Entertainment For Lively Minds
Netbook Turmoil
Fraser's comment on the Mac thread that his £200 netbook boots quicker than his mac made me think that maybe a netbook would be an appropriate gap filler whilst I hang around for the 3rd gen iPad, which will be the first one that really will be spot on.
So, should I get one and which one should I get? It will be kept in the living room or in the bedroom, will be used for surfing, email, twitter, BBC iPlayer and spotify. The idea that I take it on holiday with a few video files from iPlayer grabber and it has an video output that will plug into a telly would be a bonus. Battery life should be reasonable and the screen should be about 10 inches or so. And I'd like Windows 7.
So can I get one of these for £200 or so? And if I can, can I get one that's actually alright to look at??
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Netbook Turmoil...
TMFTL
Gauntlet
TMFTL
Three more later?
I'll be fine, but are you sure you're up to it?
Oh no
If I did a Peel session, it would have to be over a week - possibly longer.
Have an, er, up from me
and the Poozies' Widow
Love the song!
And can I just say, I'm hoping "did a Peel session" catches on...
SCENE
Two women in work canteen. One appears exhausted but happy.
Woman 1: So, hot date last night then?
Woman 2: Yeah, it was amazing. He did a Peel session.
The live version on
one of the BBC's Cambridge Folk Festival albums is even better.
Have you seen this hybrid?
I just noticed these:
http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?prodID=B510181
today and I'm quite keen. I know it's not exactly netbook price but it looks good, has the instant on appeal of the ipad along with the ability to use it as a "proper" computer when you're out and about. If it was £100 less I don't think I would be able to keep my cash in my pocket.... mind you, I haven't read any reviews yet!
Not convinced
Interesting though and certainly there will be loads of these type of devices within 12 months. It is too expensive and it's running an old version of Android.
It's the future!
I think I'm inclined to agree with you. It won't be long before someone has taken this type of device and put a cracked version of OSX on it which would probably intensly irritate the good folks of Cupertino. I do think that this is probably closer to the future of portable devices than the very limited ipad though.
Problem is
Windows 7 is really ill-suited to touch, whatever Microsoft say. So is OSX probably, but Apple had the sense to create a new OS that was optimised for touchscreens and it's paying dividends for them.
If Microsoft want to compete with the iPad, then they should do it with a modified version of Windows Phone 7. But it looks like they're going to try and shoehorn Windows 7 onto these devices.
I like the Asus tablet/netbook hybrid
but it has had mixed reviews---have any of you seen one to try ?
I like the idea of combining roles
mainly because I am thinking about a netbook, music server and smartphone and can't really afford any of them ..
It seems to be an Olive Pad
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/23/olive-telecoms-olivepad-reviewed-we-w...
rebadged, from this account
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/viewsonic-viewpad-7-official-android-...
At the risk of submitting the most boring post ever...
I just checked. There's not much in it, but this is the time from power button to login screen.
MacBook Pro: 39 seconds
Asus eeePC 1005p netbook: 37 seconds
Although I can also boot the netbook into Express Gate, a lightweight Linux distribution that offers web browsing, chat etc, and that takes just 7 seconds.
Battery life is good (Asus claim 14 hours, although I'm not sure I'm getting that), and it's running Windows 7.
Boring?
timing your netbook start up times? Round here? Never.
I'll have a look at the Asus more closely. I haven't seen one up close in the flesh but it looks good from the photos. Is the screen quality ok?
Yeah, it's fine
Although because I use big screens most of the time, it never stops looking small.
Are these yours lads?
Am absolutely delighted
(sadster that I admittedly am) that the Toshiba R500 laptop I use now boots Ubuntu to a user login in about 30 seconds, and on to a ready state including wireless connection in about 45. This includes selecting Linux not XP, and then the specific flavour in the boot menus (GRUB) and typing in the user password.
*Finally* the 128 Gb solid state disk I specified when it was bought is showing what it can do.
Though I actually have nothing against Windows 7, and I increasingly get the feeling that the main thing nowadays is really just "power/weight" i.e. an OS that matches a given computer well and runs efficiently on it---and runs the apps you want/need of course.
And maybe the box that plays music off spotify into my home hifi will probably not have to be Windows (or maybe a Mac mini) when the currrent one dies because my DAC Magic
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=320
may work with Linux too:
http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Linux/Sound1/SoundComputing.html
Netbooks
Underpowered and too small (at least for my fat fingers) in my experience. Mine is sitting gathering dust.
*paging Dr Freud*
loading times, battery life not what it should be, looks smaller than it is...
Mrs dai...
... has one. An HP, it boots fairly quickly, not lightning fast. Has a stripped down version of Windows 7 on it which is somewhat limiting. Battery life ok. Easily connects to TV for iplayer etc.
If it was mine I would put Linux on it.
Think it cost about 200 quid (10 inch screen), it also has the quick boot option Fraser mentioned but I didn't like that stuff, so I removed it.
Do you, to mis quote Mrs Doyle,
I think my ideal purchase would have the aluminium body of the Air as it will go on trains etc; the 320Gb hard disk of the Lenovo S12 to comfortably hold my music; an ethernet socket as it'll live in a bookcase near router when I am in the flat; and probably a fast booting version of Windows if such a thing exists; and HDMI for the telly and iPlayer, and some USBs for my DAC etc; and ideally optical as I think the DAC doesn't do 24/96 over USB.
Pass me a flask of tea and my book of British railway schedules---there must be something suitable there. ...
Still looking
for something to live in my bookshelf in the weekday flat to handle Spotify/ITunes and iPlayer and not much else. I'd take it away when visiting the FPO, and maybe use it as a digital photoframe etc.
So very pleased to try a Windows 7 version of the Acer Iconia tab [W500, there's also an Android 3.0 A500 version] today---impressed.
https://www.simplyacer.com/products/keywords/w501/ex/clearance%2cdummy?g...
Would just plug in an external disk and DVD drive into a USB hub running off the USB sockets on the keyboard, which also has a LAN socket. Top half lifts out as a tablet. Might just take that with me and leave the rest static in the flat.
Am seriously tempted this time as the price is good.
I have
A refurbished Acer Aspire One (the original iteration), which I picked up for £100. I wiped the original OS and installed Ubuntu on it.
The form factor is great – I would say that a 9" screen is the bare minimum you need for web browsing. Keyboard is okay (I don't have fat fingers and can touch type).
For £100 it's great, but I'm not sure I would pay much more than that. The processor is pretty slow and there can be a noticeable lag when doing mundane things such as switching tabs in a web browser for example. It also struggles with Flash video – I don't know if it's an issue with Flash player for Linux or if Windows users have the same issues (it does only have 512MB of RAM).
Having said that, technology has moved on and things may be better now. The Register did a review of netbooks recently and the Acer Aspire One D260 came out as the best value budget netbook.
A useful report, that, thanks
lead me to this interesting Dell hyrid model that might do for me when it appears:
http://www.reghardware.com/2010/09/14/dell_inspiron_duo/
It's a very interesting form factor
If it's any good and doesn't break, I think it could be quite popular.
I'd like to use something like that
with screen outwards on a shelf for spoitify etc, and as a pad on trains when standing or cramped.
Flipping Dell
Not very clear what its status is e.g.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/news/2010/09/14/Dell-Inspiron-Duo-...
but from the video
I think I want one ...
And if anyone gets a sniff of a UK price
I'd be grateful if you'd post it
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/dell-inspiron-duo-tablet-netbook-coming-...
Samsung N220
Got one of these for the FPO, and it's a decent little machine for not much money:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0033AGIRI/ref=oss_product
Obviously, it's been superceded several times in the last 3 months. The main selling point for this one is it has the "chiclet" keyboard that you'll find on a Macbook, and generally has a bit more style than some of the other netbooks out there. Having Windows 7 is a plus point because it's the first version of Windows with a decent boot time.
Personally, the iPad serves me just fine, but it does depend on what you need a machine to do.
Samsung + Mouse = Winner
I've had a Samsung netbook for just over a year now. It dual boots with XP and Win7 without a problem. The battery life is excellent. I rarely use it at home because I've got a "proper" laptop but on holiday it's actually a better proposition than a laptop. It's lighter (as is the power supply) it sits much better on a traytable than a laptop and therefore makes a transatlantic flight whizz by.
The one thing that I wouldn't leave home without though is a USB travel mouse. I happily use a trackpad all the time at home but, because I tend not to balance my netbook on my knees all the time and the trackpad is small, the mouse makes all the difference.
I was kind of sad that HP's
mouse on a stick didn't catch on, see
Omnibook 300 photo in the "Just Works" thread
in the end have
sprung for a Samsung N145__should do the main job I want --we'll see
[edit: having all the brain of Homer Simpson I only now realise that I can use the netbook (with an external CD drive) to support my iPod, get iTunes etc off the work machine, and leave the old IBM on the shelf until that pegs out. Samsung is a nice machine as long as it stays inside its comfort zone---especially nice display. Wish more cheap machines had keyboard lights, otherwise very good]
Another interesting trend
is the Android tablet meets colour e-Book reader--exemplified by Barnes and Noble's Nook (US only I assume). See
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371554,00.asp
Loved the Onion's oblique view on the Nook
---http://www.theonion.com/articles/barnes-noble-releases-color-nook,18372/
iPad 3 spot on...
Just of interest, what do you see as being missing from the current iteration?
Not sure which you
are replying to, but in my case I want something *cheap* to live semi-vertically in bookcase and host my iTunes which lives on a work-provided laptop at the mo [library is on an external HD], and also have a processor fast enough to do HDTV etc. As we live between two places my "IT spend" has to stretch.
However, I also tried an iPad 2 yesterday, first time I'd had a chance to do so in a shop that wasn't packed, and obviously a very nice piece of kit-and one I'd also have a use for, as I would an iPod Touch 64Gb, and a nice top end lightweight laptop (hopefully work provided).
The shelf machine is just a bit more urgent as my beloved Thinkpad X31 is starting to age after 8 years, and replacing the hard disk would be a bit daft. Obviousl alternative is a good cheap netbook or a secondhand Mac Mini, as per discussions here.
I was replying to the OP
Thanks
with you now. I imagine the deals on the 2 will be good in due course, even now some of the Orange deals are good for those who don't mind being locked in.
The "missing" things will presumably stay missing though, like HDMI, Flash etc ??? At least while The Man In Black is in charge ?
Mmmm, that's my feeling as well
iPad will get faster and gain more memory in accordance with Moore's Law but I can't see what hardware changes will come along which will be anything other than change for it's own sake.
A Thunderbolt port? The direction seems to be toward wireless sync, presumably using the iCloud service.
A Retina display? Would be nice but hardly a deal-maker.
I think that iPad has hit it's sweet spot and, speed and memory aside, further 'improvements' will pollute the purity of the original concept.
i want to know when
I'll be able to think into the box---the Newton seemed so bold that you could almost believe we'd be doing that by now-- though seeing my stream of consciousness on a screen might be worrying. ...
...and no you aren't seeing it now. ...
iPad 3
For me I would wait for the retina display and some kind of memory card reader (sd would be good). Most of the other stuff is software related (printing, wireless sync and wireless backup) which seems to be sorting itself out. A USB port that means I only have to take one type of charger and lead when I travel would also be a bonus.
Little chance of a USB port, I'd have thought
Apple seem to be dropping USB in favour of Thunderbolt ports. Given their history of being the first to ditch 'old' technologies (floppy drives, serial ports, mouse ports), I wouldn't put money on any Apple devices having more than a token USB port - at the most - within 12 months.
not to mention their rather
cavalier attitude to their hardware aftermarket ---a mistake that I don't think Microsoft were so prone to.
while
cannibalising the software aftermarket *was* Microsofts business plan-as far as I recall. I was once a Dr Dos user -i know whereof which I speak. ...
have you considered - Google Chromebook?
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/10/samsung-chromebook-series-5-review/
expect to consider
these as rivals to the tablet buy-maybe next year
Not a netbook replacement
The chromebook is more of a thin client and as such not really a replacement for a netbook. If you take one on holiday you will have very little functionality until you get near an Internet connection so, for example, watching films on the plane are out of the question.
no indeed
but might make a v handy sofa/coffee table companion c.f.
http://www.google.co.uk/chromebook/#features
esp depending on the pricing.