Faster Netbook OS

[dsmitty308]

I have an emachines 250 netbook that came with Windows 7 Starter. It has a 5400 RPM hard drive. I have upgraded it to 2 GB of RAM.

I have not been happy with it as it is so SSSSLLLOOOOWWWW opening programs, IE 8 for one.

I bought a 120 GB 7200 RPM hard drive and installed Ubuntu netbook version and the netbook seems like a completely different machine!!! Firefox opens faster on it than on my dual core desktop. And since I don't do any printing or scanning with the netbook, I may just stick with Ubuntu.

Smitty

 

[Paperlantern]

I have an emachines 250 netbook that came with Windows 7 Starter. It has a 5400 RPM hard drive. I have upgraded it to 2 GB of RAM.

I have not been happy with it as it is so SSSSLLLOOOOWWWW opening programs, IE 8 for one.

I bought a 120 GB 7200 RPM hard drive and installed Ubuntu netbook version and the netbook seems like a completely different machine!!! Firefox opens faster on it than on my dual core desktop. And since I don't do any printing or scanning with the netbook, I may just stick with Ubuntu.

Smitty

What's wrong with Printing and Scanning in Ubuntu... why would those two things make a difference?

Ubuntu is lighter than windows, especially Win7, it stands to reason it would perform better. Now don't get me wrong I like Win7, and its scales fairly well to work on lower end machines, but the netbooks I have used thus far with Win7 starter, have been awful.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I really like the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface. Very slick. Replaced OSX as my favorite netbook OS (Windows didn't get considered for a second).

 

[Zap]

The "problem" with Windows 7 is that it hammers the HDD especially when the OS is fresh (maybe indexing or something). Don't know exactly why, but I've played around with a netbook that had a well-used Windows 7 install and it wasn't much different from any normal notebook, but I know for a fact that oftentimes a brand new netbook with Windows 7 just feels sluggish and the CPU utilization is high and the HDD keeps getting hammered.

 

[JACKDRUID]

most of the time, a antivirus is preinstalled on a netbook that makes it super slow. examples: symantec antivirus, Mcaffy antivirus

those software contains a "security suit/desktop/firewall" that craps down the system. the biggest reason is most of these software were made for dualcore cpu with a big memory footprint.

uninstall them, and put antivir free on your netbook, and you'll love it.

 

[shortylickens]

I have WindowsXP on mine and theres never any issue. I uninstalled what little free crap it had on it (thankfully not much) and put on Avira. Everything else is groovy.
But if it came with Windows 7 I'd probably have to replace it with some sort of Linux. Ubuntu Netbook sounds fine to me.

EDIT:
Just realized I omitted one important addition: Chrome. Which seems to look a little better on small desktops and runs much faster on slow systems.

 

[frostedflakes]

most of the time, a antivirus is preinstalled on a netbook that makes it super slow. examples: symantec antivirus, Mcaffy antivirus

those software contains a "security suit/desktop/firewall" that craps down the system. the biggest reason is most of these software were made for dualcore cpu with a big memory footprint.

uninstall them, and put antivir free on your netbook, and you'll love it.

This is what I was thinking as well, OP did your netbook come preinstalled with a lot of crapware? Deleting that would be a good start.

A clean Win 7 Pro install always seemed more responsive on my netbook than any Ubuntu install I have ever tried. I had not tried 10.04 on it yet, though, which I've read is supposed to be pretty snappy. Distros like Puppy Linux are perfect for these netbooks, but not very good for Linux noobs like myself. They don't have the huge community like Ubuntu to help you diagnose problems when you run into them.

 

[dsmitty308]

Really I would have no problem with printing and scanning with Ubuntu. I don't think there are drivers for my old scanner, though. I do use my desktop for that anyway.

I had uninstalled all the garbage that came on the netbook, but it never was satisfactory in the bootup speed and IE 8 took a long time to open.

With Ubuntu, I can be booted and online with Firefox in less than a minute, where 7 Starter takes at least 2 minutes to boot to the desktop and ready to go.

Smitty

 

[fire400]

You know what, take a look 3-4 years from now, netbooks will carry more monstrous processors, or hardware in general, for that matter.

We are like a bunch of scapegoats trying out the mini-junk-laptops in the fast transforming "netbook era". While large companies benefit from the cash we throw into netbooks just 'cuz it's so damn cool to own one!, hopefully all that research we're voting for with our dollars, whatever the hell these businesses decide to invest in... will yield better and faster netbooks in a very near and distant future for us.

I can't fvcken stand the performance of current preconfigured mid-range netbooks.

Anyway, lol; you gotta do at least 2 gigs on a netbook. 7200rpm HD is a huge plus, even SSD, if you wanna get crazy; but they are so damn small in gigs and seem like a sudden rip off at this point in time. Thumbs up for the extra performance, but hell, might as well sell them things with 7200's, 2-3 gigs.

Fvcken sucks the processors you currently can't upgrade on those pieces of sh!t. And you gotta be honest, for 45nm, those Intel-Atoms are a joke.

 

[aj654987]

I have an emachines 250 netbook that came with Windows 7 Starter. It has a 5400 RPM hard drive. I have upgraded it to 2 GB of RAM.

I have not been happy with it as it is so SSSSLLLOOOOWWWW opening programs, IE 8 for one.

I bought a 120 GB 7200 RPM hard drive and installed Ubuntu netbook version and the netbook seems like a completely different machine!!! Firefox opens faster on it than on my dual core desktop. And since I don't do any printing or scanning with the netbook, I may just stick with Ubuntu.

Smitty

Well if you upgraded to both the 7200 and ubuntu at the same time.. you dont know how much of the increase in responsiveness is attributed to the faster HD and to ubuntu over windows 7 because you got two things going on there. Regardless, if its much faster then that is always good

 

[Rottie]

netbook with atom cpu always made to be slow if you want to have a fastest one get a notebook with powerful workhorse cpu like Intel.

 

[hans007]

i dont really think win7 is that slow.

i've got an atom Nettop computer and ubuntu sometimes honestly is slower . seems liek its slower as far as browsing the web with lots of tabs open.

i dont think its exactly fair that you didnt try win7 with the 7200rpm drive.

that said, if its just about startup times, yo ucoul dhave gone for an SSD which makes a world of difference.

 

[Emulex]

the x25-m G2 80gb makes a helluva difference in the hp 2140 i tested. windows 7 ultimate

 

[Zolty]

Windows 7 (anything but starter) works great on my 900a eee pc. I tried eeebuntu but a random update broke the wireless. I also tried ubuntu netbook remix 10.04 and my multi touch doesn't work so I didn't bother installing it.

With windows 7 ultimate everything worked fast and without problems. With ubuntu I have always had to surf forums for hours looking for answers to problems, that said they are getting better.

 

[Bateluer]

I can't fvcken stand the performance of current preconfigured mid-range netbooks.

There's a range? 99% of all netbooks use an Intel Atom N270, an N280, or an N450, with 1GB of RAM, paired to an Intel 945 chipset or an NM10 chipset, with a 1024x600 10in display. Every single manufacturer has a model with the above spec's, with only a few using Intel ULV chips or AMD Neos, and those get into the price range of more full featured notebooks.