New Netbook - will it do the following?

DazedByTheLight

My sister wants a netbook for college work. We are looking at the Samsung NC10 which has had excellent reviews on Amazon

She intends to use it for:

Surfing
Watching videos on Youtube etc.
Playing simple games via internet e.g Crazy Taxi
Downloading
Word processing
MSN
Maybe other office applications associated with college work

Will she be OK with a Netbook or will she need a laptop?

Cheers
DBTL

lfc321

Have never tried crazy taxi, but I do all those things on my netbook (an Acer Aspire One).

Leopard

Broadly speaking, a netbook should be purchased and used as an addition to a laptop rather than as a substitute for a laptop. But everyone's needs, usage and kit are different: it's a case of what suits the user best.

An NC10 will perform substantially better if it is given 2 GB of RAM instead of one.

The nicest system to run on one is Mac OS X but you need to be aware that doing so breaches the End User Licensing Agreement for Mac OS X.

kwikbreaks

The problem area is "Word processing" not because the machine won't have the grunt for it but because of the tiny keyboard this form factor has. It would be fine for short bouts of typing but very uncomfortable to use for any extended period.

Leopard

I agree with that, but the screen dimensions also inhibit any ambitious use of a word processor (or spreadsheet).

Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that an NC10 can be used with an external (even USB wireless, or Bluetooth) keyboard and/or mouse: also, an external monitor.

The keys on my Wind netbook, incidentally, are exactly the same size (17 mm) as the keys on my desktop Apple keyboard.

kwikbreaks

I have an Advent 4211 which is a rebadged MSI Wind and it is just fine for short term typing such as I'm doing here but I still wouldn't want to use for long periods of typing.

By the time you've added an external keyboard and monitor (yes that too is cramped for spreadsheets certainly) then you have lost the reason for buying the netbook in the first place - it is then less portable than a laptop and probably costs more.

Leopard

No, that's not what I meant: forgive me if what I wrote was ambiguous.

My point was that at home you can use such externals and when you are out and about (or just doing simple stuff) you use the built-ins. Best of both worlds.

I suppose that one of the reasons why I took to my Wind so quickly and enthusiastically was because (without me being consciously aware of it) its keys are exactly the same size as my desktop Apple keyboard's!

Bikertov

I bought an NC10 recently and love it. Got it from PC World online, £269.99 and Quidco. (BTW, Comet were willing to price match).

It is a lovely piece of kit with great battery life (v. important) and the biggest keyboard of all the netbooks. Yes, you can use an external keyboard if you want full size - I think all laptop keyboards are a pain to type on in any case. And certainly a mouse is really useful at all times, even a mini one when you are about.

The point is, netbooks are expensive by comparison - you can get a laptop for the same, with an optical drive and bigger screen, but they are just not so portable. You can also get a desktop for the same sort of money, so really, it is a 'second' PC, for when you are travelling, want to surf in front of the TV etc.

I would say it should complement a desktop, and be instead of a laptop in that situation.

But it is full spec. I have run Word, Excel, Outlook (connecting to my work Exchange server via the Web), and Remote Desktop to my office PC when I needed to. All my emails from work are synchronised so stored locally on the hard drive. I also have watched DVD's and listend to ripped CD's (The 160GB drive is bigger than an iPod), all while on holiday, and picked up free WiFi to surf as well. The screen is full width, just not full depth - no big deal, really.

I disagree with Leopard on the memory - most usage does not need 2GB (remember it is XP, not Vista), although it is only about £20 so not a big deal if you insist.

So for me - a useful extra PC for the family and for work, getting lots of use, and for a fair price.

lfc321

Power won't be the problem with a netbook for these kinds of tasks. As others have noted above, its whether the form factor is right for the job.

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The problem area is "Word processing" not because the machine won't have the grunt for it but because of the tiny keyboard this form factor has. It would be fine for short bouts of typing but very uncomfortable to use for any extended period.

Your sister should go into a shop and try one out herself. I use my netbook when I'm travelling and that involves a lot of word processing - I can spend a whole day writing long documents on it with no problems at all. It took a couple of days to get used to the smaller keyboard but now I can type quickly and accurately on it. I've never found the screen size a problem - true you do see less of the page (vertically) at a time, but that hasn't caused me a problem. [It might be a different story with Spreadsheets, but I don't personally use those much].

Having said all that, I have very small hands. So you need to see if it suits your sister. It might.