Netbook advice sought

I'm considering buying a netbook for occasional use, e.g. on holiday, to access email, etc.

Have absolutely no interest in gaming, heavy graphics usage, possibly occasional image cropping/resizing.

Clearly some work processing and spreadsheet capability would be useful, possibly by Works or OpenOffice (I use Office 2003 on my home desktop).

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations, or ones to avoid?

Just bought a Samsung NC10 (in blue) - lovely netbook, 6 cell lithium battery, 160Gb drive and 1Gb of RAM. Running Windows XP and using VirtualBox to run a CentOS 5.4 when needed.

Possible upgrade paths for this are switching to a 9 cell lithium battery, 2Gb of RAM and an SSD card to replace the drive - this would not only increase battery time but also it would run a bit quicker due to the SSD card.

There are loads of netbooks available, pick one that suits your needs and has had good reviews. The main reason I got the NC10 was because I liked it in blue and 2 other people where I work also have them. And they are amazingly small and easy to carry with you when travelling.

Edited by deleted (Fri 18-Dec-09 10:08:01)

I seem to remember that particular model being picked as the best netbook on The Gadget Show. (You may, or may not, consider that meaningful.)

What do you do for installing software? Most - all? - have no CD drive so do you buy and connect a USB drive?

It will depend on the software. If it's downloadable then no problem. If not, you could always connect to a networked CD on a desktop. Or convert the CD to an ISO image, copy that to the netbook and install using that. Obviously that's no good if you're trying to install a new OS - in that case a USB external drive may be your only option.

There's always a way!

I have an external USB DVD drive, similar size to this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31vSCPvcrJL.jpg

Not that exact model though. It fits easily into the carry case that I bought for the NC10. So any CD/DVD media is no issue.

The thing comes pre-installed with XP anyway, and nearly everything I've installed so far I've been able to download via the wireless anyway.

I had been wondering about one of the Acer Aspire units. Any views?

You want to be looking out for CULV laptops\netbooks, they offer superior battery power performance\longevity, that Wiki link also lists CULV models from the big brands.

eg:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167454

edit
If models like that one are out of your budget, there are obviously a lot cheaper CULV netbooks. With a CULV laptop you might sacrifice an hour or so of battery life but may prefer the bigger screen they offer (whilst still enjoying better battery life over non CULV hardware).

I've used this company in the past they have a broad selection.
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/

Edited by deleted (Fri 18-Dec-09 14:53:51)

Interesting, though look to be more than I need or want in terms of power and size.

I've had a Dell Mini 9 for some time. In my case it's running MacOS X. If you want small and adaptable it's a great bit of kit that can still be had on ebay in refurb form, but prices for them are rising, which says a lot. You can easily upgrade the SSD drive for way bigger and faster alternatives than the stock ones and it'll take 2 GB of RAM. I mean easily here. Some Netbooks are a cow when it comes to changing anything, but all the important bits on the Mini 9 (the HD and RAM) are easy to get at. I tested it recently with Win 7 and it runs very well indeed using a USB attached hard drive. To get an idea of just how adaptable this little beast is I regularly use AutoCAD on it in Windows XP under Sun's Virtual Box inside OS X. The only envy I have about newer models is the improved battery performance.