Netbook with $500 maximum budget

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
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Why not get him a nettop instead? there is no reason to pay hundreds of dollars extra for mobility if its just a gaming machine for a young child... Actually, its preferable for it to be stationary, that way you can put it somewhere visible and easily see what he is doing with it.

or just a desktop: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/...s/inspiron_560s_dddoca6?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
this is several times the hardware in the netbooks you listed.
and having a real mouse and keyboard and better screen will improve the comfort of use.

Be aware that you are not supposed to EVER put a notebook/netbook in your LAP, thats why most companies call them "notebooks" instead of "laptops", people suing due to getting 3rd degree burns from putting it in their lap. Especially bad for a young child. I have a netbook and its way too hot to put in your lap.
 
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Zenara25

Platinum Member
Jul 7, 2004
2,380
0
0
I'll pass that along to my aunt. She is shopping for herself and also when her grandson is over she'd like him to be able to play his games/videos.

Which netbook might be a better choice?
I keep reading that the ion platform is better even with the slower cpu.
 

maniac5999

Senior member
Dec 30, 2009
505
14
81
I've got a Wind U230 (almost the same as the Toshiba 100 extra mhz on the processor) And I'm really happy with it. Just so you know, it looks like it's actually designed for lap-top use, it intakes air all along the front edge as well as the middle and right side of the bottom, and exhausts it out the left side, and doesn't even get very warm during extended gaming sessions on my lap. (I had an old HP that would burn you if you left it on your lap too long, so i know this isn't a wives tale)

Now the 3200 HD and the ION (which is technically a 9400) are very close graphics cards, although the ION is slightly faster. The L335 is a real processor, however and is about equivalent to a 1.3ghz CULV. this means that in general use it'll probably be a lot faster than the Atom 330 in the 1201n, and will probably also game better, because any game that you are likely to play on a netbook is unlikey to be able to use a quad core. However if you are looking to do extensive data manipulation, etc than the 2 real plus 2 HT cores of the atom would probably come out ahead. (but who does that on a netbook?)

Finally there's battery life, I've heard 5 hours thrown about with the 1201n, and hopefully somebody who owns one will be able to tell us what they see, but with my U230 I see 4+ hours while surfing the web with the screen on medium, and I get about 2 hours while playing WoW with the screen on max bright and both the CPU and the GPU pegged.

Oh, also see if you can try the Toshiba before you buy it. It's got one of those annoying rockerbars for the left/right buttons, and that was a dealbreaker for me, because of the way I use a touchpad (lefty)
 

Krakn3Dfx

Platinum Member
Sep 29, 2000
2,969
1
81
I just got my Asus 1201N a few days ago, and I love it. Yes, the is only 1.6Ghz, but it's also dual core w/ HT, so games that take advantage of multiple cores definitely benefit from it. I've tried out L4D, Portal, Serious Sam HD, and Bioshock on it, and they all run pretty well considering.