Netbooks and work

SiC · 2008-11-10 15:39:26

Has anyone got any experience using netbooks for any serious work? I'm starting to find that carrying my main laptop around everyday is giving me back- and neck-ache so am thinking about an ultraportable device.

Most of my work is statistical analysis, in particular using R, also I use Matlab a great deal, so was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips? I've been thinking about the AA1, or similar, but don't want to spend any money if it is not going to actually be of any benefit.

Any thoughts?

Last edited by SiC (2008-11-10 15:39:41)

jo3 · 2008-11-10 16:04:04

Must be a heavy laptop.
I use two computers mainly, a Dell Inspiron 9300 (big laptop) and an ASUS EeePC 900. Both run arch and both have their special functions. As far as productivity at my desk I need the dell for it's power and larger keyboard (personally I can type way faster on it), however if I'm at a remote site or in a small switch closet the EeePC's size really makes it useful.
I would consider what you do on the computer all day.. if it's typing up reports or reviewing documents (where a larger screen helps) then maybe stick to the larger laptop and get a quality case or backpack to carry it in. (backpacks ftw ) If portability/lightweight is the key then make sure you really like the keyboard because honestly the keyboard size is my only gripe when it comes to "ultra-portable" devices.

SiC · 2008-11-10 16:11:59

I write a lot of documents (Latex) and produce graphs and do statistical analysis most of the day (R and Matlab) so screen space is good, the resolution on the AA1 for example isn't actually much different from the machine I am forced to use in work (1024x768 vs 1024x600, go figure). So screenspace is not that different, I work at home where possible as it does improve my productivity, but of course that isn't practical all the time.

Am just thinking out loud I guess at the moment, and was wondering if anyone here had tried to use one of these machines full time, of course it would be running Arch as opposed to linpus

antis · 2008-11-10 17:19:51

I own a AA1 and it really is a super machine. The screen is brilliant, it has more than enough power for most things and the keyboard is very much ok.
I would however not use it for work because I think it's too small in size.
As I said, the keyboard is ok, but I think it will be tiresome to use it for a full workday. I also think the screen is a bit too small to do real work like word processing and programming etc. It's ok for a short period of time, but not for a whole day.

Having said that, you should go and buy one anyway. You'll have heaps of fun with it.

schuay · 2008-11-10 20:51:37

I use the Acer Aspire One as my main work PC.
With an external 1600x1200 monitor and USB mouse and keyboard, its biggest weaknesses are eliminated. Most of my work is done over remote desktop so CPU power is not a big problem. I usually have firefox, a terminal window, rdesktop, and 1 or 2 documents in openoffice open, works great!
And commuting/travelling with an AA1 is much more comfortable than carrying my old work laptop (Dell D630)

lucke · 2008-11-10 21:05:59

The only deal breaker (considering that you can use an external monitor at home; I really like the keyboard on my MSI Wind) could be the lack of computing power. I presume statistical analysis needs some juice and Atoms aren't very powerful compared to regular desktop/mobile CPUs.

SiC · 2008-11-10 21:42:14

Most of the heavy processing work gets passed out using matlab to a distributed computing platform at work, so I never really have to do a lot of processing. The primary function for my laptop is writing reports, which doesn't particularly tax the machine I use now. When at home I use my desktop, rather than my laptop most of the data is stored remotely anyway (either on the work network, or my home one) and I vpn into the network.

I was mostly interested in whether or not people actually used these devices as a work machine, or whether they are actually just being used as web browsing devices, or the occasional bit of word processing.

vistor · 2008-11-13 14:47:04

I use my MSI Wind for work every day and Ive never been more happy about a work-computer.

I'm a network technician and therefore spend about half my day with clients at other companies.
Running around with this baby in server halls etc - plugging in console cables is soo much easier now.

Once back at the office I also use the external 19" screen and usb keyboard/mouse and since I like many others use remote desktop alot CPU-power is no problem.

Best parts about it: The keyboard is really good which i havent seen with many other netbooks, the ease of placing the laptop almost anywhere really helps when you are in tight spots.

Drawbacks: The mousepad, The battery time one the wind is bad with the 3 cell-battery. So i bought a new 6 cell for 70$ and now i hit 5-6 hours of battery.

In short: great if you spend alot of times in field but in your case I think I would get a new light-weight 13" normal laptop with a bit more cpu.

Last edited by vistor (2008-11-13 14:47:41)

gingermig · 2009-02-05 20:27:08

vistor wrote:

I use my MSI Wind for work every day and Ive never been more happy about a work-computer.
...
Once back at the office I also use the external 19" screen

Oooh... Give me your xorg.conf! I have an LG X110, which is a twin of the MSI Wind, and I can't figure out how to get signal to an external monitor, preferably using Fn+F7.

That said, the X110 fills all my needs: Office, net, localization, music production (runs and records in Ardour without a single xrun).

Last edited by gingermig (2009-02-05 20:28:39)

Myav · 2009-02-09 22:12:10

+1

I've been using "big" PCs for many years, and I'm a bit tired of it... I'm going to switch to netbooks.

Dual core Intel Atom, SSD, WiMAX - that is all I want to have in my netbook

Unfortunatelly, I haven't seen netbooks having all such things yet.

phisphere · 2009-02-10 06:29:08

schuay wrote:

I use the Acer Aspire One as my main work PC.
With an external 1600x1200 monitor and USB mouse and keyboard, its biggest weaknesses are eliminated. Most of my work is done over remote desktop so CPU power is not a big problem. I usually have firefox, a terminal window, rdesktop, and 1 or 2 documents in openoffice open, works great!
And commuting/travelling with an AA1 is much more comfortable than carrying my old work laptop (Dell D630)

i've had exactly the same idea for a while now, but i'm still waiting to get a good cheap deal on aa1.
but yes, carrying my dell vostro everyday to work and back home is annoying, instead i could leave it at home, and use aa1 (or any other netbook) with external monitor, mouse and keyboard.

maybe next month..

nightwatch · 2009-02-10 19:15:16

Myav wrote:

+1
I've been using "big" PCs for many years, and I'm a bit tired of it... I'm going to switch to netbooks.
Dual core Intel Atom, SSD, WiMAX - that is all I want to have in my netbook
Unfortunatelly, I haven't seen netbooks having all such things yet.

Well, Atoms have HyperThreading, a poor man's dual core

I really like my Samsung NC10. Only problem is this suspend issue, which I'm bisecting as we speak (it's somewhere between 2.6.27.6 and 2.6.27.8).

mrknify · 2014-02-17 18:03:44

gingermig wrote:

vistor wrote:
I use my MSI Wind for work every day and Ive never been more happy about a work-computer.
...
Once back at the office I also use the external 19" screen
Oooh... Give me your xorg.conf! I have an LG X110, which is a twin of the MSI Wind, and I can't figure out how to get signal to an external monitor, preferably using Fn+F7.
That said, the X110 fills all my needs: Office, net, localization, music production (runs and records in Ardour without a single xrun).

Did you have issues with the wifi? On my x110 it only seems to work with wicd from a GUI.(lxde) I have no issues in Ubuntu with gnome or debian, just having hard times getting it running from the command line.

ewaller · 2014-02-17 18:21:46

mrknify,

This thread is really old. Things change a lot in four five years, and it is unlikely the original posters are still watching. Since we have changed kernels and init systems since then, I am going to close this thread.

Please feel free to start a new thread. State your issue anew, and if you feel this thread is still relevant, feel free to provide a link back to this one.

Thanks.

Last edited by ewaller (2014-02-17 18:22:50)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-11-10 15:39:26

Netbooks and work

#2 2008-11-10 16:04:04

Re: Netbooks and work

#3 2008-11-10 16:11:59

Re: Netbooks and work

#4 2008-11-10 17:19:51

Re: Netbooks and work

#5 2008-11-10 20:51:37

Re: Netbooks and work

#6 2008-11-10 21:05:59

Re: Netbooks and work

#7 2008-11-10 21:42:14

Re: Netbooks and work

#8 2008-11-13 14:47:04

Re: Netbooks and work

#9 2009-02-05 20:27:08

Re: Netbooks and work

#10 2009-02-09 22:12:10

Re: Netbooks and work

#11 2009-02-10 06:29:08

Re: Netbooks and work

#12 2009-02-10 19:15:16

Re: Netbooks and work

#13 2014-02-17 18:03:44

Re: Netbooks and work

#14 2014-02-17 18:21:46

Re: Netbooks and work

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