop for all office applications as the small screen and keyboard of the netbook arent really ideal and are too fiddly despite me being used to it. The main advantage is that it fits nicely on the arm of the sofa so i can watch the footie and surf the net at the same time, however i can do that with a normal lap top anyway.

If you want a cheapo thing for the web or to stick in your work bag / rucksack that doesnt take the room / weight of a normal laptop then its ideal.

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As mentioned above I'd go for the Acer Aspire One. My gf has got this netbook and I've had a good fiddle around with it and for the price u cant really go wrong. Its got a useable keyboard but does take a bit of time getting used to and the screen is ok, although the resolution can get a bit annoying with everything shrunk in size. The standard Linux OS isnt that bad if you want it just for the internet or basic word processing as its got Star Office on it but the only real negative is the Battery life. I'd say its roughly 2 hours at best which when you use a business spec laptop (mine is a HP 6720s, GR649ET) with 4.5hr Battery life you really notice the difference. Portablility wise its great, very small and light makes it perfect for on the move. Since using it, even I started thinking of getting one simply as its nicely portable lol. The build quality is also very good. To compare with the Acer though, I've used the Asus EeePC and well, the Asus doesnt even come close to the Acer. I didnt like anything about the Asus and thought that its a waste of money, especially when they are similar priced machines.

One final thing to add is that I'm not sure if this was just luck but the official spec of the Acer Aspire One is that it has a 120GB hard drive but my gf's one has a 160GB even tho it says 120GB on the box! Not sure if they understate the space due to OS requirements or they ran out of 120GB hard drives on her batch so stuck in bigger ones but I cant complain. 160GB is plenty! I'm gonna be installing XP on it in the near future so will let u all know how it goes on.

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Thanks all. Looks like the Acer is the one to go for then especially at that price.

Hi, will u update me on what its like, whether it does enough etc when u get it? as i'm looking at getting one myself

Cheers

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Thanks all. Looks like the Acer is the one to go for then especially at that price.

I think the Acer is amazing value at the moment.

If you want a few more options here's a few examples:

http://www.dabs.com/Article.aspx?&ArticleID=4997

Someone I know got one of the HP ones on that page, it's a really smart looking device, only trouble is it comes with Vista which is insane, netbooks can't run Vista properly because it performs badly. XP or Linux is the way to go, but Windows 7 should run ok on Netbooks when it arrives.

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Might go and have a nosey at these in Asda tomorrow if I can get a lift there :lol:

Spending a fortune at the minute so if I see they've got the 160GB one for 150 quid I might have one - just need to see if I can work the keyboard as if it's too little it's not for me!

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"Father Christmas" brought my daughter an ASUS eeePC900 with Windows XP and 8GB hard drive. She loves it. FC said it was £180. :whistling:

PC World stock it, but for some reason never have on display or available online. I think they are pushing you to buy more expensive bigger memory models or one that run Linux. But Linux = no MSN, iTunes, or Flash.

We took view 8 GB was plenty for her her iPod is only 4GB and not full.

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To be honest mate not a lot! Just bought a boost controller late last night on one of the forums instead :D

Although those green mitt things they do are ace for cleaning the car inside - got one a while back and only tried it a couple of weeks back - it's got all the green tentacle like things on it but holds dust so lets you clean the dash nicely without it looking all shiny like some products do.

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