Me? Seeking Advice? Netbooks...

I will throw my current dilema open for debate and seek advice lol

I need a laptop for school (teaching not learning). I'm not even considering using the one they want me to use... it's naff.

So, I have my old vaio which is in pieces, has a rubbish battery and is awaiting a new HDD. Assuming it goes back together (and works). £30.

Or shall I just not bother with it and get a cheap net book. I'm thinking the Acer One on play for £199.

Performance wise the two are almost exactly identical, the vaio is an old 1.6GHz centrino.

Anyone got an idea's?

Oh and are there any dual core Atom's coming to a netbook near you..soon?

I think the dual core atom is only hitting netbooks in the second half of 09 which i dont think is in your time frame :P The acer is meant to be one of the best netbooks out there, along side the dell mini (from what I have read)

EDIT: That is if the dual core atom is coming to netbooks at all. Just found a few websites saying that intel is not letting manufacturers use the 330 in netbooks, as it is a net top processor :confused:

I have until the start of the new year really. Pointless to wait any longer than that though.

I'm just thinking about the uses of the netbook after this year. I asume once I'm not training anymore I will be given a new laptop.. which is nice but that will leave me with a netbook which could come in handy or could just be stuffed in a draw lol

Decisions, Decisions. For any other laptop I would get a dell but the mini seems too expensive for what it is.

I hate the asus keyboard but the keyboard isn't that important really. So it's probably between the acer and that.

Question: Are you going to be useing an interactive white board?
if yes, then you can rule out linux, as far as I know there are no linux drivers fore them :( one thing I\'d realy like to get working on my asus 901

If you are going to put XP on it then you\'ll need more memory esp with the atom, it\'s really not that fast, don\'t get me wrong it\'s good enough just remember it\'s not some super fast quad core that you can run 6 different thing at once on. I\'m mentioning it as you\'ll probably need to add in the cost of a 1gb or 2gb memory stick as I don\'t think the 512mb in the acer One is really going to cut it.

I do have a slightly insane idea to throw at you, buy a mini-pc instead.
Something like the eee box £199
Although I know hp do one and I think acer do as well, you may be able to pickup one with the 330 dual core atom.
The idea here is they are still small and light enough to be carried around and it you\'re only useing it for teaching you can plug it into the interactive white board instead of bothering with a screen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pob255

Question: Are you going to be useing an interactive white board?
if yes, then you can rule out linux, as far as I know there are no linux drivers fore them :( one thing I\'d realy like to get working on my asus 901

If you are going to put XP on it then you\'ll need more memory esp with the atom, it\'s really not that fast, don\'t get me wrong it\'s good enough just remember it\'s not some super fast quad core that you can run 6 different thing at once on. I\'m mentioning it as you\'ll probably need to add in the cost of a 1gb or 2gb memory stick as I don\'t think the 512mb in the acer One is really going to cut it.

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You see while I agree it\'s a step in the wrong direction performance wise.. especially from what I\'m used to, my vaio is fine multitasking photoshop, browsers and itunes etc.. it\'s no rocket but it does it well enough. Memory upgrades I\'ll consider if it\'s killing me though lol

I\'ve got a spare XP licence so thats fine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pob255

I do have a slightly insane idea to throw at you, buy a mini-pc instead.
Something like the eee box £199
Although I know hp do one and I think acer do as well, you may be able to pickup one with the 330 dual core atom.
The idea here is they are still small and light enough to be carried around and it you're only useing it for teaching you can plug it into the interactive white board instead of bothering with a screen.

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I was thinking the exact same thing tbh, the only problem is when I need to email, or change a lesson etc.. a screen and a keyboard might be very handy and unless there is a classroom I can use to steal a projector (no interactive white boards just yet) then I'm going to be a bit stuck. So I think for the sake of convenience it will have to be a note/netbook.

I would love something that had a use after this year though so I like your style of thinking :)

I have a Acer Aspire One, It has the best keyboard I feel out of all the current Netbook's although the MSI Wind is a close second and then the Dell.

The ram installed by default in the Aspire one is ok although if your doing more than either work in Word or Browsing the net I would suggest adding more. Also at first the trackpad is a bit weird as the mouse button's are either side, but after a while it just becomes natural.

Lastly get the 6-cell version if you can as the battery life on the 3-cell is only around 2hours. (Thats if you plan not to have it plugged in all the time) It can also get quite hot around where the processor is over long periods of time. Not enough to burn but enough to feel it through your jeans and also to hear the fan spin up quite alot. Although nothing that can't be ignored.

Edit:

As stated above I don't think intel plan to release a dual core version for the netbooks, also not seen anything from AMD aswell. I guess if Via introduce there processor in the new year that will be an alternative.

There where rumors of a new low power dual core processor from AMD but nothing else, so if or when is up in the air and I'd not wait.

Tino makes a good point about the battery, one thing I love my 901 for is it's stupidly long battery life ;)

If you're not going to be useing interactive white boards but just a projector then a netbook will work very well and you can happly stick with Linux (most projectors are only 1023x768)
Although I don't know what the version of linux running on the One is like but you can always swap to Ubantu - netbook version, it's supposed to be very good
(I'm thinking about it but I'm stuck with the default asus xandros on my 901 as I got that through work on condition I do some training sessions showing kids how to use it)

For £199 the Acer One looks a real bargin :) even if it's only a 3cell battery

must say my 901 has already replaced my dieing compaq Armada laptop, it get used to browse the net, be a mp3 player/internet radio when I'm in the kitchen, play dos games and watch anime on my tube commute.

I'll sell you my tablet pc? £850?

The battery in the Asus is a real credit to it and since the keyboard use will be limited it is quite tempting tbh..

Where is the best place to buy the asus?

I assume you're not being serious SIM lol

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

I assume you're not being serious SIM lol

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Asus R1F. Upgraded to 2GB ram. Look it up ;)

Doesn't quite fit the budget matey, I'm thinking less than £250 really although I realise I didn't actually say before (thought I had).

What I have kept on the quiet is that I have my dell xps M1330 that I could use but it's far too nice for school.. and errr.. their software doesn't work with vista.. yeah that will do :p

:surprised:
http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=53dd
hold me back.. HOLD ME BACK.

The cpu is so rubbish.. but it's so much better built than the others.. and the keyboard is amazing.

I don't even like dabs and I hate HP but.. meh!

£800 then, just for you my friend. I'll throw in a joint too

What you thinking...

http://www.quagmirepuzzleboxes.com/S...xjboxclos.jpeg

eh? :naughty:

I don't have that sort of cash to burn tbh.. I'm still supposed to be buying a certain ring for a certain finger... i'll get back to you on the tablet actually :laugh:

Nah, I meant a metal knee joint ;)

Damn, I thought stonerMike would be happy parting with his cash...

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Originally Posted by SiM

Nah, I meant a metal knee joint ;)

Damn, I thought stoneMike would be happy parting with his cash...

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stokesMike is a liberal spender..

This probably wont help you mike but dabs aint the cheapest http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145008 £195 ;)

Is this some sort of sick joke.. HUH!?

I can't bring myself to do it, I mean the atom is a weedy POS anyway, the via is just.. worse.

If I was after a general purpose netbook I think I would have pulled the trigger already though.

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

If I was after a general purpose netbook I think I would have pulled the trigger already though.

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You want something more? Get a tablet pc instead... I know someone who want to sell theirs...

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Originally Posted by SiM

You want something more? Get a tablet pc instead... I know someone who want to sell theirs...

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I'm listening..

I'll get you looking in a more sensible direction Acer Aspire one A150 £200 http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/582596...e/Product.html

May need to put a bit more RAM in it though if you plan to use XP.

yeah I found that one already (in the OP), it's what I'm seriously considering.

Quick warning about tablet laptops they don't play nice with interactive white boards, I know you said you'd not be using one just a general word of warning.

HP used to do a very nice tablet for about £600, cannot remember the model number off hand.

Looks like the big price drop on the hp 2133 is to shift the old stock as no one wants that lump of crud anymore.

PS have you looked into getting thee VAT back/exempt as this is for education? Don't know your exact situation, so don't ask me how to go about it.
I've spoken to our bursar about getting thing through the school vat free, but it a no-go for me as it would have to be officially done off a budget and appear on the inventory, then there's the awkward questions of "where is this superpowerful gameing pc?" and "why we need a superpowerful gaming pc?" at the yearly audite :(

However as a teacher you may be able to clame vat back as a "legitimate teaching aid" . . . now that\'s a possibility I\'ll have to look into.

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Originally Posted by Pob255

However as a teacher you may be able to clame vat back as a "legitimate teaching aid" . . . now that's a possibility I'll have to look into.

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Interesting.. I'll look into that myself.

did you come to any conclusions staffsMike? i'm really tempted to get the acer aspire (the one you linked from play) but cant really work out wether i should be so selfish this close to christmas!

Still debating whether it's worth it and how long it will get used for. My guess is.. not very long.

Might just fix the vaio tbh or see if anyone is feeling generous over xmas. If I was going to get one just for browsing etc.. I'd still be tempted by the HP soley on the keyboard and the screen is nice too.

yeah im looking for a replacement for my dell c400... its still all fine for what i sue it for, but its a bit beat up now and the battery is knackered... and its 50quid to replace.

decisions decisions...

Well apparently some people have been injected with the xmas cheer and will be buying me the one I choose :p

Hmmmm... So now it is the best compomise netbook not just the cheapest lol

Samsung? I still don't need XP so linux is fine.

Depends what you're after.

Maximum portability and battery life, Asus 901
High portability and HD (good for windows & high storage) Toshiba NB100
Portable, HD, larger keyboard and screen Samsung NC10

I still highly rate the 901, it's the only one that seems to come with a 6cell battery as standard and not an optional extra, the low weight (1kg), size (9") and SSD make for maximum portability.

The Toshiba NB100 is very nice (I've done a mini-review here The light weight and small size make it very portableand the HD gives you a lot of storage and seems to run xp fine)

The Samsung NC10 looks like the best of the 10" netbooks all told, but the added size and weight (1.33kg) are something to consider.

The Acer One looks great as a cheap option (ps apparently the version of linux on it is rather stinky)

You may want to consider the Dell mini 12, it's a 12" screen so we're in small laptop territory here.
However, and these are big however's, the atom cannot cope with vista so you'd need to wipe it and stick on linux or xp + the 3 cell battery has under 2 hours of life (can get 6 cell, but have to get it seperately, not even an upgrade option :( ) + and the Price is £400
For £400 you're comming up against low cost 15" laptops, which would be better or a lowcost 12" laptop for a bit more, eg the Asus X20E is a laptop with 12" screen for £500ish.

I'd draw up a good list of what you want and then look for the one that ticks all the boxes :) and one thing to be said for netbooks is they can generally do everything a cheap laptop can.

Well that pretty much sums up my entire problem with netbooks.. they are all compromised in one way or another, and they are not niggly little compromises either.

The dell mini 12 is rediculous.. not even thinking twice about that one.. ever.

Sticking to £300 or below.

The increased weight (ever so slightly) doesn't bother me at all considering it's uses. The keyboard is more important than weight.

Asus gets a shout purely on battery.. but the keyboard is awful and the samsung can produce 6 hours of battery life..

I can't see a compelling argument, other than the £100 less an acer will be to not go for the sammy.

I don't care about Linux, while I don't need XP on it, XP is going on regardless.

Sorry no direct experience of the acer one or samsung nc10 to compair them.

I'd say for £200 the Acer one wins, the main weakness is the 512mb ram but play also has a 2gb stick for £18
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/2164/14...archtype=genre

I'd also look out for a ide+sata to usb converter, or something simular, usefull for installing off CD's and connect a hd for backup/massive data transfur.

EDIT: Can I just say the weight difference does matter, yes it's small 1kg vs 1.33kg (9" toshiba or asus vs 10" samsung) but when you look at the base weight it does matter.
Ok it may be less important for you however I'm currently planning on makeing a bag that hangs off my belt for my 901, at 1kg it's doable, at 1.33kg it's a little too much for confort.
I also find the 9" keyboard fine for typeing, but I'm not a super fast typer.

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Originally Posted by Pob255

EDIT: Can I just say the weight difference does matter, yes it's small 1kg vs 1.33kg (9" toshiba or asus vs 10" samsung) but when you look at the base weight it does matter.
Ok it may be less important for you however I'm currently planning on makeing a bag that hangs off my belt for my 901, at 1kg it's doable, at 1.33kg it's a little too much for confort.
I also find the 9" keyboard fine for typeing, but I'm not a super fast typer.

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That sounds.. a little weird lol

Yeah I can see the weight difference being a problem for some people but obviously not myself.

I think it's down to the Acer or Samsung. I can't decide right now though.. too difficult.

If your concerned about the keyboard, i'm getting the sammy for christmas, i tried writing about 3 paragraphs on it in currys (the store assistant did look a little concerned how long i was going to keep going) and its very nice to use, the dell 9" is ok (friend has that one) but i didn't like the Acer one. It's a little cramped for my liking, guess it depends on how big your hands are but the Sammy is nice.

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Originally Posted by Airlemental

If your concerned about the keyboard, i'm getting the sammy for christmas, i tried writing about 3 paragraphs on it in currys (the store assistant did look a little concerned how long i was going to keep going) and its very nice to use, the dell 9" is ok (friend has that one) but i didn't like the Acer one. It's a little cramped for my liking, guess it depends on how big your hands are but the Sammy is nice.

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Yeah I know it's cramped, I had a go in PC world. Typing on it should be reasonably limited though which is why I'm still considering it.

The sammy is the best for me hands down, but it's whether it justifies the extra £100 in my particular case which is the problem, especially as i don't need XP. If the sammy was linux and ~£250 I wouldn't still be thinking...

well j1975 is selling his nc10 on ebay, you "may" be able to get it cheap ;)
http://forums.hexus.net/small-form-f...ml#post1580324

I about to pull the trigger on a White (eugh).. Acer (EUGH) .. with 1GB of RAM and a 120GB HDD for £199.99.

simply can't justify the extra on the sammy. Although it appears the acer might be noisey which I do mind about I've downloaded fan control stuff for it.. so I guess its ok.

my lenovo s10 with 1GB can play wmv 1080p, mkv 720p (using core avc) with only around 40% Cpu, runs delphi 2009, vs 2008 fine.

so all these new generation netbooks are OK!

I didn't buy it (yet).

Now I'm looking at this instead
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152652

Completely opposite direction I know but with it's X4500HD and HDMI out I figure this fits what I was saying before about having a purpose post requirement at school.

If someone could go and buy this it would save me thinking about it, I missed the few that bigpockets had as well while umming and ahhhing
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HP-NC2400-DUAL...3A1|240%3A1318

So it's

The Acer one from above (cheapest)
The nc2400 (offering less than asking) (best compromise)
Or the lenovo (useful after)

I hate buying things lol

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Originally Posted by Pob255

HP used to do a very nice tablet for about £600, cannot remember the model number off hand.

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HP TX2130ea, fantastic, i own one and love it.

Well, as a Dell Mini-9 owner, I find the keyboard to be alright to use (haven't used other netbooks though), and have an amazingly accurate touchpad (in contrast to the one on my 1525, which wobbles)

Screen is great, very bright and very wide viewing angle.
Battery is 4 cells so last about 3.5~4 hours. To be honest my 1525 with T8300 could hit 5.5 hours on a 6 cell (or 7.5~8 hours with screen off), so Atom is actually not as great about power usage as Intel claimed.

It is also one of the very few netbooks that is fanless, although you'll probably hear the high frequency noise common to laptops.

The transformer is light and TINY and you can just carry it around.

However, the sleep power drain is quite high and it drain 2% of power per hour of sleep (I left it on sleep for 40 hours and found it is at 18% when I turned it on again.)

And 3 USB ports on the side which is great.

I've tried the Dell for a bit longer today. It was fine having been typing on the acer for a while, quite simiar. But the MSI and Sammy are much better in this respect.

I still can't decide though, I've got to the point where I don't care anymore lol

Almost.. so almost bought this today
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...ory_oid=-35074

And I think it is what i will buy if I get a netbook.

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

I've tried the Dell for a bit longer today. It was fine having been typing on the acer for a while, quite simiar. But the MSI and Sammy are much better in this respect.

I still can't decide though, I've got to the point where I don't care anymore lol

Almost.. so almost bought this today
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...ory_oid=-35074

And I think it is what i will buy if I get a netbook.

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That netbook looked so ugly compared to the Dell. I'd admit the Dell one got 1/10 the storage and only Ubuntu though.

I think currently Dell is doing the Mini9 for £212 after 6% quidco.

It looks better in person than on the net and I was resolved to buy it on the net.. so the slightly less ugly looks were a welcome suprise for me lol

Yo Mike this might be slightly over your budget but its still within reason.

Check out the Asus N10J. It's an Atom based netbook but has a Geforce 9300 in it. So it can handle 1080p movies and the likes alright! Some peeps have even played fallout 3 on it lol. Google shows it goes for about 400ish. That's if you want the portability other for same cash get a more beefy machine I guess.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...86&modelmenu=1

http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...prodID=B147635

ps the advent netbook u linked is uspposed to be crapish, i would recommend the msi wind u100 or advent 4211, both around the 250 mark and are very well specced.

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Originally Posted by looney

ps the advent netbook u linked is uspposed to be crapish, i would recommend the msi wind u100 or advent 4211, both around the 250 mark and are very well specced.

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Based on what?

It's the same notebook as the MSI and advent 4211 with a smaller screen..

the other advent 8.9" is rubbish, is that what you mean?

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Originally Posted by staffsMike

Based on what?

It's the same notebook as the MSI and advent 4211 with a smaller screen..

the other advent 8.9" is rubbish, is that what you mean?

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Unless ive got the wrong model (which i dont think i have) that one is based on the u90, i remember researching on one of the advents based on the u90 and didnt get good comments.

edit: sorry i think it was the 4212

Well the u90 isn't bad by any means it gets bad reviews based on it's price and o/s as far as i recall.

The 4212 is like I mentioned the other advent which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

I used it the other day in PC World and was quite happy with it overall.

I have the Samsung NC10 right in front of me which I am typing this on. I have had the majority of netbooks come my way through work and I still swear by the Samsung for the keyboard :) Stick a 2gb mem stick in there and away you go. Great little lappy for what I bought it for, bought an external samsung dvd burner for it and I must say I am using it for 99% of what I do now putting the new gaming shuttle to waste, there is £900 wasted for the amount of pc gaming I seem to be doing atm.

Out of all the current netbooks I would easily say the NC10 over the rest of them for feel, quality, battery life, screen quality and keyboard. If you want I could take a few piccies and upload them if you want to see one up close without seeing the flashy marketing pics. I flattened mine and got rid of the standard xp home and all the crapware on it and stuck XP Pro on with a few tools from the Samsung disc for the likes of the touchpad with the gestures and the keyboard software to get the Fn keys working but other than that this thing flies.

Obviously at the end of the day it is a netbook but I am finding myself now hooking this thing up to the TFT and working in 1280x1024 and using it like a normal machine and its more than capable. So far I have been converting dvd's to divx and xvid files for on the go, general browsing and office work and coding in vs.net with a bit of dreamweaver and its a dream when you are at a desk with a tft to hook into. Although as you can imagine working on vs.net and dreamweaver and photoshop on the little 10.2" screen with a res of 1024x600 leaves little to be desired.

Any questions you want to ask or pictures of it, just give me a shout and I will be happy to answer them :)

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Originally Posted by Grey M@a

I have the Samsung NC10 right in front of me which I am typing this on. I have had the majority of netbooks come my way through work and I still swear by the Samsung for the keyboard :) Stick a 2gb mem stick in there and away you go. Great little lappy for what I bought it for, bought an external samsung dvd burner for it and I must say I am using it for 99% of what I do now putting the new gaming shuttle to waste, there is £900 wasted for the amount of pc gaming I seem to be doing atm.

Out of all the current netbooks I would easily say the NC10 over the rest of them for feel, quality, battery life, screen quality and keyboard. If you want I could take a few piccies and upload them if you want to see one up close without seeing the flashy marketing pics. I flattened mine and got rid of the standard xp home and all the crapware on it and stuck XP Pro on with a few tools from the Samsung disc for the likes of the touchpad with the gestures and the keyboard software to get the Fn keys working but other than that this thing flies.

Obviously at the end of the day it is a netbook but I am finding myself now hooking this thing up to the TFT and working in 1280x1024 and using it like a normal machine and its more than capable. So far I have been converting dvd's to divx and xvid files for on the go, general browsing and office work and coding in vs.net with a bit of dreamweaver and its a dream when you are at a desk with a tft to hook into. Although as you can imagine working on vs.net and dreamweaver and photoshop on the little 10.2" screen with a res of 1024x600 leaves little to be desired.

Any questions you want to ask or pictures of it, just give me a shout and I will be happy to answer them :)

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But doesn't it start being slow/sluggish when you start converting or coding?

Not really :) The extra 1GB of memory over standard helps it out and if you run it on the ac adapter with speed mode selected the netbook chugs along quite happily. If I have it on the battery I just use it like a normal laptop and I can't fault it. All you have to do is remember it's a netbook so it's not going to be blisteringly fast but it does the job on the fly.

I'm having a hard time deciding obviously. I'm not spending £300 on a netbook for my purposes, £200 - £215 is all I'm willing to drop on them. So acer/advent for me.

The problem is the Cheap notebooks which will serve me longer and better than the netbooks. I don't really need the portability.. but it might be nice..

It's the portability that swung it for me as the amount of crap I carry around with me a normal laptop is just to big for me to carry :)

I love it, can just chuck it in its case with the external dvdrw and then slap that into the backpack and off I go :)

The only thing I have noticed that hammers the nc10 is photoshop but I use that sparingly and shift over to paint.net which is fine for most the things I do atm :)

Being at school it's just going to go through the odd classroom change and thats about it. For everything other than school I have my M1330, I just can't face taking it to school :( lol

lol, if your budget is around £215 ish then you have the option of the advent that is 200 atm with pc world or acer seem to be chucking a few of their models out for £200ish

budget is £300 + whatever i feel is appropriate. For my needs the Sammy isn't worth it but it is very nice. I'll spend more if the laptop is useful afterwards which something like the lenovo N500 I have picked will be.. the netbooks will be as useful as each other.

The latest use I have found for my sammy nc10 is mapping ecu's on bike's :D Been using it with Tech 2 also. Need to find more uses for it apart from walking around town finding unsecured wifi hotspots xD

ended up spending a little more on the MSI Wind. Got it for £250 with linux (not a problem .. i hope) in black :)

I spent a long time hogging that and the acer in pc world the other day and decided that the 10" screen and bigger keyboard make it much easier to use over time and easier on the eyes.

Also having read the acers can be noisey (i wouldn't be happy with that) and that the MSI isn't and runs cool it seemed the extra £35 was worth it to me.

I almost bought the lenovo and realised the samsung made more sense at that price.. so I decided to leave both and get the msi lol