Looking to buy a netbook but which one..

oysterman

and what do i need with it? To start with i am a complete novice with computers so please make things simple.

I am going away on holiday in a few months(nov) time & want a netbook to take with me. Do i buy now or wait?

I want it for browsing the internet, e-mail & storing photographs, it must have a good battery life & be as light as possible.

What operating system & security should i use, buy the stuff pre-loaded or install it yourself. What do i need to connect to the internet, & how much will it cost. Is there anything else i should have/do.

LJM

i have the samsung NC10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-10-2-inch-Netbook-1-6GHz-Windows/dp/B001GZC8K8

this one it is very good i use it all the time,shop around alot the prices on mine vary all over the place

kitekat

I recently bought the Samsung N130 netbook and it is brilliant,it is lightweight and has a 6hr battery some of the other Samsungs in this range have only a 3hr battery.I bought it from Argos but noticed a refurb one in Maplin with a year guarantee for £199.99 and free delivery,also Maplin usually have discount codes on the internet to make this even cheaper.

sillygoose

kitekat wrote: »

I recently bought the Samsung N130 netbook and it is brilliant,it is lightweight and has a 6hr battery some of the other Samsungs in this range have only a 3hr battery.I bought it from Argos but noticed a refurb one in Maplin with a year guarantee for £199.99 and free delivery,also Maplin usually have discount codes on the internet to make this even cheaper.

Ditto, got the same. I love it. Often don't power the main PC on for days now as I can use this draped over and armchair watching TV! Battery goes for ages for hardly any weight penalty, just a slight bulge underneath for the extra cells. My close up eye sight is not as good as it was so I find Black characters on a White keyboard far easier on my eyes and the N130 is available in all White.

Was a bit lumbered with software out the box, got rid of MS Office time limited trail, AVG, demo games etc, etc. Replaced with Open Office, Avira, media Player Classic for playing movies, partitioned most the disk to data and its perfect.

oysterman

So the samsung N130 is great. What OS should i have & what security to go with it.

How does it connect to the internet, i have heard of dongles, do i need one. Is the N130 an old model & if so will it get cheaper in the next 3-4 months.

sillygoose

oysterman wrote: »

So the samsung N130 is great. What OS should i have & what security to go with it.

How does it connect to the internet, i have heard of dongles, do i need one. Is the N130 an old model & if so will it get cheaper in the next 3-4 months.

It came with Windows XP installed which is fine by me. (I guess it may get switched to Windows 7 at sometime by Samsung). It comes with a 2 year subscription to AVG security package. (I don't know this product so removed it and installed Avira antivirus and Comodo firewall which are free, updated and I have trust in but thats my preference)

It connects like any laptop to the internet via wifi if your in range of your router or a free one like at McDonalds. If you want total freedom you can get a dongle which is basically a mobile phone in a USB stick. You can then connect to the internet via the mobile phone network anywhere you can get a signal. This you will have to pay for, various packages are available. (I should also point out the Netbooks have a network connector too so you can simply plug it into the network the old fashioned way with a cable!)

Is it an old model?.. not sure, these things change quickly, but virtually every low cost 10" netbook has a near identical spec. so I chose on battery life largely. I got it for £229 at Argos which is pretty cheap as its new (not refurbished), especially with £15 of nectar points to use.

I don't think it will get cheaper, when most these products have run their course they tend to taper off stocks beforehand and bring out something new to keep the prices up.

Donnie

This Argos return MSI U130 is good value at £164 delivered. Better specs than the Samsung N130, but lesser battery life at up to fours instead of six hours.

luci

I bought a Toshiba NB200 from the CarPhoneWarehouse. They have it for £249 and the cheapest I could find it anywhere else was £300-320.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/broadband/laptops-and-netbooks/buy/TOSHIBA-NB200-LAPTOP

It has a battery life of up to 9 hours. The battery does stick out the back a bit, but it doesn't bother me. It has a really good keyboard which is almost full size.

What I really like is that it has a built-in webcam so I am able to use Voipbuster, which is a version of Skype, to make calls from abroad for 1c/min.

It has Windows 7 which I wanted as I felt that getting XP was a backward step as MS will stop supporting it earlier than Windows 7.

I upgraded it from 1GB RAM to 2GB for just over £30.

To use mobile broadband abroad you will need an unlocked dongle, try eBay, and buy a sim locally wherever you are going.

You may be able to pick up free wifi, the hotel may even have it, or you can pay for it at some hotels depending where you are going.

I use MS Security Essentials which has been fine as is often recommended on here.

alanjuk

I've been looking at netbooks for a while now and last week I found the Asus EEE PC 1005P on the Argos clearance on Ebay. It has the newer N450 processor which gives better battery life, they claim up to 11 Hrs but probably more like 9. It has 250 GB drive and bluetooth, with windows 7 starter installed. So far I am very impressed with it. I paid £209.00 I don't think there is any available at the moment but if you keep your eye's open on the Argos clearance web site I'm sure more will appear.

puppet1984

also own the samsung n130 brilliant nice battery life and no problems so far.

LisbonLaura

I bought an N130 some weeks ago. Argos eBay 'refurb', but it was brand new. £170 (less one penny) - free delivery.
I call that a bargain