Netbooks

[rayrey10]

Looking for advice/suggestions on buying a netbook. My son's computer is slowly dying so I was thinking about buying him a netbook for Christmas. He's 12 years old and all he uses his computer for is ITunes, email and chatting, so I figured he shouldn't need anything bigger.

Thanks,
Ray

[Lionheart]

I just got my brother a really nice Gateway laptop for $400.00 at BB. Illuminated keys, colored exterior, Win7 64, large screen. Very good deal.



Bill

[rayrey10]

I just got my brother a really nice Gateway laptop for $400.00 at BB. Illuminated keys, colored exterior, Win7 64, large screen. Very good deal.



Bill

Thanks, Bill. I've seen some nice laptops at Best Buy but I was particularly interested in the netbook because of the size.

They all seem to be rigged about the same 1 Gig of RAM and 160 Gig hard drive, which is more than enough for him.

[Kiwikat]

I suggest you get an ASUS eee. They probably come with less bloatware than any other brand. My eee 1000h is rock solid. I'd recommend one to anyone.

Make sure to get a 2 gig stick of DDR2 667 or slower off of newegg. It is 20 bucks and doubles the ram. Make sure not to get it at Best Buy. Again, grab one from newegg or perhaps Amazon. Best Buy tends to sell netbooks that are missing features that other retailers have. For example, I got the bluetoothless 4 cell version from Best Buy, whereas normally it would have bluetooth and a 6 cell battery.

Oh, and install Linux on it! Xubuntu is close to flawless on mine and is way faster than my main rig with windows 7 64 Pro. :173go1:

[harleyman]

You know that netbooks have no DVD drive...Therefor you can't make a restore disk or install any games on it..

You need to also purchase a USB DVDRW drive....

They have no recovery partition included or disks.

[Bjoern]

They have no recovery partition included or disks.

Well, that shouldn't be much of a problem.


Get netbook, repartition the HDD, install a fresh Windows from a USB drive, done.

[GT182]

It seems BB is selling stuff other retailers don't want. Last time I was instore it was all over priced crap that could be bought for less someplace else. And yes, I'm prejudiced seeing what they do to customers that have learned the hard way to stay away from BB. ;)

[rayrey10]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll check out Newegg. My son doesn't play games on a PC or do anything that would require a CD/DVD drive but thanks for the heads up Harleyman...cuz I did not know that.

[rpjkw]

Walmart is selling a notebook for $198. Not sure about specs since I'm not in the market, but it could be something to consider.

Bob

[Lionheart]

If he's really into music and iTunes and maybe even redoing music (Garage Band program by Apple), and if money is not a problem, the Apple MacBook is really great for kids. They have their base basic model for $900 and its available in white as well as anodized aluminum. Has a battery that lasts forever and a nice screen system. Great for music and photos. You can get a remote control for them for $20.00. You can also load WinXP on part of the HD as well so it can run normal programs also.

This way, if he is an iPod person, he will be 'fully' iTunes...

Just an idea. $900.00 is alot for a basic computer, but I can tell you that Apple is a very high quality product. Even their basic laptop is a very nice laptop filled with good software.


EDIT: I do not work for apple, nor do I make any commissions. This is only a humble suggestion. I am including some screenshots of the small laptop they sell. This is only if money is not an issue. If it is, then look no more.



Bill

[Chacha]

If he's really into music and iTunes and maybe even redoing music (Garage Band program by Apple), and if money is not a problem, the Apple MacBook is really great for kids. They have their base basic model for $900 and its available in white as well as anodized aluminum. Has a battery that lasts forever and a nice screen system. Great for music and photos. You can get a remote control for them for $20.00. You can also load WinXP on part of the HD as well so it can run normal programs also.

This way, if he is an iPod person, he will be 'fully' iTunes...

Just an idea. $900.00 is alot for a basic computer, but I can tell you that Apple is a very high quality product. Even their basic laptop is a very nice laptop filled with good software.


Bill

Bill,

You are hired as an Apple Executive Marketing and Advertising Regional Director....

Pack your bags and report to the main office immediately! :applause:

If you can make it before Thanksgiving you will receive a bonus car .... a Range Rover 2010 :engel016:

Eli

PS

Back to the topic :pop4:

(Sorry guys could not resist)

[Lionheart]

lololol...

You are funny ChaCha....


:d



Bill

[JimC1702]

I recently bought a Dell Mini-10 netbook and it does what I expected it to. I have a desktop for gaming, I only wanted the netbook for portability and accessing the internet. It came with a tv tuner so I can watch tv on it also. Also came with McAfee, Adobe Elements, MS Works, and some board games. I dumped the McAfee right away and installed Avast! which works very well and is less of a resource hog.

Jim

[rayrey10]

Thanks to all

Bob - thanks, I'll check it out.

Bill - an Apple would be great but $900 for a Christmas gift for an 11 year old is a bit much in my book, but thanks for the information. I hope to get myself an Apple laptop next year. I know where to go for advice :d

ChaCha- too funny :bump:

Jim- I've been looking at the Dell minis. I like their products. Yeah I'm a "Dell guy". I've owned 3 Dell desktops and 2 laptops, and have no complaints.

[hey_moe]

I have the Asus EEE, and so far knock on wood it hasn't missed a beat. I use it to surf the net while on my lunch break. I brought a USB extender for hooking onto the net. If I had to do it again, I would go to BB and buy the cheapest Laptop they sell, which is what I am thinking of doing soon. The small Asus is ok and was kinda cool when I brought it but as far as reading on the net I wouldn't suggest it.

[Quixoticish]

I have the Asus EEE, and so far knock on wood it hasn't missed a beat. I use it to surf the net while on my lunch break. I brought a USB extender for hooking onto the net. If I had to do it again, I would go to BB and buy the cheapest Laptop they sell, which is what I am thinking of doing soon. The small Asus is ok and was kinda cool when I brought it but as far as reading on the net I wouldn't suggest it.

I'm of the complete opposite opinion, I used to own a variety of laptops and even the smaller ones proved cumbersome and low on battery life at times. I picked up an Asus EEE instead as all I used it for was general web and e-mail use along with the odd bits of media playing, spreadsheets and word processing.

The netbook was miles better for this than the laptop; ample power to run everything you need, an awful lot more battery life and a lot more durable. The screen and keyboard are perfectly functional and don't slow you down at all, there wasn't even any time needed to adjust getting used to writing on a "small" keyboard.

The only thing I'd ever consider purchasing a laptop instead of a netbook for is if I needed to watch the odd DVD or Blu-ray on it.