Re: [PLUG] Need Advice: Netbook for Christmas?

[JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org>]

> Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:16:21 -0500
> From: Casey Bralla<MailList@nerdworld.org>
>
> I've been considering using some (well, all of it, actually) of my Christmas
> loot to buy a netbook.  But I'm worried that I may find a netbook too slow and
> confining.  What does the group think?  Are they "worth it"?
>
> Here is what I'm looking for in a netbook:
>
> 1.  Excellent portability
> 2.  Long battery life (should be able to fly to Europe (~ 6 hours) on a
> battery charge
> 3.  Linux (natch)

I have a Dell Mini-9 that I upgraded to 2G RAM and a 16G SSD, so no 
moving parts.  That's really nice.

I consider it a "read only" machine.  I can't get used to the squashed 
screen and tiny keyboard with bad key placement to do any real work. 
This email would be about the limit, though I happen not to be on that 
machine at the moment.  OTOH, it's light, small, and very handy for some 
things.  I mostly read email using Thunderbird (to IMAP) and browse 
using FF.

I'm using stock Ubuntu 10.04, with a trivial tweak to make the top panel 
auto-hide to give a tad more screen space.  I probably get closer to 4-5 
hours out of it.  No optical drive, so no DVD watching or anything.  I'm 
also using whole-disk (except for /boot) crypfs and I haven't noticed 
any performance issues.  But I also don't compile things there, and 
updates are--not fast.

The thing is, a lot of what they call "netbooks" these days I'd call a 
tiny laptop.  Not to start a holy war, but what I liked about the 
concept originally was no moving parts (i.e. SSD) and most of the 
"netbooks" seem have hard drives these days.  This is a personal pet 
peeve, I guess, probably no one else cares...  :-)


> I don't have anything really "practical" I want to do with it.  It would
> really be a toy, but hopefully a toy with some utility.  I'll want to do some
> surfing, maybe some real work (in short spurts) and also use it as a fancy
> iPod music player.  (playing flac files, of course)

I've used it + Rhythmbox as a ipod in my car.  Very hard to control, 
change things only at stop lights...  Keeping it closed and hidden so 
you don't get arrested for driving while surfing is also probably good.  :-)


> I don't want a tablet because I want a true keyboard, even if it is smaller
> than most notebooks.

I think the Mini-9 keyboard really sucks.  Others may disagree.  I've 
seen much better layouts on just about all the other machines.  I think 
I liked the Asus one.


> I've got my eye on an Asus with a dual-core atom.  By the time I buy the extra
> GByte of RAM and a bluetooth mouse (I hate track pads), it will be in the $350
> range.
>
> However, I could also bust my budget and get a budget laptop for $450.  This
> would give more performance, but less portability and shorter battery life.
>
>
> My fear is that the netbook will be cool to play with for a while, but will
> simply be too confining (too slow, too small a screen) to hold my interest.

That's what I thought a year or two ago when I got mine.  I haven't 
gotten tired of it, it works for what I use it for.  But I haven't given 
up my big honking desktop either.


> Has anyone bought a netbook recently?  How do you feel about 6 months later?
> Would you buy one again if you had it to do over again?

If I lost mine I'd probably replace it eventually, but I cold live 
without it too.  I used to bring it to PLUG meetings, then stopped 
bothering.  I have given a couple of presos from it though.

Good luck,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
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