[NCLUG] Netbook

[Goodman,Darrin]

On Tuesday 22 September 2009 Brian Wood wrote:

> One more thing:

> I would buy a netbook only if you are sure you WANT a netbook. If you buy one 
> just to save money over a notebook/laptop, you are likely to be disappointed.
> Most netbook owners I know also have a full-sized laptop/notebook. I use my 
> netbook only when I just can't carry anything larger, and don't plan to do 
> anything too ambitious. An hour of typing on the small KB and looking at the 
> small screen is very tiring.

I'd have to agree with Brian.  I have an EeePC 900 and I love it (checking email while traveling, coffee shop visits, etc.), but if I am going to actually do any sort of productive work and if I am not travelling, then I grab a larger laptop or sit at a desktop with a wide screen.  If you just need a cheap laptop and size/weight are not big considerations, you can often times find a decent used Thinkpad (or other type of machine) on Craigslist for a good price.  

My criteria when considering a netbook are listed below - consider how you feel about the following items:
- Screen Size (x-small vs. small)
- Keyboard Size and availability of F-keys (tiny keyboard vs. nearly full sized)
- HDD vs. SSD (spinning drive vs. a computer that you are not so worried about bumping around)
- Linux Preinstalled (like Sean mentioned, it's nice to let folks know that we care about Linux, even if we plan to install over it anyway...)
- Weight (most netbooks are pretty light, but some more than others)
- Size
- Price

CrunchBang Linux is the OS that I am running on my eee, which is a Ubuntu derivative that uses the light-weight OpenBox windows manager.  I run this same OS on a number of other machines and love it.  Incidentally, I bought this machine new (not refurbished) from Buy.com for $199 (16 GB SSD, 1 GB RAM, webcam, etc.); looks like that deal has gone away, but they regularly have good deals going on so check back.

You might find deals on the eee here:
http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=Asus+Eee+PC&qxt=home&display=col 

-Darrin

-- 
On Tuesday 22 September 2009 18:45:40 Michael Riversong wrote:
> Seeking recommendations on a good source for a Netbook computer.  It needs
> to have a good built-in antenna.  It should either have Linux preinstalled,
> or be bare so i can install it.  Would probably go with Ubuntu since
> several East Coast social entrepreneurs i work with use that.
>
> Price is a terribly important consideration.