help with choosing a netbook

[RANDO]

well at least I think I want a netbook. I have a macbook pro but its too big and expensive to take to school. I would be using the netbook for school, typing word documents and internet use. Im not too worried about hard drive space I have an 1T external hd but I would prefer something with 2 gb ram. my ideal budget $300-$400, ideal. thanks

[den888]

I recently bought a sub $300 (out the door, tax included for something like $275) Acer netbook at Target for my wife and am pretty impressed with it.

[bigmike82]

Try to get a used EEPC or Aspire One...that should do nicely.

I have an eepc next to the couch, and it works just fine. Battery life isn't the greatest, but it allows you to take notes, write emails, surf the web and play some flash games...which is pretty much all you'll be doing in class anyway.

[Homebrew2]

Aspire 1 from Costco, $300 w/ 8 hour battery. Stripped W7starter off it, slipstream XPProSP3, running ACad, LandDesktop, ArcView, Sketchup, Office XP. 1GB mem w/ defined swap on partition2, very fast for a cheapo. Supposed to be upgradable to 2GB.
Cheers!

[brassburnz]

I bought the $300 Aspire from Costco for my wife. It's fine for surfing the internet. Fast enough to watch Netflix from our very slow ATT broadband connection. It comes loaded with trial versions of all sorts of software, so all you'd need is a key to use MS Office, antivirus, etc.

I don't like the netbook because the keyboard is too small. Go to Best Buy or Staples and type on something with a similar keyboard. I would rather type on my 13" MacBook.

Also, get yourself a portable optical drive just in case you need to load software you can't download from the net. Ebay has CD drives for around $25 and DVD/CD burners for about $50. They require two USB ports, one for data and one for power. The Acer has 3 USB ports so you may be able to run the optical drive and you 1TB drive at the same time. Not sure about power consumption.

[bigmike82]

The X Series IS an expensive netbook.

[Homebrew2]

If the Aspire 1 is in question (as I can't speak to other NB's) it has USB!! and the BIOS allows booting to USB ... no need for external op drive (for the majority of s/w). I installed XP off a bootable USB stick.
Also, keyboards are cheap as are used LCD displays ... instant "desktop" and easier typing and viewing.
If one wants a real notebook, that's a diff question

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

Bought my wife the EeePc... she surfs, emails and plays Flash games, that's about it. She likes it. IIRC, it was $329 or thereabouts when I got it on sale at Best Buy.

[Rem1492]

sams club has a pre order for a green slimed Dell for $224. only has one USB port though, makes it tough unless you have a hub.

But prices are coming down down down!

my main consideration is what OS it comes with and battery life. If it sits at home I dont leave the battery in it, I only use it when I want to charge it up and go on the road.

[RANDO]

so i went to look at the acer aspire at costco and i wasnt too impressed with the way it felt plus the mouse pad wasnt that great. they had a hp mini 210 that felt a lot better built, the keyboard felt more sturdy and it didnt have that hollow plastic feel as the acer did. the specs are similiar but the hd on the hp has about 100 gb more space. i think the price was about $360, so i bought it. im happy with it so far plus they have a good return policy especially when you use amex. thanks for the help guys although i didnt get any of the mentioned netbooks

[Plebius15]

I plan on picking up one of these in a couple of weeks for college. I chose this model because of the insane amount of battery life it comes with.

http://www.amazon.com/Seashell-1005PE-PU27-BK-10-1-Inch-Netbook-Battery/dp/B003AM8OXK/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IZ8GAG3QMJXXB&colid=3CU7TD48V180L

One thing that is pretty much a given with netbooks is that if you get one with only 1GB of RAM, you want to upgrade it to 2GB right out of the box.

[RRangel]

I don't think you can go wrong with Lenovo. Especially one of their newer netbooks.