Got myself a new computer today for work.

[Chako]

History:

I was one of the first to jump onto the netbook trend when I bought my Asus Eee 4G when they first became available in my area in 2007. I was tired of lugging around full sized laptops to do what I needed to get done at work. The Asus Eee 4G had several issues with it that drove me up the wall. It came with Linux and I had to upgrade it to XP for the Windows only marking software that the Board uses. Thankfully, the Asus came with XP drivers, but I had to use nLite to crunch the OS to fit into the measly 4GB solid state slow as molasses HD. Consequently, it was a very restricted XP with all the excesses that made using XP a joy, left asunder to flounder by the way side. The 7" screen did not give you a full 800x600. Consequently, when I installed XP, it got tricked into believing it was 800x600 but with one bad side effect. I had to scroll to see the bottom 1/3 of the screen, etc. Very annoying. Not to mention the very small keyboard that made typing a challenge.

I used the little Eee 4G for a year but got tired with its limitations. Last year, I wanted something different. I did however, swing from something that was too small to something that was too large. Due to all the issues I had with the 4G, I went and bought an Acer 18" 8920. It came with surround speakers, blueray DVD, etc. A very nice laptop but it is simply too darn heavy and big to lug around. Especially when your teaching in a few different rooms. I found myself leaving the laptop at home instead of dragging it around with me. I plan on keeping this as I have a library of educational Bluerays that I can use with this laptop to play on a digital projector for those times that I will need it.

Now:

Today, I bought an Acer 1410. I went back to the netbook because I found that is all I need for my daily marking and word-processing. No DVD drive like the 4G, but then I found that I rarely need one at work. At least it has an 11.6" screen, HDMI support like the 8920. It is a fairly fast netbook with the following stats:

•1.4GHz Intel Core2 Solo ULV SU3500 Processor
•3GB DDR2 667MHz Memory, 250GB SATA Hard Drive
•Acer Crystal Eye Webcam, Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N, 1 HDMI port
•Windows Vista Home Premium (SP 1), 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 mAh)
•11.6″ HD WXGA Acer CrystalBrite LED-backlit Display, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

I got mine in Ruby Red.

It is amazing how far netbooks have gotten since 2007. It even comes with Vista Home Premium with a Window 7 upgrade. Battery life is said to be 6 to 8 hours. A lot better than 2.5 hours on the old 4G.

It took me a few years, had to wait for the netbook to mature somewhat, but I think I may keep this little guy for a long time to come.

[Sazabi]

Congratulations on the new netbook, Chako; I hope you come to like it better than your old 4G.  I want to go after a netbook, too, but I'm waiting for the USB 3.0 standard - and LED displays - to become available on the Asus line.

[Nikos]

Congrats on your new computer mate. I might get myself a new one as well this fall, if all goes well in the business field. If you're looking for a dumping ground for that old Eee of yours, shoot me a PM...

[ufox9al]

Congratulations on the new acquisition, Chako! I have upgradd my laptop this summer as well, and yeah, things have progressed a lot in the last couple of years!

[PyroJames]

Congrats Chako.  I've been thinking about getting a netbook so I'm glad to hear that they've greatly improved within the past couple of years.

[Chako]

Sorry Noth, I gave the 4G to a kid that had little, along with the Sony external DVD burner that I had bought when I got the 4G. Today, I had to buy another external drive, but saved some money by not buying the more expensive Sony. After all, they all do the same thing, and I rarely needed to use the external DVD drive except for installing software.

After much digging, I found a review of the netbook. Looks like its called the 1410 in North America, but 1810T in Europe. Identical machines except the Europeans get a slightly better battery.

http://acer1810treview.blogspot.com/

[Whoey]

I was looking at timeline laptops before we bought our Compaq cq61

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01700634&cc=au&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_AUEN

The timelines look fantastic, are nice and thin etc, however, the timeline we had locally was nearly doubt the cost of what we got... ours was 400eur, and there was nothing similar at that price (at least not with nvidia graphics!) and the timeline they had was 14.1 inch I think for 700eur and I've now seen a bunch more timeline models in other shops...

Anyways, we're happy with the Compaq, although it could be a bit more portable... but on the upside, it's a good all arounder... and SWMBO said get this one for now (it was a bargain, and two days later they had none left at the shop that was selling them, and a few months later now, there's still nothing comparable for the price...) and later when/if we have more money to spend I can get a timeline, and she'll inherit the compaq, for the moment we're sharing it...

[Tinnie]

I want one of these

http://beta.ivancover.com/wiki/index.php/Eee_PC_Internal_Upgrades

[Grant Lamontagne]

When I decided to get a net book, it was simply because the battery life on my laptop is so depressingly short.  I got a great deal on my laptop, but unfortunately it came with the entry level battery, which as I'm sure everyone knows, is not the way to go with these things.  Still, I always figured I'd just get another battery at some point, until I started looking at the cost of them- the 8 cell battery (top model) was about $250, then the cost of shipping added onto that.  Considering that this was more than half the cost of my laptop, I decided to look at other options.

That's when I discovered the 7" EEE PC, and decided to get one of those.  As usual though, as much as I wanted one, I wouldn't drop any cash until I'd thoroughly researched each and every detail on each and every option.  When the time came, I had decided on the Linux version of the Acer Aspire One with a 16gb SSD, 1.6g proc, 1g RAM, and the extended battery, all for (I think) just under $400.  I was, and am happy as a pig in poo with it, and the only real drawback I find is that the keyboard isn't terribly responsive, so I end up with a lot of typos, as anyone subjected to a discussion with me in Chat has noticed! 

Def

[Chako]

I had a long line of PDAs. Talk about no joy in using them to do class marking with a tiny spreadsheet and a folding key board. Way too small for daily use, or even practical use, but cool as get out. When the Eee 7" came out, I was all over it like a fat kid on a smarty. I found that to be livable, but just barely due to the wonky screen resolution. The 8" with their native 800x600 was leagues ahead of the 7" 800x480 when using XPa. This one hits the sweet spot with an 11.6" 1366x768 screen.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, I have gone through quite a few PDA's in my time as well.  I feel for you about the fold out keyboard and trying to write things out on the tiny screen.  While I never marked homework assignments, I did write many an article for SOSAKOnline and I think a few articles for the various magazines and several of the reviews on the main site here that way, and you are right, the netbook is a thousand times better for that!

Still, I wouldn't trade my PDA away for anything- I have waaaayyyyy too many ebooks to let it get away from me!

Def

[Sazabi]

Yeah, I have gone through quite a few PDA's in my time as well.  I feel for you about the fold out keyboard and trying to write things out on the tiny screen.  While I never marked homework assignments, I did write many an article for SOSAKOnline and I think a few articles for the various magazines and several of the reviews on the main site here that way, and you are right, the netbook is a thousand times better for that!

Still, I wouldn't trade my PDA away for anything- I have waaaayyyyy too many ebooks to let it get away from me!

Def

What else would you use in the shower, anyway? :p