Help, laptop V netbook ?

[Zed]

Its my oldest daughters Birthday on the 9th and she is after a laptop or netbook, she is being given money towards it and should have around £200 or possibly a bit more, ive no clue on pc's etc so need help, ive noticed a price difference with netbooks, she mainly goes on facebook and the internet and would be helpfull with school work, she isnt a gamer so no biggy graphics wise, so i found this netbook at a good price but it all means nowt to me    please help        

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5073568/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7C14418968%7CLaptops+and+netbooks%7C14419039.htm

6 hours battery life on this one,
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/asus-x101ch-blk043s-netbook-12046808-pdt.html

lots of refurbished ones, top one has over 10hours battery life,
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/refurbished-netbooks/829_7385_70455_xx_xx/xx-criteria.html

[enki_ck]

I'd pick a netbook. I have something similar to the one you linked to, asus eeePC 1000hg, 6 hours of battery life and 0.2kg heavier but other stats seem to match. She can do everything on it she would do on a laptop, well except play videos in HD, that's the only drawback. And it doesn't have a dvd. They only draw extra power and ad weight. I can't remember when I used a dvd last. Everthing is on usb now or you can connect an external hdd.

I've had mine for 3+ years now and love it.  If I was buying something new, I'd choose a netbook in a second.

[dks]

It really depends on the use.
I have a netbook (Acer One) that I use when travelling or when I want to sit outside or do some browsing while watching TV etc. Usually I leave it plugged in when I can. Battery life is 2 hours, though I have had a cheap 9 hour battery which died on me after a few uses.
I do, however, use mains computers for any work involving typing, reading image/video processing etc. I have used the netbook for these too but it is not ideal.
For word processing, reading etc. the main problem they have is the screen and keyboard size and quality.

So I would avoid using the netbook if I was to do any work of such nature for a long time.
So, if light weight is important and she does not intend to do any major work on the netbook (e.g. access to a mains computer) then get her a netbook.

As a sole computer, to do all I would suggest a Laptop. (or a netbook with a big screen!!)

The prices look good!

Also see if the school/county subsidises the buying of the Laptop. They used to, some years ago… I think..
Make sure you have some decent software installed too, before you buy it.

[Zed]

Thanks guys, im more clued up now    i didnt think about the dvd part though  she might want that for trips etc, she uses the main pc in the house at the moment for FB mainly       but also has a small net book she gets from her school for extra help ,i think its a net book its small but ive only seen it once and she keeps it at her mums house (my ex) when i see her tuesday ill go through a list of wants that she might need and go from there, 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I have both, a laptop and a netbook, and both have similar specs.  The netbook has a better screen than my laptop for looking at but in the end, size matters.  I would go with the laptop as the screen real estate is important if she's going to do any schoolwork on it.  The netbook is handy for traveling or whatever and the battery life is great but the performance is lacking and it's difficult to reference multiple screens.  If you go the netbook route also plan to get an external monitor for it or it will hinder her when she's doing her homework.

I would also avoid the refurb models.  I have had some good luck and some bad luck with refurbs in the past but to be honest I simply don't trust them.  There is far too much that can go wrong with a computer and as we learned last week a warranty is often little or no use whatsoever.  Decent laptops can be had very cheaply nowadays so there's little point to buying a used or refurbished model nowadays.  In fact, I won't even buy a display model since it's been on and running for God knows how long in the store.

I wouldn't stress over the specs either- look for something with at least 4-8 megs of RAM, do a quick search online to see if it's upgradeable (and if so, to how much) and that should be good enough.  Any of the processors currently on the market are good enough if she's not gaming, and external hard drives are pretty cheap as well, so if she does manage to fill the internal one she can get a terabyte drive from Santa easily enough. 

My laptop is about five years old now and it still runs beautifully.  I wouldn't even think of replacing it except it maxxed out at 2g of RAM which wasn't really a lot in it's day and is holding the machine back now, and it (and the proc) are really the only limiting factors in a computer nowadays- everything else is swappable, upgradable and work-aroundable.  The processor isn't anything to worry about as modern day processors are like Lamborghini and Ferrari- you'll never be able to use them to their full potential anyway, which means RAM is the important one.  Get as much RAM as you can, make sure it's upgradeable, and upgrade it as soon as you can.

Def

[Zed]

I have both, a laptop and a netbook, and both have similar specs.  The netbook has a better screen than my laptop for looking at but in the end, size matters.  I would go with the laptop as the screen real estate is important if she's going to do any schoolwork on it.  The netbook is handy for traveling or whatever and the battery life is great but the performance is lacking and it's difficult to reference multiple screens.  If you go the netbook route also plan to get an external monitor for it or it will hinder her when she's doing her homework.

I would also avoid the refurb models.  I have had some good luck and some bad luck with refurbs in the past but to be honest I simply don't trust them.  There is far too much that can go wrong with a computer and as we learned last week a warranty is often little or no use whatsoever.  Decent laptops can be had very cheaply nowadays so there's little point to buying a used or refurbished model nowadays.  In fact, I won't even buy a display model since it's been on and running for God knows how long in the store.

I wouldn't stress over the specs either- look for something with at least 4-8 megs of RAM, do a quick search online to see if it's upgradeable (and if so, to how much) and that should be good enough.  Any of the processors currently on the market are good enough if she's not gaming, and external hard drives are pretty cheap as well, so if she does manage to fill the internal one she can get a terabyte drive from Santa easily enough. 

My laptop is about five years old now and it still runs beautifully.  I wouldn't even think of replacing it except it maxxed out at 2g of RAM which wasn't really a lot in it's day and is holding the machine back now, and it (and the proc) are really the only limiting factors in a computer nowadays- everything else is swappable, upgradable and work-aroundable.  The processor isn't anything to worry about as modern day processors are like Lamborghini and Ferrari- you'll never be able to use them to their full potential anyway, which means RAM is the important one.  Get as much RAM as you can, make sure it's upgradeable, and upgrade it as soon as you can.Def

cheers Def all noted 

now my ex is saying she said she would like a Ipad        

[Grant Lamontagne]

Better keep saving up if she wants an ipad!

The problem with tablets is a lack of a keyboard, which means she won't be able to type much more than Facebook updates or relatively short forum posts.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[Zed]

Better keep saving up if she wants an ipad!

The problem with tablets is a lack of a keyboard, which means she won't be able to type much more than Facebook updates or relatively short forum posts.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

yeah i dont know what my ex is on as she said there around £200    i cant find them less than £350-400    think ill give that a miss 

[Grant Lamontagne]

If you can find an iPad 2 around somewhere (I think some stores may still have them) you might be able to get the "cheap" one for somewhere around that price.  I'd strongly suggest that if she's more keen on a tablet that you look for something like the Kindle Fire or Google Nexus, both of which will be just as functional (please hold all iOS vs Android debates) but a darn site cheaper- which is an important consideration if she's going to need/use it for school work as you'll also need to buy a bluetooth keyboard for any tablets.  Screen typing is ok for limited things, but if you are going to type over 100 words (as I believe most school reports are likely to be unless things have changed dramatically since I was in school!) she will need a keyboard.... and a decent case for it.... and some software... and the list goes on.

Def

[Zed]

If you can find an iPad 2 around somewhere (I think some stores may still have them) you might be able to get the "cheap" one for somewhere around that price.  I'd strongly suggest that if she's more keen on a tablet that you look for something like the Kindle Fire or Google Nexus, both of which will be just as functional (please hold all iOS vs Android debates) but a darn site cheaper- which is an important consideration if she's going to need/use it for school work as you'll also need to buy a bluetooth keyboard for any tablets.  Screen typing is ok for limited things, but if you are going to type over 100 words (as I believe most school reports are likely to be unless things have changed dramatically since I was in school!) she will need a keyboard.... and a decent case for it.... and some software... and the list goes on.

Def

Thanks Def, this one sounds a little complecated for me and probably her, personaly i think her mum wants a ipad so thinks i will pay the bulk for it    ex's eh    i still think a net book will be good plus the ipads and tablet type devices look flimsy to me for a 13 year old 

[jzmtl]

I have a HP netbook and it's a POS. It's just so slow compare to modern computers, takes forever to cold start, if you do more than one thing at the same time it crashes, if you look at it wrong it crashes again, and only way to restart it is to do a system restore. Oh and the supposed 8 hour battery life lasts 3 or 4 tops. Last year on my way to the NA meetup I was using it as GPS (it has both GPS receiver and 3G modem curiously), and damn thing decide it's a good time to crash, so I ended up trying to do a system restore while driving and reading map at the same time...

If I get to choose again, I'd either get a tablet and a bluetooth/USB keyboard, or an ultrabook. Actually, I may just get rid of it and go with something else.

[Grant Lamontagne]

You must have gotten a real crappy one then Jie- I am on my second (wore one out after a few years of faithful service) and my wife has one as well and other than one crapping out on me (with a few hundred thousand kms on it) we haven't had any issues.

Def

[jzmtl]

Yeah the idiots at HP didn't think things through so the GPS/3G module is causing a lot of instability. But the slowness and crappy battery life is pretty much universal to netbooks though.

[enki_ck]

Yeah the idiots at HP didn't think things through so the GPS/3G module is causing a lot of instability. But the slowness and crappy battery life is pretty much universal to netbooks though.

I wouldn't agree. I've always had a great battery life, 5+ hours of videos and ppt on multiple occasions. And mine has a 3G module too. Never had a problem with it. I watched streaming video football match one summer on a loong bus ride on it. Steady signal throughout the game. The only problem I had was with a the keyboard, a friend spilled wine over it and it short circuted. I got a replacement keyboard for 13usd shipped.

Seems to me you got a dud.

[Jamie_M]

Yeah the idiots at HP didn't think things through so the GPS/3G module is causing a lot of instability. But the slowness and crappy battery life is pretty much universal to netbooks though.

I wouldn't agree. I've always had a great battery life, 5+ hours of videos and ppt on multiple occasions. And mine has a 3G module too. Never had a problem with it. I watched streaming video football match one summer on a loong bus ride on it. Steady signal throughout the game. The only problem I had was with a the keyboard, a friend spilled wine over it and it short circuted. I got a replacement keyboard for 13usd shipped.

Seems to me you got a dud.

Completely agree, my netbook (MSI Wind u135dx) averages around the 6 hour mark for browsing the internet, word processing and the occasional video. This depends on the size of the battery it comes with also, generally they will come with either 3 cell or 6 cell batteries (roughly 3 hours vs. 6 hours), you can also buy 9 cell batteries for most models too.

As for the 3G signal, its usually different depending on your area.

The screen size is an issue for some people, I use 4 22" monitors the majority of the time due to my work, and on the occasions that I need to use my netbook or laptop (not much of a size difference between the two) I don't find much of a problem with the greatly reduced area to work with (just requires a little getting use to). An external monitor as mentioned above is a good option is the screen size is a problem.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I get great battery life from my netbook- several hours of watching Netflix even.  I don't have 3G or GPS which might make some difference too.

I just find the RAM and screen size to be the only limitation for it, but otherwise I think it's great.  It's an ASUS Aspire One, as was my first one, although my first one was one of the first bunch on the market and it only ran Linux- it could just barely run Windows 7, but nothing else.

Def

[Jamie_M]

I get great battery life from my netbook- several hours of watching Netflix even.  I don't have 3G or GPS which might make some difference too.

I just find the RAM and screen size to be the only limitation for it, but otherwise I think it's great.  It's an ASUS Aspire One, as was my first one, although my first one was one of the first bunch on the market and it only ran Linux- it could just barely run Windows 7, but nothing else.

Def

Mine originally came with 1GB of RAM which was no problem for what I used it for, but I upgraded it to 2GB anyway (very cheap to do so). I highly disliked it when I first got it, but after switching to Linux (which was my intention from the start) it was a big improvement, but then again I've always preferred Linux to Windows.

[N_N_R]

I'm following this topic with great interest, too, as I want to replace my laptop (4.5-year-old) with a netbook. My requirements aren't much, though I want a web camera, a longer than my laptop's battery life and.... an internet connection, lol.

I don't need the CD drive, the last time I've used a CD was years ago. I'm not sure if the size of the screen will be convenient, though. For work I need 3-4 windows open plus a Word document.. not sure how I'm going to "distribute" those on a tiny screen with good visibility. Anyway, I'll get used to it, I hope. For 2 hours of work a day, I guess it won't hurt anyone.

I generally don't store much data on my laptop, so a huge memory capacity isn't vital for me either.


So, Zed, as most people pointed out, look at what your daughter uses the PC for If she does a lot of work on it, better a laptop, but if she just uses it for FaceBook or other such sites, i.e. just browsing the internet, go for a netbook. Plus, my best friend adores her netbook because she can fit it in her purse and leave anytime, while I'm just pitiful with packing my laptop in a backpack for minutes

[Zed]

I'm following this topic with great interest, too, as I want to replace my laptop (4.5-year-old) with a netbook. My requirements aren't much, though I want a web camera, a longer than my laptop's battery life and.... an internet connection, lol.

I don't need the CD drive, the last time I've used a CD was years ago. I'm not sure if the size of the screen will be convenient, though. For work I need 3-4 windows open plus a Word document.. not sure how I'm going to "distribute" those on a tiny screen with good visibility. Anyway, I'll get used to it, I hope. For 2 hours of work a day, I guess it won't hurt anyone.

I generally don't store much data on my laptop, so a huge memory capacity isn't vital for me either.


So, Zed, as most people pointed out, look at what your daughter uses the PC for If she does a lot of work on it, better a laptop, but if she just uses it for FaceBook or other such sites, i.e. just browsing the internet, go for a netbook. Plus, my best friend adores her netbook because she can fit it in her purse and leave anytime, while I'm just pitiful with packing my laptop in a backpack for minutes

   she mainly chats to friends on FB and watches justin beiber on youtube  but i do want her to use it for school as well so might do as def said and get a larger monitor for in her room, netbooks do seem the lower priced and she doesnt watch dvd's or listen to cd's on the pc so a netbook might be the best option to get her started, she is with her mum till next tuesday so we wont go out to get it till next week so ill up date here when we find one , again everyone big thanks for all your help as im clueless on this subject 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Mine and my wife's both came with 1g of RAM but I upgraded them both to 2g as well.  We are both still running Win7 Starter on them and they run fine.  They ran nicely with 1g, but if you can go the distance with them, why wouldn't you?

I generally don't store much data on my laptop, so a huge memory capacity isn't vital for me either.

Just in case you are referring to RAM, think of it this way- the processor is the person doing the thinking, the RAM is the size of the desk in front of them and the hard drive is like the bookshelf behind you.  While you may not need a lot of storage space on the bookshelf, a bigger desk allows you to work on more things at once.  It doesn't matter how fast the processor is if it has to keep getting different books off the shelf, then putting them back before it can do something different.  Always max out the RAM.

Def

[N_N_R]

Lol, Grant, that was an interesting way to put it, thanks It was helpful.

[Grant Lamontagne]

No problem. That's how I wrapped my head around it in the beginning!

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[Zed]

Ok i read tablets mentioned and this one is a very good price plus comes with a wireless keypad, plus i can add a 3 year replacement policy with it, she will have enough left to get wireless thingy  and a case,  there is a 16GB option for cheaper as well, this one is 32GB

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/blackberry-playbook-tablet-pc-32gb-bluetooth-mobile-5000-wireless-keyboard-PN946402-pdt.html

[Grant Lamontagne]

I wouldn't go for that since it's a Blackberry and you have limited access to the Android Market. You really can't get a lot of apps for it. Stick with something running Android or iOS.

Def

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[Zed]

I wouldn't go for that since it's a Blackberry and you have limited access to the Android Market. You really can't get a lot of apps for it. Stick with something running Android or iOS.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

I watched a few reviews and they say more apps are coming out all the time, also she is getting a blackberry phone to replace her galaxy,       confusing buisness this techno stuff    ok off to have another look   

[Zed]

you can get a android app for this tablet    although too me a android is gold and is a protocol droid       or Beeps a lot 

[Jamie_M]

If you're considering a tablet you should really check out the Nexus 7, as for the price it has a lot of functionality. Runs the current version of Android, which is excellent in my experience. Compatible with Bluetooth keyboards also, and only costs a slight amount more than the PlayBook.

[Zed]

If you're considering a tablet you should really check out the Nexus 7, as for the price it has a lot of functionality. Runs the current version of Android, which is excellent in my experience. Compatible with Bluetooth keyboards also, and only costs a slight amount more than the PlayBook.

just checked out the nexus 7 its £199 plus £65 for only 2 years replacement cover  thats pretty much all of her money, the blackberry has the keyboard and 3 years replacement cover for £34 , ive just had my neices partner come over to pick some stuff up and he is a computer wizz his thoughts are that the spec on the blackberry are good plus she is only 13 so how many apps will she need, plus he said that 32GB is plenty of storage, for me the cover is important due to her age and i will check what that covers, plus not sure if she can syn her blackberry bold to it when she gets it,

[Grant Lamontagne]

Blackberry doesn't have full access to the Android Market, plus I have my doubts as to how effective programs written for another operating system are.  Remember trying to run Microsoft programs on a Mac ten years ago?

I think the Blackberry is also a single core processor which means it's already outdated. Better to buy something current than to get something that is already obsolete.

Def

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[Zed]

Blackberry doesn't have full access to the Android Market, plus I have my doubts as to how effective programs written for another operating system are.  Remember trying to run Microsoft programs on a Mac ten years ago?

I think the Blackberry is also a single core processor which means it's already outdated. Better to buy something current than to get something that is already obsolete.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

cheers Def, ill take a close look at all the options when we get to the shop,