Notebook - Which to Buy!

AndrewHK2

AndrewHK2

AndrewHK2

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Joined
20 Jun 2009
Posts
43
Hey folks,

In the past I've been lucky enough to have some fantastic advice from individuals here at Overclockers. So, I thought I'd come and take advantage of that before Christmas!

I'm looking for a decent notebook/netbook type accessory for around £200-£250. It doesn't need to do anything exceptional, but should have wifi, be able to support programs like Microsoft Office etc.

For example, is this any good: http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/hp-mini-110-3107sa-blue-07757046-pdt.html

What other features can notebooks have which are pretty nifty, if any?

Thanks once again and any advice at all would be much appreciated!
 
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I've been recently refreshing myself on some Netbooks within the same price range for after christmas, basically it would have to have portability and enough power and screen res to browse the internet and do work in Microsoft word and Powerpoint.

I looked at the Acer AO-D255 (i think) of which the original model has the single core cpu at 1.6ghz (£200-£230) but i found a newer dual core version (cant remember the clock speed) which was £250 so to me its a bargain worth looking at.

Cant mention the retailer for competitive reasons but there are a lot more netbooks which are nicer looking and have better reviews than the mini 110.

Also look at:

Acer AO D260 @ £200 (purple shirt retailer?)
Asus Eee PC 1001p @ £200 (another large retailer)

or you can search these netbooks on Google Shopping, generally you can pick up the website and price from there.

Goodluck and Merry Christmas!
 
Thanks very much for your reply :) really appreciate it.

Quick question: I came across this comment on an Asus EE PC 1001P and wondered if you might be able to enlighten me as to the variety of wifi available on these notebooks?

"You give up some of the features of the more premium ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-P (Seashell), such as 802.11n wireless.."
 
Hp mini 311c @ 299

i bought this for 235 but its gone upto 299 now , ocuk seem to put 1 in stock every day to temp ppl ;p

pro's about this netbook:
highier then normal res
ion gfx
full size keyboard
hdmi port

conn:single core
touchpad is same material as the shell
 
AndrewHK2 said:
Thanks very much for your reply :) really appreciate it.

Quick question: I came across this comment on an Asus EE PC 1001P and wondered if you might be able to enlighten me as to the variety of wifi available on these notebooks?

"You give up some of the features of the more premium ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-P (Seashell), such as 802.11n wireless.."
Click to expand...

Most netbooks come with a wifi card soldered to the motherboard, if not you can get a usb 3G dongles or wireless adapter for a your LAN. I think that in that comment the person who posted it must know that te 1005PE doesnt come as standard with a wifi card inside it. Maybe look at the specs on well known retailers and a bit of googling :).

AS for the 311, it is a really good piece of kit, i wanted one for ages but knew it would be after christmas and the prices seem to have shot up everywhere, and £300 for an 11.6" is quite steep, could go £50 more and get the Acer TravelMate 8371, which is a lot better than the 311c and comes with 1366x768 (same resolution as the 311c) but on a 13.3" screen :)
 
Right! It's been a while but I've finally narrowed the choice to the one peeps have suggested above. However, a final dilemma before I make the purchase:

1) Acer AO D255 Dual core N550 - 1.5GHz
2) Acer AO D255 N450 - 1.66GHz

Presumably the dual core is the better of the two? Both are priced at around £259

Notebook 1 from retailer X is the same price as Notebook 2 from retailer Y, but the N450 1.66Ghz from retailer Y has 2 years guarantee. What significance is this, if any? What choice would peeps make?

Thanks so much in advance - any help appreciated in this decision :)
 
I'll throw you a curveball...

I literally went out today to buy no.1 in your choices, albeit the blue and white 'happy' version. Then whilst in purple shop, i noticed the Toshiba nb520, moreso, it's Harmon Kardon speakers, these impressed me for a netbook, it has exactly the same spec as the Acer (dual core N550/250gb HDD/1gig RAM). and it's only £20 more. Having a play with both, the Toshiba is better built, it doesn't quite look as cool as the blue / white acer but it has a blue lid which i like. Anyway, i bought it instead of the Acer, and i honestly went out this morning to buy that Acer, i had my heart set on it, so that must tell you something.

Anyway - pics...

5465173623_5295f01e4c_b.jpg


5465769512_2834ba3fef_b.jpg


5465756356_de87cdae89_b.jpg
 
AndrewHK2 said:
Right! It's been a while but I've finally narrowed the choice to the one peeps have suggested above. However, a final dilemma before I make the purchase:

1) Acer AO D255 Dual core N550 - 1.5GHz
2) Acer AO D255 N450 - 1.66GHz

Presumably the dual core is the better of the two? Both are priced at around £259

Notebook 1 from retailer X is the same price as Notebook 2 from retailer Y, but the N450 1.66Ghz from retailer Y has 2 years guarantee. What significance is this, if any? What choice would peeps make?

Thanks so much in advance - any help appreciated in this decision :)
Click to expand...

I bought my d255 from a large brazillian rainforest just after newyear, and i love it :).

The dual core powers the thing like crazy, but if you put it onto performance mode then the battery drains slightly faster ofc.

Personally i would go with the N550 cpu, the dual core 1.5ghz rather than single, because its faster, same features, just spruced up, and you cant argue if their the same price, can you? :D

I made a small review, ill link it here shortly, and i also put some little images on to show the netbook itself.

REVIEW and images HERE!!! ----------------->>>>> Linky weeeeeee....
 
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Wez, where bouts in redca' you from :D small world, or forums idk :p.

Is that a 10.1 inch screen or slightly bigger, as it does look a nice bit of kit, and looks a lot bigger than my D255.

Regarding you going to buy the happy version, you can get the cherry red and black versions on the web, and happy one looks too girly for my liking :).
 
I'm more Normanby lol, still under redcar authorities though ;)

Yes it's a 10.1" screen ,and yes, i love it, it's nice.
 
wez120 do you think 2gb ram is sufficient?

if you were to install programs like photoshop, dreamweaver and flash, how do you think the toshbia or acer netbooks would cope despite having a dual core cpu and even if it had 2gb RAM?

your thoughts would be appreciated..

thanks
 
I don't use photoshop anymore, but if i did, i still wouldn't use it on a laptop, i'd have it on a desktop. Saying that, when i did photography, about 2 - 3 years ago, i only had 2gb ram in my desktop and CS3 handled fine, but at the same time, i had a fairly good gfx card too.
IMO, a netbook is too small for any gfx work really on a 10.1" screen, they are not designed for that sort of intense work, mainly for browsing, hence their name 'netbook'.

I can't comment on whether 2gb is enoughin my toshiba yet, as i haven't received my module yet, but i can tell you that for as cheap as DDR3 ram is, they should have put 2gb in as 1 gb is definitely not enough, it's sluggish at best, it takes about 30 seconds to open explorer :(. However, i'll repost when i do get my 2gb stick and tell if their is any difference.
 
xirokx said:
wez120 do you think 2gb ram is sufficient?

if you were to install programs like photoshop, dreamweaver and flash, how do you think the toshbia or acer netbooks would cope despite having a dual core cpu and even if it had 2gb RAM?

your thoughts would be appreciated..

thanks
Click to expand...

For a netbook, all you stated would probably run slow, or so slow it would have to be removed. I would suggest using a free text editor tool like notepad, or Notepad++, i use this for my web design, providing you use code rather than the built in dreamweaver choices etc.

And most netbooks only have a 32bit o/s, and like wez said, they are used for small programs like word, excel, tinterweb browsers and other small things, nothing to intensive on graphics, unless you have a ion chip which will cope better on certain games and hd content like videos and youtube hd.
 
wez130 said:
I don't use photoshop anymore, but if i did, i still wouldn't use it on a laptop, i'd have it on a desktop. Saying that, when i did photography, about 2 - 3 years ago, i only had 2gb ram in my desktop and CS3 handled fine, but at the same time, i had a fairly good gfx card too.
IMO, a netbook is too small for any gfx work really on a 10.1" screen, they are not designed for that sort of intense work, mainly for browsing, hence their name 'netbook'.

I can't comment on whether 2gb is enoughin my toshiba yet, as i haven't received my module yet, but i can tell you that for as cheap as DDR3 ram is, they should have put 2gb in as 1 gb is definitely not enough, it's sluggish at best, it takes about 30 seconds to open explorer :(. However, i'll repost when i do get my 2gb stick and tell if their is any difference.
Click to expand...

Surely 30 seconds to open the browser is wrong, like mine opens instantly, and uses the same spec system as yours, just a different brand near enough. My netbook boots in less than 40 seconds, and opens most programs within 3 seconds, so im happy as larry, and my idle ram useage is like 1%, and thats with 40 or so processes i think. Just turned it off as its charging and im no longer talking on skype, will get back to you tomorrow on it :)
 
thanks for your responses,

so whats the point of spending that amount >£250 on a netbook when for a few extra quid you could get a tablet to do the basics..?

i would prefer to run a netbook with photoshop, dreamweaver, flash etc to get the most out of it especially as I would not be able to game on it..

if i could not do that then i would just use my fone to read emails, go on skype, surf the net or to write a letter...
 
xirokx said:
thanks for your responses,

so whats the point of spending that amount >£250 on a netbook when for a few extra quid you could get a tablet to do the basics..?

i would prefer to run a netbook with photoshop, dreamweaver, flash etc to get the most out of it especially as I would not be able to game on it..

if i could not do that then i would just use my fone to read emails, go on skype, surf the net or to write a letter...
Click to expand...

Not many netbooks were made to have the capabilities of running ram and graphic heavy program, like photoshop and flash, yes people would want to use the program, but thats why we have desktop computers and then the netbooks for on-the-fly email reading, and other tings. One thing would be that if you were to use photoshop on a netbook, you would generally use a mouse, for more accuracy when painting or just generally clicking, well i would anyway. And then you've got the image rendering process, and with flash as well, creating animations would be quite a challenge, even with the restriction of a 10.1" screen, so your graphics would be created, in the sense of being viewed on a netbook at lower resolution, where as image manipulation/creation on a 1366x768, 1280x800, 1600x900 and 1920x1080 resolution screen you have the ability to create large and small things, where you would find it hard to scale the imagery on the netbook to have the ability to edit it.

However if you wanted to use photoshop or something, you might want to consider looking at the more higher-end netbooks, like lenovo's new x120e, i think that has a lot more capabilities with bits and pieces from their advert for it on youtube.

Most people would not buy a netbook for photoshop, dreamweaver or flash, as i bought mine for emails, skype, word processing, internet browsing, and writing notes during my university and college lectures. Everyobdy has different uses for them, but for the price you cant really complain that it doesnt have the ability to run photoshop at the potential a desktop computer would.

Before purchasing you can always have a browse on the web to see if the netbook meets your requirements, if not, invest in a higher end netbook or notebook for that fact, something with hd graphics, an i3 processor, 4gb ram, 64 bit windows 7 and you would be sorted.

Goodluck and if you find one, post some piccies!
 
Thanks for your response...

I was hoping to learn programming I.e. Java, MySQL, PHP etc would a netbook be able to handle those programs the Toshiba nb520 and the Acer d255??
 
xirokx said:
Thanks for your response...

I was hoping to learn programming I.e. Java, MySQL, PHP etc would a netbook be able to handle those programs the Toshiba nb520 and the Acer d255??
Click to expand...

Are they the actual names of the programs? if not maybe you could provide a link to them and i can maybe do a small evaluation if i could install them onto my netbook, thus giving me a first hand experience with those programs and see whats what, however i will be testing for basic functionality, not intensive as i have no knowledge of PHP or Java, i only know basics of CSS coding and HTML for websites.

If infact you would like to use text editors, then Notepad++ works like a charm on my netbook, its what i use to get my basic coding complete, and then over to my computer so i can do more of the visual aspects like colour, size and content so i know it will fit the majority of browsers, as my netbook is 1024x600, so i need it to incorporate the vast majority of resolutions, however my website is 800px wide and has an unknown height due to the content has not been completed as of yet so my site will be viewable on 800px wide devices and on higher resolutions, the site is centered, hope this has helped, even though i blabbered on about my website :D
 
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