Which netbooks are good?

It's horses for courses. The main variations are in screen size, keyboard quality and battery life. (There are some with Celeron or Via processors instead of the Intel Atom, and one or two with built in 3G modems).

I'd say don't get one of the really small ones (7" screen) unless you really need it to be small or price matters (they're the cheapest). In general, the larger models have better keyboards, simply through having more space.

Do get a mouse because the trackpads are lousy on pretty much all of them.

I have the Advent-badged variant of the MSI Wind and it's pretty decent. The keyboard is good, but battery life is limited (some newer Wind models come with a larger battery).

I've got one of really low end models (4GB flash HDD..), but as far as the OS is concerned: If you want linux, don't bother buying one with it pre-installed - just install easy peasy yourself.

And of course, if you're using windows, make sure it has XP and not Vista. (and most CERTAINLY not ME - shudder)

I had an original Eee, but the screen was just *too* small and it was just *too* slow. I got real work done on it, but it was frustrating. Now I have an Aspire One and it's much better. I have a few pages on my site about fixing the wireless, which is its one significant flaw. I also highly recommend getting an external battery for any of these things (you just can't make them this small without compromising on battery size and therefore longevity, and if you make them bigger/heavier then you've missed the point. An external battery gives you the extra time for long flights etc. without requiring that you carry the extra weight every time you take the machine from office to conference room and such.

I'm very happy with my MSI Wind - no problems with the screen or keyboard size. I upgraded the memory to 2GB and switched the hard drive for an SSD and keep it light, just used for OpenOffice and coming online.

I have a friend who is happy with their Acer Aspire One (w/ Windows XP). Personally I'd accept the slightly bigger footprint and price and get a full-fledged laptop.

I remember talking to you about getting one when we hung out at the symposium in Novemberish. I had a chance to use the Lenovo S10 and it was built really well. It had a lot of the standard features, so it doesn't really stand out there -- it just felt good to use in comparison to the Asus and Acer cheapbooks.

What are your needs? Are you looking for a miniature high-powered gaming machine, or are you looking for something that will let you connect from all over with good battery life?

One of my sons has an Aspire One, Linux, SSD only. The keyboard is a bit cramped, but aside from that and a lack of built-in Bluetooth it's all he needs. Not bad for $300.

The Asus Eee, hands down. I installed Ubuntu on mine, and absolutely no complaints.

Hi,

I run a netbook blog that is about netbooks, netbook news and netbook customization. Check it out, as there are some useful articles on there, including a netbook comparision chart.

Kind Regards.

http://www.pimpmynetbook.com

What are your needs?
- price
- main use
- ergonomics
- battery capacity
- expandability
- operating system loyalty
- ... and a few other smaller issues

I have a Acer Aspire One. My main reasons for choosing it were curiosity (OK, so I actually had no real need for a netbook...), Linux, and Scandinavian keyboard. I sort of like it. It's no replacement for a real computer, but good enough for net surfing, and even for typing short documents.

I just got the new Dell Inspiron netbook which isn't bad. It depends on what kind of features and software you want. My netbook doesn't come with Microsoft word (Microsoft works instead) but Open Office makes a worthy replacement.

I'm also thinking of getting a netbook. It's dependent on prying enough extra money out of the budget for one, but currently I'm eyeing the Sylvania Netbook Meso running the Ubuntu remix (though I'd probably wipe that and replace it with Gentoo or at least Kubuntu). Note though that there are (or at least were) two versions - one cheap one using a 1.2Ghz Via processor which I've seen advertised as low as $239, and the current one based on the same 1.6Ghz Intel "Atom" processor and chipset that most netbooks use, and seems to be available at around $280 or so if you shop around.
I've also considered the Acer Aspire One, which looks pretty nice, but is somewhat more expensive. So far it looks like the Sylvania has the best price for what you get at the moment.

needs: i want a back up notebook which runs linux without too many hitches.

I am typing this on an Acer Aspire One that I bought yesterday. It's not bad so far, except that the keyboard is pretty dinky. I'll live with it, though, because it uses XP and I was able to get it for $300.

When money is an object, and you are not doing anything heavy-duty, this netbook is not too bad.

I've got an Acer Aspire One, 512MB ram and 8GB SSD, which runs Linpus Lite linux and this linux and hardware spec is actually very good - very fit for purpose, as long as you're not expecting it to make your dinner every day or build an office block or equally unrealistically be your main computer.

I've upgraded the ram to 1GB, which was a] very difficult (and I'm well familiar with dismantling electronic products - I wouldn't relish doing it again) and b] was almost entirely pointless as it works just fine with 512MB. I've added a Transcend 8GB class 6 SD into the left hand slot, which spans it together with the SSD storage to make it seem like you've got all of it combined. Nowadays I don't think it's necessary as it's not my iPod, not a place to store large quantities of media, and really only sees me using Firefox the vast majority of the time.

Acer are bringing out a slightly bigger Aspire One in a month or so, but I'm happy with my one - size isn't everything, and it was considerably cheaper than the new big one will be. And the new one only comes with "Windows" (some funny proprietary operating system, I hear) initially anyway. See: http://macles.blogspot.com/

Liliputing.com is a good resource and aggregation site to visit to get information on small computing devices. It's netbook centric. It does provide links to good reviews. For example the Sylvania has a smallish keyboard and an unfortunate placement of the USB ports for certain usage patterns. Accountants should prefer the EEE S101 or the Samsung NC10, probably with an additional numeric USB keyboard :) Screen size, keyboard design and battery life would be my first priorities.

When you get one I'd be interested in you reporting back your experience. I'm on the netbook fence and kinda waiting to see if Windows 7 will be released this year. If Windows 7 will come out this summer I might just wait till then. My XP laptop still works.

I had an original eee, and the hardware is poor-quality -- the left-click just stopped working after two months. The OS it comes with was annoying and came with Adobe software that could not be removed without removing the OS, but I had no problems after installing eeeXUbuntu. Also the keyboard was just right for me but most of my male friends found it so small it was unusable.

I would recommend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Inspiron_Mini_Series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_netbooks

For mobility, pick EEE PC 901, it has 8h battery life and weighs a kilo, and with 9" screen it's size of a book. Take the Linux edition because it comes with larger SSD (20G vs 12G in XP). It's easy to put another linux distro on it, it's well documented (www.eeeuser.com).

Typing this on the 10-inch Wind. Tried it first with the original Windows XP as a backup computer for work; it happened to have practically identical specs as the laptop I was issued as my primary work computer. It did a great job; it was even faster than the other laptop. I dual-booted with Ubuntu and liked it so much I finally switched completely over.

I can put in a good word for MSI's customer support team, too... they were good to me after I ordered (I haven't had a problem since so I can't speak to that!).

I'm really happy with this netbook I got from Asus, I love that it has 160GB of storage for a good price and will fit in my larger pockets. I'm also surprised how much I like the small keyboard.

http://www.jr.com/asus/pe/ASU_EPC900HB06X/

If you want linux, don't bother buying one with it pre-installed

Or rather, do -- they're cheaper. But yeah, you probably won't want to use the bundled distro. (Especially the one on that new HP, with no shell!) I still recommend looking for a Linux model, because in addition to saving on the Microsoft tax, you know that the hardware's supported; plus, you're "voting with your dollars" for Linux, as far as the manufacturers and retailers are concerned.

I recently got an Eee PC 900a, and installed Ubuntu Eee. I didn't expect this, but I'm finding that I use it for everything. My old laptop, an "ultraportable" 4.3-lb., twelve inch model, looks and feels huge by comparison. I can take my Eee with me everywhere... so I do. I can hold it comfortably with one hand for extended periods while I type with the other, as I'm doing now.

Apart from the cramped keyboard (on which I have occasional trouble with missed or doubled keys), the only real limitation for me is the storage -- only 4 GB. But I love that I don't have to worry about a fragile hard drive anymore.

The wifi seems to be the most sensitive I've used, although it didn't want to talk to my Verizon-issued Actiontec router.

I'm actually typing this from the Asus Eee 904HA with XP. I'm happy with it, not overjoyed. It works for what I need it for: an easy carry computer that I can rely on not shutting down in a three hour class.

But I will admit to funky problems. Like the touchpad not being able to "click" when you tap it, close it up and it "resolves" itself. Or the nature of the touchpad keys when I'm trying to type. It'll suddenly put the cursor at the point where the pointer is if I just brush the metal click button.

Oh, and if you're like me and have multiple programs open, with multiple tabs open in a browser, at once then GET THEE A MEMORY UPGRADE!!! 1 Gb is just not enough.

Of course, even in that wiki article you cited it mentions that "netbooks" are starting to incorporate many of the aspects of laptops they originally sold themselves as being better for not having (larger display, HDDs). Can we say "definition creep"?

1 GB is plenty. Even my desktop "only" has 1 GB RAM. Geez, kids today.

I got an Asus Eee 1000H at the start of December, removed the original clunky version of Linux and replaced it with Eeebuntu and I've never been happier. Awesome battery life (almost 6 hours on a good day), pretty much entirely silent, good sized screen and keyboard. It's made entirely out of win.

That said I never tried any other ones so I have no basis for comparison...

Nemo,

As I stated, I have multiple programs running at once due both to my computer science/statistics needs but also to my hyperactivity. 1Gb works fine for you but not for me.

But thanks for highlighting my quickly vanishing youth.