Going off this list and taking local availability into consideration, here are the options I'm currently looking at. A couple of preliminary points: - No, Dell is not an option. I hate them with a passion. - Acer doesn't have any availability. - Yes, they are more expensive than what you guys are paying. Sucks but that's reality. I'll give prices in CHF, so just assume it's about 15% less in $. And no, I can't just order from newsegg or whatever. What I'm posting is what's out there. And yes, those are crappy translations but I'm sure you can figure it out. Finally: a big THANK YOU for your help. It's much appreciated, as usual. Option 1: Samsung NC10 anyNet N270BBT, Netbook, 10.2", Atom, black DE CHF 599 Option 2: Samsung NC10 anyNet N270BH, 10.2", HSDPA, DE CHF 649 Option 3: Lenovo IdeaPad S10e, 10.2" Netbook, Atom, 160GB, Black CHF 499 Option 4: Asus EeePC 1000HE, 10" Netbook, Atom N280, Black, CH CHF 559 I'm leaning towards either option 3 or 4. 3 has the upside of being both the cheapest and a Lenovo (a brand I still like even though current problems with my notebook are the reasons I'm gonna have to get a netbook). On the other hand, it's kinda crappy (e.g. 2x512 MB RAM - seriously?). Option 4 (the Asus) seems to have the best specs, i.e. best processor and 802.11n wireless. For options 1 and 2 I'm not really seeing any upside to be honest but feel free to convince me otherwise.
Which is the easiest to type on? Which has the brightest best contrast display? Which has the longest battery life? Have you used one? Their processors are seriously weak. I made a deal with the devil. Step daughter wanted a Latitude to go off to school with next year. Dell is offering mini 9's for $50usd with the purchase of a latitude so grabbed the mini. Its keyboard is seriously too small. You could learn to use it after a while, but many of the keys are in awkward positions. I think 10" models don't have this problem but they might... The atom n270 was intended for smart cell phones. It performs about how you'd expect a cell phone to perform. I don't see how the 280 would make that big a difference. It will run XP and MS office OK. It performs almost well enough to stream video (some processor lag). I've only streamed using netflix/silverlight and it has a hard time doing fullscreen. Some websites with lots of animation bring it to its knees. I replaced the 1gig memory stick with 2gig. This was a waste of money; I've never seen it have more than 700mb commit charge and this was opening every app I could. I haven't tried any photoediting software (I have a decent desktop). I doubt it would perform well (and it only has 16gig storage). These are no substitute for a notebook. $50 is an OK price for one. $300 is too much.
Well, looking at that first link I posted the mini9 is the crappiest one out there, possibly with the exception of Sony (but you really don't want to go there). Tiny hard disk, average processor, smaller screen, smaller keyboard, crappy battery. Plus, it's Dell therefore immediately off the table for me. I want it for a few very specific purposes: as a travel notebook that I wouldn't mind losing too much. It should run Firefox, VLC, Winamp and a few other basic things. No games, no photo editing. Maybe Office but I don't even think that's something I need. I have a bit of a hard time seeing how a 1.6 GHz processor is too weak for a website as well... I'm - not surprisingly - leaning towards the ASUS one by now. Someone convince me otherwise or I'll just buy that one on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The processor frequency isn't directly related to mips. Also if you're used to dual core, single makes a big difference. Comparing single core processors, the atom is weak: source The advantage of the netbook is size and weight [edit] and price. Kinda like a point and shoot camera when compared to an SLR.
I like the Eee. That said, I have one running open source--Linux, not XP. Also said, the keyboard is about 3/4 size. I've got some pretty small hands and it still takes some getting used to when I go from a full-sized keyboard down to the Eee. That's the only gripe I have about it that I can think of.
I voted Lenovo but I am really on the fence. Samsungs NC10 line is strong as well. I'd say the Eee is the bottom of the barrel (on that list of 4).
I know you said it isn't an option, but my Mini9 does everything I want it to do. It's plenty fast for what I use it (forums, youtube, open office, porn). Mine came with Ubuntu 8.04 which while different than windows wasn't a bad transition at all. Do you have to have XP?
Its probably too late, but I have to ask why you can't get an Acer? Mine is great, was $350, purchased it online, can run around with it for 7 or so hours without charging its battery (which was the reason I bought it). Slap open office on it and you're pretty much good to go right out of the box.
