Advice please - netbook/small laptop for travel and day to day use

epicurus

Hi,

I'd be grateful for any tips.

I'm looking to get a new laptop that is small enough to take backpacking but is also not a pain for day to day use when I'm at home. I've used a few netbooks and I find the screen size a little frustrating as you can't see the whole of a web page so ideally would look for something with a bigger screen.

Below are my key criteria. Any recommendations, tips greatfully received.

- Lightweight - lighter the better
- Size - something a little bigger than the smallest netbooks
- Robust - can take a bit of abuse so good casing
- Speed - I hear that some netbooks barely cope with the demands of the internet so something that isn't going to drive me mad
- Price - £300 tops. If I can get a more expensive laptop on ebay etc for less then would look into that

Thanks again

totalsolutions

Lightweight Too small for you
Size What size for you
Robust Laptops / netbooks are not robust, they are delicate bits of kit and should be treated with care
Speed Internet is not an issue speed wise
Price What you want costs over 2k so down grade and give a few details about what you will use it for.

I like the Apple iPad, just fails on price though

fiddiwebb

I've used a few netbooks and I find the screen size a little frustrating as you can't see the whole of a web page so ideally would look for something with a bigger screen.

Well the NC10 I use has a 10.2" screen and I don't have a problem viewing web pages or any issues with the internet, what are the netbooks you have used before and what sized screen are you after?

Also you don't mention how long you would want the battery to last which I would have thought was a prerequisite for backpacking.

5bellies_2

I've got an Acer 11.6" Aspire One AO751h

Big enough to display web pages, small and light enough to be portable. Around the £250 mark depending on model.

prost

You could try the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, with 12-inch display although it would be slow if you want vista.

ERICS_MUM

fiddiwebb wrote: »

I've used a few netbooks and I find the screen size a little frustrating as you can't see the whole of a web page so ideally would look for something with a bigger screen.

Well the NC10 I use has a 10.2" screen and I don't have a problem viewing web pages or any issues with the internet, what are the netbooks you have used before and what sized screen are you after?..........

I've got the NC10 too, by Samsung and love it. I took it to the US this year and it was so easy to carry - I got a tiny padded sleeve to keep it safe. I don't do many docs/spreadsheets etc on it, I use it mainly for e mails, internet and loading photos.

Donnie

Toshiba Satellite T110-121 £274.19

Intel Celeron processor 743
(1.2GHz, 800MHz, 1MB Cache)
Genuine Windows(R) 7 Home Premium
2GB Memory
250GB Hard drive
11.6" Screen
1 x HDMI
Up to 8.5 hours battery life
Weight 1.58 kg
Wireless-N connectivity
Webcam




HP Pavilion DM1-1020EA £305.81

Intel® Celeron® DualCore Processor SU2300
- 1.2 GHz
- 800 MHz FSB
- 1 MB L2 cache
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (32-bit)
3072 MB (Supports up to 5 GB DDR3 memory)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
HD LED BrightView Widescreen Display
1366 x 768
11.6” Screen
250 GB HDD
5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
USB 3 USB 2.0
Modem/Ethernet Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN, 1 RJ45 Ethernet connector
802.11 b/g
Yes
1 HDMI, 1 VGA port
Audio interface 1 jack Headphone/Mic combo jack
Altec Lansing speakers
Webcam with Integrated Microphone
92% Full size keyboard; Touch Pad with dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down
6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery Up to 9hours
Battery, power adaptor
28.9 cm (L) x 20.4 cm (W) x 1.98 (min H)/3.06 cm (max H)
1.46 kg
Bluetooth connectivity

Cheaper options available if you downsize the screen.

Buy a neoprene case to protect it whilst travelling.

nhill

I'd recommend Samsung N Series. I bought an N130 to carry around with me for £170 (refurb), new about £255. I get about 8 hours battery life.

Donnie

Price of the HP Pavilion DM1-1020EA in post #7 has fallen £25.10 to £280.71

Gillor

Another vote for the Samsing NC10. I bought mine to take away on holiday for emails and Skype and it has been superb with a really good size keyboard.

In the summer the Samsung factory outlet in Telford were knocking them out at £174 and this was with the 6-cell battery which gives a good five hours per charge.

You will definitely need a protective case though so build this into your budget.

ERICS_MUM

Gillor wrote: »

Another vote for the Samsing NC10. I bought mine to take away on holiday for emails and Skype and it has been superb with a really good size keyboard.

In the summer the Samsung factory outlet in Telford were knocking them out at £174 and this was with the 6-cell battery which gives a good five hours per charge.

You will definitely need a protective case though so build this into your budget.

Blimey that's a great price, at least £100 less than the most competitive I could find for that model. In the end I got mine from QVC the shopping channel so that I could use their 30 day money back guarantee in case I didn't get on with it.

The 6 cell battery is excellent and I've managed to get well over 6 hours from one charge.