Laptop or Netbook?

[PJay]

Hi Guys & Girls

We are thinking of buying a netbook for use in MH. We have a Laptop, which is quiet big, as our desktop has just given up on us, we have decided to not replace and use the Laptop as our main computer.

Thought that as netbooks are a lot smaller and lighter, might be worth getting one . Your opinions would be welcome on the pros and cons of net books, as we don't know much about them. It appears that the only disadvantage is the lack of a disk drive? and maybe the size of the screen?

(Eyes not what they were, in younger days)

Pauline

[rupert123]

To me the small screen size rules them out. the differance in size and weight is of no concern either, it is not as if it is massive. Perhaps the only reason to buy one is price.

[breakaleg]

I have an Acer inspire net book for use in the van,

Advantages

Small (easier to conceal)

Light (easier to carry around abroad looking for wireless hot spots)

Disadvantages

Small screen (not good for using for hours) although pressing f11 does give you full screen use.

Smaller keyboard (more typos)

 

But I have no regrets, they are slightly slower (1GB of ram) although the latest do not suffer this (acer Aspire timeline 1801tz)

250GB hard drive and 3GB of ram, price £430.00, this would be the one of choice for me now, but won't change until the old one dies.

Pete

 

 

[PJay]

Rupert

Price does not seem to be an issue, as they seem to be similar. Our local Tesco have some cheap laptops

Agree that screen size may be an issue.

P

[PJay]

Pete

Do you need that much ram? we would download any pics onto a spare hard drive we have (from another defuct laptop) I would not want to pay £400 for a net book, as the screen would be an issue. I agree that it would be a lot easier to conceal in the van, and would be easier to carry

to WI Fi points, and be able to take when flying to a holiday destination.

Not in a hurry to proceed , as not going away untill May

Thanks for your replies guys

P

[Solwaybuggier]

I've got a Samsung NC10 netbook - bought mainly for use in the van, but we do use it a lot at home as well. It's fine for internet use (clue in the name!) but I'd not anticipate using it for video editing or games, or for that matter for creating massive documents due to keyboard size.

 

Don't worry too much about RAM - it's easy to fit an upgrade, and cheap - my son's just bought a netbook, it cost him around £35 to add 2GB to the fitted 1GB. You don't need to open the case either - there's a trapdoor (on Samsungs anyway) to fit extra RAM, which is worthwhile.

 

Depends on what you want to use it for - but if its mainly for internet use I'd say netbook every time.

[PJay]

Solway

Thanks for reply. Main use internet, and keeping a diary of travels, but do like the odd game or two.

P

[lennyhb]

After getting a netbook laptop was lying around unused so I gave it to my daughter.

I have an NC10 with 160gig drive adequate for most needs, if you need more storage most netbooks have a card reader or you can use online storage when away.

Lack of CD/DVD drive not a problem I load everything over my network. I don't find the screen size a problem, use the net book mostly for email & web browsing. When browsing it is best to disable unnecessary toolbars I also have the taskbar hidden this gives maximum screen size you still need to scroll a fair bit well worth the effort. Would never go back to a full size laptop.

 

 

[lennyhb]

Solwaybuggier - 2010-04-02 11:08 AM

 

 

Don't worry too much about RAM - it's easy to fit an upgrade, and cheap - my son's just bought a netbook, it cost him around £35 to add 2GB to the fitted 1GB. You don't need to open the case either - there's a trapdoor (on Samsungs anyway) to fit extra RAM, which is worthwhile.

 

If you want 2gig in a NC10 best to buy it with it. The NC10 only has 1 ram slot so if you upgrade after you have to remove the 1gig card & fit a 2gig.

 

 

[breakaleg]

PJay - 2010-04-02 10:55 AM

 

Pete

Do you need that much ram? we would download any pics onto a spare hard drive we have (from another defuct laptop) I would not want to pay £400 for a net book, as the screen would be an issue. I agree that it would be a lot easier to conceal in the van, and would be easier to carry

to WI Fi points, and be able to take when flying to a holiday destination.

Not in a hurry to proceed , as not going away untill May

Thanks for your replies guys

P

 

no don't need that much ram, but given the option, I would take it (not at that price) but by the time I change, it will probably be the norm anyway.

Quite happy with the spec I got and have no regrets.

Pete

[creakyknee]

Hi PJay, Picked up an Acer Aspire for £140 at Comet. We use laptop in van to watch films but found it very heavy to lug around to WiFi connection. Acer is handy for Skype and emails etc. Suppose I could have bought an Ipod Touch which grand-daughter has, which I think, would do the same as Acer, although slightly more money.

[Brian Kirby]

A netbook is really just a smaller format laptop.  When they first appeared they had no hard drive, and were quite limited as to applications that could be loaded/run.  They were also very cheap, being intended mainly for e-mail and internet browsing, with relatively simple word processing and spreadsheeting.  Most ran Linux or Ubuntu, so couldn't run Microsoft applications.  MS then re-invented Win XP for net-books so that Word, Excel, etc could run.  Pressure for more memory led to hard drives being introduced, so that many of the net books are now fully functional small format laptops.  The missing bit on most is a CD/DVD drive so, unless you will download all applications, you will have to get a USB external CD/DVD drive to load these.

There is so much variety now available it is probably better to think out how you will use it, and then see what best does those jobs, without too much reference to what category it has been allocated to.  If you will use it to store digital pictures you will need a slightly larger screen, and definitely a fair size hard drive, to hold them all.  I would also suggest getting a large capacity USB pen drive as a back up.  If you may need to use CD/DVD while travelling, you may find a small laptop that incorporates the necessary drive, is more compact than a netbook plus a loose USB drive and possibly a separate power supply as well.

[new to the game]

We off 2 weeks time and need a new battery for our Acer travelmate laptop, not sure where to get one is there any online companies supply these?

[Syd]

Just bought the Acer Aspire from Asda on Thursday past for £225.

 

They have a choice of two notebooks and if I remember correctly the other one is slightly larger and costs £279

[lennyhb]

new to the game - 2010-04-02 3:21 PM

 

We off 2 weeks time and need a new battery for our Acer travelmate laptop, not sure where to get one is there any online companies supply these?

 

Brought one from here for my laptop it's still going strong after 2 years.

 

http://www.global-batteries.co.uk/

[Mel B]

Hi Pjay

 

We bought an HP netbook recently - lovely bit of kit, very, very quick to start if you want to just browse the internet - less than 30 seconds from pressing the on button!!! Hubby loves it and uses it for browsing the internet etc at home (he NEVER did that with the laptop we had).

 

These 2 previous threads may offer some info for you (yes, I managed to get the search to actually WORK for once!!! :D ):

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18889&start=1

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18966&posts=25

 

Be aware though that generally for these laptops/netbooks that the Windows software times out after 30 days ...

[Mel B]

Forgot to say above:

 

Screen size - on ours it is wider than a sheet of A4 paper so no worse than reading a letter etc.

 

Keyboard - if this is a problem, just take along a cheap full-sized one (USB connection), it solves the problem and can be easily stowed away - that's what I'll do - with my being a 'touch typist' the keyboard is a bit too small for when I'm typing, but okay otherwise.

 

One thing to think about is the battery life - much better than a laptop but make sure you get the larger battery pack as they don't all come with it.

[Mike88]

Mel. What precisely do you mean by Windows timing out after 30 days?

 

Thanks

 

 

Mike

[Mel B]

Hi Mike

 

Sorry, I thought I'd deleted 'Windows' and left it just saying software! :D

 

It's the software that is often only for evaluation purposes. In my experience the particular software that is installed as a 'trial only' copy is Norton Anti-Virus and Microsoft Office, both of which will 'time out' unless you buy them.

 

Generally if you've paid a fair bit of dosh for the equipment it may be included, but is not guaranteed so you have to check especially since buying it separately can cost a lot of money and make the 'bargain' equipment more expensive than getting the whole lot as a 'package' in the first place. Unfortunately some people don't know to look into this and get 'stung'.

 

[Mike88]

Thanks Mel. I had visions of the operating system crashing out after 30 days and that Microsoft and the computer manufacturers had discovered a new wheeze to extort money from us. All is now clear.

[maggyd]

Im very happy with my Samsung netbook which runs on Windows XP the same as this Acer Aspire that I use at home. I'm a touch typist too Mel ! maybe its because I have small hands but I don't have any probs; typing, and I find itn ice and firm as well.

 

I will only be using mine to download photos, and use Skype which I have downloaded for free! that is if I can get an open Wireless connection, also O.H. has downloaded his Tom Tom page in case we need it, and maybe to look up sites. We have bought a 4mgb usb storage pen which will be handy to put the photo,s on.

 

I have been on Skype a couple of times talking to my daughter, and she is amazed that I have the vidio and microphone inbuilt! she has an expensive laptop which she has to connect her microphone to and she doesnt have the vidio camera either.

 

For £180 I think I have a bargain we bought it from Argos Clearance.

 

 

[Tomo3090]

Not sure whether a netbook can support a printer, but our laptop can and we do use that when we are away to print ferry tickets etc.

 

We have also needed the CD capability to run the ACSI Site CD when I couldn't get internet access to log on to their web page, same with CampingCar infos and their CD, (but now on a memory stick, will a netbook take one of those?)

 

What ever you use make sure you have a top quality anti virus system. Our Acer Aspire 5600 laptop caught a near fatal illness last year in Spain and despite paying £200 to get it repaired when we got back it is still not completely well, and we are currently looking to replace it

[Keith T]

I have had laptops for sometime now, but have just invested in a small 10" netbook/mini computer, primarily to take to Canada as the laptop is too big . The mini is fairly basic, but can access e-mails, and internet etc,and also is wifi equipped and I can also use my three dongle (UK only, of course!!). It also has the usual connections for printer etc, and you can purchase small external DVD drives if you need this - I already have one in addition to the built in one on the lap-top,and used this to download some programmes into the mini computer rather than downloading them from the imternet.

The unit is small, especially so the screen, and this is somehting i have to get used to, but in due course, I am sure this will be the one I take away in the motorhome as well. The battery life is quoted as 'up to 11hrs', and even if only half of this is 100% more thna the battery on the laptop!

 

You may need to consider the real purpose in going very small, and I think there are still some smaller laptops available, so it may be worth checking those out - I think Dell do one which comes up on their advertising at about 11" screen.

[Mel B]

Tomo3090 - 2010-04-03 5:21 PM

 

Not sure whether a netbook can support a printer, but our laptop can and we do use that when we are away to print ferry tickets etc.

 

We have also needed the CD capability to run the ACSI Site CD when I couldn't get internet access to log on to their web page, same with CampingCar infos and their CD, (but now on a memory stick, will a netbook take one of those?)

 

What ever you use make sure you have a top quality anti virus system. Our Acer Aspire 5600 laptop caught a near fatal illness last year in Spain and despite paying £200 to get it repaired when we got back it is still not completely well, and we are currently looking to replace it

 

Netbooks can do all that a standard laptop can do, they just don't have the inbuilt DVD/CD drive, so running a printer or anything else for that matter isn't a problem so long as its one with USB connections - the USB memory stick with the camping card stuff on is fine. We've got 3 USB connections on ours and I've got a little USB hub from a car boot sale (£2) with 4 USB connections on it which should more than suffice for my needs.

 

As for a good quality anti-virus system, go for the free AVG one, it's very, very good and you just have to remember to renew it every year and do the updates as and when they are out.

 

As I said before they keyboard is a bit on the small side for me and I need to use a separate one if I'm going to be typing for any length but that's mainly because I have a problem with my hands so use an ergonomic keyboard at home and work (think of the ones with a gap in the centre between the keys), so my hands naturally 'wander' to the 'outside' position that I'm used to, rather than behaving themselves and staying close together! Could try handcluffs I suppose! :D

 

Tomo, my condolences to your laptop ... if you're going to Peterborough hubby will have a shuftie at it for you if you want to see just how 'terminal' it is and if it can be cured, sometimes it is something really silly that causes the problems so it could save you a fair bit of dosh (he's quite a dab hand with computers and has fixed too many to mention so knows his way about them).

[gordonaldson]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the "What Laptop" magazine as I was reading a past edition in the Dentists the other week and it told you about the best buys regarding price and what they had installed. They were doing a best Netbook in that edition.

 

Good picking,

Gordon...