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[tidla]

i was looking for this one for "sticking on the car seat" size and slightly more zip than a netbook. if size is not an issue, the the 15" laptops with optical drive are better value for money.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-dm1-4027sa-11-6-laptop-silver-11290967-pdt.html

[pscocoa]

Please bear with me on this 
I'm not that well up on these things anymore 

Would it be fair to say that they are ok for basic word processing and t'internet browsing while on the move but if you want to play with photo's or music, use the pc 

Netbooks are fine for backing up your photos while travelling and at least you can see your work on a reasonable sized screen. The Samsung has a decent key pitch and wireless and bluetooth.

[CaptainZok]

Please bear with me on this 
I'm not that well up on these things anymore 

Would it be fair to say that they are ok for basic word processing and t'internet browsing while on the move but if you want to play with photo's or music, use the pc 

Pretty much. They will play music/videos acceptably but editing photos/music would be a long job and editing video pretty much a non starter.

[fiend61]

yup i have a samsung netbook but basically unless you only use it for checking emails and general browsing , or as i do talking to swmbo on messenger when i work away (saving on phonebills), they are pretty useless, best bet is a laptop 
good deals going on at the moment  also most students i see have backpacks they could fit a tower in never mind a laptop 

[Kevin Wood]

I have an acer aspire one pro which is probably the computer I use most at home and the only one I travel with these days.

It's perfectly adequate for what I'm doing now - surfing the net in front of the TV. Full size laptop is too cumbersome for this, IMHO. No issues with screen size or speed. You don't tend to want to do multiple things at once - that's what my dual head desktop is for, so each application has the whole screen to play with. It's a limitation compared with a laptop or desktop, of course, but it's a tradeoff I'm happy to make make for a smaller machine, especially when I have to lug it through airports, etc.

Plug it into a projector and you can do a presentation just as well as on a full size machine, as the display is no longer a limitation.

However, the first thing I did with it is relegate the XP installation to a small partition for occasional use and install Linux (Ubuntu netbook edition IIRC). I'm not sure how happy I'd be if I were trying to run XP on it. It appears to run reasonably well but I've probably booted into it perhaps half a dozen times in the 2 years I've had the machine, mainly when tech2'ing. Microsoft gives you a "one size fits all" desktop environment and software that tends to assume you're running it on a full blown desktop so, sadly, that's what you have to have crammed into any laptop that's going to be of serious use.

There's no issue with not having optical drives IMO. I can't see why you'd want a CD/DVD drive on any laptop these days when you can get a 32MB USB stick for pennies, and you have a built in SD card slot anyway. Pretty much any other peripheral you might want on the move is USB, and I have 3 USB ports. If you like watching DVDs while away - well, there's a 250 gig disk to fill with those, and it's less still to carry.

I'm a fan of them. They fill the essential gap between a top spec laptop that I would never bother to lug around with me, and a tablet that's as much use as a chocolate kettle because it's got no keyboard.

[I_want_an_Omega]

Hi Steve,

I've been using an Asus Eee Pc for a couple of years now and use it as my main machine - yes perched up on my knee and wearing my reading specs  . It only has XP home loaded, and is ok for routine www access and the odd bit of word processing and even iPlayer use. Yes, it can be a bit slow, but its fine for what I use it for. It was £185 from Staples IIRC.

The only thing it be wary of is the battery, which seems to have aged somewhat and now only gives a couple of hours use between charges. It has also recently taken to switching itself off when the battery indicator is about 50% & causes windows a bit of a headache when it gets powered up again.

Cheers

[TheBoy]

I have a Samsung N110 for travel - it has been great in 2 years I have had it - used in many countries via my usb broadband, loaded office onto it with external dvd drive.

Wouldn't trust it speed wise on anything higher than XP but for accessing emails and database while travelling has been ideal. Very small and with 8 hours battery life really effective if you travel a lot.

Samsung are pulling out of the Netbook market, so if you want another, be quick

[TheBoy]

I have an acer aspire one pro which is probably the computer I use most at home and the only one I travel with these days.

It's perfectly adequate for what I'm doing now - surfing the net in front of the TV. Full size laptop is too cumbersome for this, IMHO. No issues with screen size or speed. You don't tend to want to do multiple things at once - that's what my dual head desktop is for, so each application has the whole screen to play with. It's a limitation compared with a laptop or desktop, of course, but it's a tradeoff I'm happy to make make for a smaller machine, especially when I have to lug it through airports, etc.

Plug it into a projector and you can do a presentation just as well as on a full size machine, as the display is no longer a limitation.

However, the first thing I did with it is relegate the XP installation to a small partition for occasional use and install Linux (Ubuntu netbook edition IIRC). I'm not sure how happy I'd be if I were trying to run XP on it. It appears to run reasonably well but I've probably booted into it perhaps half a dozen times in the 2 years I've had the machine, mainly when tech2'ing. Microsoft gives you a "one size fits all" desktop environment and software that tends to assume you're running it on a full blown desktop so, sadly, that's what you have to have crammed into any laptop that's going to be of serious use.

There's no issue with not having optical drives IMO. I can't see why you'd want a CD/DVD drive on any laptop these days when you can get a 32MB USB stick for pennies, and you have a built in SD card slot anyway. Pretty much any other peripheral you might want on the move is USB, and I have 3 USB ports. If you like watching DVDs while away - well, there's a 250 gig disk to fill with those, and it's less still to carry.

I'm a fan of them. They fill the essential gap between a top spec laptop that I would never bother to lug around with me, and a tablet that's as much use as a chocolate kettle because it's got no keyboard.

They are a niche (shrinking niche as tablets have everyone creaming their jeans).  Can't say I use mine much, as the size is unworkable for me. My fat fingers have enough troubles with a proper keyboard

What Ubuntu do you use, presumably not a recent bloatware one?  I did stick Debian on mine, briefly, but I lent it to someone (not bright enough to tolerate Gnome and OpenOffice), so slapped the HP image back on. Its kinda stayed that way (HP bloat build), except its now Win 7 Ultimate (I was testing Anytime Upgrades), which is far from ideal on a Netbook

[Kevin Wood]

What Ubuntu do you use, presumably not a recent bloatware one?

No. 9.04 IIRC. It's just dropped off support, so I have to think about what goes on next.

I've seen later netbook versions and they've got an awful WM, so that's out. Guess I'll have to go Debian and take some time to configure something reasonably lean.

[aaronjb]

I had 'Mint' recommended to me today as a good alternative to Ubuntu - I haven't tried it out yet, though..

[TheBoy]

I had 'Mint' recommended to me today as a good alternative to Ubuntu - I haven't tried it out yet, though..

Dunno what the fascination is with Ubuntu. I think its one of the crappier distros. If you're too stupid to use Linux, Microsoft has a great OS for you. If you are capable of using Linux, there are much better options IMHO.

Needless to say, although I have tried it a few times, Ubuntu is not used in the TB household.

[tigers_gonads]

Thanks for all the advise lads 

In the end, swmbo decieded he was getting the one in the link 

No doub't, it will be my fault if it all goes tits up 
I know my place you know 

[aaronjb]

I had 'Mint' recommended to me today as a good alternative to Ubuntu - I haven't tried it out yet, though..

Dunno what the fascination is with Ubuntu. I think its one of the crappier distros. If you're too stupid to use Linux, Microsoft has a great OS for you. If you are capable of using Linux, there are much better options IMHO.

Needless to say, although I have tried it a few times, Ubuntu is not used in the TB household.

I use it where I want easy package managemnt (Aptitude) but don't want a package tree that lags a couple of years behind the real world (i.e. Debian) ..

I used to run Gentoo, before you accuse me of being too stupid to use Linux  but compiling everything from bleeding-edge source gets old fast (especially when the package maintainers started breaking everything on a weekly basis).. Heck, I started out with Slackware back in '97, when there was no package management. Ah, proper Linux. Everything DIY

[Kevin Wood]

I had 'Mint' recommended to me today as a good alternative to Ubuntu - I haven't tried it out yet, though..

Dunno what the fascination is with Ubuntu. I think its one of the crappier distros. If you're too stupid to use Linux, Microsoft has a great OS for you. If you are capable of using Linux, there are much better options IMHO.

Needless to say, although I have tried it a few times, Ubuntu is not used in the TB household.

I use it where I want easy package managemnt (Aptitude) but don't want a package tree that lags a couple of years behind the real world (i.e. Debian) ..

I used to run Gentoo, before you accuse me of being too stupid to use Linux  but compiling everything from bleeding-edge source gets old fast (especially when the package maintainers started breaking everything on a weekly basis).. Heck, I started out with Slackware back in '97, when there was no package management. Ah, proper Linux. Everything DIY

Indeed. You'd be a mug to do everything from first principles these days just for a "web browsing in front of the telly" machine so why not choose something with decent install and maintenance tools? (and, IME, Ubunto and its' derivatives have a better track record of installing and "just working" than Windows these days)

As for not being "too stupid" to use Linux, that comes in when you have to maintain the system, where, unlike with Windows, you will have options other than "wipe it and reinstall".

[aaronjb]

Yeah, I've been very impressed with Ubuntu from a 'fire up and go' perspective - although the latest version (10.10) has a very odd desktop experience that I'm not sure I like at all.. then again, my Ubuntu boxes at home are all X-less anyway. Though like any distro it can struggle with esoteric hardware (lots of jiggery pokery getting the LIRC IR drivers working on my HTPC, for example) - but it's no harder to get working than any other distro at that point.

Well, aside from having to remember to apt-get install build-essentials every time..