Highest specification netbook?

englishpremier

englishpremier

englishpremier

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Joined
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Hi,

I'm just wondering what is the cheapest best specc'd netbook at the moment? I.e the best bang per buck.

Lots of people are raving about the Samsung NC10 but its not the cheapest and it come with Windows.

I'm looking for one that this reasonably powerful and comes running Linux (any flavour) out of the box.

1GB Ram is a must
With a SSHD
8.9" screen or above
Minimum 1.6ghz Atom (higher better if it exists)
 
What about an Advent 4213 (Rebadged ECS G10iL), I've got one of these, scores very well on the performance side of things. Can be had for £250 now and has the bonus of built in 3G.
 
Can you upgrade the ram in these?

i have about £300 to spend. Blutooth and built-in card reader would be nice too.

i will be using ubuntu so there is no point getting one with windows preinstalled.

Edit: - Do any net books come with DVI rather than D-SUB?
 
Last edited:
Eee 901 20GB (Linux) - circa. £250 ?

Have one myself....8.9" screen, wireless-n, bluetooth 2.0, SD(HC)/MMC reader, 20GB SSD (4GB+16GB), 1GB RAM (easy upgrade too !), Atom @ 1.6GHz, multi-touch trackpad, long-life battery (6hrs) and weighs about 1kg only !
 
Today i went to the store and had a play with the following:

Samsung NC10 - Initially i didn't like this at all, but after a while it grew on me. The screen size is nice, the keyboard is a good size thought the keys didn't really dip very much. It seems quick and responsive and the touch pad was good.

Dell Mini 9 - what can i say. My first impressions of this were excellent. The screen was bright and glossy - the NC10 next to it looked like an old cheap TFT in comprison. The touch pad was the best of all the notebooks and netbooks i played with. The machine was snappy and booted up very quickly thanks to the SSD. The keyboard felt nice, but it was smaller than the NC10 and the layout was not nearly as good.

Advent 4213 - Closed, this looked very nice, open it was still ok but nowhere near as solid as the dell. The screen was nice and the keyboard ok. The machine was just as quick as the others, though the touchpad was not in the same league as the Samsung and Dell.

Eee 901 - I was not as impressed with this as i thought i might be - really there was nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't do it for me. The screen was nice, though i prefered the 10" one despite being the same resolution. The machine was responsive and the touch pad good. I even found the keyboard better then reviews has suggested. Build quality was good, it looked like it could take a little absue and seemed to be on par with the Samsung.

Overall though I just found the glossy screen and build quality of the dell mini 9 far better than any of the others on display. If only they had produced a slightly better keyboard.

I did also try the HP something or other, however it was password locked. It did look very nice and felt sturdy. THe brushed alumin lid was a nice effect and the keyboard was a very good size. Unfortunately I couldn't really test anything else.
 
They are all pretty much the same, as they all run on the same reference platform supplied by Intel.

My wife was looking at some today for use on the train whilst commuting and the biggest problem was keyboard size - only the Samsung NC10 and the HP Mini Note would be possible to type accurately on for long periods of time IMHO - now if only the HP came with an Isiah or a Nano instead of that nasty C7 it would be the best all round package.
 
Well I'm very pleased with my Samsung NC10 which I have now had about , my sister got herself an Asus Eee 1005HA SeaShell in black the other day. That's a very nice machine, basically it's much the same as the Samsung, the difference is really in the ergonomics and the looks.

Initially I preferred the Asus, but after spending a few hours with it, putting software on, updating it and such I must say I prefer my Samsung still, although the keyboard is very good for a netbook on the Asus 1005HA I do think the feel and layout of the Samsung NC10's is a little better, the Asus has the better track pad though, the one of the NC10 is rubbish. The screens are about equal and in just about every other respect they are basically the same, I do prefer the mat plastic of the Samsung's keyboard and lcd surrounds though, the Asus has taken glossy a little too far for my tastes.

I think the Asus has the edge in battery life, although I've not played with it enough to confirm this. I can still get over 7 hours out of my NC10 though, more than that if I turn the screen brightness right down and stay away from flash and videos etc.

These are my two favourites from the current crop anyway.
 
All current netbooks are pretty much the same. If you want a cheap quality but not so good battery life buy an Acer One, If you want longer battery life but at extra cost go for a NC10. But if you can wait the new ION Dual Core Atom Netbooks will be here soon.
 
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