Looking for advice on netbooks

[heymrdj]

I'm considering moving away from my Core 2 Duo laptop, to using my new 6 core server I just built as a desktop/server, and I'm thinking of getting a netbook. The number one requirements would be built in bluetooth/webcam for skype. It's uses would be internet surfing, yahoo, skype, and using Putty to manage my servers. The hardest usage would be a game on armorgames.com. I would like to have 4 hours of battery life, I'm not sure how good netbooks do on that in the real world.

So any good starting points guys?

 

[fire400]

right now they're fvcking slow as hell, personally; cheaper they are, crappier they are.

alienware m11x if you want something decent and quite small and compared to c2d. otherwise, I would scrape $600 or cheaper for a used 12" c2d tablet with a DVD-RW drive.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Personally I have an overclocked ION hackintosh HP Mini 311 netbook with a SSD that I use as my primary laptop. Extra speed really helps the Atom out.

With that said just last night I was specking out a Dell 11z for one of my friends. Those things are crazy- the dual core Pentium models are like real notebooks!!! I would recommend that over any other now.

 

[jaqie]

if you want flash or any other video task to run smoothly get at the very least one of the dual-core (not just ht, actual two core) netbooks using the ion or (upcoming or here?) ion2 chipset. There are at least one netbook using a core2 duo last I looked, but batt life is more important to me and if you don't expect too much the dual core atoms are pretty nice. The current intel chipset pairing for the netbooks is last I checked still the gma950 which is what I have in my lenovo s10 first generation, and the video is so horrendously slow from it... I had back before the ion got both a netbook and a mini itx motherboard based on the n270 and n330 respectively and both using the i945gc chipset and I regret the chipset (with built in gma950 video) choice sorely but other then that have been quite happy with both.

 

[hiddensniper11]

Almost every netbook in the market comes with a webcam, but maybe not on the bluetooth.

Is price a concern?

 

[xSauronx]

id look for a small culv notebook first if youve got a little money to work with. i love how small and light my eee netbook is...but after an hour or so the display seems small @ 1024x600, and the atom processor gets annoyingly slow from time to time (i just keep it in OCed mode)

i like it, but I wish I had the money to get a culv machine that was a tad larger.

 

[heymrdj]

Money is a bit tight and I need two of them, so I'm hoping not to get too extravagent. The CULV's would be my choice, but I haven't found any yet that start under 500$. These are very spare used systems, I don't want to really spend 1200 for two of them.

 

[TimeKeeper]

Money is a bit tight and I need two of them, so I'm hoping not to get too extravagent. The CULV's would be my choice, but I haven't found any yet that start under 500$. These are very spare used systems, I don't want to really spend 1200 for two of them.

Penyrn Core 3MB L2 CULV.

Tigerdirect
MSI X340 SU3500 ( 13.3" ) $480 - 12% BCB
Gateway EC1803u SU3500 (11.6") $350 - 12% BCB

Buy.com
Acer 3810t SU3500 (13.3") $399

 

[jaydee]

If you already have os keys laying around, a good deal might be the amd neo powered asus eee 1201t. Little more processing power, way better graphics capabilities than atom, and 2gb of RAM, plus 12" screen and 1368 x 768 res. Less battery life and more expensive though. A good deal if you don't need an os.

 

[Winterpool]

Almost any netbook with a decent-capacity (ie not 3-cell) battery will probably get you 4+ hours these days under moderate load. That said, Atoms are awfully slow.

I was seriously considering CULV notebooks in the 11-12-inch range last autumn, and the Acer / Gateway models with SU2300 dualcore cpus fell to about $400... And then they disappeared. Well, now such notebooks cost $500+. What happened?

Theoretically the 'Penryn' CULV chips should have been replaced by 'Arrandale', but I haven't seen any ULV Core i3 'netbooks' outside of Europe.