Can I leave Netbook on 24-7?

[erwin1978]

I was thinking of getting a Magic Jack to save on phone bills, but it entails having it connected to a computer connected to the internet 24-7. I was thinking of getting a $300 netbooks to connect it to. It's low-powered so it won't consume much electricity relative to a desktop. I was wondering if these netbooks are built to run 24-7 without ever being turned off?

 

[IlllI]

have you looked into something like ooma?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: erwin1978
I was thinking of getting a Magic Jack to save on phone bills, but it entails having it connected to a computer connected to the internet 24-7. I was thinking of getting a $300 netbooks to connect it to. It's low-powered so it won't consume much electricity relative to a desktop. I was wondering if these netbooks are built to run 24-7 without ever being turned off?

are you going to save significantly more than the $300 on phone bills?

 

[lxskllr]

How about a miniITX system from this page. It would probably be a bit cheaper, and cooling could be customized. If you got a laptop style netbook, I'd get a cheap laptop cooler for it. The desktop style, I would imagine cools well enough as is, but I'm not personally familiar.

 

[erwin1978]

Our current phone bill is around $20/month or about $240 a year. Magic Jack is
$40 for the first year and $20 afterwards. Now if the laptop survives 3 years then Magic Jack should pay it off. I'm just concerned how durable laptops are for around the clock runtime. I will have to shutdown the harddrive as well since it will be idle most of the time.

I don't want to build a desktop. I want to keep the setup simple.

I've never heard of ooma.

 

[lxskllr]

I think it would last ok. Use a notebook cooler, and get one with a SSD instead of a HD.

 

[IlllI]

i think ooma would be a more simple solution

 

[Pliablemoose]

I used a standalone Philips Skype system for about a year, worked great, unfortunately it's out of production now.

Have you looked into the desktop eee's? They would seem to be a better solution. Get it up and running and disconnect the monitor.

Also, how about getting a Skype account? It works pretty good, and with a Skypein # it's just like a regular phone number. I've used it for some time and am pretty happy, costs about $6/month

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16883220003

 

[corkyg]

Well, if you are going to run it 24/7, have the display sleep so as not to burnout the backlight. And, remove the battery and run it off the A/C adapter only. As was suggested, a cooler pad would help. Netbooks and notebooks are not intended for sustained operation. But, you can do it with some moderate risk.

 

[coolVariable]

Get a skype wifi phone or a SIP wifi phone.
You are never ever going to amortize the cost of a netbook with your kind of phone bill.

 

[Emulex]

nah i think he's trying to justify buying one. ala buyer's remorse

 

[erwin1978]

Magic Jack is still cheaper than Skype.

 

[Cattlegod]

no reason a netbook can't run 24x7. the only part that would fail is the hard drive, but that is no different than a desktop.

 

[erwin1978]

I found 2 netbooks for cheap. Both have 10" LCD. I made sure they use harddisk and not SSD because harddisk are faster.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 $350 at Newegg.com
MSI Wind U100 $350 at Amazon.com & Newegg.com

 

[lxskllr]

Why do you need a fast hd?

 

[Pliablemoose]

OP, your plan is overkill, and the reports I've heard about Magic Jack are not good, it's VOIP for infomercial buying morons...

Poor sound quality, poor support, poor hardware durability...

If you're trying to save money, find a used EEE PC on eBay (one of the originals)

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
OP, your plan is overkill, and the reports I've heard about Magic Jack are not good, it's VOIP for infomercial buying morons...

Poor sound quality, poor support, poor hardware durability...

If you're trying to save money, find a used EEE PC on eBay (one of the originals)

i was gonna say that. most of the 7" units there only have linux. theres one or two with xp, they cost more.

seems like if he already has a pc he could leave *that* on all day with some voip software/magic jack on it. odds are that whatever system he has wont eat up the $350 in power for quite a while that he wants to spend on a netbook.

he has a poorly though out plan, imo. does the OP have a cellphone? id just straight ditch the landline if it were me.

 

[mpilchfamily]

You know whats cheaper then getting a netbook and using teh magic jack?

Using a Cell Phone!

If you alrerady have a cell phone and just want a lan line for basic things then get basic phone service for about $30 a month. You'll have better service and reliability.

 

[zerogear]

I personally just use Skype phone (without PC, GE/Dualphone model). And subscribe to Unlimited world plan for 9.99.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: zerogear
I personally just use Skype phone (without PC, GE/Dualphone model). And subscribe to Unlimited world plan for 9.99.

Agreed ... but OP is not good with math.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
OP, your plan is overkill, and the reports I've heard about Magic Jack are not good, it's VOIP for infomercial buying morons...

Poor sound quality, poor support, poor hardware durability...

If you're trying to save money, find a used EEE PC on eBay (one of the originals)

Have you tried it? It actually works quite well, and generally trouble-free. The biggest problems aren't the software or the hardware, but the marketing plans of "Dan", the founder. His latest gaffe? To arbitrarily limit outgoing calls to 30min. This plan was implemented without any notification whatsoever to users, and after the infomercial promised "Talk as long as you want". Look up the thread on the 12/something update, in the MagicJack forum, on DSLReports.