I would like to buy a netbook some advice please

[Deleted User]

alanrowell wrote: »

If you want to play any but the most basic of games then you don't want a netbook

A netbook is basically for connecting to the net & doing a bit of office work

SNAP! aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

leosayer39

espresso wrote: »

This one here has had good reviews in various mags. and does come with Windows XP.

Looking for something similar but I am prepared to wait till after Xmas.

Just out of interest is MSi a trusted brand?

Cheers

Leo

espresso

leosayer39 wrote: »

Looking for something similar but I am prepared to wait till after Xmas.

Just out of interest is MSi a trusted brand?

Cheers

Leo

Well MSI Micro-Star International make a lot of PC motherboards etc. and the Wind seems to get good reviews e.g. here more info here. One thing that makes it different from most of the netbooks is that it has a hard drive and comes with XP.

denise123

Just wanted to say my son bought me an advent netbook a few months ago, which I am using now.


It is great for messing around on, but I am still thankful for the ‘real’ laptop that we have in the front room.


The battery once charged up fully lasts about an hour and a half, there is no cd drive at all, a memory stick is much advised to buy, I would be lost without that.


Its small its cute, its ok for messing around on, its great because it is so small 10inch screen takes some getting used to, as does the keyboard, its would also be good to buy a mouse, as the touchpad really winds me up sometimes!


It does everything a real laptop would do, but one is grateful for Bluetooth without that and no cd drive, they would not be good at all.


I have inbuilt webcam, which is a pain to learn to use, but once you know how, again its easy, and the wireless was easy to set up.


There are no end of usb ports all over the sides, so almost anything can be plugged in and used with it.

Its not that brilliant if it’s the only computer you have, and as yet, it has not broken down and I have never had to reboot because of issues arising with it, I have not had a moments problems at all.

But the main worry is if the damn thing picks up a virus or something goes wrong with a programme, I am still not sure how I would get windows back onto it.

If its the only one you will be using I would suggest you buy a real laptop, rather than one of these, the more you use these netbooks, the more you rely on memory sticks and Bluetooth, these are to date the only issues I have with it. Apart from that they are brilliant, don’t get in the way, no cables and such like, and easy to take out if you need to be away from home for whatever reason, tried the wireless bit in a travel lodge, picked it up no problems, [not that I used it just wanted to see how easy this was at picking up hot spots and such like, again no problems]

I am 100% happy with it, but it would not be my choice if its the only one in the house at all.

Hope it helps a little.

steveo3002

i looked at netbooks , but like the others mention its worth paying a little extra for a proper windows laptop , they do so much more and are only a little more expensive

i think the small screen would get boring fast too

poppy_f1

i got a advent 4213 a few weeks back and its great for the basics, the screen is ok but i wouldnt want to be playing games on it, it has a 160gb Hard drive which i prefered over some of the other netbooks around as this is portable but can still watch films on it when im away from home at work albeit on a small screen

however i wouldnt have it as my main computer, i have another laptop and also a desktop

CHR15

I bought my little 'un an MSI Wind U100. It's a great little machine, quite well put together.

Most Netbooks have screens about 8.4" which are simply too small for long term use.
Webcams were appearing at 0.3m pixel (woeful!!)

Linux is a good OS, for a nerd who knows what to do with it, it isn't an acceptable OS for a novice familiar only with windows.

Storage drives for netbooks are generally solid state drives giving about 12GB which again, is quite woeful for your main storage area (although it does increase battery life considerably)

The MSI made my mind up due to:

The larger 10.1" screen which is quite comfortable for using over a long period
120GB SATA hard drive so can be replaced, upgraded
1.3M pixel webcam
Windows XP

Its ideal for her to sit on msn with the webcam but a netbook will never be a substitute as a main pc.

Leopard

steveo3002 wrote: »

i looked at netbooks , but like the others mention its worth paying a little extra for a proper windows laptop , they do so much more and are only a little more expensive

i think the small screen would get boring fast too

A netbook is not something you buy instead of a laptop; it's something you buy as well as a laptop. Laptops (aka "notebooks") and netbooks are different tools, suited to performing different tasks.

The MSI Wind and the Advent 4211 are essentially identical (the differences being cosmetic and price) but the Medion Akoya E1210 variant has a different specification - that one has no Bluetooth and cannot be upgraded to 2 GB of RAM (although it does come with wireless N).

It's essential to buy one with a 6-cell battery. The 3-cell battery is not practical.

Most people (and reviewers) find the keyboard of the Wind and the 4211 nice but the trackpad is horrible: so it's best to use a Bluetooth mouse.

Virus worries can (effectively) be forgotten if you junk the supplied Windows XP (SP3) and run Mac OS X on them instead. And it's an easy job to swap the RealTek b/g wi-fi card for an Atheros b/g/n card: well worth doing if you've got other kit that runs 802.11n - not least because their wired Ethernet is only 10/100 Ethernet, not Gigabit.

Another big advantage of running Mac OS X on them is that Mac OS 10.5.x comes with a utility called "Spaces", which is particularly handy on a computer with a small screen.

Don't forget, though, that they can support a substantially larger external monitor as well, so you aren't necessarily limited to the 10" screen.

They're particularly nice if you house them in a leather Filofax-type sleeve, like this.

I love mine.

Marty_J wrote: »

Looks as though they've pasted a Mac OS X desktop background onto the photo.

Weird.

PC World has pasted a Mac OS X (Tiger) desktop wallpaper on to all the Advents illustrated in espresso's link. I suspect that that's a bit of mischief by someone in their graphics department.

But then, even Microsoft itself secretly prefers and uses Macs to produce its own graphics for promoting Windows and PCs. :rotfl:

Ironically, though, it was spotting that Apple wallpaper on the Advent 4211 advertising in a PC World shop that prompted me to investigate the feasibility of putting Mac OS X on to one - and led me to buying a Wind. So, intentional or otherwise, the subliminal message worked on me!

denise123

Just wanted to update on this netbook, for christmas my son bought me some add on's for the advent netbook

a set of speakers, with a bass speaker which has a glass top to rest the netbook on,[from PC World] the sound is now excellent, and to be honest, once they are set up, this netbook sounds better than the real laptop does, but the idea that it is portable has somewhat gone out of the window!

he has also bought me an LG superslim portable dvd rewriter, which of course means I use it as a real laptop

after christmas in the sales, I am getting a printer to go with it.

music sounds great, with the bits i have now to add on to it, i can use it at home as a proper laptop, or take just the netbook out and about as a portable one, depending on what i am doing.

I am well happy with it, it is doing everything a real laptop does, as yet i have not loaded in any games, but I dont do comp games anyway so that does not bother me.

I have played some music through the speakers, and it sounds better than a music centre would [with complaints from the kids, 'turn it down mum'!]

its all still super slim, it does not get in the way at all, and can be packed up in seconds if needed, the two speakers light up, i have no complaints with it at all.

if i take the netbook of the glass top, then i have four speakers instead of just the three, but then it really is to loud.

to date i have just played amy whinehouse on it, but boy the bass and the other instruments can be heard really clearly.

now i have all the add on's, there is nothing left that i would want to use the main laptop for. [even my husband is jealous]

the only thing is, i am not sure how much all these extra's cost, so cant compare with the cost of a real laptop, all i can say is i do not use the main one now, and much prefer this one.

hope its some help to those who are waiting for the sales. windows xp was loaded in already with SP3, and it is all really easy to set up.

for those into minimalistic looks, you cannt go wrong at all.i love it.