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Netbooks/UMPCs: compare all the important specs here

untethered said:
As an early adopter with an Eee PC 701 I can honestly say that I've never been so pleased to have a tech purchase be superseded so quickly by a rapidly developing market. The Eee is great for what it is and it still gets a lot of use. In fact, I've used it far more than I ever thought I would (though almost exclusively for web browsing and web apps).

I'm not bothered about Windows XP or even a bigger hard drive, but something with a better keyboard and screen would certainly be nice. I wonder how much I can get for the Eee on eBay.

* goes to check completed listings*

Edit: About £140 average. That's not bad considering that I paid about £230 for it.
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Fortunately my purchases go back into circulation at the office, and they love em. Phew.

One exta thing about the Asus Aspire - its hard drive space and realtive zippiness allowed me to install Adobe Acrobat Pro, Photoshop and InDesign without worrying about space, and with no descernable depretiation in speed.

For quick edits only though due to size, obviously, but has proved useful already today - out of office, had original indesign doc, needed a small change - edit, done, converted to pdf and emailed from a wifi botspot. Couldn't have done that from the eee...
 
editor said:
I was at a press launch today and boy did I wish I had a netbook with me.

I managed to type out a report on my Palm Centro but came unstuck when it came to filing some photos. There was no way of transferring them from my camera (like I could do with my Treo 650) and the phone's camera is astonishingly average, so it was a bit of a bodge.

The Dell is supposed to be coming out any minute now, but I'm still eyeing the Lenova.
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bah that sucks doesnt it, when you cant do what you want/need to when out and about.

i think the Lenova looks ace, v v tempting. :hmm:

And it sounds better with an A whoever said it was being feminized :p...
 
The Dell Inspiron 910 netbook is due to be released on Thursday for 'less than $400'.

8-19-08-910.jpg


The lappie comes with either 512MB or 1GB of RAM and will only be available with an SSD in Linux/XP flavours.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/222360/dells-netbook-arriving-thursday.html
 
as cheap as that is...that would be very handy to have as a standby/dont care if i break/lose/drop it in the bath extra....

thats VERY cheap...and doesnt look bad either....

i still want the Lenova too though...but $400 ^ ...ace.
 
I've just had a lengthy look at the Advent 4211. I'm really impressed. Great crisp screen, perfectly good keyboard and the whole thing feels light and responsive. You may be able to find competitors that are marginally better here and there but the Advent is more than good enough for the kinds of things these computers would get used for.

I think it might be time to upgrade my Eee 701.
 
I may have accidentally bought an Advent 4211 on my credit card in the Currys sale last week. Going to put in another 1 GB Ram when I get paid. Considering it is a repackaged Msi Wind for a lot less, it's great. The keyboard is comfortable to use although the touchpad is a little fiddly. The 80GB hard drive is enough for my needs.

Shame about the 3 cell battery only getting 1.5 hours with wi-fi on. https://www.medionshop.co.uk has a 6 cell listed under New Arrivals, but no stock yet, for £50. Also Mugen Power to produce a 9 cell 3rd party battery for $133/£75 before VAT and tariffs.
 
yield said:
I may have accidentally bought an Advent 4211 on my credit card in the Currys sale last week. Going to put in another 1 GB Ram when I get paid. Considering it is a repackaged Msi Wind for a lot less, it's great. The keyboard is comfortable to use although the touchpad is a little fiddly. The 80GB hard drive is enough for my needs.

Shame about the 3 cell battery only getting 1.5 hours with wi-fi on. https://www.medionshop.co.uk has a 6 cell listed under New Arrivals, but no stock yet, for £50. Also Mugen Power to produce a 9 cell 3rd party battery for $133/£75 before VAT and tariffs.
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I suppose it's a question of expectations but I've not found the Advent battery a problem. I like the (lack of) weight too much to want to buy a bigger, heavier battery. The power supply is small & light too, so I'm quite prepared to carry that with me.
 
newbie said:
I suppose it's a question of expectations but I've not found the Advent battery a problem. I like the (lack of) weight too much to want to buy a bigger, heavier battery. The power supply is small & light too, so I'm quite prepared to carry that with me.
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True. A bigger battery could mean I defeat the purpose of getting it in the first place.
 
See the advent isn't much cheaper (I'm sure it was in PC world for 200 quid a few weeks ago??? :confused: ) than the dell now. Curry's are selling the 4211 at £279.99, and I'd rather an SSD I think.

Hmm...will have to think more. :rolleyes:
 
Battery life is the most important differentiator between these things if you ask me.
 
zenie said:
See the advent isn't much cheaper (I'm sure it was in PC world for 200 quid a few weeks ago??? :confused: ) than the dell now. Curry's are selling the 4211 at £279.99, and I'd rather an SSD I think.
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If I were buying for a young person I'd choose the SSD but I think I'd trust myself with a real hard drive. I've never broken one yet.
 
What's the MTBF of these SSDs? If it's more than a couple of years, I'd go for one. My laptop hard drives seem to get a little weird after a couple of years.
 
Xanadu said:
What's the MTBF of these SSDs? If it's more than a couple of years, I'd go for one. My laptop hard drives seem to get a little weird after a couple of years.
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Let's be honest. In two one three years the market for these netbooks would have moved on so much that a potentially failing hard drive won't really be that much of a problem. Worst case; you could simply replace the drive got peanuts - best case; netbooks will become so cheap you can just get a new one.

I see nothing to justify the enormous extra cost of SSD drives right now.
 
The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 has now launched in the UK at the rather pricey cost of £299 upwards. Looks lovely though, but it's only available in black.

295

Here's the specs:
AtomTM Processor (1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Windows XP Home Edition SP3
1GB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
Intel® 965PM / GM Express Chipset
Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)
One external speaker
Hard Drives - Up to 16GB configured with a Solid State drive.
USB 2.0 (3)
Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45)
15-pin VGA video connector
Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 mic-in)
3-in-1 Media Card Reader
AC adapter connector
Power 4-cell 32WHr Li-Ion Battery
Integrated 1.3MP webcam
Wi-Fi Options: 802.11g mini-card
Bluetooth: Internal (2.0) mini-card

Ports, Slots, Chassis - Externally Accessible
USB 2.0 (3)
Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45)
15-pin VGA video connector
Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 Mic-in)
3-in-1 Media Card Reader
AC adapter connector

Dimensions & Weight
Width: 9.13" (232mm)
Height: 1.07" (27.2mm) front / 1.25" (31.7mm) back
Depth: 6.77" (172mm)
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http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/p...x/laptop-inspiron-9?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs
 
editor said:
The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 has now launched in the UK at the rather pricey cost of £299 upwards. Looks lovely though, but it's only available in black.
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It doesn't look pricey to me. If it lasts two years that's £2.87 a week (plus interest, if you're borrrowing).

These things will get better and cheaper but in a sense they already are. You can pick up a basic Eee for under £200 now if that's all you need. That's before you even look at second hand ones.
 
Crispy said:
Battery life is the most important differentiator between these things if you ask me.
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more so than the difference between a 16GB solid state drive and an 80GB upgradeable hard disk? Not for me. The former is a toy suitable for browsing the web and not much else. It might bounce when you throw it around but it's really just a bigger PDA. The Advent is a proper computer, one that's small enough and light enough to cart about.
 
The early Dell reviews are a bit mixed. This is the most positive one:
Conclusion

Dell wants you to believe the Inspiron Mini 9 is "your new best friend." Well, kiddies, the Mini 9 is a fantastic mobile companion that helps you stay connected and makes your life easier without breaking the bank. However, I can't shake the feeling that the Mini 9 is more like "the kid you're friendly with at the lunch table, but isn't your BFF."

Yes, the Mini 9 is a great netbook. Yes, it has a great price. Yes, it will probably sell very, very well for Dell. No, this won't change the world as you know it. The truth is that at least a dozen other manufacturers have released or announced similar netbooks before the new Inspiron Mini 9 arrived. Dell had all the time in the world to develop something that slaughters the competition in a way that only Dell can. Unfortunately, while the Mini 9 is great, it still suffers from a few of the same problems we've seen in other netbooks (heat, annoying glossy plastics, bad keyboard, and a small battery that could have been bigger without sacrificing much size or weight).

Ultimately, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is a fabulous netbook that is sure to end up on many Christmas lists this year ... but it's only "your new best friend" if you're willing to overlook a few flaws.

Pros

Small and light
Easy to use
Very well built and durable
Responsive Synaptics touchpad
Easy to upgrade RAM, SSD, and wireless cards
No noisy cooling fan
Low price for an ultraportable
Cons

Gets a little hot
Glossy plastic lid is a magnet for fingerprints
No F11 or F12 keys, other function keys in strange location
4-cell battery is nice, 6-cell battery would be better
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4578
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More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090401361.html

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 falls well short of the MSI Wind and the HP 2133 Mini-Note because it doesn't offer an extended battery and large-enough storage options. And you'll have to punch in an E-Value code (1-DNDMXA1) to get this limited-time offer price of $399. Otherwise, the list price is the same as that of the Wind' ($474). For the average person who doesn't want to lug a 5-to-6 pound laptop (with its case and AC adapter) through airport security just to check e-mail, surf, and do some light Office tasks, a UMPC is a very viable solution. For now, that solution is the MSI Wind, but as prices come down, I'm expecting Dell to make this a close race.
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http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329399,00.asp
 
^_^ seen that video some time ago. Thing is that this thinkpad's 3+ years old. is falling to bits and I can still rock the bit-party with it. it's a lust/want thing i guess.
 
Twice in the past two weeks I've found myself desperately needing a netbook, so I might crack and get one very soon.

I know what I want: Windows XP, 80GB hard drive, memory card slot and it has to be as small as possible, but not so tiny as looking at websites involves a frenzy of scrolling.
 
editor said:
I know what I want: Windows XP, 80GB hard drive, memory card slot and it has to be as small as possible, but not so tiny as looking at websites involves a frenzy of scrolling.
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That sounds like the Advent to me. It's small enough to be truly portable but not so small that typing and reading becomes a chore.

Chrome is a good browser for netbooks with shorter screens, though to a degree you can declutter other browsers.
 
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