netbook, tablet, or mini laptop?

[norwega]

I have an android cell phone, and like all of the apps available for it. We're on Celebrity Inifinity- 16 day Panama. I want to be able to look at and save photos on a device other than my camera, possibly also on a flash drive. I also want to be able to email via wi-fi.

I like the Motorola Xoom, but it's $600 (on month to month). Netbooks are around $300, right? mini laptops - about $600 or more? We don't have a laptop at home, just pcs.

We don't leave until April 23, so I have some time to shop... Thanks for suggestions! :)

[ger_77]

I absolutely love my little Acer Aspire One 8" netbook. I've had it for 2 years and 2 cruises and couldn't be happier. I download all my photos every day (and I take lots) so I have clear memory cards to start with in the morning. My netbook is small enough that I can carry it in my purse and don't have to put into my carry-on.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

[Putterdude]

I have a 17" laptop which has become my principal computer but didn't want to travel with it. I spoke with an IT guy about a Netbook and he counseled me not to buy one, they are far to limited. So I ended up buying a small refurbished DELL from a national re-seller for less than $300 and it has proved to be a real workhorse on at least 7 cruises over the past 14 months.

[Essiesmom]

I just replaced my Sony Vaio (10" screen, six years old, may cruises) with a Lenovo x100e, just slightly bigger and more expensive than a netbook, but a little more computer with 11.5" screen. I love it, and it has been my main computer since my other one has spent most of the past 6 months treking back and forth to the repair center. I do a little email, web surfing, keep a jurnal/blog, and download pictures. EM

[bass1946]

We will be on the same Celebrity cruise as you (hope we get chance to meet) ....and are bringing our new Lenovo Netbook. We were researching something light, easy to carry that would do all our laptop can do (mostly email, internet, pictures). Our daughter had one she got when heading to Europe, and she has had great luck with it....so we decided to get same kind.

 

We have it all loaded and ready to go....it had a nice size keyboard, similar to our full size laptop, so is easy to use.

 

Connie

[6rsd6]

Hi norwega, I am an IT consultant and the first thing I would ask myself is just what do I want the device to do? Netbooks are great to just whip out on a plane, bus or gate area to check emails, write Word documents or download pictures or music to. If you have an android phone skip the Tablet, its just bulkier but does pretty much the same. I have found that a well branded 15" laptop with a DVD or Blueray player works great for travelling. I can watch a DVD or downloaded movie while flying (domestic flights no movies anymore) and I can see my downloaded pictures and edit them on a good size screen. I can also email, blog and video conference with the built in camera.

 

Hope this helped. :)

 

r

[bob brown]

I also found my home laptop, a 17" HP too big and heavy to travel with. So I bought a Toshiba NB305 10" netbook to travel with, and it works great. Has a generous 250G hardrive and an 'N' wifi that really pulls in hotspots ashore. Its 6 cell battery lasts over 10 hours. Only drawback is no DVD drive, but if you have to have that, you can get an external one.

Only weighs 3 pounds. I've used it on three cruises, so far. I bought it at Costco Online (membership required), so they give you a two year warranty, and a 90 day free trial. If you don't like it, you can return it at any Costco store for a full refund.

[donaldsc]

I also found my home laptop, a 17" HP too big and heavy to travel with. So I bought a Toshiba NB305 10" netbook to travel with, and it works great. Has a generous 250G hardrive and an 'N' wifi that really pulls in hotspots ashore. Its 6 cell battery lasts over 10 hours. Only drawback is no DVD drive, but if you have to have that, you can get an external one.

Only weighs 3 pounds. I've used it on three cruises, so far. I bought it at Costco Online (membership required), so they give you a two year warranty, and a 90 day free trial. If you don't like it, you can return it at any Costco store for a full refund.

 

I have the same and love it for traveling. It is small but is useful for downloading pictures and for the internet. You forgot to mention that it has a wonderful keyboard for a netbook - you can actually touch type on it.

 

DON

[mtwingcpa]

I share your dilemma!

 

My netbook, phone and camera, with related chargers, cables and accessories, add up to 5 lbs and a fair amount of space in my luggage! And if doing a "land" trip, add an additional pound for a portable GPS. Seems like an iPhone or Droid could handle most all of these tasks, but I just can't justify a $70 - $80 per month "plan" (and phone time is really a minor part of my requirements).

 

So my search for the perfect, more/less all-in-one device continues!

 

In the meantime, my netbook is 9" Asus eee PC with solid state drive. The drive is only about 8 GB, but it has enough space to backup photos and run a couple of third-party applications. Or you can copy photos "through" the computer to a stick drive. This computer has worked well for me, but I'm not sure if the 9" size is still available.

[sail7seas]

I love bringing my Acer Netbook. I bought a small shoulder strap case for it and it's a snap to carry with us through airports etc It has a six hour battery and we never travel without it.

[silentbob007]

Netbooks are pefectly fine for limited tasks. If you want to run a full version of Photoshop on it or cut video, that could be a different issue (but I hate processing photos on a laptop anyway just because the screens are sometimes not as good at representing the photos). I tend to use my phone or iPad for email on the ship just because I can quickly download and then read offline without paying per-minute when not using the connection.

[norwega]

a netbook it is! I did find out after I posted that some tablets don't have USB ports, so it would be hard to transfer photos from cameras, which is one of the main functions we want. I'll probably go with a Toshiba, as they are backlit, so easier to see, I understand. It will probably be more functional for us at home too, DH can check email and surf the web from the couch :)

We may get an external dvd drive as well as we have lots of movies. It will be a long day getting to Fort Lauderdale from Seattle! :(

[sail7seas]

Netbooks are pefectly fine for limited tasks. If you want to run a full version of Photoshop on it or cut video, that could be a different issue (but I hate processing photos on a laptop anyway just because the screens are sometimes not as good at representing the photos). I tend to use my phone or iPad for email on the ship just because I can quickly download and then read offline without paying per-minute when not using the connection.

 

 

I've read of posters here on CC that use their netbooks/laptops to download their e-mails, read them and write responses off line, and then go back on line just to send.

[chipmaster]

Sounds like you want a do all device and aren't planning on being a power user for much else.

 

1) The tablets iPad or other ones like Galaxy or Xoom are good for surfing the web thru wifi but incredibly bad value for use thru the cell system. People who don't care about how much $$$ they throw to their carriers I guess find it useful and cool. They are a pretty neat with their touch screen but the iPad is class leading. Expect the 3rd generation OS from Android to get close. I'd NOT get the XOOM ! If you must the iPad is the one to get. None of these offer the utility for email, downloading GBs of pictures etc. These are web surfing appliances!

 

2) Do all device no question laptop/netbook is what you want. If you just want to store, edit and maybe email them and backup your phone, get a 399-499 model. Doesn't matter, Dell, Acer, Toshiba etc. They are all very very similar. Make sure you get one with 250GB of HD and you'll be good, don't worry about the other detials. 250GB will be enough to store most pictures. Download a free copy of Picasa from google, it doesn't take too much CPU horsepower and allows you to do a lot of things very free.

 

You can always get a more powerful computer ( mostly bigger ), or a very expensive computer for the same size as a netbook. For what you are are saying you are going to do, DO NOT let anyone talk you into that. You won't need it.

 

If you need more storage buy a 69 dollar 100 GB USB harddrive.

 

Enjoy your cruise

 

I have an android cell phone, and like all of the apps available for it. We're on Celebrity Inifinity- 16 day Panama. I want to be able to look at and save photos on a device other than my camera, possibly also on a flash drive. I also want to be able to email via wi-fi.

I like the Motorola Xoom, but it's $600 (on month to month). Netbooks are around $300, right? mini laptops - about $600 or more? We don't have a laptop at home, just pcs.

We don't leave until April 23, so I have some time to shop... Thanks for suggestions! :)

[Treven]

I have a big Sony VAIO for home use and I have a 11" Toshiba that I carry on my trips. I used to carry my Sony but at 8#, it got real heavy, real quickly. My Toshiba, I think, weighs 3#; but I did have to beef it up though - I added more memory & a 500 gig, 720 rpm hard drive. I also have two extra hard drives that I have plugged in to USB ports where I save all of my pix to.

[drlynn]

I love my 10" Acer Netbook. Does it do everything my husbands laptop, or the desk top computer do? Probably not, but it does everything I need to do on vacation! (or surfing cruise critic from the couch) Mine was under $200.

[bass1946]

I've read of posters here on CC that use their netbooks/laptops to download their e-mails, read them and write responses off line, and then go back on line just to send.

 

Does anyone know if you need to have program loaded onto PC so that you can open and read these offline, after you download them??? We are hoping to use our netbook that way.....use ship internet to go in and download our emails....then read and write responses off line.....go back to send responses that are needed.

 

When we tried that, we could download, but were unable to open the email and read when we were offline. (we are practicing this at home, before we leave)

 

Appreciate any ideas, assistance!

 

Thanks

[scottbee]

Buy a small netbook. Sure, it may not have everything a larger laptop or desktop has (like a CD/DVD player), but it will suffice for almost any need, they're small. inexpensive, and frankly a netbook bought today is as powerful as a laptop bought 18 months ago.

 

Do you want to load it up with Microsoft Office, Photoshop etc etc ? NO. Try and avoid installing a lot of stuff on it and you'll be more than happy.

 

I have a Dell Mini 10; and LOVE it; best travel purchase I've made.

 

Oh, and I've been in the computer business for 30 years...

[luv2travel06]

We bought an HP netbook specifically for travelling because it will fit in a room safe. DW used her IPOD Touch to check Facebook and I used the netbook to check Cruise Critic and email in the airports and port terminal in Barbados using the free WiFi. We did not use the internet service on the ship.

[silentbob007]

Does anyone know if you need to have program loaded onto PC so that you can open and read these offline, after you download them??? We are hoping to use our netbook that way.....use ship internet to go in and download our emails....then read and write responses off line.....go back to send responses that are needed.

 

When we tried that, we could download, but were unable to open the email and read when we were offline. (we are practicing this at home, before we leave)

 

Appreciate any ideas, assistance!

 

Thanks

 

I think it depends on where you are getting your email from (internet provider, yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc etc etc). I use Microsoft Outlook to download and make emails available offline. A free version of something similar might be Mozilla Thunderbird.

[norwega]

Does anyone know if you need to have program loaded onto PC so that you can open and read these offline, after you download them??? We are hoping to use our netbook that way.....use ship internet to go in and download our emails....then read and write responses off line.....go back to send responses that are needed.

 

When we tried that, we could download, but were unable to open the email and read when we were offline. (we are practicing this at home, before we leave)

 

Appreciate any ideas, assistance!

 

Thanks

 

I just bought a netbook that came with windows 7 starter. included is windows live mail, which replaced outlook express, both of which are free. I set it up so that I can download it to the netbook, but messages remain on the server, so when I get home, I'll still have all my emails to view on my pc. Hope this helps.

[bibb]

I use an HP Netbook with an 8-hour battery and it works great. I download pictures from our cameras and, when WiFi is available, do both Windows Live and Yahoo emails. I connect with friends and family on Skype and have had no problems. It's computer limitations are minimal since I am on vacation and don't need to do any serious computer work.

 

It's a breeze to get through security also.

[Durhampro]

I use my ipad for pretty much everything. I have a large selection of books, music, games and movies on it to entertain. I also download my camera to it each night as a backup just in case something happens to my sd cards. I have tons of movies and tv shows on extra sd cards and use them for additional hard drive space on my ipad. It is also has an excellent web browser and mail program. The only thing that I find the ipad is not excellent at is reading books in the sun, so I tend to stick with the shady areas.

[ehfl]

You can get the Xoom without a contract. There is a WiFi only version, or you can get the Verizon version in case you ever want to use 3G/4G.

 

Note that the Xoom's memory card slot is not active yet, and will automatically activate with a future software update.

 

For most uses, a tablet is fine. You can bring a keyboard if you plan to do a lot of typing.

[Durhampro]

Xoom looks interesting, are there any apps out for it yet? Also when will they unlock the card slot? Can it be jailbroken?