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Post by silverlining on Oct 3, 2008 10:34:44 GMT
Hi ya'll,
I've been thinking about getting a laptop but haven't wanted to spend like over a thousand dollars on a computer I'd just use to surf and write. No recently I've seen these mini-laptops (like the ones with only about a 9 inch screen) cropping up everywhere and decidedly more decent prices, half the price or less of a regular laptop sometimes.
So I was wondering if anyone has any tips or advice on mini laptops? Are there differences between them and regular laptops apart from size? What specs should I go for? *clueless* Any brands or models you recommend? Any I should avoid? I saw some nicelooking ones today on a website by Acer but I've heard people saying Acer computers aren't very good...As said, generally clueless. I'll really only want to use it for surfing the web (planning on getting one of those USB wireless network thingys too) and doing things in word or similar programs. I want a computer I can easily bring on trips and out to Uni so that I can study, write and do stuff online almost anywhere.
Anyone got any tips for me?
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Jessica
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Post by Jessica on Oct 3, 2008 13:33:58 GMT
I'm interested in this as well, also considering getting one for Uni.
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Post by silverlining on Oct 3, 2008 13:47:30 GMT
A girl at another forum told me the Asus Eee 901 was good, and it's not very expencive either. But I've only heard it from one person and never heard of the brand before so am not sure. It's very cute though.
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Oct 3, 2008 20:16:07 GMT
I think Acer is a good brand. I have a Acer myself...
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Theachen7
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Post by Theachen7 on Oct 3, 2008 20:30:59 GMT
I think Acer is a good brand. I have a Acer myself... Me too
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 4, 2008 0:46:17 GMT
This is one area that has really grown (thanks in large part to Asus) as far as the market and caused more companies to try and get into versus the more "traditional" laptop offerings out there.
I've known a number of people who have absolutely loved the Asus Eee series and it's received mostly glowing reviews. Prior to this, Asus was probably best known for their hardware components (especially their motherboards--I still even have one of their motherboards from nearly 11 years ago in one system and it still runs beautifully nor has caused me any problems whatsoever), which was and still is considered to be amongst some of the better manufacturers of, but it did come as a bit of a surprise that they chose to venture into the low-end laptop market--and they've done extremely well as well as offering up very good support. If you opt to go with an Asus Eee, I would go with the newer (1000 series) models versus the older ones as they tend to be more efficient as far as the battery is concerned and use up less of it.
Acer also has an entry in this market as well which is known as the Aspire One. I also know someone who owns one and, so far, they seem to be happy with it. It was only released in July of this year, but from what I've seen of reviews of it, it seems to be a very good laptop. However, the keyboard is smaller than a normal laptop keyboard and there seems to be some disagreement regarding the handling of the trackpad and speakers (some people have complained about them, others seem not to share that opinion). Which brings me to a very important point with this.
One of the things you need to be made aware is that most such laptops (ie those in this market) come preinstalled with Linux. Some companies, such as Asus, do offer the option to go with Windows XP with some models, but in order to match the costs (as it somewhat ironically costs them more to sell them with XP preinstalled--by ironic, I mean that it's historically been the case of where Microsoft had offered special "incentives" to companies to only offer whatever flavor of Windows was available they wanted to sell, hence the nickname for the practice "the Microsoft tax" and therefore make it all but impossible to find computers (laptops especially) that didn't come with Windows preinstalled since the companies were literally getting paid to do things that way. However, as companies are now being charged more if they want to offer XP (and in the case of these laptops, Vista is a non-contender since it oftentimes won't run on the hardware, nevermind meet the requirements), which they are passing along the costs to consumers (sometimes for as "low" as $50 more for XP versus sticking with the "default" Vista), it also makes a fare amount of sense as well.), they sometimes are offering "extras" (such as bigger hard drives) for those choosing Linux over Windows XP (which is also somewhat ironic in that Linux actually takes up much less space than XP does--something I can definitely tell you from experience).
For the most people this hasn't been an issue (especially amongst Linux users, of course), but I know and realize that there are not only people out there who just prefer Windows, but some who have something against Linux (or are a combination of the two). However, if you mainly plan on using this for things like email, internet, typing, etc. this shouldn't be an issue whatsoever. The Linux distros that are often pre-installed on these systems are amongst the most user friendly and the companies offering them have been good about keeping things updated.
There are a few other entries in this realm, but these two have so far proven to be among the more reliable and better of the ones out there.
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Post by silverlining on Oct 4, 2008 7:21:23 GMT
CharlieChomper to the rescue, like usual! Thank you soooo much for all the info. The Asus I'd had a tip about is the EEE 910. But you're saying there's a later series that is better? I'll have to look around for it... And the Acer I've been looking at is called AOA110 and AOA150 (the 150 mosty because the other one doesn't come with windows). The 110 has a cute blue version I want XD I've nothing against Linux as such, it's just that I'm used to windows. I'm not looking forward to having to relearn everything. Plus, can you use all the same programs with Linux? (Thinking mainly of Microsoft Office). Cos it would be bad to have two computers that I couldn't transfer files between easily cos of incompatability issues, especially since I'll be using it a lot for schoolwork and such.
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 4, 2008 21:26:43 GMT
The pre-1000 series and pre-901s had an issue with the battery life that doesn't affect the 1000 series or the 901s that make use of the Intel Atom processors as opposed to the Intel Celeron Ms (which many of the earlier series models used), which also tend to be more efficient in their overall battery usage and allows a longer period of time in between recharging. The issue is related to the Celeron M processor.
One disclaimer I should have mentioned earlier about Acer's offerings in this market is that some people have complained about the fan noise (this appears to apply to the laptops with Windows as well as the ones with Linux), but there actually is a work around that allows it to run more quietly.
Both companies do actually offer the systems with different color choices and not just "standard" black and white (the exceptions to this would be the Asus Eee PC1000 and PC1000HD models which are only available in black and white).
As far as Linux is concerned (ironically, I was originally going to mention this and the interface issue, and then ended up deleting what I wrote and just left my post as it was), for what you plan on doing with it, there definitely shouldn't be any issues going between Windows and Linux as far as file compatibility or usage is concerned as Linux has many similar applications or the same ones (the overwhelming majority of which are free). In the case of MS Office, we have a suite called Open Office which is probably the most popular free, Office alternative out there and it hasn't had any issues with compatibility. The interface is actually very similar to that of Office as far as the programs are concerned. Both Acer and Asus offer this pre-installed.
The overall look and feel of Linux can vary, sometimes depending upon the distribution ("distro" for short) that's used or just someone's (or some company's, as the case may be) preference. However, for most of the entries into this market, they offer what I'd consider very "simplified" interfaces in comparison to what one might normally encounter with Linux distros. With the Acer, it is possible to bypass the current interface (as someone did manage to figure it out not long after its release) and make use of the more "advanced" menus, however, it's difficult for me to fully gauge how "simple" or "difficult" it may be, but the directions on how to go about it are definitely available.
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Post by silverlining on Oct 4, 2008 22:35:13 GMT
I'm starting to wonder if the good Acer computers aren't availible here...I can't seem to find the 1000 series anywhere! Nor can I find any computers (of these brands and types) except the blue one mentioned that come in colours beside black and white. And in some cases, stores offer the black just with Windows and white just with Linux or vice versa...very odd.
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 4, 2008 23:44:28 GMT
Ack! I somehow thought I had mentioned that the 1000 series were the Asus Eees? The Acer series is the Aspire One. However, in looking over Asus' Eee Swedish site and trying to navigate it as best I can (I also found it almost amusing that the news articles posted to the Swedish site were actually in English), it appears as thought the 901 may be the most "recent" model available for sale in Sweden (and it appears the rest of Scandinavia) at this time. The global site lists that entire series, but it may be partly due to the fact that because the 1000s (the 1000, 1000H, and 1000HD) were only released in July that they may not have been made available yet to the rest of Europe (most of the newer models are available for sale in the UK) just yet as sometimes happens with newer computers and hardware. It should become available in Sweden, but I honestly don't know when. Some Swedish members of the Linux community have had some success in the past with emailing the company and asking them about potential release dates for the Eees and getting a response back. In further looking into things, it appears to be the same situation with Aspire in this area (ie too new to be widely available).
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Post by silverlining on Oct 5, 2008 6:46:29 GMT
No, you said right, I said wrong! Sorry! Oh crud...I was hoping to be able to get a good minilaptop before my next course starts in November. Guess I'll have to settle for a mediocre one if I want to get one on time. If the 1000-series and the others you mentioned aren't even released here yet they'll probably be too expencive for me once they arrive anyway.. Thanks for your help though Have started looking around eBay a bit too but not sure if it feels worth the extra effort and shipping time and costs when I'm not looking for something complicated anyway...
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 5, 2008 19:59:31 GMT
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Post by silverlining on Oct 5, 2008 21:10:34 GMT
Thanks, that's very nice!
Forgive my being a bit confused generally...Was it just the Asus that had a new series out or are the Acer laptops I mentioned somewhat outdated too?
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 6, 2008 1:15:53 GMT
Both companies released their most current models at around the same time, but Acer actually has had greater access to production and manufacturing facilities in this area, which has apparently allowed for them to have been able to have released their new entry fairly recently to other markets, including Sweden. It's a similar issue that exists with other hardware vendors out there of where companies like Intel may be able to release their newest products to every market they may wish to, but companies such as AMD (or even just ATI, even before the merger) might have to wait a bit before they could as they don't have the same amount of facilities which would really permit them to do so (given the astronomical costs involved, just building new facilities really isn't a viable option to alleviate the problem). As to the black versus white only issue, based upon what I've read, there are actually two variants/skus for both the A150 and A110 available for sale in Sweden--one of which includes more color choices and the other seems to be limited to black or white. I'm actually wondering if that's what you've been seeing? Edited because I somehow forgot to mention this: In answer to your question, it's only the Asus that's not offering the most recent models to Sweden yet. However, they should be releasing it there at some point.
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Post by silverlining on Oct 6, 2008 6:46:56 GMT
Hmm..well, I've seen acer computers in blue too in the online stores here but nothing else. Anyways, colour is secondary I guess...just fun. Well yes, obviously they'll release it at some point. But as I said, I really want to get a laptop quite soon. So perhaps I should just get the Acer where I won't have to wait for the latest model. Thanks again!
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Post by silverlining on Oct 9, 2008 16:49:53 GMT
Sorry to be a confused nag but; did the Acer minis have the same battery problems as the Asus 900 series or no? Cos if they don't I think I'll go for one of those.
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 9, 2008 20:02:26 GMT
Please don't hesitate to ask anything if needbe. The battery problem that plagued the earlier Asus models (as with the 1000 series, the 901 doesn't suffer from the problem either) was tied into the use of Intel's Celeron M processor and problems that arose with it in relation to the battery they were using at the time. The 901 and most of the 1000 series use a different processor, the Intel Atom which is among the reasons as to why they don't suffer from this problem, aside from some design changes that were made. The Atom is the same processor that the Acers are using, so it shouldn't be an issue.
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Post by silverlining on Oct 10, 2008 4:40:36 GMT
That's great to know, thanks a bunch!
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CharlieChomper
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Post by CharlieChomper on Oct 10, 2008 22:30:18 GMT
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Post by silverlining on Oct 11, 2008 10:03:51 GMT
Now I'm confused again. I surfed some sites and it says that the Acer laptop has shorter battery life (about 3 hours) than the Asus (4.5-7h). I thought the problem with the Asus was htta the battery didn't work properly and that the Acer worked better batterywsie because it had the same sorta battery as the later Asus laptops that aren't availible here... I hate buying electronics...
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