Comparing netbooks - help me decide!

[Jumper Jax]

Sooo I've been reading up on netbooks and laptops for the past few days and I'm having a lot of trouble trying to pick one out. I want something to take to class with me for notes and homework and multi-tab browsing, but also something I can sync my Zune to or mess around on basic games with.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Acer Aspire AS1410, [URL="http://netbookboards.com/tag/hp-mini-1000/"]HP Mini 311[/URL], and the Dell Inspiron 11z, all of which have prices around the $400 mark.

The Acer seems like the biggest bang for my buck, but it's lacking Bluetooth and the dedicated video card (the Ion in the 311), plus I think I read somewhere that the CPU on it was discontinued or something. I don't plan on gaming much on it, but I'd like to be able to pop open WoW and run around a bit while on breaks at school. And the 311 sports the atom, which I hear is kind of slow in terms of CPUs.

What are your opinions on these netbooks? Is there a better one out there for the price ($400-$450)? Which one would be best for a multi-tasking college student who would like to play basic casual games?

Thanks

 

[MindoverMaster]

The ASUS Eee 1005HA or maybe a higher model than that, would be my choice. The 1005HA has a 1.6 Atom, but its max is 1gb of ram. I think the higher models are better in terms of ram.

 

[Naphtali14]

The ASUS Eee 1005HA or maybe a higher model than that, would be my choice. The 1005HA has a 1.6 Atom, but its max is 1gb of ram. I think the higher models are better in terms of ram.

I recommend the ASUS Eee 1005HA as well. Actually it can support 2 gigs of RAM. It only comes with one though; and you have to upgrade it yourself. I've loved the little thing for the 3 months or so that I've had it.

It came with XP installed. I've since upgraded it to windows 7 home premium. It runs quite nicely. Even supports AERO effects and such. And windows 7 runs much better than XP in my opinion on it.

 

[MindoverMaster]

I recommend the ASUS Eee 1005HA as well. Actually it can support 2 gigs of RAM. It only comes with one though; and you have to upgrade it yourself. I've loved the little thing for the 3 months or so that I've had it.

It came with XP installed. I've since upgraded it to windows 7 home premium. It runs quite nicely. Even supports AERO effects and such. And windows 7 runs much better than XP in my opinion on it.

Yeah, XP came with mine as well. XP is an 8 year old OS. And 7 has better power options than Vista ever had.

[Edit] I only read that it comes with 1gb, I never saw on ASUS's site nor Newegg that it can use 2gb.

 

[Naphtali14]

Yeah, XP came with mine as well. XP is an 8 year old OS. And 7 has better power options than Vista ever had.

[Edit] I only read that it comes with 1gb, I never saw on ASUS's site nor Newegg that it can use 2gb.

Yeah it can. However, since there is only one slot you have to upgrade to a single 2gig stick. Its not terribly expensive if I remember correctly. Maybe 35$-40$ when I did it.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Yeah it can. However, since there is only one slot you have to upgrade to a single 2gig stick. Its not terribly expensive if I remember correctly. Maybe 35$-40$ when I did it.

Yeah, I looked around, it's about 38 bucks, not bad.

ok, It's DDR2 800 (6400), opened it up

 

[adventk]

Get a Mini 311 hands down.


If you like me are a college student and enjoy being able to do simple tasks + more you won't regret it.

I run Visual Studio , Photoshop, Surf the internet, jot notes down in class and it runs it all perfectly with my instant messager in the background.

In terms of multimedia, youtube at 1080p flawless, hulu fullscreen hd flawless, great onboard speakers and heres the best part. 60 FPS in WoW when soloing. In towns 20-30, Dungeons and Raids 35+.

Anything else? Get it, all these netbooks perform the same interm of cpu speed but think bout it, for the same price (~400) why not get an ION? It is everything that people say it is. period


edit: HDMI , o yeah.

 

[MindoverMaster]

IONs may be better, but they cost a ton.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Sooo I've been reading up on netbooks and laptops for the past few days and I'm having a lot of trouble trying to pick one out. I want something to take to class with me for notes and homework and multi-tab browsing, but also something I can sync my Zune to or mess around on basic games with.

I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Acer Aspire AS1410, [URL="http://netbookboards.com/tag/hp-mini-1000/"]HP Mini 311[/URL], and the Dell Inspiron 11z, all of which have prices around the $400 mark.

The Acer seems like the biggest bang for my buck, but it's lacking Bluetooth and the dedicated video card (the Ion in the 311), plus I think I read somewhere that the CPU on it was discontinued or something. I don't plan on gaming much on it, but I'd like to be able to pop open WoW and run around a bit while on breaks at school. And the 311 sports the atom, which I hear is kind of slow in terms of CPUs.

What are your opinions on these netbooks? Is there a better one out there for the price ($400-$450)? Which one would be best for a multi-tasking college student who would like to play basic casual games?

Thanks

Since you plan on gaming this Asus should be a good compromise of cpu and gpu performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220659

The Atom n330 is a dual core and as a result significantly faster than the n270 in the HP but it still has the ION gpu for gaming.

 

[adventk]

IONs may be better, but they cost a ton.

yeah but the ion is in his budget