Ask Engadget: What's the best netbook out there?
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 14th 2008 10:59PM
posted Aug 14th 2008 10:59PM
This week's episode of Ask Engadget (you know you can submit your own inquiry at ask at engadget dawt com, right?) poses a beautifully simple, albeit timely question about those bantam laptops that have taken over the world in recent months. What was once a niche market is now a blossoming sector, and the choices are indeed overwhelming. "With so many netbooks now available, which is the best one out there? I'm mostly concerned with getting the best bang for my buck, so I'm not too interested in any of those higher-end units."
For those of you who have bit the bullet on one netbook or another, what kind of taste has it left in your mouth? Would you recommend your current unit? Would you suggest looking elsewhere? Let the battle of the bite-sized lappies begin!
EEE PC with Windows XP.
Wait a few weeks and grab the Dell. I have little doubt about that being the best decision.
Dude, your getting a Dell!
I have an Eee PC 701. Got it when they were the only real netbook option. I run XP on it. I would say it is a VERY capable machine. The only real drawback? The resolution is nothing short of unforgivable. For web browsing it is VERY weak. 900 series at least. Or wait for the Dells.
The Eee 701 surf with its subpar keyboard and its 1.5" bezel probably isn't the best, but it is still my favorite.
When it first came out about a year ago, it was a novelty for being the only laptop in its niche. Now, after the flurry of netbook advancements in the past five months, it skipped the obsolete stage and went straight to retro. In another year it will likely be a collector's item.
If this is for school, i.e. you'd be using it for taking notes in class, then get a unit with an extended battery that can last 4-5 hours. The wimpy standard battery that comes standard with all current models will NOT last a full 3-class day, and it defeats the point of portability if you have to lug along an AC adapter and have to fight for a seat next to an outlet.
AFAIK, the only netbooks that you can buy with extended batt are some EEE models and the MSI Wind. Both are rather expensive at prices north of USD$500. Personally, I am waiting for the Lenovo S10, as its keyboard has dedicated PgUp/Dn keys, which probably get the most use of outside of the space bar. OK, and because it also comes in red and is cheaper. But that's Sept/Oct, probably a bit too late if this is indeed for school.
If price is not a prime concern, and you want something with a bit more muscle to do more than simple web surf/note taking, look into the Thinkpad X61, a highly ranked ultraportable. Lenovo is clearing out this unit, in favor of the X200/300, and it can be found currently at around $850 (with 8-cell batt).
I still love my EEE 701 with Windows XP. Got the accidental extended warranty, so I'm waiting for a nicer one to come along and catch my eye-then I'll have an "accident".
Eee PC 900A XP Black. It has the nice 900 case, but upgraded with the Atom. Then perform a couple of mods:
- remove the slow small secondary SSD it comes with - and replace it with a faster bigger MyDigital SSD.
- add a touch screen panel kit.
Perfection... :-)
macbook air
Next revision
September 16
yeah, that's definitely NOT a high-end unit ^^
Are you guessing on the September 16th date or do you have an inside source? I've been waiting on buying a new Mac for school and I'm waiting for the new Macbook Pro's with hopefully Centreno 2 processors and hopefully 9800GT's. If an iTablet comes out, I'll maybe look at it, but I'll be using it for video/photo editing
The Sept 16th date would be speculation based on Apple's history rumors and the iPod promo. However the 9th is also a possibly. And the event will likely be foucused on iPod and the last few years have shown.
And the MacBook is too high end and expensive. There's probably an Eee PC that fits hits bill though.
Maybe he is an Apple Employee! You never know!
"yeah, that's definitely NOT a high-end unit ^^"
It's not. But the price is :)
It seems you conveniently missed the whole, "I'm mostly concerned with getting the best bang for my buck, so I'm not too interested in any of those higher-end units."
My spouse works for Apple Japan and they confirm updates to notebooks and ipods in september but I don't have any specifics beyond that.
I can see it now...
"Engadget is pleased to announce the results for the 2008 Reader Awards.
The Winners:
Best Netbook: Apple MacBook Pro
Best Netbook under $500: Second-hand Apple MacBook Pro
Best Netwook with 10" screen or small: Half an Apple MacBook Pro"
The iPod Touch iPhone would be a better suggestion. A netbook is supposed to be small and cheap, and the iPod Touch is probably the smallest and cheapest internet-browsing device.
Evan - The iPod touch can't compete with a proper network. The screen resolution is very limited (try reading a page without constantly zooming in), the web-browser isn't desktop class (no Flash) and the on-screen keyboard is slower to type on than even some of the smaller netbook keyboards.
It's not even that cheap. I paid £269 for my 16GB iPod touch. My Asus eee 901 XP only cost an extra £30.
You DO Mean the 9th!!!!!
Not The 16th for sure :)
My vote goes to the MSI wind currently.
Well built, well priced, and great performance.
I wish MSI would release Wind with a fairly fast SSD.
Pros:
10" Screen
Really good keyboard
OSX86 compatible
Seconded. And none of the netbooks out really benefit from having an SSD, unless you consider a lack of storage space a benefit.
Another benefit of the Wind is that it uses a standard 2.5 inch harddrive, which happens to be a high quality WD scorpio. Easy to switch for an SSD when they drop in price.
MSI Wind does it. Atom, Bluetooth, excellent keyboard size, 80 GB, available with XP, what else do you need? (At least if you use it as a Sidekick for mobile work).
Dell xps m1330, very good bang for your buck, with many options.
I got my MSI wind 2 days ago - it makes for a killer 10" superlight mac laptop - XP is fine on it - dual booting.... kind of a pain.
the keyboard is great - trackpad sucks donkeyballs, no way to turn off click and drag on the mac side. FUGLY white vinyl slipcase with grey piping - guess the girl next door gets a new carry bag for her Brats dolls (ick).
VERY happy for 549.99 (free shipping/no tax) and no Steve Jobs $200 "black tax"
MSI Wind
is there a netbook with 5+ hour battery out there for under 500?
i keep getting my hopes up about all these netbooks they say will be released between now and mid september but things just keep looking more grim.
portability necessitates long battery life, without it, these netbooks are pointless.
The 6 cell Acer Aspire One can be found for under $500.
MSI Wind defiantly.
MSI Wind defiantly what?
Opps I failed. Never trust OS X's spell check.
I love it when people reply to a typo call-out with another typo.
never trust OSX period
I love it when people think there is a typo where there is none.
"opps" is "defiantly" a typo.
No, OS X was typo, he meant XP
I should suggest the Acer Aspire One with 512MB RAM. Its only $349.99 as it stays true to the netbook intention. Small, cheap and gets the job done.
agreed. best overall is a toss up, but in best for the money there is no competition.
I would agree, except for the fatal mistake in the choice of memory. I assume Dell will also be doing this in an attempt to cut cost. Acer chose to use MLC NAND memory for the SSD, which is not suitable for the task. It has very slow read/write speeds and as a result is not recommended for OS installs. This is why you don't see any Aspire One's with XP and an SSD.
Asus also used MLC memory on some EEE PCs, but it was only to supplement the faster SLC memory that housed the OS.
I also have an original 701 EEE, and while the screen resolution isn't as nice, it has never failed me and is quite suitable for most of my needs. I don't think I will replace it until we start seeing netbooks powered by the NVIDIA Tegra.
And it looks nice too. I'm going to pick me up one of these soon myself!
I got a Acer Aspire One A150 the day that it launched - this is the 120GB drive, 1GB RAM, Windows XP machine for $400 - in dark blue. It's a winner.
If you're not OCD about fingerprints, this is the best machine hands down. And a primary reason for that is the keyboard. Unlike the mush that is the EeePC keyboard, the Acer's keyboard is fantastic and I'm using it at nearly full speed (83WPM versus 90WPM on a full-size keyboard). The screen is incredible, though it suffers from the problem that all glossy screens do - the reflections. It's a full $100 cheaper than the MSI Wind, has more hard drive space, and you just can't go wrong with the classy dark blue.
None of them, buy a real computer
Hi, welcome to the "what's the best netbook" thread. Go away.
MSI Wind gets my vote as well, if you can find one.
And what do you do on your "real" computer? Browse the web, write emails?
Some people have a legitimate need for a powerful "real" computer - aerospace engineers and Pixar animators - but the majority of consumers don't do anything with their PCs that a netbook (and/or video game console) can't do for less money.
Hit the nail on the head ..... Back in the day it was worth upgrading because you saw the difference in power, but computing power is well above what the average user needs.
Other than gamers, movie rippers and hardcore computer users, the majority of people do not need the real computers of today. How many cores do you need to check your email, watch youtube and the other things people mostly use their computers for?
"How many cores do you need to check your email, watch youtube and the other things people mostly use their computers for?"
I can perhaps understand that in relation to a secondary computer netbook that is meant for maximum portability, but certainly not representative of ALL computer use. I don't know what world you live in, but in the one I'm in, many people I know use their computers for activities that need more than an Intel Atom/512MB RAM/1024x768 res
- Digital Photography editing and printing (Photoshop / Photoshop elements / iPhoto / etc)
- Illustration, painting, 3D modeling and animation
- PC Gaming
- Home/Amateur video editing / youtube videos
- DVD ripping, DVR, video encoding
- Maintaining websites and blogs
- Hobbyist/Open source software development
- Audio mixing, music production, podcasting/Internet radio
- etc
@loosely_coupled
This is the world I live in: university students use their computers to view youtube, play on facebook and msn, surf the web, look at porn, write a paper or two. Business people use excel, word and make presentations once in a while. Service men carry around laptops to enter data on service calls, most of with can be handled by these computers. People need bsstbuy to install software for them and call the neighbourhood "computer guy" or family "computer guy" when something goes wrong.
The fact that you are reading Engadget makes me assume that you are not an average computer user. There is a good chance you work in a computer world and maybe you know people who can use computers.
I like my EEE 901.
Ditto! I love my black 901 with XP. +1 for MSN Live Search as well! I've a cool $120 discount thanks to them when I purchased my 901 from eBay.
Yah, the Eee 901 is great. Takes a bit to get used to the keyboard, but then it's good. I got the 20GB Linux version and installed Windows on it. Was a little bit of a hassle, if I were to do it again I might have gotten the XP version and just dealt with the hit to the HDD.
I had the eeePC 700 series and upgraded when the Atom 901 came out. I upgraded it to Ubuntu and it is a great carry-around device with my VZ broadband card for when I don't want to lug around my 17" hp. It's fast and easy to use. The eeepc's are also above the rest due to community support. You can find any hack/upgrade you desire on eeeuser.com forums or wiki and also in the Ubuntu forums.
i'd go for acer aspire one a150x
MSI Wind, but they've been cutting some corners lately... and the price has gone up on them.
I would check out the Acer Aspire or some of the Dell machines.. with the caveat that you actually pay the advertised price
I'm waiting to see if the Dell E gets good reviews. Other than that the MSI Wind and the Acer Aspire One are the ones to look into.
Does mark work for Apple?
Eee PC
the MSI wind is good but some features repel consumers.
For example: the single mouse key
that's a big down side to the net book
personally, i'm looking forward to the Dell E.
portable,affordable,and comes in xp.
Acer Aspire One!
I love my aspire one A150 (just got monday). 120GB wow. I'm floored by the quality, the EEE 701 was on my nerves to i sold it on ebay for $305 and a friend said Acer makes quite good laptops. No creaky parts, no crunchy sounds, the hinges are fantastic, non-flexible plastic. I'm just breathless! It plays old school games just fine CnC: Red Alert 2 hehe.
Just bought the Gateway T-6836, BY FAR the best bang for your buck
Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz
4GB RAM
250GB HDD
The only drawback is the integrated intel graphics, however for only $599.99 you can't beat it.
YES, I said $599.99 at best buy
And how is that a Netbook?
I'd say the 6 lbs of weight and battery that only lasts 1 hour would have to be added to the list of drawbacks
Weighs only 5.7 lbs
Looks like some here are confusing a notebook with a netbook. : /
The MacBook I think is the best out there, good for college students and has better features than ever.
Hey fantard! Read:_netbook_
Good for college students? College students who obviously don't know how to manage their money.
oooh! don't forget how great they are for budding "screenwriters" who like to spend time at starbucks!!
Acer Aspire One with 120GB and XP. $399 is a killer price for such a well spec'd machine.
and 1GB ram
+ 1 for the Aspire One, cheaper then a EeePC 701 4G and vastly superior
Sorry buddy, but I'm going to have to strongly disagree with any recommendation for an Acer. True they are amongst the least expensive machines on the market, but there's a reason: they're awful. Of the three people I know that own Acer's, none of them lasted to one year old (which is pretty shocking no matter how cheap they are). Two of the guys returned their machines for another brand and the third couldn't return it so instead got a replacement Acer. What happened? You guessed it, the new model died too. As enticing as Acer's are, stay away.
On the PC side I would recommend Asus or Sony. I used to be a firm supporter of Dells, but then they went the cheap route too and I doubt anyone would disagree that Dells are nowhere near as reliable as they used to be. Next up is HP, but the company that I work for uses them and I am currently on my third laptop since Sept 2007 (not including a faulty AC adpater that died in January or a replacement battery). To be fair though, although everyone I work with has numerous issues with their HPs, we all have the same model, and it's pretty basic at that, so I wouldn't completely write-off HP based on my experiences.
As much as I'm sure half the crowd will hate me for, I would say that if you're a bit more adventuresome, go for a Macbook. Though I was once a Mac hater, since the initial adjustment pains of my first mac, I've become a fan. And now that you can natively run Windows on them too, there's not really too many reasons to stay away. True they are more expensive than similarly configured PCs, but they're actually as much more as many people think when you price them against a similarly configured Dell, and with all the extra software that comes with a Mac, it's actually pretty good value. (Not to turn this into a Apple ad, but if you're a student, there's currently a promo on that if you buy a Mac you get a free iPod touch which isn't such a bad deal). http://www.apple.ca/backtoschool
Anyway, long story stort: PC: go Sony or Acer, Mac: I would recommend the Macbook
I disagree. Dell still not only make the most reliable, but the best value, and most environmentally-friendly computers in the world, with customer service that is still much better than the competitors. And what does a Macbook have to do with a netbook? Crazy...
As always, YMMV
Of the 20+ people I know who own an Acer notebook (really, they're the most popular, most people use them, *unless* it's a business/government notebook), none have failed in the first year. Many have made it to the 5th year with zero problems. You think that other brands will all have perfect track records, and never require warranty service in the 1st year?
Basically, it's not logical to base your whole outlook on a small sample like 3 (or even 20) people. If you met 3 idiots while on a trip, would you think the whole country was comprised of idiots? It's not even logical to keep a stigma on any company, since companies tend to change, and different products are just that, different. Look at Sony and their exploding batteries. Look at Macs and their troubles (overheating, screens, etc).
Judge any product on a per-product basis, not a per-brand basis, unless something like a brand's warranty policy or service comes into play. Then it's only a part of the decision making process. If you throw away all the merits of a product just because you don't like the brand, that's not your brain thinking.
And you made the wrong conclusion, recommending Acer after you bashed it.
I've looked after four acers for members of my family over the last four years and all of them are running perfectly. The hinges on the oldest one, a 3023 are cracking through but all the subsequent models have a different design that seems rock solid.
Just for the record.
Anyway, as we're talking about Netbooks, what's the likelihood of a netbook with a 1280x800 resolution releasing any time soon? Or would it not be cost effective? Anything sub 768 is not really enough.
@CosterMonger: Your post should not have been so low ranked. I also know a half dozen people who will touch an Acer, because even with the warranty they are a pain because everything does fail on them. They are very tempting but so poorly made. It's the only reason I'm avoiding the Aspire One.
Your assesment of other brands is what I have found as well, with the exception that I would add that Lenovo makes great machines as well.
@BobTurbo: Macbooks are listed under the same Ultraportable category as Eee's on any website that sells them. However, I would agree that it is not a netbook in the term intended for this discussion. It should probably have been better defined to begin with, but basically we are speaking of Atom based books, since that's what is available now, right?
That said, in my opinion I can't justify going much over $400 (no matter what else is thrown in) for a single 1.6 core with integrated graphics. Just me maybe.
IMO, the major players are equal, have their own strengths and then weaknesses to counter them. EEE's with Atom have good battery life but are expensive, HP 2133 has high resolution screen and Expresscard slot but crappy Via, Wind is reasonably priced but impossible to find, etc.
But I think I'd recommend the Aspire One, the $399 config with XP Home, 1gb of ram, 120gb HDD (2.5" 5400rpm), 1.6ghz Atom, 8.9" 1024x600 screen.
The price is much lower than the similarly configured MSI Wind and EEE 1000. The drawbacks to it are lack of Bluetooth and 3 cell battery with 2.5 hours of battery life. The 6 cell battery is to come out soon but will cost $100 but give 7 hours of battery life.
I'd still buy the Aspire One since with the 6 cell, it'll go to around $500, around same price as the Wind and EEE 1000 but with 120gb HDD vs 80gb in the other two and you'll have a 3 and 6 cell battery for more battery life than the Wind and EEE.
And aren't there some very small USB Bluetooth dongles that are very small?
I have tried the Aspire One and despite Acer's reputation for mediocre build quality, the Aspire One is built quite well, has a nice screen and keyboard. Though the touchpad buttons are to the side of it instead the bottom, like the HP 2133.
I would buy one at $450 with all the trimmings 120GB 2.5" HDD (lets me partition, multiboot, recorded video, swap a SSD when they're cheaper), XP (emulation and old games on the go), 1GB ram (stupid Microsoft ram cap for XP sales, swap out the 512 for a 1GB ) and a six cell battery.
then again I might wait for dual-core ULV processors
NCIX.com
$429 for the 6 cell version
Does NCIX ship to the U.S or only Canada?
I would agree. I just ordered my Acer Aspire One today with all the trimmings. Xp, 6 Cell, the works! I can't wait for it to arrive. And only $429 CDN?! You can't beat that.
NCIX can ship to USA but you can probably get better prices from NewEgg...I can't wait till NewEgg comes to Canada.
Note to Ninja, look at the latest benchmarks. That crappy Via chip seems to be kicking the ass of the big marketing campaign Atom. Who knew. But hey, mine seems fine.
Still like my tc110 best though!
Does age count?
If not, then my money is still on the reliable eMate 300. Small, green, cheap, can go wireless, has a touchscreen out of the box.
Only bad thing is figuring out how the hell to sync it with modern computers. I am almost there with mine. Also, the 10 year old rechargeable batteries are probably long dead, so you will have to rebuild the pack. Not an issue for the people who get the eMate.
Plus Newtonworks is still has the best word processor on a mobile device IMHO.
I'd like to see a tablet netbook
I guess the Samsung Q1 Ultra could qualify for that. But with just 1GB and a crappy CPU it is easily beaten by others. Thankfully it is pretty easy to add a touch panel to an Eee, I'm just amazed none of the big brands have done that themselves...
Gigabyte M912.
Not sure whether it ships to North America but then I dont know where you are located either.
The Kohjinsha SR is a tablet netbook. Not a huge fan of the design but it's a good start.
I guess personally I would want to wait for Lenovo S10 and see how does it fair. I would either go for the S10, Wind or 1000H ...
coz 8.9" screen is to painfully small and not forgetting the keyboard ... =)
I just got my EeePc 1000H from newegg yesterday for $550. I really like it so far, it runs xp really well, and the unit itself is very well built and feels really nice. My vote definetly goes go it.
this is how:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8892861&st=gateway+6836&lp=3&type=product&cp=1&id=1211587728253
Your laptop sucks, even for $600, and nobody cares in the first place.
Lenovo T61
Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.5GHZ 6MB L2
160GB HDD @ 7200RPM
1680x1050 LCD
3GB DDR2-667
Vista Ultimate
Only about $1000 after IBM Employee Discount, suck it lol.
shut up moron. no one cares about your stupid, dime-a-dozen, 6 lb laptop. We're talking about NETBOOKS, retard.
thats a pretty sweet deal....
Just a quick list from my own personal experience of what I've owned:
ASUS EEE 701 4g
Pros:
- Zippy
- Great size
- Runs quite cool
Cons:
- Very low resolution
- Not great at playing fullscreen web videos
- Short battery life with stock battery
HP 2133
Pros:
- Full-size keyboard
- Nice metal construction
- High resolution monitor
Cons:
- Sluggish CPU
- Gets extremely hot (fan's always on)
- Short battery life with stock battery
So, what's the best netbook out there? I guess I don't know yet. I've sold both of these because the cons outweighed the pros for me. I'm still looking for something that meets my needs a bit better.
Josh, what is your budget for your next netbook? I can help you out.
Hey Ninjakamster! Thanks for the offer. I'm looking for something in the sub $400USD range. I know my options are somewhat limited right now.
Here's what I'm basically looking for:
- CPU fast enough to run XP and other some other apps smoothly
- Can play 720p video (fullscreen)
- Stays nice and cool
- High res LCD
- Good battery life (4+ hours)
- Decent size hard drive
So, nothing too out of the ordinary. There just doesn't seem to be anything that matches all those specs at the moment.
As said in a previous post, I think the best for you would be the Acer Aspire One, the $399 config with 1gb ram, 1.6ghz Atom processor, 8.9" 1024x600 screen, 120gb HDD and XP Home.
The drawbacks of it are lack of Bluetooth and low battery life, 3 cell battery with 2.5 hours of battery life. There is a 6 cell battery however.
Someone here said that NCIX is selling it with a 6 cell battery for $429 Canadian dollars and they ship to the US as well but isn't it stock just yet.
There are other choices but are above your budget I'm afraid.
I was between the EEE PC 1000H and the MSI Wind.
1000h won me over. Better bang for your buck. Wireless N, Dolby speakers, better build quality, just a little heavier then wind. All that for the same price as the Wind. 550
I look at it like this, you should never buy the "first" version of any car or electronic (iphone). Asus has made the EEE PC 700, 900, and now the 1000. They know what they are doing and they have great reviews. The wind is the great computer but the second will be better.