# Netbooks



## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Yay, I'm so excited! I finally talked hubby into letting me buy a netbook. It's my first so I'm not sure how it'll compare to a regular laptop but I just needed something small I could write on, nothing fancy. I burn through laptops at a rate of about one per year so hopefully this little Acer will last me longer if I take good care of it. Got the warranty though, just in case.

Anybody else have a netbook? How do you like them? I thought I might have trouble with the keyboard being so small but maybe it'll just take some getting used to.


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## msdanielle28 (Jun 12, 2011)

I haven't gotten one yet but I wanted one cause of the space saving and easy access to carrying it along on the go. I'm still wondering would it be to small because it's quit little but it is so cute I would like to hear from someone how they enjoy theirs first.


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## Holly A Hook (Sep 19, 2010)

Netbooks are great.  I got one a couple of months ago, and it's much easier to port around than a full sized laptop.  Great if you happen to be a writer, or just need something light and portable to get online with, if you're going on a trip.  I use mine on my lunch breaks at work.  The only drawback is that I can't change my desktop background on mine.


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## Sporadic (May 1, 2009)

I'm saving up for a ThinkPad X120e or HP dm1z.

It would be nice to have something small I can type on and the AMD E-350 seems like it has some real power while not sacrificing battery life.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

Yay! I got a HP mini last year and love it. It's so much lighter (weighing half as much as 15 in) and the battery life is amazing. 

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Really like my Asus EeePc.


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## lazyjayn (May 18, 2011)

I have a pretty big netbook--12.1" screen, I think. It's got a 96% (I think) keyboard, which I don't like. With a full-sized keyboard, I feel like I'm reaching all the time. Which then bugs my wrists, and I hit the wrong keys, too. I've been on it for about 5 months now, and I'm still not used to the "big" keyboard. My last laptop/netbook was a fujitsu with something like an 85% of normal keyboard, which fit my hands better. And I have pretty big hands/ long fingers for a chick.

Battery-life-wise, not bad. Processor, not bad, memory... not the worst. If you're only using it for writing and checking your email, it'll work. Most (all?) don't have enough power to really take advantage of win7, and I get srsly laggy with more than three or four tabs open in Chrome at a time. 

Oh, yeah, and if I want to make a Skype call, I have to shut down everything else, plug in, *and* set all power mgmt options to "super performance mode". YMMV. I admit to looking with lust at the MacAir, but it's too expensive for down here, and I'd kill it in a week. Kill the EEE, and I'm out $250, Mac? ZOMG, Dollarz.

Compared to the smexy fujitsu or mac, the cheap netbooks aren't much. But they work, mostly.


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

I've got a Dell Duo and where it does have it's quirks, it's been a nice buy. The keyboard is very nice and I don't have to worry about key popping off like on my previous laptop. I thought the screen difference would bother me and although I have very bad sight, it has been decent enough. Now that I look at all the lunky laptops, I'm so glad I decided on something more portable. How did I ever think 17 inched was portable?


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I bought an Acer Aspire One (10.1") two years ago after a thread here enabled me.  Haven't used it that much though, since I have a 17" laptop with dvd drive and I don't see the need to carry a computer with me when I go out.  It still works, but since I don't use it much, I have to update the Kaspersky anti-virus each time before I go online with it.  

If I can find the other KB thread, I'll post a link to it, but since it's old, it's good that we have a new netbook thread.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Here is the older netbook thread that lasted a year and a half. It's 27 pages.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,3015.0.html


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I was also enabled by the evil people here to get one of the Acer Aspire Ones and I love it.  It was really convenient for school and it lets me lay down and still have AIM and such going so I don't have to get up every time someone messages me.  I still don't type on it nearly as quickly or accurately as a normal keyboard, but it's not horrid.  Just don't expect to do anything too taxing with it.  I have managed to watch Netflix and Youtube and the like, but had issues trying to watch iTunes movies with it.  But still, mine is a year or so old and they are nice for the price and size.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I have a Dell Mini 9 and it's all solid state so it's the one that gets thrown in the trailer when we go camping.  It also ends up in weird places around the house 
I don't know if they make the 9 any more, but it definitely has a strange keyboard.  Even after having it almost 2 years, I still fumble-finger things because of the awkward placement of the apostrophe.  You can usually tell if I'm typing on the Mini - no contractions or possessives!
The 10" one had a more normal keyboard.


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## arshield (Nov 17, 2008)

I have had a couple netbooks and liked but didn't love them.  I bought a Macbook Air a few months ago and it is now my only computer.  Love it (the 13in version)


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## Shana Norris (May 31, 2011)

I love my netbook. I have a Toshiba and I've had it about a year and a half. I had a laptop, but I hated how bulky it was. I write during my lunch hours at my day job, so I needed something I could easily carry around along with my purse, lunch bag, and water bottle. I have been SO much happier with my netbook. The battery lasts much longer than the laptop battery did and it's so light I can easily carry it along with the rest of my stuff.


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## cecilia_writer (Dec 28, 2010)

I've had a Toshiba netbook for nearly 2 years now - the main advantage for me is the lightness as I like to carry it with me on holiday etc. I don't often use it on battery power. My main issue is that if I get tempted to write a whole novel on it (which I have just done again - groan - I should know better) I end up with painful joints, ie wrists and shoulders, but I think this is because I can write on it in weird positions and not so much because of the small keyboard.


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## John Dorian (Jul 23, 2011)

It all depends on your preferences. For me, I'm rather tall, and I have long arms and big hands, which just makes typing awful.

However my friend has one and she absolutely loves it, because it doesn't take up much space and she can reach all the keys easier.


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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Love my Acer Aspire One.  It's a little tight on the keyboard, but it allows me to write on the bus and at lunch.

And I'm not a fan of the touchpad, so I use a mouse when there's space.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I love mine.  It is kind of my back up laptop.  It is so small and easy to carry.  yes, the keyboard will take some getting used to, but not as long as you might think.


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## Thumper (Feb 26, 2009)

I love the portability of my netbook, the battery life, the keyboard is great...but the freaking screen is just too small, and the older I get the smaller it gets... So, I never use it. I ought to, though...I'd feel more comfortable hauling it around on the motorcycle than my iPad.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

intinst said:


> Really like my Asus EeePc.


Me too. Well, except now the wifi only works sporadically and the battery life is only around 90 minutes, but I've had it for several years.


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## herocious (May 20, 2011)

Nice choice. I really dig my MSi Wind. The keyboard is no problem. I wrote my first novel on it.


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## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

Jessica Billings said:


> Me too. Well, except now the wifi only works sporadically and the battery life is only around 90 minutes, but I've had it for several years.


ME too, I think my eeepc (7 inch, original batch) is about... 4 or 5 years now... the battery has been getting worse and the touchpad is dieing... Though when I changed back to the original Xandros OS the touchpad and battery seemed to get back to life... odd 
I sometimes use it when I go to the uni library or just to use for skype and browsing when I'm playing full screen games on my normal laptop.
I have used the eee for about 2 or 3 years almost non-stop as it was my only computer.


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## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

I got an EeePC off Woot.com two years ago. It was $150, then I upgraded memory and hd space. I love it. It's perfect to travel with and that's the laptop I take to coffee shops and out to the hammock. The keyboard is a bit small, as expected, but I quickly got used to it.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Well I purchased my chosen machine in May of 2010.
I purchased from ASUS.
But I did not actually purchase a "netbook".
My choice is a 13 inch Ultra Light ASUS UL30A X5K. It has an HD screen, 4 GB ram, 500GB Hard Drive, no optical disk, 801.3 b/g/n, 3 USB ports and an HDMI port. It uses an Intel SU7300 Core 2 Duo Processor. It has Kindle for PC pre-loaded and Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System (64 bit); claims up to 12 hours of battery life. And a web cam.



Everything I need when I am away from my desktop.
Light.
Great battery life.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Although, I will admit, these days I am so badly wanting a Chromebook.  I honestly feel like it could replace my laptop.  My laptop, as it is, is nearly a Chromebook.  It is the first thing I open and all of my files are saves "in the cloud" these days anyway.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I have a Gateway, and find it very useful. It looks so small next to my laptop that I feel quite protective of it.  I use it for taking research notes in the library, and for writing while hanging out in cafes. I do find that I have to type quite slowly, as I'm so used to a full-sized keyboard, but it's a lot better than pen and paper (or hauling my 17" laptop around).


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## Mollyb52 (Jan 4, 2009)

I was holding out for an Amazon Tablet but I saw this little Acer Aspire One.  It has 2 GB memory and a little more poop than most netbooks.  I love it, I am on it now.  The battery life is amazing and I tote this thing all over...it is so small and light,  Now I don't know if I even still want a tablet.  It even streams videos great.  I couldn't be happier.


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## corkyb (Apr 25, 2009)

Molly, link please...


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## Mollyb52 (Jan 4, 2009)

Corkyb,  I can't find the exact model I got.  I got it at Costco...It is an Acer Aspire One,  722.  AMD dual-core processor C-50 (1.0GHZ),  2 GB DDR3 Memory,  320 GB HDD.  1366x768 HD LED LCD.  HDMI out.  I think we paid $329.  We bought it about 2 weeks ago.  Amazon has the Aspire One but the specs aren't quite the same.  I know lots of times the models Costco sells are specially made for them.  If you have a Costco near you they might have one there.  Sorry.


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

intinst said:


> Really like my Asus EeePc.


I have one of these as well. Got it about 18 months ago. It has it's place in my arsenal of computers and tech gadgets. However since I got an iPad, I hardly use my netbook. The screen text on the netbook is really small and causes me eye strain.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

one of my biggest sell points for me was the keyboard. I chose my netbook because i liked the keyboard the most. I actually had go to Fry's and check out various netbooks to find the one that suited my hands best.


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2011)

I have a Toshiba Ultraportable with an 11 inch screen. Love it.


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## Sporadic (May 1, 2009)

Sporadic said:


> I'm saving up for a ThinkPad X120e or HP dm1z.
> 
> It would be nice to have something small I can type on and the AMD E-350 seems like it has some real power while not sacrificing battery life.


Almost have the money together for the x120e. I'm so excited.


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

I have an Asus EeePC 1000HE that I got in April 2009; really enjoy it & it's all I take when I'm mobile; however I am definitely watching what the Amazon tablet(s) are going to be.


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## hakimast (Jul 23, 2011)

Netbooks are evil


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## Sporadic (May 1, 2009)

Sporadic said:


> I'm saving up for a ThinkPad X120e or HP dm1z.
> 
> It would be nice to have something small I can type on and the AMD E-350 seems like it has some real power while not sacrificing battery life.





Sporadic said:


> Almost have the money together for the x120e. I'm so excited.


Received it two days ago and I love it.

Impressions:
- It was much smaller than I thought it was going to be. 
- Very light too, around three pounds with the battery in.
- The keyboard is comfortable to type on and not cramped (although I'm still trying to get use to touchnub in the middle)
- It's powerful. Boots up quickly, runs anything I throw at it with no delay and can run multiple things at once like a desktop. 
- Battery life is about 6 hours with the wifi on.
- The matte screen is nice. No glare inside and still kind of usable outside, in direct sun, if you turn the backlight up to max. Viewing angles aren't the greatest. 
- The speakers aren't that good but I use headphones.
- Doesn't get that hot/loud in normal use. When I was transferring GBs of files over the network, the left fan was kicking out some hot air but it wasn't that loud or noticeable unless I had my hand in front of the vent.









(sitting next to my tv remote)


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## RVS78 (Mar 13, 2011)

Had an Acer Netbook (forgot what exact model it was, I think Aspire One) for about 3 weeks until it crapped out. Just died, blue screen of death style. The keyboard was entirely too small, and typing on it for a long period of time became too strenuous. Same with screen size, headache galore. Maybe it was just the brand we got but the customer service was horrible, it makes a good door stop now.    I'm sticking with laptop and tablet combo. 

Netbook is probably ideal for travelers, casual users.


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## JETaylor (Jan 25, 2011)

I love my mini Notebook (a.k.a. Netbook)  I've got a blue Samsung NC10 and while it has had a few issues with viruses (my fault for not having full protection) - I have no complaints.  I've had it for more than two years now and the battery life is still at around 6 hours.  It's a little heavier than the HP netbooks I got my kids but it was also a little more expensive and has a lot more power than some others on the market.  Plus it's blue.    

Anyway - good luck in your search and I hope you fall in love with yours like I did with mine.


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## Brem (Jun 29, 2011)

Yeah netbooks are pretty awesome. I've been on the market for one for a while now. I was checking out the Google Chromebook, which is a cloud netbook basically.


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

I bought a Toshiba Netbook for our recent trip to Europe ( we didn't want to risk the iPads being lost or stolen, lol)  I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. It's so light & portable and easy to use.


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## rayhensley (Apr 16, 2011)

Cool!

I just bought one. A Toshiba NB505-N508GN 10.1-Inch Netbook (Green). Days of research concluded this to be the best one in my price range ($26.

Fulfills the 3 things I need most in a netbook:

1. 8 hours, 21 minutes battery life
2. Portability
3. Full-size keyboard.

I don't care about video. This is my outdoor writing netbook.

( ^_^ )


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## Brem (Jun 29, 2011)

For me netbooks are meant to be used for the small things. I barely watch videos on it myself, but I do love listening to music on it. A good friend of mine has used a netbook for college. It works perfectly for that and you don't have to pay a ton of money to the college for some supped up computer.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Vegas_Asian said:


> one of my biggest sell points for me was the keyboard. I chose my netbook because i liked the keyboard the most. I actually had go to Fry's and check out various netbooks to find the one that suited my hands best.


Good point. I have a netbook - an Asus EEE, and I chose it in large part because (at the time, at least) it had one of the bigger keyboards available on a netbook. I rarely use it now, because I much prefer my MacBook Air (which my husband had tried to talk me into in the first place, but I didn't want to spend the $$) - my Air has a 13" screen, but I lust after the newer 11" one that's about the size of a netbook. I did pull out the netbook recently to use for Calibre and my Kindle books, and it still works - had an issue with connecting to wifi for a while last year but we finally got that running.

But I digress - my point was that for a netbook it's important to check out the keyboard if you'll be doing a fair amount of typing, because the keyboards are small and can be tough to adjust to. I remember doing a little remapping of the keyboard on my first Asus (which I ended up giving to my daughter for school 3 months after I got it) because of some odd key placement. When I got another Asus they'd corrected that issue, and I much prefer the chiclet keyboard that newer one has.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Since starting this post I've had some time to adjust to my little netbook and I gotta say I'm in love with it. The keyboard is just the right size for my hands and it works great for writing and for checking my email. I don't really try and use it for anything else but for my purposes it's ideal.


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## Lisa J. Yarde (Jul 15, 2010)

CegAbq said:


> I have an Asus EeePC 1000HE that I got in April 2009; really enjoy it & it's all I take when I'm mobile;


Same here, but I got mine in May 2010, best $325 I ever spent. Only issue is the adapter malfunctioned in June. They tend to run a bit hotter than other netbooks I've seen, but it was less than $20 to get two new ones (an extra for backup).


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## JMJeffries (Jun 13, 2011)

I have an ASUS EEE PC with a Linux operating system (first generation so you know I've had it for a number of years) and I love it.  I keep it next to my bed.  When I have trouble sleeping I dig it out to troll Internet or do some research.  I get almost 10 hours of battery life.  I also take it with me when I travel rather than my full sized laptop.  I jazzed it up with a skin from Decalgirls.com and it seems wherever I go people want to look at it.


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## Brem (Jun 29, 2011)

JMJeffries said:


> I have an ASUS EEE PC with a Linux operating system (first generation so you know I've had it for a number of years) and I love it. I keep it next to my bed. When I have trouble sleeping I dig it out to troll Internet or do some research. I get almost 10 hours of battery life. I also take it with me when I travel rather than my full sized laptop. I jazzed it up with a skin from Decalgirls.com and it seems wherever I go people want to look at it.


I kind of want to get a netbook and just install a variation of Linux, maybe Ubuntu. I hear ubuntu runs pretty good on a netbook. I may even dual boot it with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. We'll see.


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## JMJeffries (Jun 13, 2011)

Brem said:


> I kind of want to get a netbook and just install a variation of Linux, maybe Ubuntu. I hear ubuntu runs pretty good on a netbook. I may even dual boot it with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. We'll see.


My son has a dual system and he uses Ubuntu which does an automatic dual boot.


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