I've been thinking about getting a netbook. I've thought that I'd get an iPhone, but I don't think that it'll do the trick for me.

I want something for work. There are times when I'm on a job and could really use product information quickly. I usually have to wait till I get back to the office to look up the information and print out any documentation that I might need to troubleshoot and repair.

Radio Shack has this deal where you pay fifty bucks for an Acer One 8.9 if you sign up for a two year agreement with AT&T. I've looked at a lot of stuff on the internet but would like to hear from at least a couple people who are using these things. It really seems like it would work out for what I need it to do.

I need to be able to view pdf files, as most of the manufacturer information is in pdf format. I would want to put a word processing program on this netbook, works would be fine. How hard is it to add programs? How often am I going to have problems getting a connection when using the AT&T option?

I've got more quesitons but have to get back to work.

Any feed back?

Thanks!

 

I have an Asus 900HA and love it... Got it from Newegg. Upgraded the ram to 2 gigs. Sweet little machine.

 

Why not get a full sized laptop?

You will like that much better, get a smaller, used IBM or an older HP.

 

I thought about doing the older laptop route... But they are sooooo slooooooow. And the netbooks are CHEAP.

 

i have heard great things about the little netbooks. i helped zaairman a tad when he was trying to find one for himself.


as far as software compatibility, it all depends on the operating system. if the acer has linux, which they sometimes do, software will be a little harder to come by. if it has windows xp, your pretty much golden.

as far as hard drive goes, how much storage will you be looking for? acer offers either a 120gb HDD or 160gb HDD, i can't remember which ATM. Acer also offers an 8gb SSD, which i would personally steer away from. granted if you plan on moving around alot, sudden jerks and movements are never good for an HDD. But you can't pass up on 160gb with that great of portability. ive never seen an acer with windows vista, so i couldn't tell you if they could run it very effectively. my guess would be: yes, it can run it, but no i wouldn't personally use it.



on the other hand, i have a macbook. its 13 inches, very portable, but a totally new operating system. mac os x is a whole new OS, however. very easy to use, built in bluetooth, and of course wifi. if you decide to go the notebook route, macbooks are very effective, very sleek, and very powerful. i swear by apple products.



just my .02

 

I paid $212.00 for an Asus Eee at Target a couple weeks ago. Great little machine.

 

The 900HA (the one I have) is $299 @ Newegg. 160 GB hard drive, comes with 1 gig of ram (spend the extra $17 and upgrade to 2 gig). Came with XP, and I loaded a Vista look alike package on it. Posting on it right now. Tiny keyboard takes about a week of getting used to, but once you do it's fine.

 

i bought a dell inspiron mini 10 and it is sloooow, but there is something wrong with it. i'm about to wipe it clean and start over; i spoke with dell and they remotely assisted me (controlled my computer from wherever he was from). He said this would fix the problem; sometimes it just randomly shuts off. I've only had it about 2 weeks and it's shut off probably 8 times on me. If that doesn't fix it, I'm shipping it to dell.

 

I'm deciding between an HP netbook and an HP laptop. I'm getting something in summer, just dont know what. I don't think id be able to work in photoshop very well on a netbook, and I cant load discs on one, so I don't know. I'll probably end up getting a monster HP laptop.

 

For $2-300, I don't really think you can go wrong. If it fits your intended use, great, if not, well, you're only out a couple hundred bucks.

I plan on getting one myself sooner or later just for the hell of it mostly.

 

I bought the exact same Asus 900HA as Zaairman, got the 2gb ram module, and also a slim external DVD burner to make it easier to load software. Without it, you have to load everything from the net or usb flash drives. I love the little thing.

 

Thanks all for your help.

I've got an hp desk top and a Toshiba lap top at home. Both are running XP home and run like troopers.

A couple years ago I bought a four hundred dollar Compac for work. I really only need to do internet/email, pictures and a little word processing. The Compac is running Vist home and is way too slow for what I need to do. For four hundred bucks it's kind of lacking in resources. If it performed better I might be interested in an air card. I had one on the Toshiba years ago and I wasn't impressed at the time. I guess their better now. The Compac just isn't good enough. It's also heavy and bulky.

I like the idea of having the option to check out a manufacturers web site for information, in the van, at the job site. I believe that these netbooks are also capable of storing my job site pictures and doing a little word processing.

A couple more questions for thoes using these things: what to you use for antivirus protection? Do you use several internet connection types? Do you have a plan with a cell provider? Is it a big deal to install programs without a cd drive?

Thanks!

 

Depends if you are talking about a true netbook.

Some mfgrs slap the name on the small notebooks, so it is really an over priced netbook.

The netbook would have a lower screen resolution, harddrive would be smaller ( or SDD ) and some day would have a trimmed down OS on it.

Most are using Linux or Android to get around paying MS, which can be as high as 100.00 per unit.

Processing power is also lower, with low power consumption to get more battery life out of it.

A true netbook is made to run all the applications from the network, similar to a Ctrix client would, only adding in local store for offline working ( application dependent ).

I just got an old model HP laptop with the 8.9" screen, 2 GB Ram and a 120 GB hardrive for ~ 800.00 from Tiger. It has XP Pro on it, so it runs fast. This replaced my Sony X505 laptop that took the dash to the face in a quick stop on day, RIP.

I guess it depends on what you are doing with the old laptop that it runs slow, as to if you would be happy with a netbook. I have a Toshiba Protege from 2003 that I am still using to this day in the office, and it runs great, but I don't mess around with them too much. I get a load that works, and leave it alone, don't load games or Active-X on it.

If you are taking about OpenOffice and PDF reading, and web based for everything else, you should be happy with it. Don't expect it to be too good with locally loaded programs like photoshop or the likes, as it does not have the processing power to run these type of applications.

Right now I am posting from my Dell Inspiron 710M, with XP and office loaded on it. Use it for writing documents, editing photos, etc and it still works for these tasks. I don't use photoshop / Adobe Elements, so it is not too bad processing power requirement wise.