Ask Engadget: What's the best netbook out there (redux)?

It's been just under half a year since we originally asked about the best netbook out there, and a lot has changed in the meanwhile. Thanks to some incessant begging from reader Chad (we kid, we kid), we're putting this out once more for an updated look at your best option for a minuscule lappie.

"Hey guys. How about we pose the topic of best netbook once more since so many new models have arrived since the original? Much appreciated!"

So, what netbooks have impressed you over the back end of '08? Are you still insistent that the first-generation Eee is the one to buy? Are closeout models a better option? Spill it all in comments below, then send us a question of your own at ask at engadget dawt com.

[decapitor @ Jan 12th 2009 11:57PM]

I am really liking my Mini 1000 based on the excellent keyboard and screen. The battery isn't great and the HDD options aren't too great either, but I replaced the HDD with an MTron SSD which is real fast and battery life isn't terribly important to me, so it was a perfect fit and a very useful machine. Watch out for the keyboard on these netbooks cause you'll find that you don't really use it as much as you would/could if the keyboard is too small for real typing.

[Ray @ Jan 12th 2009 11:57PM]

My money is waiting for the HP2140. Its the only netbook I know of with a high resolution screen and an express card slot, which I plan to fill with a mogo mouse.

[Like_A_Glove @ Jan 13th 2009 12:02AM]

I second, but mogo is not quite my boy.
God! The CTS is killing me.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 13th 2009 12:26AM]

THIRDED

HP2140. However, they should build in 3G or CDMA (or both).
HP could get me to buy almost anything. I love that company and I want them to suceed at everything.

[jt @ Jan 13th 2009 12:31AM]

If you want the express card slot now, the Lenovo S10 has one. 10" screen, but not high res, only 1024x600.

[Yoav @ Jan 13th 2009 3:04AM]

Not fair, HP2140 should NOT count, it's not OUT yet... who knows what netbook Asus will come up with until it is.

[shane @ Jan 13th 2009 5:13AM]

Or, knowing Asus, which 10 slightly different netbooks!

[LondonConsultant @ Jan 13th 2009 6:35AM]

ENGADGET, you should have done a poll vote for this...

[Ian @ Jan 13th 2009 12:06PM]

HP 2140.

Currently, it's probably the HP 1000.

[Dustin Hess @ Jan 13th 2009 12:34PM]

I couldn't agree more the GF has the 2133, and it is very good, but could use with a little more speed. The 2140 looks like it will be exactly the answer.

[ChillyWilly @ Jan 13th 2009 4:16PM]

As an owner of an HP 2133, I agree with Ray. The 2140 improves on what made the 2133 the best netbook, adding the Intel Atom, a bigger screen and better battery life.

[CAHLITO @ Jan 12th 2009 11:57PM]

My vote is for the acer aspire one!

[Mike Cerm @ Jan 13th 2009 12:32AM]

Definitely agree. The keyboard is perfection (size, layout, right shift key), the LED backlit screen is fantastic, and I also like that it has a proper hard drive (instead of a tiny, barely usable SSD).

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that comes close is the HP Mini 1000. Unfortunately, the screen is lacking some vertical pixels (1024 x 576 instead of 600), and that makes a big difference. Also, HP still haven't produced a 6-cell battery yet.

The only issues that I have with the Acer Aspire One are that it's not easily user-serviceable. It needs to be almost completely dismantled to upgrade the RAM or hard drive, but it's not a huge concern. I don't really plan on needing more than 1GB of RAM (I'm running Windows 7 now, and it's fine), and 160 GB of storage is 10 times more than you get on most other netbooks anyway.

[Matt Stone @ Jan 13th 2009 12:44AM]

I love my Acer Aspire One, and I think it's definitely the best value out there, but I think there's definitely room for improvement. The large hard drive and 6-cell battery are very cheap options, which is very nice, but a slightly larger keyboard and a slightly larger and higher resolution would be perfect...

Which brings me to my excitement over the new Dell Mini 10 - what a stunner! It's a major improvement over the Mini 9 with a nicer keyboard, black trim, and a larger and higher resolution screen. If that comes in at $399 or so, it would definitely be the best deal out there.

[Nik @ Jan 13th 2009 1:13AM]

I'm waiting for a 10" acer. It would likely be similar in size (since the current aspire one is sized to fit its keyboard, not its lcd). Then I plan on stuffing it with a 60gb sandisk g3 if it lives up to the hype. On top of that it sounds like acer will move it's mouse buttons to the south. If I could just add a high-res screen I'd be in netbook heaven.

[charliex @ Jan 13th 2009 1:23AM]

i dig my a110 and a150's too, but the wireless disconnecting issue drives me bonkers!

[midiwall @ Jan 13th 2009 2:01AM]

Aye! I have two ("big" WinXP flavor and a "small" Linux flavor) and bought one for a friend as a gift. Everyone :) loves them!

[drewdoog @ Jan 13th 2009 2:26AM]

by far the best keyboard and track pad out there

[Basic @ Jan 13th 2009 3:32AM]

Aspire One has the best physical layout. Ability for a HUGE aftermarket battery is probably the best thing I could ever want in a netbook.

[j.d.ripper @ Jan 13th 2009 3:44AM]

yeah, a year later and I still love my Acer Aspire One.

[Cory @ Jan 13th 2009 4:17AM]

The AA1 is great! The 6 cell battery and large hard drive (for a netbook) were definitely the deciding factors for me. The track pad's side buttons are a bit annoying, but this has been redesigned on the 10" model.

Oh, and it runs Leopard well. =P

[Markarian @ Jan 13th 2009 4:40AM]

My brown 160GB is great. Best netbook for the money. Only problem was that I had to tear it open and replace the horrid Atheros card with a nice Intel one. Also threw another 512MB of ram in there while I had it open. Now it's even better.

[Tosh @ Jan 13th 2009 5:33AM]

I love my Aspire One too. I love its keyboard, but it's the integrated 3G of the later models that makes it perfect.

[Adam @ Jan 13th 2009 8:47AM]

I agree.

I was looking for a netbook around $500 or less and I did a quick comparison of the Dell Mini 9, the HP Mini 1000 and the Acer Aspire One. While the Dell and the HP had SSDs, the Acer had a longer battery life (5+ hrs off a 6 cell vs a 3 cell on the other 2), a nicer keyboard (IMO) and was about $100-$150 less than the other two.

I ordered mine from Amazon right after Christmas day and recieved it the following Monday. I've had nothing but joy with it since. Now we're like 2 peas in a pod. :D

[m-p{3} @ Jan 13th 2009 9:16AM]

A 10" Acer Aspire One would be my choice, but I just hope that if they do it, it will have an higher screen resolution, instead of increasing the pixels size..

An 8.9" at 1024x600 or a 10.2" at 1024x600 bring nothing interesting at all.

[Spallit @ Jan 13th 2009 10:21AM]

I agree. The Acer Aspire One is great. I've even gotten used to the left and right mouse buttons being on the sides of the trackpad. Pain in the butt to open, but fun to mod as well.

[mecreyes @ Jan 13th 2009 10:43AM]

Props to the aspire one. best performance for the price hands down.

[snowglyder @ Jan 13th 2009 3:45PM]

I just bought the Acer Aspire One at BB for $285. It's the one with the 3-cell, SSD and XP. XP is nice, but it's running slow because of the SSD. Battery life sucks at only 2.5hrs., but I can live with it.

[eep @ Jan 14th 2009 2:01PM]

I'm thinking about an Aspire One with Linux, a 6-cell battery, and an SSD (I figure I can always get a HCSD card if I need more space). Anyone know if they make this configuration? I couldn't find it on Amazon...

[John Doe @ Jan 12th 2009 11:58PM]

Acer Aspire One

[SamusQTurdburglar @ Jan 12th 2009 11:58PM]

HP Mini 1000

[Almo @ Jan 12th 2009 11:59PM]

+1 for the gorgeous HP Mini 1000!

[greatcaffeine @ Jan 13th 2009 12:15AM]

I agree! When you consider how close all of the pricing and specs are for netbooks, a lot of it comes down to build quality and looks. The HP Mini 1000 has both.

[Nick J @ Jan 13th 2009 12:36AM]

Same, especially since 6-cell battery is due to hit the streets any minute...

[computerfixup @ Jan 13th 2009 12:40AM]

I totally agree on the HP Mini 1000. I just switched from my first-gen EEE since I couldn't stand the 4gb SSD. With an upgrade to Atom and 16gb SSD, the HP Mini 1000 is my first choice. It looks good to top it all off.

[Cheese McBeese @ Jan 13th 2009 2:21AM]

No way on the HP Mini 1000!

I WANTED to get this one but I need to be able to occasionally drive an external monitor. I called HP support to ask where I could get an adapter cable for their expansion port and the guy was clueless. After 24 hours, he pointed me to a 3rd party cable site with only VGA cables... which the mini doesn't support.

Pass!!!

[216 @ Jan 13th 2009 9:22AM]

yep. And the adaptor for VGA is coming out soon (with the 6 Cell)

I'd say the HP Mini 2140 is best, but it tips the $500 range, and anytime you get over $500, buying a Netbook over a Small laptop stops making sense. (Like why get the HP mini 2140 when you can get the new HP dv2 for only $100 more?)

[Jeff @ Jan 12th 2009 11:59PM]

I would have to say the Lenovo S10 that includes the Bluetooth module.

[AV-Logistics @ Jan 13th 2009 12:00AM]

I Second the S10, it has an express card too!

[bigcow05 @ Jan 13th 2009 7:23AM]

And it seems like it has the best sound chip.

[Californian @ Jan 13th 2009 8:05AM]

Yep, it's Lenovo. It's good quality. Now if only it had Android...

[Matt @ Jan 13th 2009 8:28AM]

Definitely agree about the S10. Nice bright screen, good sized keyboard, wifi (which I have upgraded to 802.11n), bluetooth, big hard drive, expresscard slot, 5-in-1 card reader, VGA out, camera, etc. Plus, it's one of the few netbooks that looks like a serious laptop and doesn't look like it was designed by Galoob or Fisher Price!

It's an incredible machine and I am loving every minute of it. I've played around with the Eee and the Aspire but they just felt like toys. The S10 feels like a serious laptop with great build quality. My only gripe is with the right shift key, which is pretty much a problem on 99% of the netbooks out there, but I can easily remap the up arrow key to be a right shift key, so it's not a big deal.

[Trevor @ Jan 13th 2009 8:55AM]

I like the S10. I have it for work with the primary purchase points being portability and express card slot. I have an early unit that did not have bluetooth. I purchased the module on ebay and it was an easy install under the palm rest. Upgraded the RAM to 2GB (it's actually 2.5GB but only 2GB is usable). No doubt this could be said about most netbooks, but it is very airport checkpoint friendly. My co-worker has the HP tx2z and it is surpising how much heavier that seems now compared to the S10.

[DataGuy @ Jan 13th 2009 12:00PM]

I love my S10. Aside from the long initial ship time and slow availability of any accessories (like power adapters and batteries), I have relatively few gripes. The keyboard, like most netbooks, wreaks havoc on my touch typing skills, and I really think that something this small should ditch the touchpad for a trackstick. Meh on 3-cell battery life, but I'd never consider traveling without an A/C adapter or spare battery with any laptop.

I too upgraded my S10 with more RAM, a bigger HD, and the BT module from eBay, and now have a great little travel laptop that I can unload vacation photos off of my digicam. It also serves as an excellent 10" PMP with actually quite decent--if not hollow--sound from the built-in speakers. Less than 45 seconds from cold boot to usable XP desktop...very little or no hard drive activity at idle...matte screen! And unlike most of the laptops I've ever owned, it flawlessly goes into standby or hibernate and comes back up almost immediately without any wi-fi issues.

And if it matters, I'm much less embarrassed with the brand cachet of Lenovo with its Thinkpad pedigree than I would be with MSI, Asus, etc.

[clyde anderson @ Jan 28th 2009 12:29PM]

Love the S10, perfect little $400 Hackbook Air. OSX486 was a lot easier on the Wind, but the keyboard was worse, camera wouldn't work, battery life stank, and the mattel build quality was offputting.

The S10 is a solid, feature rich, professional looking mini laptop. You can tell it's the upstart little brother to the thinkpad. Full feature functionality (with a moderate amount of work), easy to replace hard drive, express card slot and probably the best range on a 802.11g card that I've ever seen. Decentish life on the battery, and easy to add internal bluetooth.

My HBA turns heads among Mac lovers and haters alike.

[clyde anderson @ Jan 28th 2009 6:47PM]

Love the S10, perfect little $400 Hackbook Air. OSX486 was a lot easier on the Wind, but the keyboard was worse, camera wouldn't work, battery life stank, and the mattel build quality was offputting.

The S10 is a solid, feature rich, professional looking mini laptop. You can tell it's the upstart little brother to the thinkpad. Full feature functionality (with a moderate amount of work), easy to replace hard drive, express card slot and probably the best range on a 802.11g card that I've ever seen. Decentish life on the battery, and easy to add internal bluetooth.

My HBA turns heads among Mac lovers and haters alike.

[Anthony @ Jan 13th 2009 12:00AM]

I'd say the Samsung NC10 and the HP Mini 2140 are the best on the market at the moment, possibly include the Eee S101 if you like the slim/shiny factor. If I was buying now, the HP would win easily - the high-res screen is a lot more versatile, and from what I've seen it's a very well designed unit overall.

[penelmcd @ Jan 13th 2009 12:08AM]

second the MSI Wind

Just installed windows 7 on mine and it is running great

also the "touch-typeable" keyboard is a must have

[penelmcd @ Jan 13th 2009 12:09AM]

woops, apparently I dont know how to reply, this is for the comment below

[twitchy @ Jan 13th 2009 12:14AM]

I agree that HP 2140 looks very promising, but it's not out yet (or at least can't be ordered from the web site yet). So it's either Samsung NC10 or MSI Wind for me. I hear Wind's wireless card is weak, though.