Looking for Netbook reccomendations.

[Spike]

I'm going to get my wife a netbook for Christmas and I have not really paid much attention to the brands or types out there. It needs to run Windows (I can replace XP with 7 through my technet sub) and does not need to have alot of HDD space. She is a PhD student and wants something light and travel worthy that she can use Office on. It would also need to have some sort of video out with an adapter for either DVI or VGA since she would use it for powerpoint presentations.

Any reccomendations on good brands/models? It does not need to be the cheapest one or on sale at the moment, I just want some models to watch for. If it has an SSD I would want an SD slot for some extra space, though I don't need tons.

Basically I just need brand and model line reccomendations, I'll verify the features I want. I don't know anything about which netbooks are considered good or bad these days...

Thanks!!

MOD EDIT: Moved thread to more appropriate subforum. - Zap

 

[mmntech]

I was looking around and found this rather impressive HP Mini 311 netbook. Has an 11'' screen and Ion graphics. Uses DDR3 too oddly enough. Comes with 1gb but it's easy enough to upgrade to 2gb. Runs XP Home. 5hr battery life during video playback according to CNET. All for $400. Definitely a lot of bang for your buck.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157032

 

[Slugbait]

Asus Eee is rather popular. But with a slow proc and half as much RAM as Win7 should have, it'll probably be a brick once she attempts launching an Office app.

Be sure not to use Outlook 2007 on one of these things. The 2003 version is vastly superior on such low-memory machines like netbooks.

 

[Spike]

Asus Eee is rather popular. But with a slow proc and half as much RAM as Win7 should have, it'll probably be a brick once she attempts launching an Office app.

Be sure not to use Outlook 2007 on one of these things. The 2003 version is vastly superior on such low-memory machines like netbooks.

She does not use Outlook at home anyway so that should not be a problem.

I was looking around and found this rather impressive HP Mini 311 netbook. Has an 11'' screen and Ion graphics. Uses DDR3 too oddly enough. Comes with 1gb but it's easy enough to upgrade to 2gb. Runs XP Home. 5hr battery life during video playback according to CNET. All for $400. Definitely a lot of bang for your buck.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157032

Hmmm, that is interesting. Her current PC, an IBM X60s, has a 12" screen so she is used to screens that big. It's getting somewhat old and is a little heavy for always moving around with so thats the reason she is looking for something else.

I will consider this though it's less than 1lb lighter than her current pc so maybe not.

Thanks for the information!

 

[Winterpool]

If you find the HP Mini 311 intriguing, you should look very closely at the new CULV notebooks, most of them 11.6 or 12.1-inch screens (1366x768). They have dualcore 'Penryn' core processors: 1.2 GHz Celeron SU2300 models are often $400 (Acer Aspire AS1410, Gateway EC1435u). The 1.3 GHz 'Pentium' models cost $550+ (ASUS UL20A, Acer 1810, Gateway EC1430u). Even though their clockspeed is less than most Atoms, their processing capability is substantially greater.

Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics are inferior to 'ION' (nVidia GeForce 9400M) but are sufficient for your wife's needs. And they can play 'HD' video smoothly, even 720 Flash with the forthcoming 10.1 Player.

See this other thread for some more information.

 

[Spike]

If you find the HP Mini 311 intriguing, you should look very closely at the new CULV notebooks, most of them 11.6 or 12.1-inch screens (1366x768). They have dualcore 'Penryn' core processors: 1.2 GHz Celeron SU2300 models are often $400 (Acer Aspire AS1410, Gateway EC1435u). The 1.3 GHz 'Pentium' models cost $550+ (ASUS UL20A, Acer 1810, Gateway EC1430u). Even though their clockspeed is less than most Atoms, their processing capability is substantially greater.

Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics are inferior to 'ION' (nVidia GeForce 9400M) but are sufficient for your wife's needs. And they can play 'HD' video smoothly, even 720 Flash with the forthcoming 10.1 Player.

See this other thread for some more information.

Thanks for the info. That looks like it's getting too pricey and powerful for what she wants. She will still have her Core duo X60s setup at home for all "power hungry" needs, really she just wants something that can travel, has great battery life, and allows her to use the web and office in her classroom.

One model that is interesting is the Asus Eee PC 1005HA. It claims 10.5 hours of battery life and I figure even once I throw 7 and increase the same it should still be in the ~7 hour range, which would be about right. The price is $344 shipped which is not horrible but not that great either. This looks like it would cover her needs for what she wants to do. I was also considering the Dell A90 for $234 right now with the 16GB SSD. Thats enough space (when combined with a 16GB SD for some pictures/mp3's) for 7 and office and would also work. The price is nice but once I add in tax and shipping I'm at $264, getting closer to the better models. The A90's biggest weakness is the 3.5 hour battery life, way too short.

If I can save money getting a linux based one I really want to go that route as I have more than enough windows keys through technet.