11.6in (sub)notebook options?

[Bateluer]

I'm finding my 14in notebook a bit too large for my taste. However, the 10in netbooks are too weak for practical use, though their battery life is very nice.

The Intel CULV and AMD Nile chips have made some interesting products. The Acer Aspire 1551 and the TimelineX 1830T were both interesting, but the 700 dollar price tag of the 1830T pretty much takes it out of any serious consideration. The 1551 is cheaper, at around 550(cheaper version is 480 with a weaker CPU), which is the upper end of my price. But it also suffers from fairly weak battery life, probably roughly equal to my current Studio 14z. I also hear the Acer models tend to have deficient keyboards?

There's also the Dell M101z, but I don't know much about it. Acer Aspire 721?

Any other options/opinions? I definitely don't want an Atom powered device.

 

[zod96]

I have the acer aspire 721 now. It is pretty good once you format the HD and do a fresh install of W7. I have a W7 score of 3.4 and it loads and plays 720P videos smoothly as well as 1080P video. Web surfing is smooth and I can multitask pretty well without any real slow downs. All in all its a decent machine very quick and smooth. I am returning mine though but only because I want to get the Lenovo X100E netbook because it uses a matte screen which is what I like better than a glossy screen. But I would certainly say go for it on the acer its pretty nice. Oh and even the sound on it is pretty good....

 

[poofyhairguy]

I am a big fan of the Dell 11z.

 

[maniac5999]

I own a Congo netbook (Wind U230) and have been very impressed with everything EXCEPT battery life. (And my inability to OC the CPU--if anyone can help please say so) The 1.6ghz K8 can ALMOST match the c2d culv chips speed-wise (and the 1.3ghz K10.5 in the Acer should be about as fast) The Key with the U230 was that you had to fool around with it to make it work well. The CPU ran at 0.925v stock, but an afternoon with RMClock let me take that down to 0.825, making battery life much more reasonable. (4 hours in real life web surfing) The 3200 is much better than ANY Intel IGP you can get, and on the U230 it took all of 5 minutes to OC it to 700mhz, which makes it the equivalent of a 3300, which is almost as powerful as a 9400/ION.
Now, the K10.5 is about 0.90 as fast clock for clock as CULV (and i3/i5 is only slightly faster than c2d) so the 1.3ghz k10.5 is probably roughly as fast as my 1.6ghz K8, and about 0.90 as powerful as your average CULV chip. given that it's on a smaller process, and running at a lower clock, it'll probably consume a lot less power than my U230. The big question is the 4225. Stock it runs slower than my 3200 (300mhz v. 500mhz iirc) and all you get in return is UVD2 support and more complete MPEG-2 support. Now all the 42XX series IGPs are the same part running at different clockspeeds (Like the 3300/3200) so if you can OC the IGP the Acer might be a great choice. we just need to know the answers to those questions from somebody who's got one.

Zod, (or anyone else with an Acer 721) How's the battery life? Can you undervolt it? Does the 4225 really run at 300mhz? Can you overclock it? Can you overclock the CPU?

 

[zod96]

I get about 3 hours out of it. That is with everything set to high. I haven't overclocked the GPU or CPU though.

 

[cbn]

I have the acer aspire 721 now. It is pretty good once you format the HD and do a fresh install of W7. I have a W7 score of 3.4 and it loads and plays 720P videos smoothly as well as 1080P video. Web surfing is smooth and I can multitask pretty well without any real slow downs. All in all its a decent machine very quick and smooth. I am returning mine though but only because I want to get the Lenovo X100E netbook because it uses a matte screen which is what I like better than a glossy screen. But I would certainly say go for it on the acer its pretty nice. Oh and even the sound on it is pretty good....

Isn't it possible for a person to apply some type of screen treatment over glossy screens to make them more matte?

I have seen mention of this before, but the details are really fuzzy to me.

 

[IlllI]

Isn't it possible for a person to apply some type of screen treatment over glossy screens to make them more matte?

I have seen mention of this before, but the details are really fuzzy to me.

yes. its possible. there are companies that sell these overlays you put on the screen. scroll down the page to see before and after pictures http://www.photodon.com/c/LCD-Protective-Films.html

 

[maniac5999]

I get about 3 hours out of it. That is with everything set to high. I haven't overclocked the GPU or CPU though.

That sounds pretty low. What were you doing on it? I know my Congo does 4 hours on light internet surfing, and about 2 hours watching a movie or gaming on a 6 cell battery (58Wh) Theoretically, a Nile should have better battery life. (more or less the same chipset, lower voltage DDR3 instead of DDR2, and a smaller process CPU at a lower clockspeed)

 

[zod96]

Usually watching a movie and surfing the web at the same time....

 

[Bateluer]

I would prefer at least 4 to 5 hours of battery life and a 720p-ish display.

 

[jihe]

lenovo x200/x201

 

[Bateluer]

Not much interest in the 11.6in devices . . .

 

[erikistired]

my wife has the dell 11z. with the 6 cell battery it might fit your needs. it's a nice little system.

 

[Brainonska511]

How about the TimelineX 1830T from Acer?

Out of stock at the moment, but worth considering:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-802-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-803-_-Product

Edit:
Failure on my part to read the rest of your post.

What's your budget? What are you looking to do with this? With the TimelineX series, Acer claims over 8 hours of battery life. What about a Lenovo IdeaPad U150 (last generation CULV processors, but could be in your budget range if you get a Lenovo coupon)?

 

[hkklife]

I've also been seriously looking at the TimelineX 1830T models myself, but I just cannot help thinking they are $50 to $100 overpriced for what you get. If they had a USB 3.0 port or eSATA, a backlit keyboard, or even just better battery life, I could consider them worth the premium price. Right now, I have the previous Core 2 Dup CULV 1810T Acer Timeline. I love it so much that I just popped in a Momentus XT 500gb and will probably stick with that combo for another year or so.

As far as new machines, if you can live without Bluetooth and make do with a Core i3, the Asus UL20A refresh, the UL20FT is a 12.1" machine that seems to be a winner. IMHO, it has better styling & a nicer keyboard and probably has better build quality than the Acers. You also get a half inch larger screen. The FT refresh adds an HDMI port, which along with Bluetooth is the main reason I previous got the Acer 1810T over the UL20A. The older UL20A is still available and you can get one pretty affordably nowadays.

http://www.liliputing.com/2010/08/asus-ul20ft-12-1-inch-notebook-now-shipping.html

 

[Bateluer]

My budget is probably ~500 dollars, probably no more than 600. I like the 1830T, as I said, but I think its over priced for what it offers. 700 just seems too pricey for a super charged netbook.

The Asus hkklife mentioned seems decent, slightly outside my price range though. I'd prefer an 11.6in model, but 12.1 isn't that much larger and the weight is nearly the same.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...s%20UL20FT

 

[Zap]

Heh, I just bought two of these small notebooks for my recent vacation and we (wife and I) lived with them as our only computers for almost 3 weeks. Here are my thoughts...

Hannspree SN12E23BUP212 (mine - primarily used this)

specs:
12.1" 1366x768 glossy
Pentium SU4100 (1.3GHz dual core 2MB cache CULV)
2GB DDR2 RAM
Intel GS45 chipset with IGP
3.4 pounds
5200mAh 6-cell battery
10/100/1000 NIC, B/G/N WiFi
320GB 5400RPM HDD
Win7 Home Premium

pro:
Great size/weight/resolution combo.
Keyboard is awesome to type on. One of the better notebook keyboards I've used.
Touchpad has third button in middle to disable it.
Great battery life. Gave around 4 hours when new, and after a bit of use now seems to be in the 5-6 hour range.
Can play back most 720P HD content using CPU.
Great value at current price (IIRC was over $500 until recent price drops).
Comes with perfect fitting sleeve with carrying handle. Since battery life is so long, often don't need to carry the AC adapter.
Comes with restore DVD (yeah, no built-in optical drive, but still nice touch).

con:
Always having to use the touchpad disable, because keep hitting it and moving cursor with my thumb while typing.
Glossy surfaces, OMG! Wrist rest and touchpad should NOT be glossy. Terrible, terrible. The touchpad also gets sticky - kind of like a hard mousepad that gets worn, if you know what I mean. Basically your finger doesn't glide very well unless you keep cleaning the surface with a microfiber cloth.
Touchpad has multitouch, but it really really sucks and often doesn't detect.
Lowest notch of the LCD's LED backlight is way too dim to be usable. Basically you lower the brightness and it goes dim in incremental notches... and then suddenly BAM it goes almost completely dark on last notch.
Intel IGP sucks. Even WoW didn't play much better than on my (albeit overclocked and lower resolution) MSI Wind netbook.
The Intel CPU only has 6x and 6.5x multipliers so basically power savings just drops it 100MHz at the same voltage of 1.0. This notebook doesn't have the over/underclocking utility that for instance Asus supplies with theirs. I think that could make the battery life and performance balance that much better.
"Warranty Void" stickers over screws on the bottom panel so I can't upgrade RAM or HDD without voiding warranty. Seriously? They put a panel that just covers these items, and then don't allow you to open it?
HDD in two partitions, with Windows partition being pretty small. Why?
No Bluetooth.

final thoughts:
This fixes most of my issues with netbooks. It performs just that much better, which puts it over the edge into being almost completely usable for everything but gaming. Of course netbooks newer than my 1st gen MSI Wind now get much better battery life, but I think 5+ hours is mostly sufficient. On Tuesday I used it on the entire flight from SAN to MKE (almost 4 hours use), and it still said almost 2 hours left. I didn't find myself hitting F11 in the web browser to get more pixels like I ALWAYS do on my MSI Wind. I'm not 100% sure this notebook is a keeper yet, but it sure made my MSI Wind a non-keeper. Anyone want to buy an upgraded/modded MSI Wind that is in perfect shape? Anyways, when actually using this notebook, it didn't feel small like a netbook does. I was able to just... use it normally. Except for gaming. Scrolling up, looks like I have a lot of cons, but really some are just nit-picky and most are because I spent a lot of time with it.

Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 (wife's, I had limited time using it)

specs:
11.6" 1366x768 glossy
Turion II Neo K625 (1.5GHz dual core ULV)
4GB DDR3
AMD chipset with Radeon 4225 IGP
3.08 pounds
4800mAh 6-cell battery
10/100/1000 NIC, B/G/N WiFi
320GB 5400RPM HDD
Win7 Home Premium 64-bit

pro:
Even smaller/lighter than the Hannspree. Seriously it is slimmer and lighter than my MSI Wind netbook!
Great non-glossy textures on the lid and the wrist rest/touchpad.
Multitouch that actually usually works unlike on the Hannspree!
Can actually play games! WoW runs great. Even L4D runs somewhat okay at minimal settings. Borderlands didn't though, and was completely unplayable.
CPU can idle underclock to 800MHz and undervolt to maybe under 0.8v. This is some serious power management here.
Decent battery life. Idle and low usage battery life seems to be 5-6 hours. High usage battery life (gaming?) is 3-4 hours. When new the battery life was around 2.5-3.5 hours, but like the Hannspree it increased over time. Most dramatically was probably the first few hours, maybe because Windows 7 seemed to be... doing stuff in the background.

con:
Touchpad area is not clearly delineated, so sometimes your finger wanders off and you wonder why mouse arrow is not moving. Otherwise, it is a much better touchpad than on the Hannspree.
Keyboard is teh suck! Seriously, it isn't well supported and it has a terrible feel. (Of course this is coming from someone currently using a mechanical switch keyboard at his desk right now.)
No Bluetooth.
Touchpad disable requires an F-key combo.
I don't know how they managed to fuck it up so bad, but the preinstalled anti-virus basically made networking unusable. It was seriously bad, and almost completely unusable. Uninstalled it and all networking problems went away.

final thoughts:
If this one had the bigger mAh battery and keyboard of the Hannspree (and added Bluetooth) it would be near perfect for a small machine. I might have more cons if I spent more time with it, but so far so good.

 

[slackerinabox]

If build quality is importanT to you, I absolutely love my Lenovo thinkpad x100e. It's perfectly designed, perfectly made, and wonderfully priced.

My only concern is with the AMD chip. Battery life is realistically only about 3 hours. I can't wait for the day when I can get this sort of build quality with a long life cpu for less than $700. This will do me well until I outgrow it, and only $416 on sale on amazon.

Note: unlike my other thin and light, the 13.3" dell vostro v13, the lenovo at least has a removable battery. I have to gauge my use in the real world once my job starts on Monday (I may be on the field a lot, I may have downtime at my desk for enough time to recharge daily), but it's very nice to have the option.

 

[hkklife]

If Bluetooth is important, there are only a handful of models available domestically that have it:

-The $700 Timelinex 1830T (the $100 cheaper Core i3 version doesn't have BT) has it but as we've already mentioned, it's waaaay overpriced. The older 1810T Acer that I have is another (the cheaper SU4100-powere 1810TZ DID have BT its first few months on the market but that was later quietly removed by Acer). Also, Acer's TravelMate version of the 11.6" TimelineX has BT as well, IIRC. Acer's 10.1" netbooks have it (Intel & AMD based) but not their 11.6" AMD offerings. Weird.

-Asus puts BT in the Atom 330 EEE PC 1201N but not in the pricier 12.1" machines I mentioned above. Also weird.

-A few more AMD Neo offerings such as Fujitsu's red 11.6" machine and MSI's Wind12 have standard BT in some configs.

Basically, I like BT, it's handy to have and it's standard on even the cheapest pre-paid cellphones nowdays. Why the heck is it so hard to get a portable PC with BT standard?

Right now for Bateluer's needs, I am thinking that something like an the MSI Wind U230, the Core i3 Timeline X (still pricey) or the Asus UL20 models are the best bets. I would figure on the Asus having the best keyboard and the Acer keyboard coming in last. My 1830's kb is decent but I reallllly miss my old EEE 1000HE keyboard in comparison. I'd probably still go Intel over AMD at this stage and size, just for the power efficiency.

 

[Bateluer]

Thanks for the posts everyone. Bluetooth isn't that important for me, I don't think I've even powered the BT on in my Droid since I bought it.

The Asus UL20* models look nice, but are priced a bit outside my budget, at 580 for the SU7300 version and 640 for the i3 version. I looked at the Wind U230 a few months back, but my interest in it has waned since its using the old AMD Neo 1.6Ghz.

I really like the specs on the Aspire 1551, but that keyboard issue makes me wary. And I haven't seen it in stock at any of the Best Buys near me. Might need to do some looking at other B&M places, see if I can put hands on one to check the KB for myself.

One more thing, I've not worried about any pre-installed bloat or junk. Everything on it will get wiped within a few hours of me having the laptop home when I format and install Windows 7 or Linux Mint. A reformat/reinstall of the OS is pretty standard fare for every laptop I've ever bought, except my old Sager and VoodooPC machines from years ago.

 

[Zap]

I really like the specs on the Aspire 1551, but that keyboard issue makes me wary. And I haven't seen it in stock at any of the Best Buys near me. Might need to do some looking at other B&M places, see if I can put hands on one to check the KB for myself.

Trying one out is definitely a good idea. Like I alluded to, I can be a KB snob, so while I say that I didn't like the keyboard, it may be a non-issue for others. My wife didn't like it as much in a side-by-side comparison, but otherwise she uses it without complaint and it probably doesn't bother her a bit. If it were mine, I would probably just live with it because the rest of the machine is so nice (except for the very variable battery life).

 

[Bateluer]

Trying one out is definitely a good idea. Like I alluded to, I can be a KB snob, so while I say that I didn't like the keyboard, it may be a non-issue for others. My wife didn't like it as much in a side-by-side comparison, but otherwise she uses it without complaint and it probably doesn't bother her a bit. If it were mine, I would probably just live with it because the rest of the machine is so nice (except for the very variable battery life).

Any chance I can you to try an Ubuntu live CD and see what parts work and what doesn't?

 

[Sheninat0r]

I'm shopping in the same market, and my eye's on the Lenovo Thinkpad X100e. I'm not so sure about the AMD processor and associated lower battery life, but overall it looks like a good machine.

 

[slackerinabox]

I'm shopping in the same market, and my eye's on the Lenovo Thinkpad X100e. I'm not so sure about the AMD processor and associated lower battery life, but overall it looks like a good machine.

i <3 it! Battery life is meh... 4 hours or so, but the build quality is outstanding

 

[Bateluer]

I just wish I could find B&M places that actually sold 11.6in-12.1in machines. Everything at Best Buy is 14in, 15.6, or 17.3in. Or 10.1in netbooks. Same with every other place I looked up.