Which Netbook should I purchased?

[zackiedawg]

Throw me in with that group too - netbook vs laptop are not in the same realm for me (I have both). The netbook is extremely more portable, lighter, and more convenient for travel. There are no slowness issues for normal browsing, e-mail, loading photos to store/backup, etc. That type of usage plays into precisely the strengths of a netbook. I can even watch basic video, slideshow photos, etc, all with no speed issues. The only time you'd run into speed issues is trying to do something like Photoshop style editing of photos, RAW conversions, gaming, high-def video streaming, and similar high-draw processes. I have no intentions at all of doing those things on my netbook, so it's never an issue for me. I simply tired of bringing my laptop along, which required a seperate bag or took up huge space in a carryon, when I traveled - which meant sometimes I didn't bring it at all as it was simply inconvenient. Now with my netbook, which is so small I can throw it in my photo bag with my camera equipment, I bring it wherever I travel and always have access to basic internet, e-mail, and have an excellent photo backup and storage device with me. And checking e-mails from the ship cabin is so much nicer than going down to the internet cafe!

[pilotdane]

There are more computers in our house than people.

 

Laptop: My wife uses the full size laptop for work where the larger keyboard, larger screen and faster speed are a real benefit. Since it only has go go back & forth to the car it's larger size and heavier weight are not a huge penalty and power is available in most places where it's used so the shorter battery life is also not a major issue.

 

Netbook: When we travel or just want to sit on the patio and surf the web we always grab the netbook. The smaller size & lighter weight are very noticeable when packing for a trip and the netbooks long 6+ hour battery life means we can watch several movies on a long flight and still have power to check E-mail when we find free wifi. And finally when traveling we don't worry so much about the loss or damage of a $300 netbook. To us it's a disposable item that has a 2+ year life span at best.

[Jade13]

I have an Acer One that is used for accessing emails on a ship, and photo back-up (I save the memory cards too until I get home).

 

If I knew what to use in place of Word so I could write a review as I go, I think I would find the time to do them. Any suggestions? I would need something so I could cut and paste into Word when I get home.

[awboater]

You should have Wordpad on your netbook as it comes with Windows. It is not full featured, but it will save .doc files. It's a limited app, but runs fairly smooth on a netbook. It won't do most of the things Word will do, the biggest thing perhaps spell check, but it will at least get you by.

 

Another alternative is Open Office, which is a competitor to Word by Oracle. It's open source (free). It will spell check, and it has typical Office features such as a spreadsheet, word processor, etc. You can save files in word format, RTF, etc. I suppose there a few incompatibilities with Microsoft Word, but since I have retired, I have no need to restrict myself to Word anymore.

 

You can save a document using Open Office in either Microsoft Word 2007 XML (docx), Word 2003 XML (xml); 97/2000/XP, Word 95, or Word 6.0 (doc).

 

 

But it too has a bit of bloat, so you will have to determine if it is fast enough on your netbook. You can get Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Open Office, and I use it on both Windows and Ubuntu partition on my netbook. It is a bit of a dog on the Windows partition. On Ubuntu, as expected - it's faster.

 

If you only use it occasionally, you can suffer through using it on Windows on a netbook - with the caveat that it is going to be slow. This is an app that brings out the limitations of a netbook. But again, we're talking portability, so it is what it is.

 

Otherwise, other than lack of spell check, WordPad might be your best bet.

[Jade13]

You should have Wordpad on your netbook as it comes with Windows. It is not full featured, but it will save .doc files. It's a limited app, but runs fairly smooth on a netbook. It won't do most of the things Word will do, the biggest thing perhaps spell check, but it will at least get you by.

 

Another alternative is Open Office, which is a competitor to Word by Oracle. It's open source (free). It will spell check, and it has typical Office features such as a spreadsheet, word processor, etc. You can save files in word format, RTF, etc. I suppose there a few incompatibilities with Microsoft Word, but since I have retired, I have no need to restrict myself to Word anymore.

 

You can save a document using Open Office in either Microsoft Word 2007 XML (docx), Word 2003 XML (xml); 97/2000/XP, Word 95, or Word 6.0 (doc).

 

 

But it too has a bit of bloat, so you will have to determine if it is fast enough on your netbook. You can get Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Open Office, and I use it on both Windows and Ubuntu partition on my netbook. It is a bit of a dog on the Windows partition. On Ubuntu, as expected - it's faster.

 

If you only use it occasionally, you can suffer through using it on Windows on a netbook - with the caveat that it is going to be slow. This is an app that brings out the limitations of a netbook. But again, we're talking portability, so it is what it is.

 

Otherwise, other than lack of spell check, WordPad might be your best bet.

 

I actually have a version of open office that I downloaded to the Netbook when I purchased it a couple of years ago. I guess I have never used it. If I can save to XP I should be OK.

[Essiesmom]

Hello Chipmaster,

I am looking at an netbook because like you said, a nice full fledge laptop is a little heavy and bigger. I know becasue I do have one and it is a pain on the back at the airport!!! I just an really not sure if the small netbook is worth buying since it is kinda limited as far as speed. I might have to carry my full fledge laptop around.

 

 

Thanks for the info.

David

 

I have a Lenovo x100e that I bought last year to replace my six year old Sony with 50GB hard drive. It is just slightly larger than a netbook, runs Windows 7.

I am very happy with it. It occasionally functions as my full time computer, when I have just returned from a trip and it takes me a few days to get the pictures and journal transferred offsite...EM

[cruiser1955]

I use a Toshiba NB305 - about a year old. Runs Windows 7 starter. All I wanted it for was to access email and download photos from the camera as a backup, so speed isn't really an issue for me. I choose this one as the battery life was good - around 8 hours in real use (they claim 11 hours). I thought the build quality was better than many available here in the UK and I like the keyboard. I normally leave it in sleep mode, so restarts quickly when switched back on. Most of the software I use came with the netbook or I use the Windows Live 2011 software. I've thought about moving to Linux, but stayed with Windows as that's what's on my other computers.

[Kangapong]

If you have a BJ’s Wholesale Club near you, they have the ASUS 10.1" Eee PC 1001PX Netbook running Windows 7 Starter on sale for $199 through the end of October. The on-line price is $239, but the "in-club" price has been discounted to $199 - our store is located in Florida. This would be my choice for a Netbook.

[dodger501]

I have a Dell Mini 10 with Windows 7 Starter, works great. I use it for books (free Kindle for PC) and actually have Lightroom installed on there (it used to be on my 'real' laptop but I gave it to my wife). Of course I don't do any heavy editing but it's good for a slide show to show off pics to fellow cruisers.

 

I would use Picasa instead but I shoot in RAW format 100% of the time.