laptop advice needed

[Kteacher]

I'm probably going to buy a laptop in the next few months. I don't need anything with a ton of memory. I've been looking at the mini ones-I like the fact that they're small and can slip into a large handbag. My daughter thinks I'll end up being disappointed in the size of the screen (I've been looking at 10" ), and the size of the keyboard. The model I like is a Dell that retails for 349.00, but there is a traditional size Dell laptop with 1GB more memory that's only 50.00 more.
Can anyone who owns one of the minis tell me what they love or hate about it?

Thanks

 

[JoanGirardi]

I'm interested in the replies to this as well. I wanted a netbook for my birthday and my husband and children talked me into a laptop because they were convinced that I would regret my choice. Well, I love my laptop, but I'm still drawn to those minis in the store, and I think it'd be nice to have something that portable. I'm interested in hearing if someone got a mini and later regretted it, or if it was exactly what they wanted.

 

[ehartman4]

I use one at work sometimes and honestly, it's a pain. The buttons and the screen are so small. It really is inconvenient to type on. I do know of some people who like them as a second computer to use but hardly ever use it because of the keyboard. I am a student and have a 15" Macbook which fits into my backpack perfectly, is lightweight, and has a lot of battery power. However, It's probably a bit more than what you intend to spend on a laptop.

 

[Kteacher]

I use one at work sometimes and honestly, it's a pain. The buttons and the screen are so small. It really is inconvenient to type on. I do know of some people who like them as a second computer to use but hardly ever use it because of the keyboard. I am a student and have a 15" Macbook which fits into my backpack perfectly, is lightweight, and has a lot of battery power. However, It's probably a bit more than what you intend to spend on a laptop.

Thanks for the advice . I'm trying to stay under 500.00, so a Macbook is out . I'm planning on using it for emailing and internet, so I don't need a lot of power or memory. I'm just concerned that I'll get frustrated by the small screen quickly and regret not spending a little more money for the standard size screen.

 

[sbell111]

Those netbooks are fine if you are only going to surf the net. (Although I would still pay $50 for more memory). If you are ever going to do more than surf, get a laptop.

In general, the advice to maximize the amount of RAM and hard drive space is a good one. too little of either of these will make you jones for a new computer much quicker than you really need to. As a bonus, memory and hard drive space is really inexpensive.

 

[FireDancer]

Netbooks are fine if you know their limitations. Many people buy a netbook with the mindset that it is a small laptop, and then they get disappointed.

Netbooks run slower processors with less sophisticated math logic capabilities. They are meant to do processor light functions like surf the web or use low resource applications that rely on remote processing. For example, Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office (though Office 10 will have an online component so you can collaborate via office early next year).

If you are going to do anything resembling work on the computer I would go with a laptop. Even minor photo editing will slow down the netbook.

Keep in mind also that the smaller the screen the smaller the keyboard so trying to type a paper or presentation on the chicklet size keys could lead to some cramped fingers.

 

[Kteacher]

Thanks everyone! This is all excellent advice, and exactly the advice I was looking for

 

[sbell111]

Keep in mind also that the smaller the screen the smaller the keyboard so trying to type a paper or presentation on the chicklet size keys could lead to some cramped fingers.

A few days ago, my wife and I were cleaning out our server closet when we came across my old IBM ThinkPad 500 subnotebook. It was about as small as these netbooks, but I banged out all of my grad school work using it. Boy was it a pain.

With a 50 mhz 486 processor, 4mb RAM, and a 85mb hard drive, it didn't have the performance of my current phone. Heck my pda is 6 times faster, has 32 times the RAM and 24 times the storage capacity.

 

[browneyes106]

FireDancer explained netbooks really good. One of my coworkers has one that she takes to work to surf the net when we have downtime. She has a laptop at home but she says she only likes the netbook for work and when she is traveling. My grandmother died back in March and a lot of my relatives came from out of state. My uncle borrowed a netbook from his son to use while they were here and my uncle hated the keyboard and he got finger cramps.

 

[Kteacher]

Thanks everyone . I think I'm going to do a little more research and spend the extra money on a standard size laptop. I've heard rumors that Walmart is going to start a price war on computers this fall. I'm thinking I can always ask Santa for a mini for Christmas