Anything with the ION in it ie: 1015N(Not available here yet, but should be soon) 1215N, 1215PN, 1201N = OK for semi-recent games and HD content 720p/1080P, have HDMI Ports for easy connect to TVs. Battery life even with the Optimus chipsets is roughly 1/2-2/3s what a GMA950/3100 would do
Anything with the GMA950/GMA3100 graphics in it: Good for business typing, smaller DivX movies. Will play mostly older games but won't do HD content 720p or any higher, have VGA Ports and no HDMI. But the battery life is astounding. My last netbook teh 1005HA which I had last year, was great, the 6-cell battery would last on average 5 hours on video, 7.5-9 while typing/internet browsing through wifi and about 6 hours with an XT USB modem plugged in. But it wouldn't play many higher quality DivX files and no 720P MKVs. Which to me was a problem...
So I've just upsized, back to a 14"(3cm thick...slim) laptop with dvd drive. With AMD Switchable graphics which also lasts 7.5 hours while switched onto stock Intel mode, so I'm happy. I am considering the 1215N for my wife though in the near future
I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.
Thanks for that. I will be using for travelling e.g. email, booking flights, downloading pictures and general surfing which I do a lot of. Only one I can seem to find for sale here is is eee 1001 PXD. I tried one some time ago that had a touch screen for enlarging and shrinking. I get the impression that some of them have different names in different countries.
Anything on the list above with T in it, means touch screen :)
The 1001PXD is a great price, the major limiting factor with it is Windows 7 Starter, which is a real PITA, you might be able to find a cheap upgrade kit for Starter to Home Premium though...or if you have an XP Disc at home, just downgrade to XP
I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.
Personally I'd say EeePC1201PN would be a good option, as I known the 1215PN is slightly better but it is not officially released in NZ yet, only couple of computer shops got it and I guess they were parallel imported. The 1201PN comes with standard 1.66GHz Atom processor plus 2GB ram, 250GB hard disk and 512MB dedicated VGA card. Most important thing is the OS is no longer Windows 7 starter but Home Premium, price should be around $800 to $900. Or if you like S.S.D, consider about getting HP Mini 310/311 series laptop with S.S.D, should be about same price.
It's a 12.1" like the others, but it has an Intel Core 2 solo/Celeron processor and is basically a lot faster than the Atom based Laptops http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=544018
They can also PriceMatch most of the other less reliable company prices off Pricespy and ship via overnight CourierPost
The 1215N would be the one to go for, the 1201PN is only single core 1.66 and doesn't have Optimus graphics switching, so the battery life is quite poor
As above though, all depends on what you want to do, game/watch movies
To be honest, when you wrote above that all you want to do is "email, booking flights, downloading pictures and general surfing" then, it might be better off going into Noel Leemings, they have the eMachines eM350 on sale for $398 - 39 cashback, then just pick up a new battery, the acer aspire D250 series of batteries should fit it and you'll be fine :)
You can pickup a 6 or 9 cell off Ebay or Amazon for about $60NZD shipped
If your budget is <$500 you'll want an atom N450 based 10" netbook. The Asus 1005P is the go here.
Also some stores still have the slightly older 1001P in stock, only difference to 1005P is that it comes with full WinXP home instead of Windows 7 Starter. Some people don't like Windows 7 Starter as it has some limitations,
I would avoid all the older Atom 270 based models which rules out heaps of the other 1xxx models.
I would also avoid the eMachine, the price is great but the screen and keyboard quality are noticeably worse than the Asus models.
For higher budget 12" atom based netbooks don't offer as good $/performance ratio as CULV based laptops.. I would look at the UL20A mentioned by vinnie or the UL30A (13").
Thanks everyone. Got the 1001PXD with 250 hd in the end for a really good price. 1005 was just a bit more than what I wanted to pay. Couldn't find it for less than $600.
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