Recommend me a netbook replacement ... please

[dud]

I currently use a 10" Asus netbook while on business travel for personal use. I am able to comfortably use it in the ever-decreasing space allocated by the airlines while flying. Unfortunately, the tradeoff for size and battery life has always been the limited speed of the Atom CPU ... and the lack of dedicated GPU.

I wish to stay at or near the same form factor so that I can use the replacement while flying. The best tradeoff I've been able to find is a 12" screen. While processor, GPU, memory are all factors to consider I am most concerned about the size of the unit.

As for useage ... I watch movies/TV shows, do "light" gaming (but would like to expand to newer (3+ year old) games and Skype with the wife. Please recommend either a new or older out-of-production replacement that might fit my requirements. I am not against buying a used unit if I have to as I have had very good luck buying used/refurbed laptops.

Thank you ...

 

[biostud]

Netbook size is either Atom or AMD E-350 Brazos which is faster than Atom, but still a netbook CPU/GPU.

There's the new slim "mac book air" clones out from acer and asus, but the price is much higher than netbooks.

you can get some 11.6" laptops with a i3/i5 CPU with HD3000 graphics which is fine for light gaming.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

None of them are cheap but a Thinkpad X220, Macbook Air 1, or Asus Zenbook UX21. The MBA and UX21 are the thinnest and ligest of the options however the x220 has more than double the battery life the otehr options so it may be the best option for traveling. With the optional 9 cell battery you can easily get 10 hours or more of battery life from the x220 and if you add the external slice battery it will last for close to 24 hours/

One upgrade on the x220 that is a must have is the Premium LCD display, it is an IPS panel that is pretty much the best display you can get in a sub 15" system. The x220 also has an excelent webcam available that would be good for skype.

 

[OS]

some recent deals are samsung series 3 princeton 11.6, which was sandy bridge for $350, and acer aspire AO722 11.6, with AMD C60 for $220.

Both good products for cheap.

 

[Zap]

I have athe Samsung Series 3 Princeton (mentioned above) with 1.3GHz ULV Core i3 (Sandy Bridge) and 11.6" screen. It weighs under 3 pounds. Only thing is battery life will be a bit less than an Atom, but it is MUCH nicer to use.

 

[alent1234]

iPad, it was made for business travelers in mind

 

[gmaster456]

iPad, it was made for business travelers in mind

It was made for soccer moms and children. Although there are certain applications in business where one might be useful, like in TC's situation. Although I don't think I could get any actual work done, they are great for a plane. I will admit that.

 

[MadScientist]

I sold my wife's Dell mini 10V and replaced it with an HP Pavilion dm1z, 11.6", AMD dual core E-300, AMD Radeon HD 6310M Discrete-Class Graphics, 4GB DDR3, 250Gb 7200 HD, HDMI port, 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth for $350. + tax shipped with coupon. Huge difference in performance, especially the battery life. She has run it 7 hrs on the battery with juice to spare.

It's still available for the same price, use coupon code NBD62975 for $50. off.
For only $25. you can upgrade it to an AMD Dual-Core Processor E-450(1.65GHz, 1MB L2 Cache) + AMD Radeon HD 6320M Discrete-Class Graphics.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Mini&series_name=dm1z_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/Mini/dm1z_series

 

[alkemyst]

It was made for soccer moms and children. Although there are certain applications in business where one might be useful, like in TC's situation. Although I don't think I could get any actual work done, they are great for a plane. I will admit that.

the op wants: As for useage ... I watch movies/TV shows, do "light" gaming (but would like to expand to newer (3+ year old) games and Skype with the wife.

Ipad would be great for all but gaming, and no netbook/plane friendly laptop will do that well in coach class. Even a 13" MBP is cramped...if the passenger in front of you reclines the 13" almost becomes unusable.

I travel a lot, an iPad would be much better for surfing the web, movies, and light gaming.

I have given up trying to use my 15" MBP on the plane and just stick to my phone.

 

[buzzsaw13]

microcenter currently has a 11.6" HP similar to the samsung princeton laptop for $550AR

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0375817

Slightly faster processor, larger hard drive, and a larger capacity battery than the princeton laptop.

 

[Broheim]

this is way overkill for what you listed, but have you thought about the alienware m11x R3? Because I'm willing to bet that if you get something that'll play modern games (on the go) you'll start doing so

11.6" formfactor
1366x768 screen
backlit keyboard
sandybridge i5/i7 ULV
gt540m discrete gpu
8 cell battery, you'll be looking at 7.5 hours of browsing the web over wlan.

downside is that it's not all that light and it's a wee bit expensive starting at $899.

 

[Zap]

microcenter currently has a 11.6" HP similar to the samsung princeton laptop for $550AR

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0375817

Slightly faster processor, larger hard drive, and a larger capacity battery than the princeton laptop.

Seems pretty nice. CPU is only 100MHz faster, but the battery life may be over 2x. I guess the extra 0.6 pounds went straight into the battery.

 

[gmaster456]

the op wants: As for useage ... I watch movies/TV shows, do "light" gaming (but would like to expand to newer (3+ year old) games and Skype with the wife.

Ipad would be great for all but gaming, and no netbook/plane friendly laptop will do that well in coach class. Even a 13" MBP is cramped...if the passenger in front of you reclines the 13" almost becomes unusable.

I travel a lot, an iPad would be much better for surfing the web, movies, and light gaming.

I have given up trying to use my 15" MBP on the plane and just stick to my phone.

Which is exactly why I said it would be great for a plane

 

[alkemyst]

Which is exactly why I said it would be great for a plane

Exactly...one of the great things good about the iPad.

 

[wirednuts]

i still rock an n270 netbook. its actually fine for net browsing and most video watching... but when i need to do bills or get work done i like to go to my desktop

 

[PowerRanger]

I'd get an iPad too. A few years ago I purchased a Samsung net book over an iPad. I really regret that decision now. I travel frequently too, and as small as the netbook is, I still find it cumbersome. My father recently bought an iPad 2, and it's really great. I think for the things you listed, an iPad or other tablet really fits the bill.

 

[Fayd]

i still rock an n270 netbook. its actually fine for net browsing and most video watching... but when i need to do bills or get work done i like to go to my desktop

lack of dedicated hardware h264 decoding means not acceptable for movie watching.

 

[jvivlemore]

A friend of mine almost got me to get one of these Lenovo X120e Thinkpads as a replacement for my full size laptop. It's pretty powerful (although just a tad bigger than most netbooks). The screen size is 11" as opposed to 10" or smaller. I'm not an expert but it's another option to share at least

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...906FFA72CB90D5