How much to spend on a netbook?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › How much to spend on a netbook?

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#69166 4-Oct-2010 16:45

Much like one of the threads a little further down, my wife wants a netbook for the living room.
This will be used for:

web browsing - mostly facebook, maybe a bit of youtube
email (webmail only)
and, most importantly, video calling on skype.

My question is, for those limited uses is there any good reason to spend >$500 when I can get a netbook like this for only $399:
http://www.bondandbond.co.nz/computers/portable/pc-notebooks/emachine-lu-nah0b-050-emachine-em350-10-1-netbook/prod103675.html

eMachine eM350 10.1" Netbook

1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor

1GB DDR2

160GB 5400RPM SATA

10.1" LED Wide Screen CrystalBrite (1024x600 8ms screen)

Card Reader

802.11b/g Wireless

3 Cell battery

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator

Built in Webcam

Microsoft Windows XP Home

which is only $399. At a glance the specs appear to be pretty much the same as the other netbooks in the 500-700 region. 160GB hard drvie is more than enough, as is 1Gb of RAM I would think.

As a non-ech savvy person, are there material benefits I am not seeing by reading the specs of spending more on a 'better' brand?
e.g. Will the touch pad here be shockingly unusable? Is the build quality so poor it will fall to pieces? wil the wifi reciever suck badly so that it becomes unusable.

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2566 posts

Uber Geek

#387766 4-Oct-2010 16:59

They're all the same realy, the only difference will be battery size/life and build quality/usability (mouse/keyboard)

Other than that, they're pretty much the same. You should check reviews for about how well the keyboard/touchpad etc work. Asus still does some of the better quality netbooks IMHO, I have an asus eee 1005HA I picked up for $500 from PBTech when they were on special.

tigercorp

668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#387819 4-Oct-2010 19:09

Nope, no point in spending more when that netbook will do what you want it to.

I haven't had any hands on time with that particular one, but suspect the build quality is going to be very similar to the Asus eeePc netbooks which I do like and recommend.

Visit a store and have a play with it, check out how solid it is and how the keyboard feels. Like kywhana says, internally, they'll all be pretty much the same.

kobiak

1615 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#387828 4-Oct-2010 19:24

>They're all the same realy, the only difference will be battery size/life and build quality/usability (mouse/keyboard)

>Nope, no point in spending more when that netbook will do what you want it to.

I thought so too until I saw Sony X series :D and it feels completely different in hand rather then online review. but I can't justify $2000 NZD :(

When I had it in my hands, I thought my nokia 6120 weights more than netbook...

helping others at evgenyk.nz

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#387833 4-Oct-2010 19:31

Heh, the Sony X series all have the same hardware inside as the others, but Sony is the Apple of the PC world..

th3r3turn

258 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#387835 4-Oct-2010 19:33

look @ second hand, you get then cheap. But that price is great worth looking @ for.

kobiak

1615 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#387838 4-Oct-2010 19:36

@kyhwana2, honestly. You gotta see it before you judge. It's not netBOOK, it's netSHEET :D

helping others at evgenyk.nz

th3r3turn

258 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#387840 4-Oct-2010 19:38

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kobiak

1615 posts

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#387842 4-Oct-2010 19:41

compare to sony x :)

helping others at evgenyk.nz

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#387846 4-Oct-2010 19:51

kobiak: @kyhwana2, honestly. You gotta see it before you judge. It's not netBOOK, it's netSHEET :D

Well, if you've got $2k to blow on a netbook, go for it ;)

Ragnor

8219 posts

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#387963 4-Oct-2010 23:05

Asus eeepc 1001P has a much better quality lcd screen and is only ~$50 more than the Acer/e Machine.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#388375 5-Oct-2010 17:35

haqving done a wee bit more research I am thinking that I would prefer a better batery than 3 cells. 3 cells supposedly only last 3-4 hours, which might prove annoyingly short. Cheapest 6 cell I can find is:

http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4caaa9a6048b4302273fc0a87f3b06ca/Product/View/XC8864

Aspire One AOD260-21G25n Netbook
PROCESSOR ? Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
MEMORY - 1GB DDR2-667 Memory
HARD DRIVE - 250GB Hard drive
COLOUR DISPLAY - 10.1" SW VGA Widescreen Display
MEDIA DEVICE - None
CARD READER ? yes (xD, SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro)
USB PORT - 3x USB 2.0
WIRELESS - Acer Wireless 802.11 b⁄g⁄DRAFT-N
BLUETOOTH - Integrated Bluetooth
GRAPHICS - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 (Intel GMA 3150), 64MB of dedicated video memory, supporting Microsoft DirectX.
TV TUNER - None
CAMERA - Acer CrystalEye webcam
SOFTWARE ? Acer eRecovery Management, McAfee? Internet Security Suite 2009 Trial, Norton online backup, Google Desktop?, Windows Live? Essentials, Video Conference Manager, Acer Game Zone
ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE - MS Works 8.5 + Office Trial
OPERATING SYSTEM - Windows 7 Starter + Android Dual Boot
BATTERY LIFE - 6-cell 2.6 battery
NOTES - Dolby Headphones technology, Thin & Light 1.2kg, 5-in-1 media card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Built in webcam, Built-in digital microphone, Wi-Fi 80.11b⁄g⁄n

so it's $250 more, but does look quite a bit nicer.

comes with Windows 7 instead of XP, not too sure if that is an advantage or not tbh.
Dual boot with android sounds interesting, but from reading about it it seems like you cannot access the market place or anything like that, which is a shame.

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#388379 5-Oct-2010 17:40

NonprayingMantis: haqving done a wee bit more research I am thinking that I would prefer a better batery than 3 cells. Cheapest 6 cell I can find is:

http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/4caaa9a6048b4302273fc0a87f3b06ca/Product/View/XC8864

Aspire One AOD260-21G25n Netbook
PROCESSOR ? Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
MEMORY - 1GB DDR2-667 Memory
HARD DRIVE - 250GB Hard drive
COLOUR DISPLAY - 10.1" SW VGA Widescreen Display
MEDIA DEVICE - None
CARD READER ? yes (xD, SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro)
USB PORT - 3x USB 2.0
WIRELESS - Acer Wireless 802.11 b⁄g⁄DRAFT-N
BLUETOOTH - Integrated Bluetooth
GRAPHICS - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 (Intel GMA 3150), 64MB of dedicated video memory, supporting Microsoft DirectX.
TV TUNER - None
CAMERA - Acer CrystalEye webcam
SOFTWARE ? Acer eRecovery Management, McAfee? Internet Security Suite 2009 Trial, Norton online backup, Google Desktop?, Windows Live? Essentials, Video Conference Manager, Acer Game Zone
ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE - MS Works 8.5 + Office Trial
OPERATING SYSTEM - Windows 7 Starter + Android Dual Boot
BATTERY LIFE - 6-cell 2.6 battery
NOTES - Dolby Headphones technology, Thin & Light 1.2kg, 5-in-1 media card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Built in webcam, Built-in digital microphone, Wi-Fi 80.11b⁄g⁄n

so it's $250 more, but does look quite a bit nicer.

comes with Windows 7 instead of XP, not too sure if that is an advantage or not tbh.

Dual boot with android sounds interesting, but from reading about it it seems like you cannot access the market place or anything like that, which is a shame.

Windows 7 starter is very crippled. I don't believe you can even change the background wallpaper on it, and it has restrictions when running as dual monitors. I would prefer windows XP and 7 starter. Also people don't tend to recommend Acer, not sure how reliable they are as a brand. Asus are often recommended and come out tops in terms of reliability.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#389425 8-Oct-2010 09:00

went for this one in the end:

http://www.notebookcity.co.nz/lenovo-ideapad-s12-netbook-0

$650 from Notebook City

the larger screen (12") , 6 cell battery, and 2GB Ram, and Lenovo brand, swung me far enough to spend the extra

amz87

25 posts

Geek

#392730 16-Oct-2010 21:12

looks good! would probably last a little longer than the emachine would too :)

Nety

2584 posts

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Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#392897 17-Oct-2010 18:24

c71931f:
tigercorp: Nope, no point in spending more when that netbook will do what you want it to.

I haven't had any hands on time with that particular one, but suspect the build quality is going to be very similar to the Asus eeePc netbooks which I do like and recommend.

Visit a store and have a play with it, check out how solid it is and how the keyboard feels. Like kywhana says, internally, they'll all be pretty much the same.

Posting the same thing 3 times? guess it's a way to get your post count up fast?

imo it's better to buy netbooks second hand, got one recently for 200 that came with a new 6 cell battery & the standard 3 cell one. Or wait for boxing day sale's,got a 1001HA for $288 from Harvey Norman (was a replacement for when they ran out of HP netbooks during the boxing day sale..)

The multi post would have been a mistake. I have removed the extra posts.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

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