Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Netbook Time?

I like the Mac laptop.

But it is expensive compared to a netbook made by HP, Asus, Dell, Toshiba, or Acer.  I like the portability factor and long battery life of the new netbooks. I can live with the 10.1" screen. I have no idea what "Windows 7 Starter" means. I think it means, "we're not charging full price for the operating system so we're starting you on something inadequate that will require an upgrade later." For a fee, of course.

I'm not ready for the iPad leap. I am just not hip enough to tote one of those around a Starbucks. Besides I'm not sure it isn't the Apple product-phallus.

Should I upgrade from 1 gig of ram to 2 gigs? 1 gig of ram. How 90's of them. Should I get the DVD external drive? And is the little sleeve they sell with them too much of a man-purse? I think it is.

Any thoughts?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

RAM is relatively cheap - I would bump it up to 2. I have an ASUS netbook and I purchased extra RAM when I bought the computer. Does it make a difference? I don't know but it makes me feel better.

Francis Shivone said...

Anon -- Actually, I was looking at the Asus. Thanks, I think I will add the 1 gig of ram.

John said...

I have a Dell netbook that I've been quite happy with. It is just the "standard" configuration you could order quickly from their web site. Runs XP and is perfect for just surfing the web and the occasional doc writing with OpenOffice.

However, I did get an iPad demo from a friend and I'm convinced that it could replace my wife's laptop for her use web surfing, email reading, IM. In addition, it would be an eReader. And its much more portable than a laptop. I wouldn't discount it.

Jake Good said...

I've tried convincing people to drop their netbook and buy an iPad... but they *always* think that they'll need ...

Netbooks offer portability, but at a sacrifice of screen and keyboard space. The damn nub/track pad on those things are a joke.

Lots of people like their netbooks, but I hate the one that I have at the house (it's only used for experiments).

Francis Shivone said...

John and Jake -- I still haven't "demoed" an iPad. I think I will today. I do a lot of writing so I discounted it for that.

If I do go netbook, I have pretty much decided to stay with XP and use OpenOffice, which is what we use on the Mac.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

The Ipad has a keyboard accescory that makes it usable as a content creating platform.

With the iPad, one needs to also the consider the limitations of the file system in OS.

Andrew

Francis Shivone said...

Andrew -- Another slight worry I have with the iPad. Did you get one?

Lynn said...

I'm glad that you have people who can give you intelligent input. My monitor and CPU are hand-me-downs from my sons-in-law.

There is a store that sells used computer parts in Arlington, at Collins and 303 (southeast corner). That's where I bought my keyboard when the last one died.

If my guys don't give me one of their flat screens, that's where I'll go if/when I'm actually willing to shell out money on a computer.

Laptops scare the daylights out of me. But then, I learned to type on an Underwood manual typewriter...

[I'm not an utter Luddite: I love my quilt-design software and my cross-stitch design software.]

Awesomecross 98 said...

Have you thought of hackintoshing your netbook? I did this with my Dell Mini 10v and am in love with it. This way you could get both!

Francis Shivone said...

Awesome -- I think that's over my pay scale. Are you saying you loaded OSX on a Dell?