Netbooks

[k.hunter30]

I am considering purchasing a netbook within the next few months. The laptop we have now is about eight years old, so it's been a while since I bought a computer. I'm hoping to gather some information from any of you who are knowledgeable about or own a netbook.

DH and I will be traveling quite a bit in the next year, so having a compact netbook seems very appealing. Battery life is very important to us, as we will be taking some long flights. We hope to find one that suits our main needs: word processing, Internet/wifi (skype), DVD-watching and some photo editing.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice, guidance or suggestions! :wave:

 

[DisneyJoe]

FYI - to view a dvd, many netbooks require that you purchase an external dvd drive.

 

[bamillerpa]

I was going to say the same thing....My daughter has a netbook and there is no disc drive.....As far as I know none of them have one. You might be better off with a smaller laptop if that's important to you.

 

[k.hunter30]

Thank you. Good to know. So when some netbooks promote HD video-watching, it is referring to streamed video?

 

[Master Yoda]

I would not get a netbook as they are a rapidly dying form factor that will be more than likely be replaced with tablets. If you want to be able to watch DVD's without a second device I would look at a small form factor laptop. You can actually get a laptop capable of mid to high end gaming in an 11" form factor.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/alienware-m11x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

You can also find decent 15" laptops for $400-$500 at nearly every place that sells them.

 

[wdwmagic]

Consider the iPad. Great device for browsing, email, watching movies, and some basic stuff like word processing. Very portable and over 10 hours battery life. The pay-per-use 3G access is very handy as well should you find yourself outside of any available WiFi.

 

[erasure fan1]

If you want to be able to watch DVD's without a second device I would look at a small form factor laptop. You can actually get a laptop capable of mid to high end gaming in an 11" form factor.

This is a good point. You can get a small laptop for $100 to $150 more than a good netbook. You will get a better unit with better longevity. I like netbooks but only as a companion unit since they are so small and easy to travel with. I would never get one as my main unit.

 

[mkt]

I previously had a Dell Mini9 that I turned into a hackintosh and I loved it. However, I restored it to factory settings and gave it to my sister who needed one for school.

Now I have an Acer Aspire One running WinXP with 2gb of memory that I take to class and carry with me for photo work and whatnot. It runs Adobe CS4 and Office like a champ, and weighs considerably less than my 17" Macbook Pro.

 

[k.hunter30]

We ended up going with a small, portable laptop: HP Pavilion dm4t. Thanks for all the input. It really gave me some "food for thought" and helped us to make a final decision. :wave: