Anyone picked up a good netbook recently and can recommend one?
I guess the ipad revolution must have carpet bombed this market, but I find netbooks really good for work stuff - travelling and needing to make small alterations to things. I have an old acer one that is starting to creak - are companies still pushing netbooks forward with some good models available?
From what I have looked at lately, if you have the money a 10 to 13" ultrabook wiht SSD is favourite.
Thks, I guess ultrabook is the term I'm looking for. Looking at some of them reminded my that my acer one cost £150!
Samsung Google chromebook
I have a Samsung Chromebook, it' s pretty sweet.
If you want to run Windows, I'd also suggest a Samsung, I had an NC10 which I loved dearly. Maybe a NOS or lightly used one like [url= http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/04/review_samsung_ns310_netbook/ ]this?[/url]
RE the NC10 - after a 9 month cycle tour and years of abuse it died one day because the heatsink had worn through the back of the CPU die 😯
Another happy Chromebook user here...
Chromebook seems like a very good option if you're only after a netbook.
Also comes with about 100gb of free cloud storage for a couple of years, IIRC.
are companies still pushing netbooks forward with some good models available?
Short answer: No.
Manufacturers are largely abandoning netbooks altogether - the market has gone / is going in two directions: Chromebooks and tablets.
The good part is, if you really do want a netbook, there should be bargains to be had.
The chromebooks look bang-tidy. Do you know if I could put windows onto them, or run a remote desktop session on one?
I'm a bit hobbled for OS choice as I need to use chemical drawing software, and it only works to the required standard on windows or mac (or at least that was the case last time I checked about runing chemdraw on linux).
Can remote desktop via a chrome plugin I think? (I've not tried this)
Pretty sure there was another thread on here about that.
Only reason I've not replaced my old eee 901 with a Chromebook. I have Java s/w that needs to run on it, with no net access. I believe it's possible to hack Java on (may need ChromiumOS rather than ChromeOS, but that's not an issue for me). Need to play with virtual machine first.
Garry, I have just retired my two Acer netbooks (theyve taken a helluva beating over the years). Netbooks are being phased out by most manufacturers now, but equally I dont need the power or the cost of an ultrabook. So have recently got a Samsung Series 3 chrome book.
Wow.
Love it.
Admittedly Im a google junky, but I also "need" proper excel (my business is modelling) but Ive found a way to deal with that:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/omg-google-chromebook-spaffy-goo-moment
Thks for that link Stoner. Unfortunately my work IT folks now tell me they cannot encrypt a chromebook so it's off the table for me. RDP didn't sound feasible either from their POV. Think a boring old 12" acer or somesuch will have to do.
IMO tablets are fine for wasting time reading and watching stuff and searching the net, but are really reallly in efficient for doing anything useful.
Microsoft Surface?
Chromebook is fully encrypted by default. [url= http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/security-overview ]Linky[/url]
Your IT guys need more coffee.
Remote desktop is easy - it's just a Chrome [browser] plugin. It comes on the Chromebook, and you can install in on Windows+Chrome browser in 1 minute.
I was doing 3D CAD in Solid Edge yesterday with it [I had a moment of inspiration, what can I say], streamed from the CAD Workstation I built that was sitting in work.
Meanwhile I had my feet up on the sofa smoking a reefer 🙂
All I had to do was plug in a 3 button mouse and squint a bit as the Chromebook isn't endowed with dual HD monitors 😉
One of [url= http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/product_detail/13634/Sony-Vaio-VPCYB3V1E-S-11-6-Netbook-AMD-Dual-Core-1-65Ghz-4Gb-500Gb-HDD-Win-7HP/ ]these [/url]from Morgan Computers is pretty good value I use it as a portable for working away and it is up to the job although build quality isn't great - that said it has survived a hole burnt in its base. I paid full price when new and have been v happy. Very big disk for a netbook and HDMI is great for presentations and watching iplayer etc. Powers on in about 1 min, which is great compared to my previous laptop.
If you do go for one, don't expect to readily upgrade software, mainly due to driver support fizzling out as Intel doesn't seem interested in providing drivers for recent netbook chipsets. We have an Asus 1025, upgraded to 4GB (3GB usable) and Win7 Home Premium, and it's pretty good for the size and weight. It's got USB3 and HDMI and can handle HD for it well enough. Intel won't release any more drivers for the Cedar Trail chipset though so it'll be stuck on Win7 32bit forever. I like netbooks, think there should really be a place for a small, light, cheap laptop, but chromebook has taken over and tablets really are good these days.
Mefty is right. If you want a very cheap Windows machine, get an AMD one.
I've got a Samsung [url= http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/netbooks/samsung-nc110-review-50004178/ ]NC110[/url]. It's great. Of course it's a netbook so can easily get bogged down but for watching the occasional film, internet surfing, emails, word processing, excel creating and simplish java / html writing, it's great.
Battery life is excellent, the keyboard's good and it's small enough to pop in my bag on the off chance I'll use it.
I have an iPad too, but it's much more efficient to use a proper keyboard, mouse etc.
I'm well aware of it's limitations and if I need more processing power, I use my 'big rig'.
Mine dual boots with *nix and Win 7(32bit) Ultimate.