Netbook choices...

[DaddyHoggy]

Choice of (imminent) 40th b'day pressie to self - a netbook - down to a choice of two based on several criteria (cost being one!):
Asus EeePC or Acer Aspire One.

Asus Pros: Dual boot Cloud Gateway/Win7, good battery life. Cons: only latest versions have N5xx Dual-Core Atoms, nasty Intel gfx.

Acer Pros: Lovely keyboard, multi-touch touchpad, Potential Dual-Core (AMD). Cons: Single core (Atoms) versions - but great battery life, or Dual-Core AMD has dedicated gfx (ATI) but terrible battery life...

I really want the netbook for novel writing, but of course if I could play Oolite on it too - I wouldn't say no!

From a purely keyboard feel I may have to go for one of the variants of the Acer Aspire One - however the 522 has a nasty AMD C-50 (1GHz) Dual Core (but a dedicated ATI card (6250)) and Bluetooth but a terrible battery life (3 hours), but the Happy etc use the single core Atom N455 and Intel GMA 3150 (shudders). Some variants are Win7/Android which also appeals...

I could get used to the EeePC keyboard - it's good, one of the best I've played with, just not as good as the Aspire and the 1011PX has an Atom N570 (1.66GHz dual core) and a 320GB HD and up to 8 hrs battery and I really like the idea of Cloud Gateway for when I just want to surf the net and not wait for Windows 7 to boot up.

Given I'm not planning on bringing any other netbooks back into consideration does anybody have any experience of actual day-to-day usage of either of these - the reviews are good and pretty even for both - scoring consistently well across the major review sites - and, as I've now been to PCWorld and actually seen the screens of both and done some semi-touch typing I'd be happy with either I think...

Novel writing first - Oolite would be a bonus/nice-to-have only...

[Cody]

I maintain my brother's PC and his Asus EeePC netbook, which is an older model ( I can't remember which model exactly) with an Atom processor and Win XP. It's a well built machine though, and the battery life is genuine... I can vouch for that.

However, I struggle with text on such a small display... I couldn't use one for writing, that's for sure.

[aegidian]

Don't buy the long-battery life Acer if you want to play Oolite with shaders. Go for one with a dedicated graphics card instead.

That said, I love my long-battery life Acer Aspire One for sitting and surfing, which is what a Netbook's for after all.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

That said, I love my long-battery life Acer Aspire One for sitting and surfing, which is what a Netbook's for after all.

What he said.
For gaming, a netbook is a poor choice; they're deliberately built low spec, with not much hardware muscle. Even Oolite would like more ooph than a netbook can provide, esp with shaders.

[DaddyHoggy]

Thanks guys - to be honest I deliberately cobbled myself to a netbook for that very reason - so knowing that Oolite could well be a no-no is actually a good thing - I would get much less writing done if the alternative was a quick run or three in Oolite.

A newer Acer Aspire One with Dual Boot Win7/Android and a N5xx CPU it is then... (given that I prefer the keyboard over the EeePC) ...but low spec Intel gfx rather than dedicated ATI chip...

[DaddyHoggy]

Probably this: http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.212-2449.aspx (I have about £30 of Tesco vouchers to get the price down a bit)

or this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Netbook-Pr ... 789&sr=1-5 (slightly lower spec CPU N550 v N570 above) but more battery life... (and more money if I do use my Tesco vouchers to purchase the above)

[drew]

Posted on your facebook comment, but expanded here:

Knowing you I would go for the Asus. For writing you'll like the dual-core power (single core netbooks are very sluggish and irritating) and you'll need the battery life.

Loss of the graphics card is a nuisance, but how often will you really play Oolite on the move? I thought I'd play it more, but I hardly ever do other than for research purposes. I wait 'til I get home and fire up my Dell Inspiron 1720 Core Duo desktop replacement.

My wife has a Dell Inspiron duo (flip screen based on the Mini netbook) and we're *so* glad we went for the dual-core. It makes a big difference on things like alt-tab, opening several documents simultaneously. Having used some single-core atoms there simply isn't quite enough horsepower for the day-to-day in my view.

Asus is a much higher quality brand than Asus, so support and longevity should be superior. My Asus Bamboo U33 is a real piece of quality, better than a Mac Pro. My sons have Acer Aspire Core i3 laptops and they're ok, but work-a-day rather than 'hmmm nice'. if you know what I mean. Great for youngsters, but not for those with more discerning tastes. Audi/Ford if you want a car analogy.

Battery life on my Asus has been exactly as advertised. I can get 7 hours a day out of it (and that's on a core i5!)

I think you'll be more satisfied long term with the Asus.

Cheers,

Drew.

[Thargoid]

Don't buy the long-battery life Acer if you want to play Oolite with shaders. Go for one with a dedicated graphics card instead.

That said, I love my long-battery life Acer Aspire One for sitting and surfing, which is what a Netbook's for after all.

Seconded - I had exactly the same thing to do as you (although mine was sped up by work locking down my company laptop, so it's a 6-month early 40th present) and I went for (and am typing this on) an Acer Aspire One 722. The AMD C-50 isn't actually so bad, and oolite runs with full shaders and if I need a larger screen when I'm working in the evening in my hotel room it has HDMI output which drives quite nicely the room's flat screen 28" HD TV. 250GB hard drive and 2GB RAM let it do most things with acceptable (although not blinding) speed. It also has a 11.6" screen, which is nicer compared to the normal 10.1".

Mine doesn't have bluetooth although I must admit that's something I rarely use (and I have a bluetooth dongle stuck in my work laptop that I can use if required). One other nice thing is it's got 64-bit Win7 home premium rather than starter (for those like me who need Win access for various things) but of course adding Linux shouldn't be too difficult. It also has quite a nice display and as noted a lovely keyboard, and mine only set me back about £250.

The 3-4 hour battery life as you say is the only downside (it's only a 3-cell one) but it's quite light as a consequence and honestly that's enough for me as it spends most of its time on mains power anyway and that batt life will do for when I'm travelling or on a plane.

Mine's an Acer AO722 with a 2.8 experience index. If there are any specific questions or things you would like me to test on it let me know. I looked at the Happy you linked to, but went for the 722 as it seems to be a much better spec'd machine at the same price. So far I'm happy with it.

It's this one although I have seen various reviews around the net showing them with a 6-cell battery too (mine's a 3-cell).

[Thargoid]

According to the Acer website (here), there also may be some issues ongoing with the Intel Sandy Bridge systems. That said presumably things are more resolved now, as I don't recall hearing about this in the trade press recently.

[CommonSenseOTB]

Surprised to see others have an acer aspire one netbook.

Almost 2 years ago I bought an Acer Aspire One netbook with atom processor, 160GB hard drive, 10 inch screen and Windows XP for $270.00 CAN. Then I discovered Oolite and if I had discovered Oolite first I would have bought something different.

I would have bought something with shader graphics and a full sized screen as the screen is too small for other than casual use or someone very determined to ignore it. I usually have word processing software zoomed a bit to compensate. Windows XP is awsome for this low powered netbook. For a writer I would not recommend anything but a full aspect larger sized screen, DH.

I will be looking for a proper replacement for this one in about a year or less. It is a good netbook. The standard 2hr battery lasts almost 1.5 hrs still but I mostly use it plugged in. One thing of concern to me is it's wireless reception. It is very poor compared to bigger screened laptops as the antenna is in the frame around the screen, the smaller the screen the worse the reception. In this case it is really just useable and for this reason alone if you rely on wireless access, I would not recommend the 10 inch screened Acer Aspire One.

Overall, I would recommend the Acer Aspire One with atom processor and 10 inch screen for the casual user only because of the low price but for the oolite user or writer I would say DON'T even, you will regret it. An extra hundred dollars for me would have been well spent, if only I had known.

[DaddyHoggy]

Hi CSOTB, I really do want something for writing and it has to be small otherwise I won't carry it around with me - hence the netbook and not notebook choice - Oolite was purely a nice to have (I'm writing this post on a Dell XPS M1730, Dual SLI 512MB 9800M GT so I can play oolite at home (and if nobody's looking) and work if I want to - not being able to Oolite may turn out to be a boon to my writing output.)

Also, I've found several writing apps that maximise the use of the 1024x600 screen (no borders, and nothing but clean basic formatting options from a right click pop-up menu).

But thanks for the personal experience!

[CommonSenseOTB]

Your welcome, DH.

If it is only for writing and you can truly get over the small screen then it probably is the netbook for you. Portability wise it is unsurpassed and should be easy to have on you all the time when the inspiration strikes. When on the go I keep mine and all the accessories in a very small backpack so it should be quite excellent for your needs.

To your future writing success! <coffee held in a toast position>

[DaddyHoggy]

This is for Thargoid, but others might be interested too: http://portableapps.com/apps/office/foc ... r_portable

[Thargoid]

Thanks, will give it a go.

The site is actually for USB-based apps (U3), but should work fine I guess on a netbook. Also I see portable versions of both Blender and Audacity there (plus notepad++ and a few other interesting bits) so could be worth a deeper play methinks...

Anyway will let you know how FWP works on an Aspire One as well

[DaddyHoggy]

Thanks, will give it a go.

The site is actually for USB-based apps (U3), but should work fine I guess on a netbook. Also I see portable versions of both Blender and Audacity there (plus notepad++ and a few other interesting bits) so could be worth a deeper play methinks...

Anyway will let you know how FWP works on an Aspire One as well

My friend has a 32GB USB stick running Portable Apps - he comes and goes on any machine with a working USB port and leaves no trace (save the reg entry for his stick) - he checks his email, surfs the net, draws, builds models, writes, designs fonts, views pdfs etc, etc, etc...

He basically lives on his USB stick.