Calling all netbook owners!

[knowledgegranted]

Hey all,


I'm trying to make up a list of PROS and CONS over whether or not I should buy a laptop; so I decided to ask you guys. After purchasing a netbook what did you find yourself unable to do? Also, what did it Enable you to do?

Can you watch movies on it, most companies acclaim it can decode a 720p movie fine but for some reason I think else results.


I'm a big, big traveler and need more than 4-5 hours of battery time with a computer and thought a netbook would be a legitimate solution.


Thanks in advance all

[BerticusPryme]

I had a Acer Aspire one. works great for eveything I do. But I ma a gmaer at heart so I felt it lacking when it came to power though. I was able to play Lineage 2 and WoW on it with everything turned down. Wovies were great for it. If you are going to be doing anyhting but serious gaming then I would say go for it. I leave my big laptop in the office at work and carry the aspire one out with me when i wlak and check wifi remote in to other systems. I am really happy i bought mine. The only con for the little thing was I could only upgrade 2 things. Memory and HDD. I figured that is all I could upgrade but upgrading the ram was damn near a nightmare. look it up on youtube and you will see. Have to remove the motherboard and everything jsut to get to the ram slot.

[TheGreatSatan]

Here's the review I wrote on my Asus 1000HE and I LOVE it! Upgrading it to 2GB was cheap and easy too.

[Zephik]

Netbooks can do just about anything that an average computer can do. It doesn't handle intensive programs like Bioshock or maybe Photoshop, but it handles things like WoW pretty okay, if that gives you an idea of what they are capable of. Although, if you like the size and thus the portability and of course that wonderful battery life, but you desire a bit more, there is always the Asus N10 Netbook. It has the ability to switch from on-board graphics to a dedicated graphics card, both with pretty good battery life. It also has a 9-cell battery available for purchase for even more battery life. I think it got something like 3 hours or so with the GPU turned on and around 5 hours with it turned off. Thats with WiFi on I believe. Here is a quote from a review site.

Battery:
The ASUS N10 features switchable graphics: To conserve battery power, the N10 has the ability to switch from the Nvidia 9300m GS to the integrated Intel GMA950. The 6-cell battery in the N10 pushes just over the 7 hour mark. I was able to get 7 hours and 11 minutes by switching to the Intel GMA 950, turning off Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, and dimming the screen. I am actually quite satisfied. ASUS does sell a 9-cell battery for the N10 if desired.

Its a tad pricey, but its one of a kind if you need a netbook with a bit more power behind it.

[simon275]

I think netbooks are good device. I just find the screens too small.

[Zephik]

I think netbooks are good device. I just find the screens too small.

They should make a netbook with an adjustable display. That would rock. Not sure how they would do it though. Maybe with those fold-able screens?

[TheGreatSatan]

I'm sure OLED screens are around the corner

[Kumo]

I have an eeepc 900 and i'm agree with the above post. You can do a lot of things with a netbook, but knowing its limits (mostly GPU limits). Most user only will find problems if the try to use it as it was a larger laptop, because the small keyboard and screen make it uncomfortable to work on it for many hours (I mean serious office work or picture editing, but casual blogging and others are OK).

As resolution in bigger screens is kept at 1024x600, unless you use a external monitor, watch HD videos isn't really an issue, anyway, latest netbooks are HD capable. Mine is fine to watch standard (no HD) movies and tv shows or youtube videos.

Remember that a netbook isn't a cheap laptop, it simply different machine.