General Netbook advice please

jaydeeuk1

I got one of these for other day for £110 inc delivery from ebay pc world. They seem to put them on at least once a week, just be quick as you can imagine theywill sell 30 of them within minutes.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120738084708&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT


Seems nippy enough, 8 hour battery life (7hrs 49 it laster yesterday), 10.1" screen, atom n450.

Arrived as brand new without box!

candtalan

A few 'netbooks' for example as sold by Maplin on occasions, had unconventional processor chips to such an extent that it would not be possible to install normal mainstream Linux based systems on them, so if you find a netbook you like, it might be worth checking that other people can install something you and they recognise, onto that particular machine.

The Maplin machines worked perfectly well as they were sold and intended, but they just did not use conventional x86 architecture.

esuhl

candtalan wrote: »

A few 'netbooks' for example as sold by Maplin on occasions, had unconventional processor chips to such an extent that it would not be possible to install normal mainstream Linux based systems on them, so if you find a netbook you like, it might be worth checking that other people can install something you and they recognise, onto that particular machine.

The Maplin machines worked perfectly well as they were sold and intended, but they just did not use conventional x86 architecture.

I think you're talking about netbooks with ARM chips that run Windows CE. You can get them for around £50 (although I've seen them for up to £150!) so they're a bargain if you need something very basic (e.g. typing letters), but I don't think you can get Flash installed on them so many websites won't work properly - no video on YouTube, etc.

Basically just avoid anything that runs "Windows CE" unless you're sure that's what you want. Unlike other architectures, you won't be able to install Windows or Linux (etc.) in its place.