Netbooks

[Fish-Finger-er]

right, this is being put out to the computer minded amongst you.

Whats the deal with netbooks right now??

As in are there any out there that will play HD videos, and come with a HDMI output. And is it possible to increase the 160gb hd they come with??

Basically Im currently laptopless(have been without my own for ages, but the 2 ive bought for mother(as I broke the first) were kind of used by me a fair bit if I needed them, as I bought them), Ive had a big laptop before, and as cool as it was having a big screen just there, it was a ballache carting it round etc.

Im possibly workin away in 2 weeks time, and will be wanting some form of entertainment(i.e films) and net access whilst im away, But I could also do with some form of media player to take with me when I go to the caravan in wales mtbing/on the piss, Ive been using a 15 inch laptop positioned pretty close this year. But as were gettin a spangly new flatscreen tv for their next year, Id like something to plug that into. If its uncluttered, easy to move round etc, Ill be quite happy taking it round to mates to watch a film/round the house to watch stuff. Likewise something small like that can be chucked in my car with my phone and my wallet when I go to work, for lunchtime ebaying(as trying to do it on my phone is a bit of a ballache). And again If im heading on holiday for 3 weeks skiing this year(as well as possibly another roadtrip next summer) itd be nice to have something I could stick in my hand luggage easily(without it taking up my hand luggage) for keeping in touch away from home, backing up photos, and watching films on (currently looking at the 3m pico projectors for example to plug into it)

Its a case of a 10 inch netbook, A £200 projector,and a £100 portable hard drive could take up a miniscule amount of space and be an absolute godsend in communication/media playback on the move.

But how do the netbooks handle playing films? will they run photoshop(an older version is fine)? are they cool with importing say 200 pics off a camera and uploading them to the web?

Do any of them come with a HDMI and a VGA output(although one is hoping that there will be HDMI pocket projectors out by the time im going, given the speed they're advancing atm)?

sorry to ask quite simple questions, but Im not finding much up to date on google, all the stuff is 6-8 months old at least, which given the rate that technology moves at(and im guessing is moving more so in the micro laptop world, as its such a young technology, and its not actually new technology, its old technology made smaller) Isnt really ideal.

[Mr Motivator]

I wouldn't waste your money. You never know what you're going to want to do with a lappy, something might come along that requires more power.

Just buy a "smaller" normal laptop, say 15" screen or smaller. That way you can actually see what the hell you are typing on the screen, and it's a lot more useful with respect to running programs etc. Then your also guaranteed to get >160gb and def HMDI.

[MadManMike]

I agree. I find netbooks a little pointless.

It's like a cross between a little phone with internet and a laptop - it's not as good as a laptop, it's not as small as a phone and it doesn't make calls. To summarise, it's basically a crap laptop.

[davey1991]

What mike said, the amount of space you save isn't all that much aswell.

[Prawny Baby]

I think netbooks are great, I'm currently typing this from a samsung N110 netbook, and it's brilliant.

I've got a high powered desktop for everything I could ever need at home, and I wanted something as small and light as possible, that I could use to map the mini whilst out and about, and run vagcom, as well as surfing the internet whilst watching the telly.

I've got the N110 with a 3 PAYG mobile internet dongle, and it's great for taking around with me and using when I'm bored and stuck away from normal interwebs. it's got a genuine 10 hours battery life, which is awesome, and it's so small and ideal to carry around. I think laptops of around 15'' or more are pretty pointless, as they're too big to be properly portable.....

That said, I'd never consider a netbook as my only computer, it's just not powerful enough for some things.

[JD™]

Check this out, I was looking at it for myself a few months ago and it look like the best option for HD playback on a netbook. As for the rest of your questions, I'm sure it'll run an old version of PS - but what's the point on such a small screen? And I dunno about upgrading memory in these, haven't looked into it. I would have thought it'd be stupid of them to not give the option though.

[Prawny Baby]

i know you cna upgrade the ram on the samsung I've got, it's got a removable panel on the back specially for adding ram. I't be pointless to try and use photoshop on one though, the screen is just too small sadly.

it's more suited to browsing the internet and using simple programs really, graphics type things are pretty pointless.

[Muel]

I love my netbook, it's pretty silly how virtually every person I know takes the piss and say things like, "How can you see what you're typing on that little screen", having never actually tried one.

There arn't any that will run true HD yet though, they're simply not designed for it, most seem to use the Intel Atom single core 1.66ghz HT processor, and it's simply not powerful enough for it.

It's designed for surfing the internet, and doing desktop work, both of which mine handles perfectly well.

If you want my advice, go for one with a fairly small HD, apparantly that maks the battery life better because it has less platters or something like that. I'd recommend getting one with Wireless N aswell.

If you're a big typer, I'd go for a Samsung, my NC10 keyboard is incredibly good, I routinely type on it all day long with no issue at all.

[JD™]

There arn't any that will run true HD yet though, they're simply not designed for it, most seem to use the Intel Atom single core 1.66ghz HT processor, and it's simply not powerful enough for it.

Check this out

Is 1080p not true HD? Honest question, not a JD sarcasm moment.

[Muel]

i know you cna upgrade the ram on the samsung I've got, it's got a removable panel on the back specially for adding ram. I't be pointless to try and use photoshop on one though, the screen is just too small sadly.

LIES! I use photoshop and dreamweaver CS3 on mine all the time, (I'm a web design student), and it works perfectly well.

Apparantly upgrading the ram dents the battery performance, so I've stuck with 1gb, which is perfectly alright for everything I've thrown at it so far.

Is 1080p not true HD? Honest question, not a JD sarcasm moment.

It is indeed! some will hack 720p if you're running it from the HD, but I think it can drop a few FPS at times.

Mine is fantastic for running TV quality stuff though, and will stream the iPlayer with no trouble at all.

EDIT: They were talking about an .mkv file, it's fairly new and I havn't used it much yet, but I know that mine struggles to run some of the 720p .avi video I have.

Edited November 15, 2009 by Muel

[Fish-Finger-er]

I think netbooks are great, I'm currently typing this from a samsung N110 netbook, and it's brilliant.

I've got a high powered desktop for everything I could ever need at home, and I wanted something as small and light as possible, that I could use to map the mini whilst out and about, and run vagcom, as well as surfing the internet whilst watching the telly.

I've got the N110 with a 3 PAYG mobile internet dongle, and it's great for taking around with me and using when I'm bored and stuck away from normal interwebs. it's got a genuine 10 hours battery life, which is awesome, and it's so small and ideal to carry around. I think laptops of around 15'' or more are pretty pointless, as they're too big to be properly portable.....

That said, I'd never consider a netbook as my only computer, it's just not powerful enough for some things.

Exactly my outlook on netbooks, laptops and them replacing desktops atm. Although in the last few months, all ive used is the web,itunes, vlc media player, msn, flashget and elastomania, all of which im sure will run on any netbook. but ill still be keeping my desktop.

The whole internet thing is another thing that appeals to me, my phone can act as an ad hoc wireless router, I always have my phone on me, So anywhere I took the netbook with a 3g/3.5g single id have the internet at a perfectly usable speed.

To JD, the photoshop thing is far from totally necessary, itd just be another feather in the cap of the netbook so to speak, If im away for the week or whatever (like I could of been in Inverness this coming week, but it fell through, but with the possibility of 3 weeks skiing coming up) take the camera with me, Im sat in my hotel room, bored, sore and tired at night, the ability to think "shit best back up my photos", I could then just retouch a couple of them in ps there and then. I feel for working on 1 or 2, the whole screen size thing wouldnt be an issue (and since theyd be goin on 7 x 5 prints, or for web) theyd fit on the screen at 100% there or thereabouts (and if I was away in wales on the mountain bike/motorbike for the weekend, Id be able to plug it into a 22/26 inch hdtv)

[JD™]

It is indeed! some will hack 720p if you're running it from the HD, but I think it can drop a few FPS at times.

Mine is fantastic for running TV quality stuff though, and will stream the iPlayer with no trouble at all.

EDIT: They were talking about an .mkv file, it's fairly new and I havn't used it much yet, but I know that mine struggles to run some of the 720p .avi video I have.

Yours isn't that netbook though is it? So it doesn't have the same graphics card?

I'm pretty sure it's the only netbook on the market capable of decoding full 1080p HD. It shouldn't make a massive difference between an mkv and avi file, at least not to push it up from 50% cpu usage to 100%.

[Prawny Baby]

If you're a big typer, I'd go for a Samsung, my NC10 keyboard is incredibly good, I routinely type on it all day long with no issue at all.

My N110 is basicly exactly the same as the NC10 but with longer battery life I believe!

I've found my 1gb of RAM to be plenty really, and the battery life is properly amazing, I can use it pretty much all day without being plugged in, which is so handy.

the keyboard is apparently 92% standard size, which is brilliant, up next to a standard keyboard it's basicly 1 key short of full size, so you can switch from a desktop to this and still be able to touch type no worries.

it's awesome get a samsung

[Danny]

Take a look at the new crop of nvidia ion based netbooks. They have much better gfx capabilities.

Flash 10.1 (when its released) should be able to offload rendering HD youtube vids etc to the GPU.

[Tony Harrison]

I've been using one as my sole personal computer since I boxed up all my belongings 4 months ago. It ran Photoshop CS4 fine, even before I upgraded from 512Mb to 1.5Gb RAM. All my photos are edited on it using the CS4 RAW editor, on an 8.9" screen, and it's fine - the prints I've had done echo this! Some of these pictures may well be ending up in a book - also, the publisher reviewed them on my little screen and that's when he made the offer...

No complaints at all - great piece of kit, does everything I need. I even bought a 6 hour battery and so I can watch films on the plane, etc. It's been kicked about, dropped, travelled about 15,000 miles in the last year, and survived it all. It's been in underground mines, atop bridges and down sewers, slung round the boots of many cars, had dinner eaten of it, etc, etc. Oh, and it's an Acer Aspire One, one of the first ones.