Netbooks or Notebooks - What to buy? Confused. Help!

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Arun the Gr8

Arun the Gr8

Journeyman
Hey guys,
i guess i need some valuable advice from u all.
I need to buy myself a laptop. I am confused between 4.
-> Lenovo S10
-> MSI Wind
-> Asus EEE
-> Dell XPS M1330
My main needs are programming, watching movies, listening to music and some occasional counter strike. I guess all the above can very well handle these. Also I need portability, light weight and long battery life.
The Lenovo is very cheap 17k but has only a 3 cell battery. Wind has everything and costs 21k but has a toylike appearance, and maybe is not that durable. EEE is same as Wind, only better looking and durability but costs a whopping 27k. Quite costly for a netbook i think.
While the above 3 are netbooks, i am considering the XPS because, i may sometimes need to do video and audio encoding as i have a DV camcorder. But this is an option since i have a Pc which can do this too, but aint too fast (Athlon 64 3000+). The XPS retails at around 55k after taxes. I can spend that much, but what i was thinking that even the EEE, which costs half of the XPS, has almost everything i need, just not a good processor.

So i am not able to decide. Help me out guys please.
 
OP
Arun the Gr8

Arun the Gr8

Journeyman
Thanks for d reply man. But i m looking for a small and light notebook. Was considering the inspiron 13 but there were no price indications online and a phone all to a retailer wasnt helpful at all.
Can someone post the prices of inspiron 13 for various configurations?
 
Pat

Pat

Beyond Smart
There is no inspiron 13" series AFAIK.
IMO, both belong to completely different segments. You should buy a netbook if and only if you own another notebook/PC as your primary machine.
If I was in your place, I would go for XPS M1330 :)
 
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aritrap

Mobile Addict
If u leave out the video encoding task, the Asus EEE PC 1000H can handle all ur other requirements very well.
It costs around Rs.24-25k now with tax.

Otherwise u can buy the Acer Aspire One too. The 120GB version with Windows XP pre installed costs Rs.21750 and the one with Linux costs Rs.20k(All prices include tax)
 
desiibond

desiibond

Bond, Desi Bond!
@@Arun, Just wait for laptops to come with nvidia's 9xxx series graphics chips. They are widely available in USA and should be available here in India too. laptops with 8600M GT onboard are not reliable as this chipset 8600M has issues.

If you want thin and light powerful laptop, look at Sony Vaio or Dell Studio 13 or HP tx series.


Also check HP dv5 and dv7 laptops. They are very powreful laptops with superb design.
 
MetalheadGautham

MetalheadGautham

AFK
Get a Lenovo S10 with 6-cell battery. Its available for a small premium, and the version with 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, 1.6GHz Atom and 6-cell battery with 10" screen is expected to retail at around 21K.
 
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aritrap

Mobile Addict
Buying a netbook is recommended. Your usage does not require a full fledged laptop.

You dont require a 9xxx or 8xxx series graphics card for playing Counter Strike. It can very well be played on the netbooks.
Also, the netbooks are light and portable and you dont have to lug them around.

Netbooks save money and the environment too. They use considerably less power than a full fledged laptop.
 
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tallbeing

Guest
Please suggest a netbook with a built in DVD writer under 26K. Should be powerful enough to run Win X.P and GNOME & KDE based Distros, RAM upgradeable to 2 GB, 1.4 GHz or above processor Wi-Fi, with
GOOD BATTERY LIFE
Is a dual core Atom Available? I've heard that multitasking is not native in Atom. How is BobCat (AMD)? According to my knowledge Atom consumes 2 watts, BobCat consumes 6 watts but the memory contoller in intel consumes another 3-4 watts, BobCat mem controller built in.
Comment
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MetalheadGautham

MetalheadGautham

AFK
tallbeing said:
Please suggest a netbook with a built in DVD writer under 26K. Should be powerful enough to run Win X.P and GNOME & KDE based Distros, RAM upgradeable to 2 GB, 1.4 GHz or above processor Wi-Fi, with
GOOD BATTERY LIFE
Is a dual core Atom Available? I've heard that multitasking is not native in Atom. How is BobCat (AMD)? According to my knowledge Atom consumes 2 watts, BobCat consumes 6 watts but the memory contoller in intel consumes another 3-4 watts, BobCat mem controller built in.
Comment
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Click to expand...
Under 26K ? You should be getting a laptop then, not a netbook. Why don't you try the Acer Aspire 4520 ? So far, I have found people quoting 28K for it, but I never looked in SP Road and the like. Pathik says its available for 25K.

Built in DVD Writer is not a feature available in any netbook, FYI.
 
T

tallbeing

Guest
Thanks for the information. Can you mention the specs of the Acer Notebook
 
MetalheadGautham

MetalheadGautham

AFK
tallbeing said:
Thanks for the information. Can you mention the specs of the Acer Notebook
Click to expand...
1.9GHz AMD Turion X2 CPU
nVidia GoForce 7000m IGP
1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, expandable to 2 or 4GB.
14" screen
Acer Gemstone design
160GB HDD
8x DVD Writer

All distros have full support for this. Compiz Fusion runs easily on 7000m as its one of the better supported IGPs on linux.

NOTE: sometimes, the turion may be 1.8GHz. There is a small difference between the price of two versions of the laptop, which are otherwise identical. Thats what my research in the market proved.
 
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tallbeing

Guest
Looking for a netbook cuz of the efficient Processor. I need it for long presentations in our school. The school computer sucks 128 MB RAM, Celeron 2.4 GHz processor, Win 98 and that too with most system files deleted by us when we were small (my first step to wild Geekdom:D)
The presentation is not long but nervousness often make me run the presentation again and again.

MetalheadGautham said:
1.9GHz AMD Turion X2 CPU
nVidia GoForce 7000m IGP
1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, expandable to 2 or 4GB.
14" screen
Acer Gemstone design
160GB HDD
8x DVD Writer

All distros have full support for this. Compiz Fusion runs easily on 7000m as its one of the better supported IGPs on linux.

NOTE: sometimes, the turion may be 1.8GHz. There is a small difference between the price of two versions of the laptop, which are otherwise identical. Thats what my research in the market proved.
Click to expand...

:shock: 4 GB RAM Mind Blowing, will surely make people give a second to it, Nvidia mobo too great everything other great. Hows the battery life? Is the RAM single or dual-channel. (If single then I will not have to pay for both and keep one of them out)
IS IT CUSTOMIZABLE LIKE DELL
 
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MetalheadGautham

MetalheadGautham

AFK
tallbeing said:
Looking for a netbook cuz of the efficient Processor. I need it for long presentations in our school. The school computer sucks 128 MB RAM, Celeron 2.4 GHz processor, Win 98 and that too with most system files deleted by us when we were small (my first step to wild Geekdom:D)
The presentation is not long but nervousness often make me run the presentation again and again.



:shock: 4 GB RAM Mind Blowing, will surely make people give a second to it, Nvidia mobo too great everything other great. Hows the battery life? Is the RAM single or dual-channel. (If single then I will not have to pay for both and keep one of them out)
IS IT CUSTOMIZABLE LIKE DELL
Click to expand...
I don't know about battery life. Google it.

And yeah, I think 4 gb ram would make NO DIFFERENCE to the system compared to 2GB RAM. And I think the max ram capacity is 2GB, not four GB. The current ram is already dual channel 1GB, which is enough for most needs. Don't expand it for now. A small amount of swap memory will do.

Its not customisable after buying. Only customisation options available are 1.8GHz or 1.9GHz CPU, difference may be around Rs. 500. Worth it I guess, if it fits the budget.

And if you want to go even more cheap, you can get a 14" laptop from acer which costs Rs. 19,000. Only catch is that it has onboard graphics GMA 950. Not enough for compiz fusion. And it has celeron. And for 23K from compaq, you get Intel GMA X3100 graphics along with celeron and 80GB HDD. But compared to this, for 2k more, you get better gfx and double HDD and double ram. So the first one is best.
 
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tallbeing

Guest
As you know just two yrs back these config cost a bomb, but now these make value entry, should I wait for Moore's law to apply on it too. I have another 8 Months for my next Annual Presentation Competetion. Do you think the prices will drop further?
 
MetalheadGautham

MetalheadGautham

AFK
tallbeing said:
As you know just two yrs back these config cost a bomb, but now these make value entry, should I wait for Moore's law to apply on it too. I have another 8 Months for my next Annual Presentation Competetion. Do you think the prices will drop further?
Click to expand...
Hell yeah they will. If you don't need it now, don't buy it. Because in 8 months, you can get Deneb Dual Cores on notebooks with RV 610 graphics for cheap.
 
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