netbook recommendations for the US market?

RufusD · 2010-06-09 18:09:13

Hi there!
I'm about to buy a netbook. Since my parents will be flying to the US soon, I thought about asking them to buy it there and bring it back to Germany, as this seems a lot cheaper (is it?). So I'm wondering if there's any netbooks on the US market that someone can recommend. I'm not looking for anything special: anti-glare display (roughly 10"), hopefully linux compatibility. So can anyone suggest a model?

Best wishes,
Rufus

George.Harmony · 2010-06-09 18:21:25

I have an Asus EEE-pc 1008ha. It works pretty much out of the box with Linux. I think you will find most of the EEE-pc's are Linux compatible so you might want to look at one of the newer ones in their line. Only thing is I don't think they have anti-glare screens.

I love mine.

My girlfriend has one of the Compaq's netbooks. Can't remember the model but I have run the latest Ubuntu on it. It worked but the wireless needed a little screwing around with to get it going. Both of us though hate the mouse pad on the compaq and find the Asus netbooks much nicer to work on, ie typing, surfin, etc,etc.

So basically imho I would suggest looking at the Asus and staying away from the Compaq.

Skripka · 2010-06-09 18:23:39

What your folks see in any physical store will probably relatively expensive, as the US electronics market goes. Especially any of the mega-electronics stores like Best Buy. If there was any way to swing it for them to order off NewEgg and have it delivered to a US physical address where they can pick it up? NewEgg has the best prices and selection, and best shipping of any online store I know of-but only ships to US addresses.

See: www.newegg.com

Last edited by Skripka (2010-06-09 18:23:50)

lswest · 2010-06-09 20:00:19

RufusD wrote:

Hi there!
I'm about to buy a netbook. Since my parents will be flying to the US soon, I thought about asking them to buy it there and bring it back to Germany, as this seems a lot cheaper (is it?). So I'm wondering if there's any netbooks on the US market that someone can recommend. I'm not looking for anything special: anti-glare display (roughly 10"), hopefully linux compatibility. So can anyone suggest a model?

I don't know about it being cheaper. I bought my Samsung N110 netbook off amazon.de for a decent price (~300€ I believe, which is what it was going for in the US at the time). Also keep in mind that a US-bought machine will have a US keyboard layout. Have you compared prices online for a newer netbook on amazon.de VS bestbuy.com? I don't honestly think it's worth it, but that's just me.

As for model, I quite liked my Samsung, but I've not kept up much on the new models, and I have heard good things about the newer Asus eeePCs, so I'd probably second the recommendation for an Asus.

Bestbuy has an Asus 1008PB laptop going for 399.99 USD + tax (I think it comes out to about 460USD (383€) -- not sure what current US tax is), and amazon.de has a 1008P for 360€. Seems to me to not be worth it. On Newegg the 1008P is even at 499.99USD + tax. There are a few decent physical shops in the Munich area that I know of (if you're anywhere near there), otherwise I say give amazon a shot.

Sources:
1008PB (bestbuy)
1008P (amazon.de)
1008P (Newegg)

Last edited by lswest (2010-06-09 20:06:22)

thayer · 2010-06-09 20:32:12

Matte displays are hard to find, especially in retail stores. The MSI Wind line has some and I believe Samsung has one as well. I hunted high and low for my U120 specifically for the matte display. Why oh why do they keep making glossy screens...I look at my old Acer Aspire One and I can't imagine ever going back to that.

fsckd · 2010-06-09 20:39:28

thayer wrote:

Why oh why do they keep making glossy screens.

IIRC, twas for safety reasons.

Edit: Can't find anything to back this up. I might be wrong ...

Last edited by fsckd (2010-06-09 21:15:31)

upsidaisium · 2010-06-10 01:30:14

I bought a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 over a year ago, and I've been really happy with it. The screen is easy on the eyes.

Arch works just fine on it, though I did run into a problem this week I've been running Arch for almost a year with no problems, but I decided this week to do a fresh install (I had so much junk installed, wanted a clean slate, etc..). And now I can't seem to get the internal mic working. As I recall, it just worked out of the box last time around; all I had to do was turn up the capture channel in alsamixer and then I was always able to have Skype conversations or record things with Audacity with no issues. But this time around I can't get it working, no matter what I try.

hume's doona · 2010-06-10 01:38:37

Not an acer aspire one. The motherboards and bios are crap, so they tend to just give up the ghost. An acer tech support sucks, they'll be no help fixing it.

RufusD · 2010-06-10 18:40:55

Thanks for all the input, very interesting. Another thing came to my mind:
What would happen if I connected a netbook to my main PC's 1680x1050 screen? Is there any chance a netbook's GPU can drive this resolution? What is it about this famed Ion thing?
Is there any chance to compare the different CPU's?

@Skripka: Not a problem, since my brother is living there. So I could have it delivered to his place
@Iswest: you may be right. Anyway I'm grateful for suggestions of decent models.

Stythys · 2010-06-10 18:45:46

HP Mini 311 or Asus 1201N. Best netbooks for value on the market.

RufusD · 2010-06-10 18:50:44

What do you guys know about these anti-glare stickers one can glue to the screen? Are they any good?

Last edited by RufusD (2010-06-10 18:50:55)

Skripka · 2010-06-10 18:51:14

RufusD wrote:

Thanks for all the input, very interesting. Another thing came to my mind:
What would happen if I connected a netbook to my main PC's 1680x1050 screen? Is there any chance a netbook's GPU can drive this resolution? What is it about this famed Ion thing?
Is there any chance to compare the different CPU's?
@Skripka: Not a problem, since my brother is living there. So I could have it delivered to his place

A) Most netbooks have Intel graphics-although the more expensive ones have Nvidia ION. They should be able to drive a 1680X1050 panel...BUT the Intel GPU netbooks tend to have a problem with framerate of Youtube clips while running on battery

B) CPUs. There are LOTS of Atom CPUs. Some are even dual core. I have an old N270 in my MSi Wind U123 I got off NewEgg. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Atom

For all the Atoms and their specs.

PS-I also recommend NewEgg, because NewEgg sells netbooks with long-life batteries. My U123 from NewEgg came with a 9.5hr battery. ALL the local computer/electronics stores here sold netbooks with 3hr or less batteris.

electricaltape · 2010-06-11 01:30:15

RufusD wrote:

Thanks for all the input, very interesting. Another thing came to my mind:
What would happen if I connected a netbook to my main PC's 1680x1050 screen? Is there any chance a netbook's GPU can drive this resolution? What is it about this famed Ion thing?
Is there any chance to compare the different CPU's?

I have a 2008 eeePC that I use from time to time, and I have actually hooked it up to my 1680x1050 monitor. So yes!

Berticus · 2010-06-11 02:34:59

Well I'm still waiting for a netvertible or something that will have Pixel Qi's 3qi screen. Sadly, it needs to be windows compatible

Borosai · 2010-06-11 03:03:53

Earlier this year I bought an ASUS 1001p for $290.00 USD. If it's still available at that price, it's a good deal. I'm currently using Windows 7 Ultimate on it, and it works well. Eee's seem to have good Linux support, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

Under Win7, I get very good battery life: about 8 hours while web browsing and watching some flash videos. I have also watched a number of movies while on battery power, and I'm certain I could watch about 6 hours of SD video, and a bit less if it's HD (720p mkv files play perfectly on battery power if you change the power settings). My point is the hardware is more than capable for these tasks, so you can gauge how well it would perform in your case.

I don't love everything about it (mostly physical design), but it hasn't been a disappointment at all.

ewaller · 2010-06-11 04:31:30

RufusD wrote:

What do you guys know about these anti-glare stickers one can glue to the screen? Are they any good?

No.

Anything you put in the optical path is going to reduce the luminance by 10 or 20 cd/m^2 [nit] Furthermore, you are almost guaranteed to entrap dust or air bubbles in the optical path

hayer wrote:

Why oh why do they keep making glossy screens.

Because it is all about contrast. That is the ratio of light emitted by the display divided by the light reflected off of the display.

Matte finishes have a very high diffuse reflection -- reflected light bounces off in all directions -- some of which is guaranteed to be in the direction of your eye. For each light source behind you, some portion of that light is reflected in the direction of your eye. As such, bright environments uniformly lower the display contrast.

Gloss finishes have a very low diffuse reflection, but a very high specular reflection (like a mirror). Light sources bounce off of the display with almost the same brightness they hit it. As long as the reflection does not hit you in the eye, the display contrast is not impacted. If on the other hand, the reflection bounces back at the user-- well the contrast at that point is trashed. Glossy displays have a non-uniform reduction in contrast.

The point is a matte display works great if there are many low intensity light sources behind you. The contrast is uniform and there is a uniform reduction in that contrast. If, however, there is a single bright source behind you (the sun), a matte display will be reduced to a very low contrast. In this situation, a glossy display can be positioned such that the specular reflection from the sun does not reflect back toward the user.

In an office environment, LCDs generally provide contrast ratios on the order of several hundred to one. LCDs are okay down to about 10:1. Below 3:1 they are useless (IMHO) A matte display with a luminance of 300nit will, outdoors on a sunny, sub-tropical day, quickly fall below 5:1 no matter how it is oriented. With Gloss, you at least can try different angles.

xelados · 2010-06-19 14:40:31

I bought a Samsung NC10 from Amazon last August or so for $370. Nowadays that same model is something like $250 and Samsung has released more powerful netbooks since then.

The NC10 has a matte screen (no glare, but NO visibility in sunlight) and comes equipped with an Atom N270, a gig of RAM, and a 5400 rpm SATA drive with 160 GB and WinXP. XP runs pretty well on it, and Arch runs as well as you would expect (that is, wonderfully).

I'm not current on netbooks, so I'm just sharing what I have. I get around 5 hours of battery life from the battery that comes with it (I think it's a 6-cell?) I want the 9 cell on Amazon that's $60; that should bring my battery life to 7-8 hours. It depends on what you use and how you configure Arch, though; I can't seem to get my power usage below 9-10 watts.

arinlares · 2010-06-20 05:36:04

I have and love my eee 1000ha. The only problem I have (occurs in Debian Squeeze and Arch, so I'm assuming more, as well), is a problem with the sound driver that results in static when ALSA runs after running the computer a while. I have run Salix, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, and OpenSuSE on it with no problems, aside from the sound issue (Lenny's ath5k doesn't like the 1000ha).

With full power conservation, I think I could get the boasted 7 hour battery life in any distribution (Debian has it's scripts in the repos, and there's eee-control in the AUR).

As far as connecting to a larger screen, it might to either way with this model as I have yet to do this. Natively, it supports 1024x600, 800x600, and 640x480.

epsilon · 2010-06-21 14:17:14

Skripka wrote:

What your folks see in any physical store will probably relatively expensive, as the US electronics market goes. Especially any of the mega-electronics stores like Best Buy. If there was any way to swing it for them to order off NewEgg and have it delivered to a US physical address where they can pick it up? NewEgg has the best prices and selection, and best shipping of any online store I know of-but only ships to US addresses.
See: www.newegg.com

I'll second this.

eee netbooks are said to be very good. Personally, I use Arch on an Aspire One 532h and love it. At this point, I'd wager that most specs are very similar between netbooks: low power Atom CPU, 1GB/2GB of RAM, 160/250GB hard drive. Personally, if i had money to spend I would make sure to get some sort of SSD in the netbook instead of an HDD, because I find myself, with 160GB of data, wondering what to with it all: I already have a music player, the CPU is only appropriate for SD movies, a documents take up very little space (but I suppose I'm speaking from 2TB of desktop storage).

demian · 2010-06-21 14:30:19

I'd suggest you buy a thinkpad x200s from an outlet store. It's 12 inch, weighs 1.5 kg with the 6cell battery, has a full sized keyboard and pretty much beats a netbook in all regards (including linux compatibility and non-glare display).
I don't know the pricing but it shouldn't cost more than 600 USD.
The currency exchange great for EUR -> USD isn't the best at the moment though. You should've done that one year ago .

Last edited by demian (2010-06-21 14:36:51)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-09 18:09:13

netbook recommendations for the US market?

#2 2010-06-09 18:21:25

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#3 2010-06-09 18:23:39

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#4 2010-06-09 20:00:19

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#5 2010-06-09 20:32:12

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#6 2010-06-09 20:39:28

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#7 2010-06-10 01:30:14

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#8 2010-06-10 01:38:37

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#9 2010-06-10 18:40:55

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#10 2010-06-10 18:45:46

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#11 2010-06-10 18:50:44

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#12 2010-06-10 18:51:14

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#13 2010-06-11 01:30:15

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#14 2010-06-11 02:34:59

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#15 2010-06-11 03:03:53

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#16 2010-06-11 04:31:30

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#17 2010-06-19 14:40:31

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#18 2010-06-20 05:36:04

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#19 2010-06-21 14:17:14

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

#20 2010-06-21 14:30:19

Re: netbook recommendations for the US market?

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