I'm thinking about getting a netbook, but I'm not really sure what to look for...

Are there any ION models out at the moment?
Should I wait to see what the AMD Neo cpu is like? I've heard that NEO + ION should be way better than ATOM + ION.

Any suggestions?

MSI Wind U100 is what I decided to go with a month or so ago when I started this same thread on here. All the netbook available were running Atoms, but this one had higher specs (and price, unfortunatly).

last edited by thermite at 14:05:23 14/Jul/09

I bought the same one as thermite but it seemed slightly cheaper than the closest comparable eeepc ($600 compared to ~$700). So far it's been great, although I think you can get better batteries in some of the other models / brands now. I get 4 hours exactly with everything enabled (wireless, bluetooth, continuous use) which is decent, but I think there's better available. If I just bust it out for 10 minutes at a time to check something online via iphone tethering and just shut the lid when I'm done, it goes days without needing a recharge.

I'm running ubuntu netbook remix on it and using bluetooth to tether it to my iphone and for the size/weight/battery it's an extremely handy combo I find. Small enough to carry around in it's sleeve like a diary, but the keyboard and screen resolution are just large enough to be fairly useful and not give you that completely claustrophobic feel you get with say the really small ones like the eeepc 701 which I also have

The Asus EEE are still the favorite it seems but seriously go check out the notebook forum at whirlpool. oodles of info.

I just got the missus a Dell 10V but I was looking at a Toshiba for myself because I liked the keyboard. NB200/OOP

not give you that completely claustrophobic feel you get with say the really small ones like the eeepc 701 which I also have

Or cause people to make jokes about how the eee701 makes you look huge. I'll second (or is that third?) the MSI Wind U100 call - Mate has one & they love it for much the same reasons listed. I think you can get Mac OSX running on them fairly easily as well from memory?

Or you could just buy an eeepc 701 for like $250 and kit it out with a Touchscreen, more ram, bigger SSD etc :D

They're all much the same really, the big things to consider are
- the keyboard layout
- the battery

Some are better supported by linux than others, but you may not care about that.

Just got an Acer AspireOne - seems pretty good although I haven't tried any other netbooks out before.

I had my wind u100's battery and ram upgraded so that probably cost me a little more. But if you can pack more in to that tiny shell, why not?


The only problem I had with the Wind U100 was that I keep brushing the touchpad thing by accident when I'm typing which causes the screen to jump to a different spot. After some crying on the Internet someone emailed me this which worked a treat in Ubuntu:

1. Open a terminal (in Application / Accessories).
2. Copy this command in the terminal and press Enter
gksu gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/01-touchpad.rules
3. In the text editor window, paste this text :
ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="hid", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe psmouse"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="hid", RUN+="/sbin/rmmod psmouse"
4. Save and close the window.
5. Copy this command in the terminal and press Enter
sudo /etc/init.d/udev reload

You can now plug a USB mouse and see the result. It should work for
all USB mouse if you plug the mouse after the computer started and
your touchpad should get back to life when you unplug the mouse.

This works great for my purposes.

I wish it had a louder speaker so I could use it as a ghetto blaster, but I suppose there is technology out there geared towards that instead.

last edited by thermite at 15:20:28 14/Jul/09

I saw an ad recently about one of the new Asus models boasting 9hrs battery life :/

I think battery life is the key to theses things as carrying around a power adapter suddenly makes them less portable.

Battery power and life is the bane of all portable electric equipment. That and the fact that electronic components don't scale to high voltages without burning out. I have tried to design so much s*** where it turned out I would need a portable A/C generator the size of my fist with an even smaller transformer.
Stop inventing s*** till you sort that out first I reckon.

I'm leaning towards the Wind U100+...

N280 (667mhz FSB) + only $575.

Just read the Samsung NC10 is coming to Australia soon - it'll only be available bundled with a monthly mobile broadband plan. It's getting on a bit (the model is about 12 months old) but it's always got good reviews.

hoping to ditch my Asus 701 eeepc for an Asus N10 soon.

That and the fact that electronic components don't scale to high voltages without burning out. I have tried to design so much s*** where it turned out I would need a portable A/C generator the size of my fist with an even smaller transformer.

where can you get a portable a/c generator the size of your fist? :P

Bought a Dell inspire mini 12 about 4 months ago. Love it, good keyboard (small fingers tho) and fantastic battery life - better than expected, it goes for over 4hrs with video chat running and other programs in the background (xp) . No idea about price in aus tho.

Just read the Samsung NC10 is coming to Australia soon - it'll only be available bundled with a monthly mobile broadband plan. It's getting on a bit (the model is about 12 months old) but it's always got good reviews.

I got one in the UK before I left - absolutely love it. Sometimes have issues with the hand/thumb hitting the touch pad when I type, but I bought a Logitech wireless mouse so whenever I'm at home I just use the FN shortcut key to turn off the pad. If I am using it to watch movies, I can turn off the WLAN, bluetooth, etc, play the movies in full screen and still get around 5 hours. There are 9cell batteries you can upgrade to as well, but haven't bothered with them for the moment.

There are a couple of threads on Whirlpool about where you can get them from the UK and china relatively cheaply - from memory under $700 including delivery.

Yeah I have an NC10 as well, kicks total arse!! I've have over 8 hours battery life just using it for web browsing etc

NC110 is the newer Samsung model, with even better battery life!

EDIT: It's also piss easy to upgrade the ram, I even managed to do it myself!!

last edited by HeardY at 20:39:49 14/Jul/09

NC110 .au link

Delivers longer battery powered performance of up to 9.5 hours* and 4.5 hours* for movie playback using the 6 cell option, independent of any power supply, for maximum freedom and mobility. This vastly improved battery life is guaranteed by the LED display and optimised processing performance of the Intel® Atom™ processor coupled with SAMSUNG's class leading engineering. So you're always ready to go anywhere and do anything.
* Based on Battery Mark Score.

yeah, pretty set on a u100+ now.

IT certainly looks like it and the Eee 1000H are the best value and performance straight atoms at the moment.

Speaking of Asus EEE pc's, my wireless internet got "lost" randomly after only having the laptop for two months or so. Just went to connect to the internet one day and all of a sudden my laptop doesn't seem to even acknowledge that it has wireless internet access whatsoever. I don't know how to fix computer stuff. Any ideas on what the problem might be?

^ did you try turning it on and off ?

Intel Classmate hands down.
Waterproof keyboard, tablet with this uber ignores the hand feature, drop proof to half a meter (tho I have seen it drop further ... gg co-worker) solid 5 hours battery maybe longer.

around $660 or $690.

The tablet feature makes it a viable e-book/CBR reader.

is it actually possible to buy one though obes?

Minxy my netbook needs the wireless device turned on every now and again (by pressing a combo on the keyboard) perhaps your laptop has the same? Does it have a little light to indicate the wireless device is on?

Yea, it does have a little light. Pretty sure it used to flash blue when I turned it on, but now I get a half lit green light. Used it for a few months without having to do anything to activate it so I wasn't really sure what the problem was. Maybe I'll see if I can find something about a combo to turn it back on

LOOK FOR NEW DRIVERS MINXY/THERMITE

Woohoo figured it out - WLAN had somehow disabled itself in BIOS

Optus link

If anyone's interested, Optus have just introduced the Samsung NC10 wireless/netbook bundle as mentioned earlier in this thread. 24 months - $49/month for 2GB plan $69 for 5GB.

Worth a look if you don't have the coin to buy a N110 or N120 outright..

http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/kogan-agora-netbook-pro/ worth considering if you're not hooked on Windows

Woohoo figured it out - WLAN had somehow disabled itself in BIOS

What did I say!!

last edited by Skitza at 16:07:48 12/Aug/09

Another U100 owner here and very happy with it. If i were to complain about anything it would be it has a little too much weight at the back and tips backwards in some situations. But overall I'm pretty happy.

Samsung NC20.. it rocks my socks.

is it actually possible to buy one though obes?

Yup ASI sole distributers in OZ ....
which sucks

I believe they call it the NIMU