NetBook 2010

I have almost nothing but positive things to say about this little pc. I was expecting nothing but a “half pc” if you will. But I have been proven wrong; this little thing is GREAT. And I have to say it does it all on the stock 1gb of ram.

Pro:
1. I couldn’t stand Windows 7 Starter and all the bloatware, so I wiped that out and installed 7 Ultimate instead without a hiccup.
-The Fn key functions run from a standalone app in the Program Files/EeePC folder.
2. Performance runs flawlessly. Aero Glass, the Windows Button + Tab flipping through windows, all while multitasking beautifully (I have a ton of little taskbar programs constantly running…55 total processes to be exact.)
3. Always gets 8-12 hours battery life depending on my load (WiFi, music, programs loaded, etc)
4. Very comfortable to type on. While on the ever ever ever so slightly smaller side, I still get my 85wpm on this keyboard.
5. Web browsing is snappy and quick as it should be, even with multiple browsers/tabs going.
6. YouTube runs without issue, however if I multitask with Hulu, there is an occasional missed frame.
7. Tiny and LIGHT. Smaller and thinner than most texts, I’m used to lugging a 7lb 15″ around…this is a god send.
8. Boot time is always under 30 seconds for Ultimate.
9. To fully charge a dead battery takes barely 90 minutes…amazing.
10. Power adapter is very portable and light weight.
11. Speakers are surprisingly loud and decent, actually. Not the best speakers I’ve heard from a laptop, but they fill my kitchen with sound with little effort.
12. Touchpad is even more customizable than my primary laptop. Add in hand gestures…great.
-It allows 2-3 finger gestures for certain features, but with a smaller touchpad + big fingers…doesn’t always work great. I disabled those myself.
13. Quite an attractive little thing, it’s very pleasing to the eye.

Con:
1. The screen is obviously low quality; unless it’s viewed at JUST the right angle, colors go off and becomes difficult to read.
2. Almost impossible to type with low light or in the dark on it. Perhaps I’m just not used to the smaller keyboard yet, but I have yet to accomplish this successfully.
3. Within the first hour of usage, the right arrow key popped off. It’s back on and hasn’t come back off yet, but first day, come now.
4. WiFi card seems to have some issues of downloading larger files…I have to constantly stop/resume them on the Eee while on other pc’s, they just download.
5. Completely and absolutely refuses to boot random OS from the USB. Linux, Windows, OSX, nothing will boot. I can disable the HDD/DVD-Rom in the bios/boot sequence and it comes up with an error. Using the same USB on my other laptop, they boot without an issue.
-However, tri-booting XP/7/Linux has no issue…go figure?
6. Not much of a fan of the touchpad..sort of sticky and with the added bumps (there to differentiate between palm rests and touchpad) the finger doesn’t flow smoothly due to that combo’d with the glossy plastic finish.
7. The left/right click touchpad buttons are ludicrously STIFF and require WAY too much effort for something as simple as a context menu.
8. A bit of a fingerprint magnet. Not the exterior, but around the screen and keyboard…oh yes.
This is my first netbook ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-PU17-BU and it’s everything I want and more!

I just put the wraps on an InformationWeek Analytics Informed CIO report on the rise of netbooks in the Enterprise. These babies continue to make their way into the office, despite the somewhat weak claims from Intel (NSDQ: INTC) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) that they’re not appropriate for business use.

Says who? Not folks in IT. In our recent InformationWeek Analytics Windows 7 survey of 1,414 business technology professionals, 36% of respondents said they already have some level of netbook use in their organizations today. This is expected to grow to 72% of companies over the next 24 months.

Why? Simple: Netbooks fill a major computing gap between the smartphone and laptop and do it at a terrific price.

Intel’s beef? It’s not only the low cost of the CPU, it’s also the threat of smartphone CPU maker ARM “moving up” into the netbook space and potentially becoming a real competitor. ARM already owns 90% of the phone CPU market. Can you say battle royale?

Microsoft is in the same boat. Even before Windows 7, netbooks provided a real option to Windows in the form of Ubuntu Remix. XP was a great fit, but it’s now on its official march into the sunset. Redmond is going to feel the pressure to keep pricing competitive. Naturally, Intel decided to stoke the OS fires by releasing its own netbook OS, Moblin (Mobile Linux)

One of my favorite benefits of the netbook is that it’s fairly easy to load any of these operating systems. My netbook is like a mini electronic version of Sybil: First it’s XP, then it’s Ubuntu Remix, now it’s Windows 7. Tomorrow it’s going to be Moblin. I don’t store anything locally, so it’s a snap. But I repeat, it’s not a toy. This is science.

Dell, one of the powerhouses in the computing business, gave into the temptation and presented their netbook line a while back, aptly named the Dell Mini.

Our review unit was black in colour and is sturdily built in glossy black case. The exterior design simple, with just the Dell logo protruding in the middle. There is one USB port on the left, along side the power port and on the right lies two more USB ports and usual audio port.

What surprised us was the inclusion of an HDMI port. We don’t recall seeing and HDMI port on a netbook before this. Opening the cover reveals the 10.1 inch display and a keyboard that has keys as large as the ones you find on a normal keyboard. We have to say that enjoyed typing on the Mini 10’s keyboard as it’s large and tactile feedback was good.

The trackpad’s design is very interesting as it combines both left and right click buttons on to the trackpad itself. Most people have a tendency to place their thumb on the trackpad button while tracking.

On the Mini 10, when you place your thumb and track at the same time, its multi touch feature kicks in ans it’ll either be rotate or scroll. You can turn multi touch off but what’s the point of having multi touch and switching it off?

The Mini 10 is powered by Intel’s Atom Z530 processor, coupled with 1GB of memory and Windows XP.

Although it uses a different Atom processor compared to the usual N270 that most netbooks use, its bechmark performance are roughly the same.

Dell Latitude 2100

With its fun, lightweight design and built-in mobility, the Dell Latitude 2100 gives modern classrooms a new gateway to discovery and collaboration. Expand students’ capabilities to touch the future.

Durable Case and Network Activity Light, as well as optional touchscreen and keyboard with antimicrobial protection.
Choice of rubberized colors, as well as optional carrying handle and personalization with custom inserts.
Core fundamentals of the Latitude family, including remote systems management, long lifecycles, managed transitions, and a broad range of service and support offerings.

- Rubberized coating on LCD cover and back of laptop ensure excellent grip.
- well-placed hard drive, power, WIFI activity lights on the front edge of the notebook
- LED screen is very bright and crisp. The LCD brightness has 15 levels!
- very cheap upgrade to the touchscreen
- with my large hands I find the keyboard is a decent size, keys are responsive and laid out very well
- Very light netbook, I know some people were saying it was one of the heavy ones but I think it’s a great trade off to have something built well with quality construction than to have a cheapo plastic light netbook.
- 3 USB ports especially for a small laptop!
- gigabit LAN
- bluetooth & wireless N options
- very customizable Latitude Dell BIOS
- this dell Latitude laptop runs MUCH faster with Windows 7 than XP! Going to hibernation and resuming and rebooting is very very fast and perky. Support for the touchscreen is much better in Windows 7 and it is very responsive.

CONS

- double-tapping support for the touchscreen is very flaky with Windows XP
- so far, no obvious way to turn off the “network activity light” on the LCD cover. This is very bright at night and uses dell F079N battery power. There should be an option in the BIOS to disable or at least a switch on the mainboard. A BIOS update to version A01 didn’t give any option either.
- Dell isn’t offering a free upgrade to Windows 7. This is practically Dell’s newest addition to the Latitude series and there’s no deal. Hopefull this changes

- A little bit tedious to change RAM and hard drive: 6 screws to remove on the back, keyboard then must be pushed out and unplugged, another 3 screws from the top to release the back panel. It would be nice just to have little access doors. I guess this was done to prevent easy tinkering since this was designed primarily for school use
- Only upgradable to 2GB total RAM. I was surprised that I couldn’t put a $40 2GB DIMM in the expansion slot to make 3GB total. How hard would it have been to have a chipset that supports 3GB of RAM. But not TOO big a deal since Windows 7 runs very fast on 2GB. And I don’t think most people would be using big applications on these 2100s anyways.
- I was surprised there was a fan in this laptop, though I rarely hear it I assumed that there would be no moving parts and noise (with a SSD drive). I did research and the N270 CPU does run hotter then it’s sister Z530 which is put in the Inspiron Minis–but–it is a higher performance CPU

- A back-lit keyboard would’ve been nice. Since this is considered a “netbook” people will be using it in hotels, on the couch in relative darkness and sometimes it’s hard to find the F-keys or function keys. Maybe instead the useless network activity light and extremely bright 3 volume buttons and caps lock indicator lights we could of had a back-lit keyboard option.

Mini laptop or net book computers are generating all the buzz about laptops these days!

Why all the interest?

Mini computers are smaller and lighter than your standard notebook computer and have a better battery life… but you could say that about a pencil and a piece of paper. In many ways a mini notebook (or if you prefer, a mini laptop) is a throw back to the bad old days when the terms notebook computer and laptop computer weren’t interchangeable.

How Are They Different Now?

In order to power the MIDs, Intel developed the Atom processor. Atom processors are currently only available embedded in an Intel motherboard.

What Are The Advantages Of A Mini Laptop?

Expect the mini laptop to weigh approximately 2.5 pounds, including the battery. A good battery life should be at least 4 hours or more. Compare this to a 15.4-inch laptop, which will generally measure about 10 by 14 inches and weigh about 6 pounds. The weight savings alone may persuade you to think more about choosing a mini laptop.

Mini laptop computers are listed as less expensive than other portable computers. These mini laptop computers installed with Intel Atom processors are generally powerful enough to run Windows XP and Microsoft Office without fail.

What Are The Disadvantages Of A Mini Laptop?

The standard drives that you most likely will find on common on mini laptops are relatively small, only 16GB or less. Windows XP, Windows Media Player 11 and Microsoft Office Professional 2002 are well over 4GB, so this would be the area where you will most likely want to upgrade.

The displays generally have lower resolution than laptop computers. But this should not be a deterrent, unless you will be working with digital graphics. The graphic cards generally are not as good as notebook computers, but if you are just surfing the web or downloading music, you will probably not notice much difference.

The least expensive mini laptop computers run a version of Linux, not windows, as their operating system.� I added an external CD/DVD burner and upgraded the hard drive from 8 to 16GB to the mini computer that I recently purchased. The final cost of my mini laptop was $524. Without adding the CD/DVD burner, this system was $439.

Let?s Compare A 15 inch Laptop To A MiniLaptop

The least expensive 15 inch laptop from Dell includes a 120GB hard drive, built-in CD/DVD burner, and runs Windows Vista. Both minis and 15 inch computers have wireless g network cards.

If you add mobile broadband hardware to each of these computers the mini notebook is a bit pricier than a standard the laptop.

Asus has been the driving force behind the development of the netbook market. MSI has also been a market leader. Just about anything less than $330 runs Linux or has a processor slower than the Intel Atom or both.

Are You A Candidate For These New Minis?

A mini laptop is marginally suitable as a primary computer for someone who doesn’t use his or her laptop computer at work or school. If you mostly use a notebook to download music and load it onto your mp-3 player, e-mail your friends, and surf the net you might get by. They are not the best choice for games or for doing any number crunching or complicated word-processing.

What Is The Comparative Pricing?

A mini laptop, a netbook, a mini notebook, or mini computers are in the same price range as i-phones. In one review it was reported that to surf the net, it was a clear advantage to have the bigger display and keyboard of the netbook, and the downside was that you couldn’t make phone calls.