Made a silly mistake....

mamazaac

Donnie wrote: »

Zoostorm Freedom: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ZOOSTORM-FREEDOM-8-9IN-MINI-LAPTOP-REFURBISHED_W0QQitemZ330359485866QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Laptops_EH?hash=item4ceaf5b5aa £139 12 months warranty.

Intel Atom N270 processor.
1.6GHz processor speed.
512MB cache.
1GB DDR2 RAM.

160GB hard drive.

8.9in widescreen size.
Resolution 1024 x 600 pixels.

1 Ethernet port.
Wireless/Wi-Fi enabled - n.

2 USB ports.
Media card reader.

Integrated 0.3MP webcam.

Windows XP Home operating system installed.
3.5 hours battery life.

This looks good too and with regard to the comments about Flash/Shockwave I think maybe getting something with XP on it may be the best bet as I'm not technically minded enough to do anything other than a simple downloard of such.

So I now need to narrow it down between the one I mentioned above and this one which I guess I can be safe about buying from ebay with it being from Argos.

One has 512 mb cache, the other 512 kb (unless one of them is a mis-print) - can anyone enlighten me as to what 'cache' is and is used for?

One has an Intel Atom N270 processor with 1.6GHz processor speed, the other intel celeron (no idea what speed). I kinda know what a processor is, but is this speed considered good and is intel celeron comparable?

One has 1GB DDR2 RAM, the other 1GB DDR2 SD RAM - are these the same thing but just one has missed out the 'SD' bit? And, although I've heard of RAM, please could some explain (in layman's terms) what it is?

Of course, even I know that 160GB HD is twice as good as 80GB, but I think 80 would be enough for my son, so knowing which one is better on the other above points would tip the balance on which one he goes for.

Decisions, decisions .................:)

jbreckmckye

This looks good too and with regard to the comments about Flash/Shockwave I think maybe getting something with XP on it may be the best bet as I'm not technically minded enough to do anything other than a simple downloard of such.

I'm going to concur. I like using Linux, but I think that you'll be saving yourself lots of potential trouble for little real cost. XP is dirt cheap these days.

So I now need to narrow it down between the one I mentioned above and this one which I guess I can be safe about buying from ebay with it being from Argos.

One has 512 mb cache, the other 512 kb (unless one of them is a mis-print) - can anyone enlighten me as to what 'cache' is and is used for?

It's memory within the processor. The CPU can often deal with data faster than RAM (non-permanent, electronic memory) can supply it with instructions. So, the CPU has a small amount of dedicated memory that can deliver data to the processor very quickly, meaning that the processor is never waiting around for the RAM to catch up with it.

Your computer is only as fast as its slowest component. Because RAM hasn't become much faster in the last ten or fifteen years, the bottleneck is often the limit on RAM speed. The cache helps get past this.

It will be 512kb cache. 512Mb of the sort of memory used in a cache would probably make your computer more expensive per weight than gold!

One has an Intel Atom N270 processor with 1.6GHz processor speed, the other intel celeron (no idea what speed). I kinda know what a processor is, but is this speed considered good and is intel celeron comparable?

These processors should be fine for browsing and working. Also, clock speed isn't very important, especially as most machines these days run multiple processors in parallel.

One has 1GB DDR2 RAM, the other 1GB DDR2 SD RAM - are these the same thing but just one has missed out the 'SD' bit?

Yes. Certain retailers just add redundant letters in to make the machines sound a little fancier!

Of course, even I know that 160GB HD is twice as good as 80GB, but I think 80 would be enough for my son, so knowing which one is better on the other above points would tip the balance on which one he goes for.

Agreed. 80GB is more than sufficient

-TangleFoot-

mamazaac wrote: »

And, although I've heard of RAM, please could some explain (in layman's terms) what it is?

Like this?

mamazaac

Just realised these specs are better than my desktop, and for less than £140 - amazing!

It seems they are much of a muchness other than the HD size. Whilst the Laptops Direct one would do him no problem, I guess the extra £5 for the one via Argos Clearance would be worth it for the peace of mind of an extra 9 months guarantee.

Big thanks to everybody who has helped me by replying on this thread. I will now leave you all in peace (at least until the next tech problem)!

HO87

Why install Flash as a separate app when all you need is the FF Flash plug-in. Its been running happily on my version of Karmic for some months without any issues.

Fifer

mamazaac wrote: »

Just realised these specs are better than my desktop, and for less than £140 - amazing!

It seems they are much of a muchness other than the HD size. Whilst the Laptops Direct one would do him no problem, I guess the extra £5 for the one via Argos Clearance would be worth it for the peace of mind of an extra 9 months guarantee.

Big thanks to everybody who has helped me by replying on this thread. I will now leave you all in peace (at least until the next tech problem)!

Reading reviews, the Freedom (the Argos one) is criticised slightly for its small, spongy keyboard. The Eee has a bigger better keyboard, its Celeron processor copes with online video better than the Freedom's Atom and the 5 hour battery life is better than the Freedom's 3.5hr. I've owned 2 Eee PCs and the battery life has been very good with both. You can extend the Laptop Direct warranty for £15, but that's creeping up to £150, almost double the £80 of the original Maplin machine.

Both machines will be fine for the application. I suppose you want to weigh up the better spec of the Laptops Direct machine against the better warranty of the Argos one.

Here's a couple of reviews I found.

Eee PC 904HD.

Zoostorm Freedom.

Owain_Moneysaver

mamazaac wrote: »

Thank you, he will be pleased to know that. Can you install flash with linux?

Miniclip seems to work fine for me, I just tried playing one of the games. Running Firefox 3 on Ubuntu Linux :-)

Owain_Moneysaver

gaming_guy wrote: »

In ubuntu, its as simple as typing

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

at a terminal prompt.

I think in my case Ff told me 'you need a plug-in' and I told it to go and get it.

-TangleFoot-

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

I think in my case Ff told me 'you need a plug-in' and I told it to go and get it.

That doesn't seem to work as often as it should. In my experience, installing the restricted-extras package through APT is more reliable by far.