best £250 netbook?

bandit

bandit

bandit

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its so confusing!

the missus wants a netbook, so i've set a budget of £250, which seems like a reasonable price point for a netbook.

however, the range and subtle variations are just stupid!

the Asus and HP ranges are a case in point!

so, appealing to you guys, whats the best one within the budget for the following loose requirements:


+7 hours battery
10" screen
good sized keyboard
good connectivity (WiFi, Bluetooth and USB are sufficient)
<1.5KG in weight

currently favourite makes look to be Asus and HP, but making a choice is difficult!!!
 
Oh, no bluetooth, but USB bluetooth adapter are really cheap and small. Or you'll be looking at the 1005PE, more expensive, and has a glossy screen (I prefer matte on netbooks and notebooks).

One weak point imo, is the trackpad mouse buttons, the design looks like the standard asus rocker button thing, and it's not the the most comfortable to use. I rarely use them on my UL30A, and click on the pad. Not sure if it has two-finger scrolls and that type of things.

EDIT : It does the mouse gestures. Useful since the screen resolution is low.
 
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I'd also consider the HP mini 311c. It's a Ion netbook, has 720p resolution, b/g/n connectivity, bluetooth. Some complaines about the trackpad, and battery life is around 5:30 hours. I'd still factor the need for 2 gigs ram.
 
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My dad got the HP 311c recently and for £250 its probably the best all round netbook especially becuase of Ion and 1366x768 resolution :)
 
Another vote for the Mini 311c.

Bought mine at the end of last year, and still in love with it ^_^.
The girlfriend loves it too, as she can watch movies/TV whilst it's hooked up to the home cinema.
 
lol, just as confusing now :)

I had a selection i had already made.

guess what?

1 - Mini 311C
2 - SAmsung 150
3 - Asus 1001P

:D

i wondered what was going to come up, but because i havent found any reviews of the 311C, i thought it may be a duff one, although on the surface it looked the best!

thanks for the comparison site, looks good :)

i could lose BT, not a huge issue, just frees another USB when needed, i can up the RAM myself, looks like an easy enough operation ...
 
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also wondered whether to wait out for a win7 device. i know it makes a difference with ION, but does it have any other benefits?
 
Apart from the obvious benefits of Ion netbooks, the 311c also runs standard laptop resolution (a definitive improvement over the standard netbook resolution), has bluetooth, and b/g/n(?) connectivity.

The advantage of a pinetrail netbook (1001p), is more battery life, and less heat. So really, depends what you want. Personally, the 311c is really attractive at that price point, given what it offers over the competition. But the 1001p looks better build quality overall.

I suggest you ask the missus :)

in short

1001p
- More battery life (7-8 hours)
- looks stylish.
- better build quality.
- a tad smaller.
- good screen, matte display, good for outdoors.

311c
- higher resolution display.
- can play HD videos.
- can output through HDMI.
- can play a bit of games.
- less battery life (5 hours?).
 
You can wait for Ion2 netbooks, specifically the 1215PN, but it's gonna cost a lot more than £250. At that price point, it's gonna be difficult.

These will have switchable graphics (so no compromise on battery life when the Ion is not needed), the 1215PN (if it ever comes out), a dual core processor with integrated low power graphics.
 
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I wouldn't really worry about small hard drives on netbooks, imo, notebooks / netbooks aren't really designed to hoard much stuff (besides, I wouldn't trust the HDs in them). Plenty of space for what they are designed to do.

But yeah, refurbs / open box definitely an option. The Dell looks good. Apart from the apparent difficutly to upgrade the RAM, price, win 7, bluetooth and especially high res screen is a definite plus in my book.
 
Definitely the Samsung N210 that OcUK have. I have an N220 and the quality is amazing, and has a really really nice keyboard. Battery lasts for me (realistically) 6-7 hours of use.

I'd also recommend installing a proper version of Win 7 on it, because a) Win 7 Starter is pants, and b) theres so much bloatware that needs to be deleted :)
 
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