Laptop or netbook?

[Georgiabyr]

So basically i want a laptop or netbook, but i don't know much about either. I've used a PC all my life and i know my stuff about those..

So basically i want a laptop for college work and to take to college and to be able to work on it all day. So it needs to have decent battery life.. 9hrs would be nice! haha.

I'm not sure whats best for work and stuff, i like the size of netbooks as they seem good to be able to take everywhere easily but at the same time the ram seems low? and most are running Windows7 off 1GB, but I'd like at least 2GB's i guess.

But yeah i dont really want to spend much more than like 300/350.. Any recommendations?

Thanks.

[Bat]

While the portability of net books is great, I've never managed to use one for anything more than casual web browsing.

If you're going to be using your laptop for college work then presumably you're going to be typing a lot? If so I'd go for a machine with a full size keyboard, so not a netbook.

As well as that, office 2007 on my friends netbook runs like a dog on 1GB of RAM and an Atom processor, personally I'd shell out for a 15.4" HP or Dell.

[ongy2k3]

I use my Samsung N150 netbook on Visual Studio (XNA 4.0 if you're interested), Photoshop etc. No problems.

If you have have it on max performance & max brightness, you're looking at 4hrs battery life. That's better than most laptops are going to offer you.

[michaelkenward]

What with the arrival of the "pad" I think we can safely assume that the Netbook was a passing fad. I give it a few months at best.

Netbooks drove down the price of laptops and fitted a nice niche when Microsoft could deliver a sane version of Windows for small footprint machines.

[Sarky]

I'd say a Netbook then...owned one and didn't like it personally but that was a first generation so to speak, so it wasn't up to much. Try look for an Atom or AMD Bobcat dual core and at least 2GB ram, that should fit the bill. The single cores aren't up to much now IMO.

[benzeman]

Netbook. Something really 'ard like a Asus 1015P/PE/PEM (PEM is better performance) and 2GB of DDR3 laptop ram from crucial and then you will have an amazing netbook with 13.5 hours (yes you read it right!) of battery life. And thats not an april fools!

[Georgiabyr]

I've seen this Asus laptop,
Asus 15.6in AMD Laptop X52N-EX166V


I dont know if its any good, and i know i cant link to other websites thats it on ;p so if anyone could give me a few pointers if this laptop would be any good? I've seen some Acer aspire one netbooks; I think they are called? Not sure if these are any good but yet they've only got 1gb ram too..

Last time i had a laptop it had overheating problems, so again i want something that stays cool which can be hard with laptops but some have really good cooling.. If any one know any good ones for cooling also would be good!

Thanks.

[benzeman]

Hey,

I'd stick with me recommendation of a Asus 1015 series and just upgrade the ram to 2gb.

[andyn]

What with the arrival of the "pad" I think we can safely assume that the Netbook was a passing fad. I give it a few months at best.

Netbooks drove down the price of laptops and fitted a nice niche when Microsoft could deliver a sane version of Windows for small footprint machines.

People have been predicting the demise of the netbook since the launch of the first iPad almost exactly a year ago. But actually, that hasn't happened.

I think the trend is going to be for a diversification of devices, rather than 'one format to rule them all'. Some people want a netbook, some a laptop, some a tablet PC, others are happy with just a smartphone.

Remember, you can get a decent netbook for £250 or so, the same can't be said of tablets. And when it comes to actually doing productive work, you could easily argue that a netbook is far more effective.

[sb89]

I find my netbook a much better alternative to a laptop or any "pad" for uni. It's more portable than a laptop, for doing uni work (coding and typing up reports) it is a lot more convenient than a pad and also cheaper than the alternatives.

It will lack the power of a laptop (memory, cpu) but as long as you don't go installing bloatware and other useless crap then it can handle most tasks fine.

[Georgiabyr]

yeah i gather netbooks have much better battery life thats why im swaying more towards them plus there easier to take places.

Would running it off 1gb be much of a problem or would it really need another gb?

Thanks.

[sb89]

Most people say to go with 2Gb to be safe. I guess it depends on what/how much programs you are running. I'm running Arch (lightweight Linux) and 1Gb is fine for me.

[celen]

if i use it for work and stuff, i think netbook would be better!
they are advanced in battery and their smart size enable you to take it everywhere.
and most of them get wifi function, easier to take it outside in case you need to do something in public place.

[Georgiabyr]

Okay so im definitely going for a netbook now.. and i've looked at some today and one that i really liked and seemed decent was the
ASUS R101

I dont know if any of you guys know much about it?

[Lynx]

I have an n150 samsung, get 6-7 hours out of it when I have brightness down, and wifi off. Thats what i do in lectures all the time. I find the processor a bit laborious sometimes, but it does the job of web browsing and one note etc perfectly.

[Georgiabyr]

thanks for all your messages of help!
I think im going to get the Samsung NC110; it seems to be decent but if anyone could let me know if its decent or not before i do order it that would be great.

Thanks.

[Faz]

Samsung make quality netbooks, whatever you get I very much doubt you will be disappointed.

I love getting my netbook out, people are surprised at how small it is, and when you pull up a film or something and start watching, they're just very surprised!

Personally I dislike Windows 7 starter as I feel it's not much less than Home Premium, but they make you think it is a basic version specific for a netbook - it's not, it's just a bad version of windows 7........ I would chuck Ubuntu on it, or some sort of Linux - it's a much much faster operating system and on an NC110 it would fly.

It's also another wow factor to show off to your friends - the old 'middle finger to microsoft' card :D

[spleenharvester]

I'd spend the extra and get the N150 Plus mate, for the sake of the dual core Atom N550.

Depends how much you're getting it for though. :popcorn:

[celen]

ah, ASUS R101 is good
i used another brand Samsung.
Samsung N350 10.1" (http://www.laptopspark.com/products/Samsung-N350-101-Netbook-laptop-42.html)

[A Ginger Sheep]

have you considered gettin an 'ultra portable' laptop? I have one myself and imo fits in perfectly for taking to school as its got the battery life of a netbook with more power and is lighter and smaller than a conventional 15" laptop. its an asus ul30a (http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=8CwAK6XZ0pekc7aIhttp://) btw