Advice on a netbook

[Prime]

Assuming I get paid at the end of march, I am considering buying a netbook.
I'd prefer to get one with a 3 year warranty, does anyone have any recommendations?

Thinking of a Dell or Acer. Any other brands to look at?

I am going to use it for word processing, some programming including matlab and assembler, and if possible, some photo editing if the screen is decent and Also for watching movies.

Price: I think I'd like to keep it around 3k because I also need to buy a NIKON speed light.

[Frozenfireside]

Well the Dell 10.1" is great but its not R3K
If you want my vote? Get the Dell. Get the camera later

[Monty]

The Nokia Notebook looks pretty awesome

[Prime]

The Nokia Notebook looks pretty awesome

But also quite expensive. Its the most solid looking of all the models i have checked out so far

Well the Dell 10.1" is great but its not R3K
If you want my vote? Get the Dell. Get the camera later

I need the flash unfortunately, it takes priority over the netbook.

Got a link? (I hate the new dell website. it was so nice when they had the prices on display )
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/produ ... piron-1012

Edit: More options below

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/za/en/ho ... 44273.html
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/za/en/ho ... 75896.html

But those are only 1 year warranty, and again, no price. The compaq one has an Ion chipset and bigger display but i think it uses the first gen processor.

[Frozenfireside]

R4300

[Prime]

R4300

Ouch! Will keep it in mind.

[Monty]

Dude, have you found a retailer for the Nokia Booklet in SA?

[Prime]

scam: http://www.oneshop.co.za/p~nokia-booklet-notebook.html

Nokia Booklet release date revealed. Well no, not really...

Actually, I saw this which is why i think it will be expensive. look at the price and multiply by ten

[.DG.]

Try the Gigabyte Atom Booktop M1022C, it seems to be in your price range and it includes a docking station, depending on where you buy. It's got a 10.1" display, 250gb hdd, 1.6ghz Atom CPU, 1gb RAM etc. I'd try www.pc-direct.co.za or www.digitalsaonline.co.za, if you don't have access to Rectron or the other Wholesalers.

[Prime]

Try the Gigabyte Atom Booktop M1022C, it seems to be in your price range and it includes a docking station, depending on where you buy. It's got a 10.1" display, 250gb hdd, 1.6ghz Atom CPU, 1gb RAM etc. I'd try http://www.pc-direct.co.za or http://www.digitalsaonline.co.za, if you don't have access to Rectron or the other Wholesalers.

Will check it out.

I think I have narrowed it down. While HP, Toshiba and dell are my preferred brands, they are all very expensive. I don't need an Hd display, high def by its nature does not play nicely on an atom processor. And otherwise I cannot see what stands out in their products over the other brands. Through I do want to see what the VIA processor is like before committing to atom.

Anyway, I think I've narrowed it down to asus, and acer. Still need to see what models of acer and asus are available here. A friend sells asus laptops. And gigabyte pending a look at their offering.

[Prime]

http://i.engadget.com/2009/11/03/via-na ... tels-atom/

Oh hell yeah!

Going to do some more research in this direction.

[Tel]

I've heard good reviews about the Asus EEE PC range.

[Prime]

I've heard good reviews about the Asus EEE PC range.

I am noticing that too. The gigabyte booktop has the best interface but costs more and performs worse than the eee pc's according to anandtech. I'll do some research and see how the acer and asus compare.

[TheComet]

Just noticed this special from Sybaritic. An Asus EEE but with a great screen and 6-cell battery for R3 297 Asus EeePC 1001HA Black Textured

I think it's awesome!

[Tel]

That's not a bad price at all!

[GDI_Lord]

Well, you could always buy a horribly performing - but cheap - netbook and then slap a low cost tiny puny little itty-bitty teeny-weeny yellow polka dot SSD into it. Apparently an SSD in a netbook skyrockets it's performance [citation needed, I don't know where that link is now] That is, unless you're going to need something like a 250GB HDD in a netbook...

[Prime]

By the time you stick a decent 16 log ssd in, you may as well buy a laptop.

[GDI_Lord]

By the time you stick a decent 16 log ssd in

Dude, SSDs are electronic, not wooden.

And anyway, how much are the cheapest SSDs in South Africa now? Even the cheapest of the cheap ones are leagues ahead of even the speediest HDDs.

[Monty]

And anyway, how much are the cheapest SSDs in South Africa now? Even the cheapest of the cheap ones are leagues ahead of even the speediest HDDs.

Uh. Proof?

[Prime]

By the time you stick a decent 16 log ssd in

Dude, SSDs are electronic, not wooden.

And anyway, how much are the cheapest SSDs in South Africa now? Even the cheapest of the cheap ones are leagues ahead of even the speediest HDDs.

You are joking, right? The cheap sdd's use crap controller chips that cause them to stutter. The early cheap acer netbooks used them. they were awful. Go search anandtech for the article. They did some constructive development work with ocz.

And it was a typo. Predictive text on my phone.

[GDI_Lord]

Look at the Kingstone 40GB and how it compares to the VelociRaptor (average I/O Ops per second):
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=3757&p=7

Sequential Read/Write: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... =3747&p=10
Random Read/Write: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... =3747&p=10

Random price check which may or may not be the cheapest = R1227.78 incl.:
http://www.landmarkpc.co.za/store/advan ... sd&x=0&y=0

[Prime]

Look at the Kingstone 40GB and how it compares to the VelociRaptor (average I/O Ops per second):
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=3757&p=7

Sequential Read/Write: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... =3747&p=10
Random Read/Write: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... =3747&p=10

Random price check which may or may not be the cheapest = R1227.78 incl.:
http://www.landmarkpc.co.za/store/advan ... sd&x=0&y=0

I stand to be corrected.

so, performance has certainly gone up in the last 6 months. though in some areas, that kingston is still marginal. And i'd have thought that velocoraptor would have trounced the 5400 rpm momentous, but in some tests its very close

That said, i do not understand the variation of the 40 gig kingston in comparison with the velocoraptor for heavy load Vs gaming. someone explain it to me, please?

Still, the extra 1200 rand is way out of my budget, and not all net books are easy to upgrade at home. but maybe once the price drops, if i am in possesion of a netbook by then, i shall consider it

[GDI_Lord]

Cool dude.

Have a look at the Asus Eee PC 1001P maybe?

[Prime]

Cool dude.

Have a look at the Asus Eee PC 1001P maybe?

Looks good, sadly, exorbitantly expensive locally

Edit: Hmmm, delicious cake Import from Canada

Does the Asus have a express card slot inside?

The one thing in the Acer's favour is upgradability. Its an older model though

[Prime]

Hmmm:

http://www.digitalsaonline.co.za/catalo ... s_id=12281 for R300 more, one gets a bigger screen.

Still, That price is ridiculous given that netbooks are meant to be low cost