Dell Mini 9 Netbook

[Puddle Jumper]

I'd go with the acer personally because it is cheaper with more hard disk space and they both run the same processor. The only downfall to the acer one is if you are going to upgrade your ram you have to take the whole thing apart to get to the ram slot

That's what I was thinking. The am upgrade dosn't bother me since 1gb is plenty for xp.

 

[Alvin.C]

Thats the one I believe I will be getting as well. I would be very interested to hear how you like it. Specifically, how the size is in regards to still maintaining an ultra portable feel. Post here with some details!

My Asus Eee PC 1000H came through this morning :happy:. A reminder of the specs: an Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz processor with Hyperthreading, 1GB of RAM, 80GB HDD, 6-cell 6600mAh battery and a 10.2" 1024x600 screen.

I'm very pleased with it (am using it right now). The screen is of a good size, and the keyboard is a delight to type on - you'll have no problems touch typing on the keyboard as it's not far off from a standard sized keyboard, and is easy to get used to. The chasis is nice and solid and doesn't flex. The screen is bright and adjustable to many brightness levels. The touchpad is large (especially for the subnotebook's size) and the multitouch feature is very useful. It's lightweight and easily portable in my opinion, and the battery life is excellent - I can get over 5 hours surfing the net on Wi-Fi with the brightness between medium and high. It's also nice and quiet.

A few negatives though. There's a teeny tiny bit of keyboard flex, especially around the 'wer-sdf' area. I thought Asus would have ironed this out completely, especially since it was flagged up in reviews of a pre-release unit. However, you'll only notice the slight keyboard flex if you're a perfection freak :drool: and have spent a lot of time typing on perfect notebook keyboard's like you'll find on most lenovos and HP business notebooks. Also, I find the touchpad buttons to be a bit too stiff and clicky, but perhaps they'll soften up over time.

Overall, like I said, very pleased, and it will be a perfect companion for when I go back to uni.

On a not so related but equally negative note, I nearly puked up all over my new Eee PC this morning! Luckily but traumatically, I reflexed and swallowed it back, saving my Eee, then I ran to the loo - in hindsight I don't know why I didn't just expel it on the floor...would have been less disguisting and traumatic. What crazy people do to not puke up on shiny new nice smelling technology aye? lol.

 

[mikee]

I wonder what netbook makers are going to do once windows 7 comes out and xp loses all support. There will likely have to be a huge increase in the processing power, ram and storage these things have which will likely make them much more expensive.

 

[SapperX]

I wonder what netbook makers are going to do once windows 7 comes out and xp loses all support. There will likely have to be a huge increase in the processing power, ram and storage these things have which will likely make them much more expensive.

Why? Most people use linux on their netbooks anyway.


Great to hear Alvin! I can't wait to get one for myself, your review pretty much solidified my choice in netbook.

 

[mikee]

i guess your right what with all the netbook oriented linux distros that are comming up like ubuntu netbook remix and eeebuntu

but there will still be people that want a windows based netbook which will probably have to run win7

 

[Alvin.C]

i guess your right what with all the netbook oriented linux distros that are comming up like ubuntu netbook remix and eeebuntu

but there will still be people that want a windows based netbook which will probably have to run win7

I've heard that Microsoft is apparently working with Asus to develop an optimized version of Windows 7 for subnotebooks like the Eee PC platform. Guess we'll have to wait and see what they come up with.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Netbooks look really cool, my roommate has an Eee. I'm kinda considering buying one but it would never be my primary PC (or primary laptop, for that matter). I got my dv9700t because it's portable yet gives near full desktop experience with its 17" monitor, dedicated graphics, and fast processor. I carry it to class every day too, don't have any issues with it. I have a backpack to put it in, so doesn't matter how big or small the laptop is as long as it fits in the backpack.

 

[Spit-wad]

If I were to get the xp version, what's the best way to install MS Office on it? It doesn't have a CD drive and I don't want to buy an external.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

You could make an .iso of the MS Ofiice cd using another system, mount the iso in Daemon tools on the eee and install from there.

 

[Spit-wad]

yeah... that would probably be the best option