Advice on best 'small' Laptop

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  Noslee on 21/11/2008 - 01:32

  +1

  This Acer One http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/7815 is one of the better deals on what is called the Netbook market. Though with the amount of different netbooks out in the market, most actually are 80% similar in hardware specs. i.e. Intel Atom CPU, 1 GB RAM, Windows XP, Harddisk from 80GB - 160GB, 8.9" or 10" LCD (same resolutions but different sizes).

  Based on price, the Acer One is very good, however will only a 3 cell battery (more cells the better) it will run for about 2 hrs. Asus Eee PC are generally good on features, most come with 4-6 cell battery for longer playtime. Model such as 904H ($499 on Myer catalogue earlier) and 1000H (my friend bought an 80GB one for $520) are good value for money.

  Good luck, hope you some Netbook owners commenting on their experiences.

• 

  bevisaurus on 21/11/2008 - 11:10

  I have a black eee PC 1000H. It is a great machine. I got it for $538 at Bing Lee (got them to price match JB when they sold out).

  I would recommend going to your local Officeworks or JB Hifi and checking out the displays. Also some like the Acer Aspire have weird mouse buttons which would take some getting used to.

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  pauly on 22/11/2008 - 07:24

  +2

  I recommend that you have a look at a quick comparison (however note the outdated prices, which are mainly in USD). For Netbooks, I would personally suggest that you bring your son to a shop (jb hifi perhaps?) that have all these models available on display. Most of them have different touch and feel, so it's best if he tries on few of them and see which he's most comfortable with.

  There are several popular ones out there, such as the Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind (which I own and absolutely it!), and eeePC. The main questions that you/your son should be considering when getting such Netbooks are:

  • processor type and speed - the common ones in the market should run on "atom" processor. The typical processor speed for netbooks at the moment is 1.6 Ghz.
  • battery lifetime - if your son can tolerate ~1.5 hours of use per charge, then a 3-cell would suffice. A 6-cell would last approximately double the time.
  • storage type and capacity - there are two common types of storage for netbooks, Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SSD). While SSD is more durable, shock resistant, and generally faster, they are often limited by the low capacity (if i recalled correctly, max supported was 20GB max at current, but I could be wrong on this). The older eeePC models use SSD. HDD on the other hand supports larger capacities (for example, my MSI Wind comes with 120GB of disk space).
  • RAM - the common ones are 1GB, but there are some later models that come with 2GB. In my opinion, 1GB should be sufficient for playing light games and surfing the net. However, having more RAM is (almost) always better, but this comes at a higher price.
  • operating system - many would prefer XP due to user familiarity, but they are generally a little bit more expensive. The linux versions are cheaper, but they don't run most windows applications and your son might not be familiar with this.

  As for the 'best' netbook, I'm sure that most owners of the different brands would claim the brand they own are the best. Different people prioritize different aspects in a notebook (e.g, the size/placement of the keys on the keypad, durability of the casing, hardware specifications, etc), so it all comes down to what your son considers important. Like I have suggested, the best way is for him to actually test on the demo units to see which ones he's most comfortable with.

  Value wise, the older model Netbooks such as the earlier versions of eeePC would obviously be cheaper. There are also some netbooks with cashback incentives, such as the Acer Aspire One, which some would consider your 'bang for buck' at the moment, but just make sure you follow the cashback instructions carefully and keep all proof of posting as Acer can sometimes be notorious of finding reasons to deny cashback redemptions. As for general prices, you can compare them at staticice. You might even be able to score a bargain if you know of a store that would price match online prices (a.k.a officeworks).

  Hope that helped and good luck in Netbook hunting!

• 

  chichi on 23/11/2008 - 03:35

  Brilliant! Thanks so much for your help everyone.

  As suggested I'll take my son to JB Hifi to have a look at what is available.

  Pauly we have already had dramas with Acer and their dodgy cashback (still waiting for cashback from months ago - but we'll get it).

  Cheers!

• 

  bargs12 on 25/11/2008 - 21:32

  I would recommend either the msi wind or asus eee pc 1000H (make sure its not 1000HD this has a celeron processor which are sloooow). Both have a six cell battery and will last for around 5 to 6 hours. There is the newest version which is the 1000HA but not worth the extra $200 as the only upgrade is from a 80 to 160 Hard drive. Basically theres not much difference between these two and it comes down to personal choice and feel.

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  chichi on 10/12/2008 - 17:34

  I think I'm going to need some advice on pricing. I've been looking around and the prices are so varied and I'm not sure whether I'm looking at old models etc.

  He now has around $400 saved and considering he is only 8 he won't need anything too flash.

  Does this seem like a decent price?
  http://www.mln.com.au/product/?itemID=466&typeID=

  Is it an old model? Is there a better one available for a similar price (doesn't have to be that brand)?

  • 

    scotty on 10/12/2008 - 21:35

    Not necessarily an old model, but it's a low-end model (only 512MB memory and 8GB SSD, runs Linux instead of Windows). This is probably a better deal for Aspire One:

    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/7815

    Edit: just noted that Noslee linked to this exact deal as the first comment…

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  chichi on 11/12/2008 - 16:31

  Cheers Scotty.