Net Book Question

[blackraven]

Does any one own a Net Book? I want to buy my wife one for XMAS. I was curious as to how well they work for web browsing and how they fare with not having a DVD or CD ROM drive. Also, how do you watch a movie on them if you want to take it on a Plane trip? I guess you have to down load it to the HD.

[02audionoob]

I have a Lenovo netbook. It's certainly a great web browser. It works well for Microsoft Office applications, too. I have copied movies onto it, which works nicely but isn't something I've been getting much use out of. I've even streamed NetFlix movies on it.

One thing I like about the size is that it's so small I can use a little board as a lap desk and still have room for a Bluetooth mouse.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2741/4160143015_8a8c3b8773_m.jpg

I've really gotten along great without an optical drive. I just use an external drive when I install software. I've had an external for a long time, so I didn't have to buy one to go with the netbook.

[blackraven]

Thanks, just what I thought. I think Ill buy one for my wife for her email and web browsing. I'm looking at a Samsung and a Toshiba. They have a few now that run more powerful intel celeron processors but the battery life suffers to about 3.5-4hrs.

[02audionoob]

Thanks, just what I thought. I think Ill buy one for my wife for her email and web browsing. I'm looking at a Samsung and a Toshiba. They have a few now that run more powerful intel celeron processors but the battery life suffers to about 3.5-4hrs.

I've had no problem with the Atom processor. I chose mine at least partly because of the quality of construction. Lenovo has extensive experience building portable computers...like Dell does...so it got my attention. You might want to look at the solid-state hard drives. Maybe they'll extend your battery life.

[blackraven]

I'm going to buy one with the Atom 280 cpu clocked at 1.66. It's a smidge faster than the 270 at 1.60. Its probably insignificant but most of the newer netbooks have them now.

[mlsstl]

I bought an Acer Aspire netbook and it is very handy for browsing and email. It is easy to carry around and has great battery life (I got the bigger of the two batteries.) That gives me 6 or 7 hours of use before charging.

The biggest disadvantage is the mouse pad and click buttons are somewhat flakey. I've gotten somewhat used to it but it could still be better. Sometimes it seems like your cursor just darts off to strange spots.

Other adjustments include the small keyboard, but I've adapted to it fairly well. The screen can also sometimes leave the bottom click buttons on a web page off the bottom. In those cases you have to use the ALT key in combo with the left mouse button to drag the window up a bit to get at the selection buttons.

However, that's a trade off between the extreme portability and other nice aspects of such a small computer and the above items. It's up to each user to figure out whether they want a netbook or the more conventional feel of a larger laptop.

[blackraven]

We will be using a cordless mini mouse instead of the touch pad. I cant stand touch pads.
Also, I'm looking at a few netbooks that have regular size or close to standard size keyboards.

Thanks for the helpful replies!