Need help picking out a netbook

[nick1985]

Hey all, I'm in the market for a netbook for my lady's Christmas gift. She will be hooking up an LCD and keyboard/mouse to it for her primary PC, so it needs some power to it.

Also, she will be taking it with her to work and using it for a client database where she can better and more efficiently (than notecards) keep track of her clients. So battery life is important. She works 10+ hours a day, it needs to surpass that.

When I browse Newegg I notice a lot of different netbook CPU's, and I havnt the slightest clue on whats best.

I see:

Intel Atom
AMD Athlon 64 X2
AMD Athlon II Neo
AMD Athlon Neo X2
AMD Athlon Neo


Any advice on this?

 

[Zap]

If super long battery life is desired, then the Atom is the only choice (not counting external battery packs, etc.). The side effect is that the performance of the Atom is like a Pentium 4 of the same MHz (1.6GHz).

I think the only ones that get over 10 hours of battery life are a handful of Asus Eee PC models that claim anywhere from 12.5-13.5 hours. Now, those are manufacturer estimates so YMMV. In any case, based on battery life requirements, you are already limited to only a handful of models, so your choice should be much easier.

ASUS Eee PC 1015PEM-PU17 in black, white, blue or red with a dual core 1.5GHz Atom

ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-PU17 in blue or black with single core 1.83GHz Atom

 

[nick1985]

How do the dual-core atoms perform vs single cores?

Thanks for the reply, btw

 

[StrangerGuy]

How do the dual-core atoms perform vs single cores?

Thanks for the reply, btw

Barely acceptable vs molasses slow.

 

[cbn]

Barely acceptable vs molasses slow.

32nm dual core Cedar Trail can't get here soon enough with atom cores as fast as 2.13 Ghz available on the 45nm process.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=49669&processor=Z560&spec-codes=SLH63

 

[Winterpool]

Nick, if this is going to be your girlfriend's primary computer, I suspect she may require more power than an Atom. Zap's comparison of the Atom to a Pentium 4 may be, if anything, an overestimate (I've read a Pentium M -- remember those? -- may be more accurate comparison). On the other hand, if it's just going to be an electronic note-keeper, I suppose the cpu won't matter too much.

10+ hours of battery life... Where do I sign up for that? It sounds positively... 21st century! Zap may be right: you may have to go Atom if that's a requirement (is she really going to be unable to plug into the mains for 10 hours or more?).

You probably don't want to hear this (and it may be out of your budget), but Anand has tested the 13-inch MacBook Pro at almost 10 hours of light use. And the new 13-inch MacBook Air got over 11! And they have real Core 2 Duo cpus.

 

[Winterpool]

Another option might be an Intel CULV subnotebook. I've found that an 11.6 or 12-inch machine doesn't practically result in much more encumbrance than 10-inch netbooks. The newer 'Arrandale' Core i3 models are still rather costly ($600-700+), but Buy.com has a previous-gen 'Penryn' model for $450. It's 1.3 GHz dualcore Pentium SU4100 (considerably more powerful than any Atom), 4 GB memory, both VGA and HDMI video output.

The battery life will be significantly shorter than an Atom or a MacBook, but you could probably buy a bigger/extra battery. I bought one of these Gateways after deciding to wait for the next-gen 'Arrandale' MacBook Air.

 

[Emulex]

Get her a used nokia booklet and some jewelry. you will be 'da man.

i might sell my personal model if asked nicely

 

[nick1985]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll let you know what I decide. Lot of good info here

 

[fleshconsumed]

Dual core Acer from buy.com that Winterpool suggested is good. Or you can get a single core version at RadioShack if you can find it for $320. http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?p=33851165

I would advise against getting a "true" netbook. The keyboard on those are a tad too small, they are just a tad too slow for everyday web browsing and the screen resolution is once again a tad too small for comfortable browsing. Basically atom based netbooks with 10" screens come just a tad too short for comfortable browsing etc. Even using gmail is sort of a pain on 1024x600 screen because it's too small and the email text window is only 3" big. Get a 11.6"+ ULV or better, otherwise there is a very high chance you two are going to regret going with netbook.

 

[maniac5999]

I did a lot of reasearching for my purchase last year, and I found that the netbooks/CULVs around 12" were much more useable than the 10" netbooks. They have to shrink the keyboard too much on the 10" netbooks for me to use comfortably, and I have small hands. Also, an Atom is going to be annoying to use for anything but the most basic tasks, even if she's just going to go on youtube once an a while she's going to feel just how slow an Atom is.

I've got a Wind U230, It's got an Athlon Neo x2 at 1.6ghz (the Athlon 64 and Neo are the same K8 core, look at cores and clockspeed to compare them) In my opinion it's more than enough for general computing, and can even do some light gaming (WoW on fair, SC2 on low, and even Civ5 if you're patient) The K8 at 1.6ghz is probably about the equivalent of an Athlon II at about 1.4ghz, or a Core 2 at 1.3ghz. Now, lets compare that to an Atom: (single core K8 vs. Atom at 1.6ghz) http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/115?vs=79 As you can see, the K8 is about 40% faster.

Now 40% faster than 'way too slow' is about 'marginally acceptable', which is why most people are reccomending an x2, which will help keep the system from hanging when one process decides that it needs to max out one core.

Unfortunately, 10 hours of battery life isn't really going to be possible with anything other than an Atom. The Athlons can get about 4 hours of light use, the Athlon IIs can get 5-6, and the Core 2 and iX CULV chips can probably get about 7, all with the average 6 cell about 6000mAh battery. Of course all of this is going to vary greatly depending on the design of the laptop, and how big it's battery is.

 

[Zap]

I did a lot of reasearching for my purchase last year, and I found that the netbooks/CULVs around 12" were much more useable than the 10" netbooks.
...
Unfortunately, 10 hours of battery life isn't really going to be possible with anything other than an Atom.

Also, none of the 12" models (Atom or not) have near 10 hour battery life.

 

[nick1985]

Also, none of the 12" models (Atom or not) have near 10 hour battery life.

Yeah just realized that.

I dont think the 12" over 10" is that important for her uses. At home, it will be connected to a 19" LCD and a wireless keyboard/mouse, so its a non-issue for personal use. She cuts hair, so its not like she will be typing all day long at work, she just wants something where she can enter client info into a database instead of using notecards.

Given the battery life, I'm leaning towards a 10" screen now.

 

[Eug]

So she'll actually do some simple work on it? Then really consider an 11.6" to 12" esp. if there's an electrical outlet nearby. I guess it depends on how much time she's on it. For me though, those tiny keyboards on 10" models make my wrists hurt after about 15 minutes.

To put it another way, for light usage I'd personally rather run Atom with a 12" laptop than CULV with a 10" (if such a thing existed).

BTW, for dual-core Atom, I'm actually quite happy with my purchase, but part of that is because I'm using a fast SD card for ReadyBoost in Windows 7. It makes for quite a noticeable boost in responsiveness. For those of you saying dual-core Atom is terrible (but not as terrible as single-core), have you tried ReadyBoost? If you have but didn't see a big improvement, have you tried ReadyBoost with a modern fast flash card? Cuz the older flash cards are really slow in comparison.

 

[Winterpool]

Nick, does your girlfriend work at a salon? Shouldn't there be mains to plug in a notebook, or are they all taken up by hair-dryers, etc?

For work purposes, it does sound as if all she'll be doing will be data entry, in which case a single-core Atom might be sufficient. I've no experience with the dualcore Atoms, so I'm not sure how much they improve over the singlecores at most tasks. I feel like recommending an 11.6 to 12-inch Atom netbook, but according to Zap, they won't get the necessary battery life either (makes sense: bigger, more energy-consuming screen).

It's the 'primary computer' at home part that makes me worry that an Atom won't prove sufficient...

 

[cbn]

You probably don't want to hear this (and it may be out of your budget), but Anand has tested the 13-inch MacBook Pro at almost 10 hours of light use. And the new 13-inch MacBook Air got over 11! And they have real Core 2 Duo cpus.

Yep, that is just amazing how Apple gets 11 hours of battery life out a 13.3" ultraportable. (with last generation cpu and discrete gpu nonetheless).

You just have to wonder how much more potential Microsoft Windows has left in it to increase energy efficiency.

 

[Eug]

A few people are reporting serious video issues with the new MacBook Airs now.

It's not priced in the netbook category either (even though the 11.6" sort of competes with the higher end netbooks in terms of functionality).

 

[Winterpool]

Jah, one of the reasons I skipped the 11.6 MacBook Air is the usual Apple 1st-gen issues. That, and it seemed like 'Arrandale' would be extremely helpful for these machines.

 

[Slickone]

32nm dual core Cedar Trail can't get here soon enough with atom cores as fast as 2.13 Ghz available on the 45nm process.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=49669&processor=Z560&spec-codes=SLH63

That only shows a single core. Is there a dual core coming or did you mean you hope there is?

 

[Emulex]

nothing wrong with 1st macbook air have one right here. works great. i think i was asking $500 which is beyond the price of anything in that class. overheats? they all do the newer models just clock down faster all macbook owners use coolbook controller to undervolt and stop the downclocking apple (and others) put in.

my 1.6ghz rev.b can run longer at 100% undervolted than a brand new 11.6 or 13 mba

 

[PlatinumGold]

I just bought my son the HP Pavilion dm1z with the AMD Fusion Zacate in it.

Just ordered as a matter of fact. should be here by wednesday. the reviews on it are fantastic and I think at $449.00 it's a great buy. 6 to 7 hours of battery life and very very good performance. 1.6 ghz dual processor. 11.6 in screen.