NETBOOKS

**Bretsky** · 10-20-2009, 10:22 PM

ANYBODY have these.........good and bad experiences

Here's the thing

We have one stellar PC and a solid laptop...but trying to get cheap access for the kids.

Tried moving old PC downstairs but wireless connection is too weak with a solid router and good NIC card in the PC

So now looking into netbooks. I think I've seen the lowest end ones for around $200 and to me that should be fine for the kids....but not sure.

Dell has one for three hundred...but hell if you are going to spend that you might as well but another laptop.

Any experiences with these ?

**Partial** · 10-20-2009, 10:24 PM

Save your money. They're slow and painful to use. I've had two and both were crappy experiences.

The processors are incredibly slow... like Pentium 3 slow aka years and years ago. It's an awful experience.

Pass.

**Tyrone Bigguns** · 10-20-2009, 10:24 PM

I've got the Dell with the 12 inch screen.

Friend has the Acer, she likes it.

**MJZiggy** · 10-20-2009, 10:35 PM

Former inlaws have it. They like it. (remember, it's really only for surfing.)

**Kiwon** · 10-20-2009, 10:39 PM

I bought an ASUS EEE PC-1000H almost a year ago for when I travel.

10 inches and light. It has been working just fine.

**red** · 10-20-2009, 11:09 PM

i just read an article the other day that compaq is gonna be coming out with new cheap laptops to compete with the netbooks

these are gonna be regular size laptops with all the bells and whistles (they'll just be like 2gb with 150gb hard drives)

they'll have windows 7 and will be coming out when 7 comes out in a few weeks

i think the laptops are around 400, and they have a desktop version for close to 300

i'll see if i can find the article

**red** · 10-20-2009, 11:11 PM

here it is

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/152839

just something else to think about

oh and they'll be out in 2 days, not 2 weeks

**Scott Campbell** · 10-20-2009, 11:27 PM

There's a bunch of new releases scheduled for Thursday along with Windows 7. Many of these new units solve the issues P is speaking about, and are well suited to much more than just surfing the web. They're getting away from the low resolution 10" netbook screens and snail like Atom processor, and most of the new ones are using an 11.6 higher resolution screen that eliminates most of the web page rendering and scrolling issues that many people complained about. They won't be mistaken for a gaming laptop, but they are now multitasking and playing stutter free HD video. The original single core Acer 1410 was very well received, but I understand they're refreshing it with a dual core and it'll retail for $399. That might be worth looking into.

**Scott Campbell** · 10-20-2009, 11:35 PM

B,

I re-read your post, and think you might want to consider just going with a full size laptop. The reason most people buy netbooks is for extra small portability and 8-12 hour battery life. That's probably not a critical consideration for your kids, and you can get a full sized and faster laptop for close to what you mentioned earlier.

**Bretsky** · 10-20-2009, 11:52 PM

I'm a bit torn as I'm pondering buying two of these...one for the five year old and one for the eight year old......only for surfing.

Friends told me I can find these for two hundred range so I've been looking around and this is all I've found so far

http://dailywish.amexnetwork.com/def...spx?cc=2&&ct=3

For myself or wifee we'd go the laptop route

**Freak Out** · 10-21-2009, 12:14 AM

How much are you willing to spend and what are they going to do with it?

Edit: I saw the surfing bit.....

How much $$$? As little as possible?

**MJZiggy** · 10-21-2009, 06:29 AM

Originally Posted by Bretsky

I'm a bit torn as I'm pondering buying two of these...one for the five year old and one for the eight year old......only for surfing.

Friends told me I can find these for two hundred range so I've been looking around and this is all I've found so far

http://dailywish.amexnetwork.com/def...spx?cc=2&&ct=3

For myself or wifee we'd go the laptop route

What's the 5-year-old gonna be surfing for? I didn't even let mine near a connection at that age...

**SkinBasket** · 10-21-2009, 07:34 AM

My wife just got a refirb Dell mini10 for work travel for about 220 after a discount code. It's small, light, and not too slow for running the basics. I hate the mousepad, and it still inexplicably fights against our home network despite a few hours of reconfiguring the netbook and the router. I chalk that up mainly to the Dell "easy to use" network connection software integrated into the thing that's almost impossible to disable. Other than that, the battery seems to last forever and it doesn't have a problem running anything on the interweb, albeit at the cost of an extra couple seconds. Overall, I would give it a 6/10 considering price and expectation.

**Scott Campbell** · 10-21-2009, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by Bretsky

I'm a bit torn as I'm pondering buying two of these...one for the five year old and one for the eight year old......only for surfing.

Friends told me I can find these for two hundred range so I've been looking around and this is all I've found so far

http://dailywish.amexnetwork.com/def...spx?cc=2&&ct=3

For myself or wifee we'd go the laptop route

I'd suggest going to Best Buy and playing with one that has the same size and resolution screen to see if you're really ok with web browsing on it. I've heard that's a major complaint of today's netbooks. Or maybe buy one from Costco or somewhere that has a decent return policy so you have options if it doesn't work out as well as you're hoping.

**Bretsky** · 10-21-2009, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by Freak Out

How much are you willing to spend and what are they going to do with it?

Edit: I saw the surfing bit.....

How much $$$? As little as possible?

Honestly, I'm trying to buy 2 so spending as little as possible since as all they will be doing is going on little kid websites and playing kid games with sound

**Bretsky** · 10-21-2009, 08:52 AM

To preface this for Ziggy....the five year old is a bit odd; she wants to be smarter than her eight year old sister now. If we had somebody at home with her now she'd already be reading. She's up to three letter words already. She is able to boot up the pc, go to favorites, ID a few of her websites, and independantly play games.........I worry an expensive college might be down the road

**Zool** · 10-21-2009, 09:39 AM

I hear ya B. I found an old Powerbook for my 5 year old. She's on Webkins and Nick.com quite a bit. She's been reading for a couple years already. I'm hoping for scholarships.

Had a netbook for a bit. The MSI one. My friend let me use it for a couple weeks to see if I liked it. Its faster than I expected. For internet surfing portability its well worth it.

**Partial** · 10-21-2009, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by SkinBasket

My wife just got a refirb Dell mini10 for work travel for about 220 after a discount code. It's small, light, and not too slow for running the basics. I hate the mousepad, and it still inexplicably fights against our home network despite a few hours of reconfiguring the netbook and the router. I chalk that up mainly to the Dell "easy to use" network connection software integrated into the thing that's almost impossible to disable. Other than that, the battery seems to last forever and it doesn't have a problem running anything on the interweb, albeit at the cost of an extra couple seconds. Overall, I would give it a 6/10 considering price and expectation.

Yeah I would say about the same with the Mini9. They're just painfully slow even with 2gb of ram and a Runcore 32gb SSD. The keyboard is miserable. The 12" might be better because they can get a full-size keyboard on them.

**Freak Out** · 10-21-2009, 11:41 AM

I would not get them a netbook if I bought TODAY......I would go to Dell or HP or Acer and get a base 15 and upgrade the CPU to the cheapest dual core and go for it. That would run about $400 a machine with Windows 7 64 bit. You have to remember the netbooks have no built in optical drive which would blow for the kids.

Wait a week or two and you might see some better deals but not that much better.

**CaptainKickass** · 10-21-2009, 11:42 AM

Get the kids involved in technology as soon as possible, and as often as possible.

I got my 9 yr old nephew involved at age 5, and now he's the tech guru of the household. My sister ain't too happy about it - but this is only because she's that old school and still believes that the internet is "evil".

There are a billion benefits to getting kids involved in tech early and often, particularly with an eye on their future - where the difference between surviving and living well will be, and perhaps already is - their ability to comprehend, use and create with technology.

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