Buying a netbook? Read this first...

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
If anyone is considering the purchase of a netbook, please consider the following points first...

First and foremost not only do these things have a smaller screen, but bear in mind they also have no optical drive (for CD's and DVD's)... that said they are wonderfully handy little machines and can be surprisingly powerful.

However, there are literally hundreds of them now on the market, and not all are as good as eachother. Make sure you check out the following things before buying...

1. Some claim to have awsome battery lives (as much as 7 hours) but in many cases this is due to an underpowered processor which also makes them run appaulingly slow! Look out for ones that say they have a Via C7 processor or a Celeron processor that runs at 900MHz or less - Don't touch them with a bargepole! Ideally you are looking for one which has an Intel ATOM processor N270 or N450 running at around 1.6GHz. Saying that, there is a newer "energy efficient" atom running at only 1.2GHz and again the difference is very noticeable so avoid that one.

2. Avoid one's which state a hard drive capacity of 2, 4, 8 or 16 Gb. These one's use cheap and nasty solid state discs which are NOT ideal for running windows. They are slow, troublesome, and I've lost count of how many "scrappers" I've had in! You need to look for one with a regular hard drive - you'll know because it will be 80Gb or more.

3. Finally, some also come with Linux rather than Windows. As long as you stick to the above advice, they can still be installed with Windows even if you buy them with Linux on, but if you are a Windows user like me then linux isn't likely to be "your cup of tea".

Just thought I would share this info now as no doubt someone on here could be considering buying one of these as a Christmas present. Don't be put off though - follow the guidelines above you should get yourself a cracking piece of kit!

If unsure you can always give me a shout for advice.

WMR
 

shoes

Well-Known Forumite
Excellent advice there WMR!

My brother and my boss both have netbooks I sourced for them - pretty much using the guide above, and neither of them have had any complaints.

For what it's worth, you won't be disappointed with the compaq netbooks that have N270 processors and 80/120 GB hard drives. Windows install was a doddle and as wmr says, surprisingly fast.
 

Mrs B

Well-Known Forumite
fantastic! thanks very much for sharing that, I will be purchasing either a laptop or netbook next month, im wavering more towards a laptop though atm, any tips on laptops? :)
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
With most of the full size laptops you can't go too wrong. Best advice is just to shop around for the best deal as prices vary frequently.
 

acpoynton

Well-Known Forumite
What is best cheap netbook on the market then ... am thinking of downsizing from a laptop. Budget is not massive as I don't use my laptop often ... only used when I go away!! Have been bidding for a few on ebay but don't want to pay a lot more than £75 ish.
 

db

#chaplife
or, at the other end of the spectrum, if you've got a bit of money to spend you blates want an apple macbook air.. i know, i know - the original one was crap.. no ethernet port, i'm not sure if it even had a usb port, etc.. but this new one is serious bizniz!

only 11.6" screen despite apple saying it would never make a netbook, HD screen, displayport output so you can plug it into your HD TV via HDMI if you want and watch HD content (which you can either download illicitly or buy from itunes, which is a dog on PC but actually runs great on a mac), top of the range nvidia graphics (new chipset, that doesn't suffer from heat issues), etc.. it's serious bit of kit, weighs 1kg, and is less than 2cm thick!!

i love the little usb key you get with it with the OS on, in case you need to restore the system:

specs_flashdrive_20101020.jpg
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
acpoynton said:
What is best cheap netbook on the market then ... am thinking of downsizing from a laptop. Budget is not massive as I don't use my laptop often ... only used when I go away!! Have been bidding for a few on ebay but don't want to pay a lot more than £75 ish.
If you want my honesty, what you'll pick up for that kind of money is seriously not worth buying I'm afraid.
 

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
If you don't play with CD/DVDs a lot, get a netbook. Seriously. I've got an Acer Aspire that WMR sold me a year or so ago, and I *love* it. Only trouble is, the battery life's rotten, but that's prob cos he souped it up before he sold it me. :)
I can say I've only missed a CD drive when it comes to trying to install games, because I can't find decent CD imageripping software. Damn antipiracy. :(
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
acpoynton said:
What is best cheap netbook on the market then ... am thinking of downsizing from a laptop. Budget is not massive as I don't use my laptop often ... only used when I go away!! Have been bidding for a few on ebay but don't want to pay a lot more than £75 ish.
If you are still looking and can stretch your budget, this looks like a seriously good deal:

WINDOWS 7 ZOOSTORM FREEDOMXL 250GB 10.2IN NETBOOK REFURBISHED WITH A 12 MONTH ARGOS WARRANTY £119.99 + £3.99 P+P

From Argos on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330490007867

BE QUICK THOUGH
 

acpoynton

Well-Known Forumite
gk141054 said:
acpoynton said:
What is best cheap netbook on the market then ... am thinking of downsizing from a laptop. Budget is not massive as I don't use my laptop often ... only used when I go away!! Have been bidding for a few on ebay but don't want to pay a lot more than £75 ish.
If you are still looking and can stretch your budget, this looks like a seriously good deal:

WINDOWS 7 ZOOSTORM FREEDOMXL 250GB 10.2IN NETBOOK REFURBISHED WITH A 12 MONTH ARGOS WARRANTY £119.99 + £3.99 P+P

From Argos on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330490007867

BE QUICK THOUGH
Just checked ... 30 minutes after your post ... and the item is not listed any more.
Looked like a good deal - guess that it went quick!
Thanks!
 
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