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I need netbook advice too! *UPDATED* |
Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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I didn't want to hijack Masseur's netbook thread so I thought I better make my own for this question.
Basically I have several hundred dollars of vouchers for a local electronics store and am looking to buy a Windows netbook to compliment my Mac. Only problem is their range is limited to only a few examples and I wonder what is the best of the two I have picked out. The choice is:
Acer One Bronze
$888 + $89 Cashback, so really its $799 (€314)
Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz
1GB RAM
160GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive
8.9" Screen
Windows XP
WiFi
3 Cell Battery
HP Mini-1001TU
$1049 (€412) but I think the price will be a bit negotiable.
Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.6 GHz
1GB RAM
60 GB 4200rpm PATA hard drive
10.2" Screen
Windows XP
WiFi
3 Cell Battery
I'm leaning towards the HP at the moment, mostly because of its larger screen. The differences in hard drive capacity don't bother me. The thing I am wondering is whether or not anyone has experience with both of them and could say whether or not they are worth having and if the extra $250 for the HP is worth paying.
Thanks in advance. 
UPDATE:
I just looked at their website today and they've added in a few new netbooks to their range. While most are just new colour variants to the Acer Aspire One, there is a new Toshiba in there:
Toshiba Satellite L100/C02
$849 (€333)
Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.6 GHz
1GB RAM
120GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive
8.9" Screen
Bluetooth V2.1 +EDR
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator GM945GSE
Windows XP
WiFi
This one has Bluetooth which is an added bonus for me. But can anyone confirm whether Toshiba computers are any good. Last I heard a few years ago was that they were crap.
[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2009-03-03 01:34 ] This message was posted in the mail
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gaming_guy
Joined: Oct 10, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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i'd justlike to point out that the HP has the slower HDD out of the 2 and it is also IDE compared to the sata HDD in the acer
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Thanks mate. What kind of effect will the differences in hard drives have? Considering I will be a very casual user. I looked up IDE and found nothing that truly made sense to me. 
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gaming_guy
Joined: Oct 10, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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the difference between IDE & sata is that sata has a transfer rate of up to 150mbps (sata1)/300mbps (sata2) and ide has a transfer rate of 133mbps.
sata hard drives will be easier and cheaper to get hold of if you even need to upgrade the hard drive.
also, another thing is that the HP's hard drive only spins at 4200rpm compared to the acers 5400rpm so the acer will be faster at accessing stuff on the disk. 4200rpm is quite slow now as most laptops/netbooks ive seen tend to have 5400rpm drives and desktops tend to have 7200 rpm drives (or even 10000rpm drives).
K700i > K750i > K810i (current phone)
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lukechris
Joined: Dec 30, 2007
Posts: > 500
From: Preston, UK
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Basically Windows will run faster with the SATA (Serial ATA)
THE ACER IS WELL WORTH IT
[ This Message was edited by: lukechris on 2009-03-02 17:16 ] |
Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Thanks for the info guys.
I'm going to have a look at them today. I'm leaning back towards the ACER now, but its just a matter of whether I find the ACER's screen too small. After that I have no choice.
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Rookwise
Joined: Mar 22, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: UK. Phone:Samsung Galaxy A54 5
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Just bought the missus this one for her birthday (Asus EEE PC 904HA Atom N270 1.6GHz, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 8.9" TFT, NOOPT, XP Home)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152651/show_product_overview
Dont know if its something youd be interested in.
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
PM |
Thanks mate, but as I will be buying using vouchers, I am restricted to the one store that only has a limited selection of netbooks. If I had cash, rather than these vouchers, then I'd definitely look into it though.
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Ok, having been into the store now, I can safely say the HP is the way to go.
The Toshiba looks terrible and is awful for typing. It seems extremely small and budget. Apparently it is quite old too. It is made of crappy plastics and the hinge feels as though its going to break.
The Acer has the better hard drive option but is old too, despite a small recent update apparently. It does look really nice (I like the Bronze a lot) but the thing is that it lacks bluetooth which is important to me, and the screen size is a little too hard to deal with. I understand that these netbooks are supposed to be small, but for me the Acer and Toshiba screens are too small.
The HP on the other hand has a very nice screen of a good size and it matches the stylishness of the Acer. The HP is the newer of the trio, and has the better keyboard. It does have the worst hard drive, but I'm prepared to live with that, and I assume the differences won't be too noticeable in casual use.
Here's where I'm sold though... I talked to the staff at the shop and they said that beginning tomorrow, the HP will be $849 (€333), rather than $1049 (€412) on a special sale they are having. So tomorrow that's what I'll be buying!
Cheers to all that helped.
[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2009-03-03 06:36 ] This message was posted in the mail
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Posted: 2009-03-02 12:19
