Author Topic: netbooks - what to buy?  (Read 11073 times)

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Offline Snake X

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netbooks - what to buy?
« on: September 18, 2010, 03:52:15 pm »
Alright, im looking into getting a netbook for christmas, and I need some advice. Ive done some looking around online, but they all seem the same or close to it. So, I need help looking at the one that would be best for my purpose.

Price: $300
Usage: online surfing, ircing, email, and every day activities
brand: none in particular
operating system: anything but windows xp/vista and linux/ubuntu
color: just dont suggest anything pink/purple  ;)
Cpu: preferably something good (preferably 1 GHz+)
Webcam: yes
disk space: 100+ GB if possible

anything other than that im fine with. Also, I dont want to look at netbooks with really bad brands (hp is ok, just none of the small brands that noone has herd about)
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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2010, 04:56:43 pm »
I asked a similar question on cemetech, and got these results/responses.  The only difference is that you want a webcam.  Good luck ^^
http://cemetech.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4927
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 04:56:52 pm by _player1537 »

Offline coolsnake

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2010, 05:04:15 pm »
So what OS do you have in mind? Excluding linux distros and windows xp/vista leaves very little left.
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Offline matthias1992

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2010, 05:16:52 pm »
eee pc, i believe that it costed 330 at release so maybe it's cheaper now. It has a webcam and is ideal for the given requirements + the battery lasts for a very long time. To sqeeuze performance install something else then windows xp though, maybe a linux distro like coolsnake suggested?
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Offline coolsnake

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2010, 05:51:30 pm »
I was actually wondering what OS he would use if he didn't want to use linux distros or a windows OS.
But yeah I would recommend a linux distro for a netbook  :P
Puppy linux comes to mind for a good allround yet easy to install OS. I'm pretty sure there are variants specifically made for netbooks.
Xpud also comes to mind but it might be a bit too barebones for what you want. On the other hand it is very fast and very easy to install with extremely low boottimes.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 05:51:55 pm by coolsnake »
Unpretty Integrals
This program gives you a graphical representation of the "fnint(" function, which allows you to calculate definite integrals. It is extremely similar to the functionality MathPrint provides, minus the extreme bloat that slows your calculator down to a crawl.

Offline willrandship

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2010, 07:36:35 pm »
He said not XP/Vista. That doesn't include 7, so...

Windows 7
Mac OS
FreeBSD (but probably not) :P

are the only options I see, OS wise. Rather limiting.

And I was going to suggest the Pandora (www.openpandora.org)! JK, it would suit your needs well IMO, but there's a long waiting list to get one. $350 + shipping isn't so far off from the price though.

Oh, and Ubuntu=Linux. i don't like it when people refer to them separately. It's not the best linux distro out there, either.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 07:37:40 pm by willrandship »

Offline Broseph Radson

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2010, 07:45:45 pm »
Eee PC

http://usa.asus.com/ProductGroup1.aspx?PG_ID=7dDelmkESu9DXgVB

Pretty much meets those specs. Its comes with win7 but its great for linux as well.

Offline Snake X

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2010, 08:23:25 pm »
ok, what I ment is most netbooks i saw come preinstalled with either

A. Windows 7 starter
B. Linux
C. XP

preferred windows 7 starter. Also, I want to do some flexible multimedia processing in mind with this as I have a snes, and an easycap dc60++, and some other things.

edit: also, the thing with the eee pc from asus is that there are soo many models i wouldnt know what to pick from. That's why i came here to narrow down some choices
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 08:26:21 pm by Snake X »
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Offline whitevalkery

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2010, 08:34:47 pm »
ok, what I ment is most netbooks i saw come preinstalled with either

A. Windows 7 starter
B. Linux
C. XP

preferred windows 7 starter. Also, I want to do some flexible multimedia processing in mind with this as I have a snes, and an easycap dc60++, and some other things.

edit: also, the thing with the eee pc from asus is that there are soo many models i wouldnt know what to pick from. That's why i came here to narrow down some choices
hey! i am thinking of installing windows 7 starter on my old centrino that is currently running windows xp home...
think it is a good idea? :?
since it is a bit old... and i like the windows 7 features...
it has 512 mb of ram only and no graphics card

does windows 7 starter have windows snap and super bar?
how does it compare with xp?



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Offline bwang

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2010, 08:42:00 pm »
I have an MSI Wind U135 that I bought for $200. It works great, and is fully compatible with Linux.
@whitevalkery: Windows XP is perfectly fine. 7 is *not* going to like 512 MB of RAM.

Offline whitevalkery

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2010, 08:43:31 pm »
I have an MSI Wind U135 that I bought for $200. It works great, and is fully compatible with Linux.
@whitevalkery: Windows XP is perfectly fine. 7 is *not* going to like 512 MB of RAM.
i was talking about windows 7 starter though



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Offline FinaleTI

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2010, 08:44:11 pm »
I'm not so sure on Windows 7 starter...
Quote from: Wikipedia
Windows 7 Starter is the edition of Windows 7 that contains the fewest features. The Windows Aero theme is not included in this version. Windows 7 Starter is only available in a 32-bit version. The desktop wallpaper, and Visual Style (Windows 7 Basic) is also not user-changeable. It also doesn't support .NET Framework.[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 08:46:55 pm by FinaleTI »


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Offline willrandship

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2010, 08:48:42 pm »
He's actually referring to Windows 7 Basic. Starter is kind of like Ubuntu: Netbook edition. just a menu, basically, as your desktop.

Offline whitevalkery

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #13 on: September 18, 2010, 08:56:09 pm »
He's actually referring to Windows 7 Basic. Starter is kind of like Ubuntu: Netbook edition. just a menu, basically, as your desktop.
yeah... i am not too sure myself... so will basic be able to run on something this old?



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Offline Ranman

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Re: netbooks - what to buy?
« Reply #14 on: September 18, 2010, 09:34:49 pm »
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=17&sel=Detail;98_266_10586_9982

Sort on price... low to high. You will see some incredible deals on some great netbooks. ;)
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