Looking for advice from Netbook owners.

Monday, June 7th, 2010 | DGHoodini

[dangerdoc]

Our netbook has no problems running USB devices. The biggest problem is that it only has 2 physical USB ports.

You could buy one at a store with a good return policy and test drive it at home with your own devices. Just a thought.

[dangerdoc]

He is asking about a system that will accept his USB peripherals and external monitors.

I was just suprised that you recommended a product that will do none of those things. The iPad is an interesting product but specifically designed not to do the things he is looking to do.

[DGHoodini]

That’s something to consider as long as I don’t end up in a ‘Restocking Fee’ situation. I’d feel uncomfortable returning it after a couple of days, if they considered the sale final at the time of purchase.

[IamConservative]

I have a Dell Mini10 I think it is called. Very well made machine, but the performance is not that hot. I have Ubuntu on it and the performance is not there for heavy graphics or multiple tabs in the browser. Works well for games and surfing sites like FR that are primarily text based.

[DGHoodini]

I see the points you’re making, but the EXT Monitor connection is a deal breaker for me. If I can’t hook the replacement up to a larger monitor for most of my computing needs, It won’t work out for me. I can handle a small screen in a pinch, but it is far from ideal, and I don’t travel that often.

To paraphrase the old song: “I want my Big TV!” If I could pass a law, it would be that all hotel TVs must be made ‘USB /Bluetooth accessable’ from their front panels.

[DGHoodini]

I’m not so m8ch worried about the USB subsystem, as it can theoreticly handle up to 255 connected devices...My concern is whether or not the *rest* of a Netbook system could. How well the video subsystem could handle a USB powered DVD movie, on battery power, as I have learned that some Netbooks have trouble *burning* DVDs without the Netbook being plugged in to a wall socket.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just came across this:

Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged?

***************************EXCERPT*********************************

With bigger screens, better specs, more graphics muscle and, of course, the resulting higher price tag, each of these Ion machines promises quite a bit, but which one lives up to the hype? We got them all together and spent the past few weeks testing the ASUS Eee PC 1201N, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, HP Mini 311 and the Samsung N510 -- follow on past the break for our complete faceoff.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See link just above and the Round 4 section....

Graphics and HD performance

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For reference:

ASUS Eee PC 1201N-PU17-BK Black Intel

Atom N330(1.60GHz) 12.1" WXGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD NetBook
Dual Core N330 +Windows 7 home premium +NVIDIA ION

[lovecraft]

And I was surprised at your condescension in your earlier remarks. The guy asked for opinions on devices, I offered one. Next time try not to be such a smart ass in your responses.

It's crap like that, that has started me thinking on dropping this site for good. It's crap like that where people can't even offer an opinion without some know-it-all trying to belittle someone. I mean why the hell am I in an argument with a dude over Netbooks...specifically a dude that's not even the one looking to buy one? Sheesh, I got better things to do. Have a nice life.

[dangerdoc]

You are way over reading my emotional state, and apparently I under read yours.

No offense was meant.

[dangerdoc]

The advantage in netbook battery life will be drastically reduced driving an external USB DVD player. If you need to carry the DVD player along with the netbook, the advantage in size is also lost.

You my friend may actually be better off with a notebook. It will be faster, will have a built in DVD player, may very likely have an HDMI connector in addition to external monitor connector and give you some extra headroom in the CPU department. You can usually find a dual core notebook on clearance somewhere for less than $400. The nicer netbooks get up into that same price range.

[catnipman]

I’ve had my hands on a few, and netbooks are great!

Usually, containing the 1.6 GHZ Atom processor, by the time you’ve hooked one up to an external 22” LCD monitor so you can see the screen, a USB keyboard so you can type easily, a USB mouse so you can scroll easily and a USB CD/DVD so you can play CDs and DVDs, why, you’ve got a “portable” computer that will match up with anything ever made eight years ago!

And you don’t have to worry about them becoming obsolete, since SquareTrade estimates a 37% failure rate for netbooks over a 3-year period, which is 20% higher than for laptop computers, which have a 31% failure rate over a 3-year period.

[dangerdoc]

“And you don’t have to worry about them becoming obsolete,”

LOL, you have a future in sales.

[philled]

I absolutely love my netbook (refurb Acer Aspire One with8.9” screen, 1/160/XP for $225) and never use either of my laptops. It boots very quickly, is super portable and does what I’m after. Battery life is the only negative. I’m on it for several hours a day and am thinking of getting another one (with a larger screen and a 9 cell battery). Regardless, I’ve had this one for a eighteen months and its primarily used for downloading my camera to, FR, surfing, Pandora, and iTunes. I’ve got a USB cdrom and hardrives to move stuff around if I need to.

[backhoe]

I absolutely love my netbook (refurb Acer Aspire One with8.9” screen, 1/160/XP for $225) and never use either of my laptops.

My wife started with a Dell laptop several years ago and moved to a Compaq when the Dell died.

A year ago, while at a convention with all the stuff she needed for it on the Compaq, guess what?

Death city. Panic time...

I went to WallyWorld, got an Acer Aspire and while she went through its setup routine ( very easy & straightforward ) I pulled the HD and got a universal USB drive adaptor ready to go.

She copied her files and it saved the day.

While a netbook is not for everyone, she says she'll never go back, and has used the Acer exclusively ever since.

[Stegall Tx]

I had an Acer Aspire One for a few months last year and the ONLY reason I decided to get rid of it was that my fat hands were too big for the keyboard. Other than that, I would have kept it. When at home, I hooked it to a USB hub hooked to an external monitor, keyboard, & mouse and used it as a desktop virtually every day. I never had any trouble running any software under either XP or Ubuntu (I don't remember the vintage).

I was very pleased with the system's performance ... I just couldn't type on its keyboard.

[meyer]

I have an Asus Eee Netbook with 2 gig of RAM.

The upside:

Small, compact package
Low price
Easy to access web, etc.

The downside:

Small screen with inadequate resolution (I did a registry hack to allow my photo-processing software to work, but can’t get the right aspect ratio).
Slow - the Atom N270 1.6 GHZ procesor is a little sluggish, and shouldn’t be used for heavy-duty applications.
Small keyboard - my hands are trained for a full-sized keyboard so I frequently hit the wrong keys on the Netbook.

Overall, if you’re not doing image processing or other processor-intense activities, the Netbook makes a nice compact computer. It is quite useful for reading email, surfing the web, and modest word processing and spreadsheet-type work. But it is not a hotrod by any stretch.

[lack-of-trust]

2 thoughts:

1) I think it would be easier to have a desktop computer and treat the netbook like an external hard drive(rather than the hub). One USB cord and you are connected to keyboard, mouse and screen and can automatically copy to the desktop drive.

2) you could epoxy a nut to the back of the netbook and then mount it on a tripod durring your shoots, so you won’t have to hunch over to use it.