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#1 2010-04-11 20:11:33

asheguy79
Member
From: Asheville North Carolina
Registered: 2009-11-23
Posts: 16

Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

My laptop is on its last legs and I was thinking about buying a netbook to replace it.  I have heard mixed reviews on the matter but all the bad reviews come from people running Windows 7 starter on it.  I was wanting to get some feed back from the community on their netbook experience.

Last edited by asheguy79 (2010-04-11 22:42:30)

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#2 2010-04-11 20:28:44

lifeafter2am
Member
From: 127.0.0.1
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 1,332

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

I love my netbook.  It's not my only machine, but I take it with me everywhere and it works great.  I get about 6 hours of battery life, sometimes more, and everything worked right out of the box.  Is it fast?  Not really, but enough for what I use it for (music, some flash, IRC, programming etc).

Again, not my only machine, but I think it was worth the measly $300 it cost.


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#3 2010-04-11 20:36:35

asheguy79
Member
From: Asheville North Carolina
Registered: 2009-11-23
Posts: 16

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

What kind did you get and what programming do you do with it?

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#4 2010-04-11 20:39:27

brianhanna
Member
Registered: 2009-10-30
Posts: 157

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

Definitely worth it.  There are some models that are probably better to stay away from though.  Ones with Intel GMA500 graphics are pretty tough to get working decent.  Also, lots of them have Broadcom wireless cards which can be a pain.  Check the specs carefully and you can probably find something you'll be happy with.

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#5 2010-04-11 20:43:08

lifeafter2am
Member
From: 127.0.0.1
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 1,332

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

asheguy79 wrote:

What kind did you get and what programming do you do with it?

I have an Asus eeePC 1005HA.  I made sure that it had the Atheros wireless chipset in it, because I wanted a card that didn't need to load extra firmware or use drivers that weren't in the kernel (like some of the Broadcoms).  Not that the Broadcoms won't work, but just didn't want to have to do that on this machine.  Plus the Atheros supports packet injection, which I play with from time to time.

My programming is pretty basic, mostly stuff like perl, python, php, etc.  I have compiled code on it more than a few times though ..... again not fast, but not so slow as to completely piss me off.  smile

Last edited by lifeafter2am (2010-04-11 20:44:06)


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#6 2010-04-11 20:48:59

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

@asheguy79
You can't decide whether to buy a netbook v. a notebook or is it netbook v. desktop or ...?
Generally, you get what you pay for, but be sure to double check the specs. Higher-end netbooks cost about as much as lower-end notebooks (and the latter you can get w/o Windows - at least in Poland). As for the final answer, it depends on your needs: does it have to be super-portable or maybe you really need that 15" screen - that sort of thing. Notebooks have better CPUs, more RAM, optical drive, but maybe a 12" dual-core netbook will be better for you.

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#7 2010-04-11 22:19:07

asheguy79
Member
From: Asheville North Carolina
Registered: 2009-11-23
Posts: 16

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

lifeafter2am wrote:
asheguy79 wrote:

What kind did you get and what programming do you do with it?

I have an Asus eeePC 1005HA.  I made sure that it had the Atheros wireless chipset in it, because I wanted a card that didn't need to load extra firmware or use drivers that weren't in the kernel (like some of the Broadcoms).  Not that the Broadcoms won't work, but just didn't want to have to do that on this machine.  Plus the Atheros supports packet injection, which I play with from time to time.

My programming is pretty basic, mostly stuff like perl, python, php, etc.  I have compiled code on it more than a few times though ..... again not fast, but not so slow as to completely piss me off.  smile

Ok thanks, what Intel GMA dose it have?  I will just be doing python and some ruby and rails programming.

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#8 2010-04-11 22:31:25

lifeafter2am
Member
From: 127.0.0.1
Registered: 2009-06-10
Posts: 1,332

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

asheguy79 wrote:
lifeafter2am wrote:
asheguy79 wrote:

What kind did you get and what programming do you do with it?

I have an Asus eeePC 1005HA.  I made sure that it had the Atheros wireless chipset in it, because I wanted a card that didn't need to load extra firmware or use drivers that weren't in the kernel (like some of the Broadcoms).  Not that the Broadcoms won't work, but just didn't want to have to do that on this machine.  Plus the Atheros supports packet injection, which I play with from time to time.

My programming is pretty basic, mostly stuff like perl, python, php, etc.  I have compiled code on it more than a few times though ..... again not fast, but not so slow as to completely piss me off.  smile

Ok thanks, what Intel GMA dose it have?  I will just be doing python and some ruby and rails programming.

Heres my lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

#binarii @ irc.binarii.net
Matrix Server: https://matrix.binarii.net
-------------
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#9 2010-04-11 22:42:10

asheguy79
Member
From: Asheville North Carolina
Registered: 2009-11-23
Posts: 16

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

Thanks, I think we have a winner!

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#10 2010-04-12 00:05:18

mongrol
Member
Registered: 2010-01-06
Posts: 31

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

lifeafter2am wrote:
asheguy79 wrote:

What kind did you get and what programming do you do with it?

I have an Asus eeePC 1005HA.  I made sure that it had the Atheros wireless chipset in it, because I wanted a card that didn't need to load extra firmware or use drivers that weren't in the kernel (like some of the Broadcoms).  Not that the Broadcoms won't work, but just didn't want to have to do that on this machine.  Plus the Atheros supports packet injection, which I play with from time to time.

My programming is pretty basic, mostly stuff like perl, python, php, etc.  I have compiled code on it more than a few times though ..... again not fast, but not so slow as to completely piss me off.  smile

I have a HP Mini 110-1197TU and I do a lot of programming on it developing my TBS game. I use vim and wmii window manager writing C++ with SFML. My game does a full compile (2000 lines of code in about 30 objects) in around 30 seconds. It's fantastic. About 30% of the my game as now been written on the bus. smile

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#11 2010-04-12 12:49:56

asheguy79
Member
From: Asheville North Carolina
Registered: 2009-11-23
Posts: 16

Re: Are netbooks worth buying? [SOLVED]

Wow! that is very impressive.

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