Notebook computers

retired2

I am looking for a small notebook computer which I can take on holiday with me mainly to use email and download photos from my camera. We travel quite a bit now we are retired. Any suggestions of good deals folks?

-TangleFoot-

Two questions:

1. What's your budget?
2. How's your eyesight?

If the answer to (2) is 'good' a netbook might be sufficient, but if not you'd probably be better off with a regular notebook.

macman

Do you need an optical drive on it? If not, and you can cope with a 10 in screen, a netbook is fine. if not, then you need a laptop,
NB: a netbook and a notebook are different things, don't confuse the two. A notebook is basically a slightly smaller laptop. A netbook is a smaller device altogether, with no optical drive and a lower spec all round (usually running XP on an Intel Atom processor).

ManAtHome

Worth a trip to PC World - they usually have a range of machines which should give you an idea of screen-size and keyboard you can live with.

Before the 'don't buy anything from PC World ever' comments turn up - most netbooks/laptops are a commodity these days and you can often get a reasonable deal (just ignore the insurance/extras they push) - check out the 'collect@store' prices on t'internet first.

macman

By all means browse/test at PCW-then go and buy it somewhere else...

-TangleFoot-

macman wrote: »

A notebook is basically a slightly smaller laptop. A netbook is a smaller device altogether, with no optical drive and a lower spec all round

For all the superlatives surrounding them, there's actually little difference between them aside from a few arbitrary specifications laid down by certain large and powerful corporations. Netbooks with optical disc drives are known to exist, and similarly-specified laptops without them are also available.

Here's a flowchart for your delectation:

ManAtHome

macman wrote: »

By all means browse/test at PCW-then go and buy it somewhere else...

Yeah, if you want a Samsung NC10, blow a raspberry at PCWs £296 and pay eBuyer £409 instead...

-TangleFoot-

ManAtHome wrote: »

Yeah, if you want a Samsung NC10, blow a raspberry at PCWs £296 and pay eBuyer £409 instead...

That's an unfair comparison: the more expensive model includes a HSDPA module!

ManAtHome

Whoops ok - it's a fair cop guv - just picked eBuyer as I've bought a fair bit of stuff from them as well.

However, they are no better on the bog-standard NC10 than PCW, and if I had to take it back, I'd rather pop into a local store than pay to post it back, so I'll still stand by the 'PCW aren't always to be avoided like the plague' stance.

Btw - is an integrated HSPDA-thingy worth £80 (or more) than a dongly-thingy? (I normally pick up WiFi when I'm travelling outside the UK).

-TangleFoot-

They're a bit like mobile phones in that the bundled ones are invariably cheaper. What you're looking at is broadly equivalent to an unlocked SIM-free package.

As I see it, the most obvious advantages to having it integrated are that it's considerably less prone to breakage and easier to travel with. Those dongle thingies are enormous.