oldsplice

Right. I'm thinking of getting a netbook-ey/laptop-ey type thingy. I just want it for websites, emails, a bit of Word stuff and some pics. I don't do games (I'm a grown-up! ).

I don't want to spend more than about £330. Which would be the best out of these........


Buy Netbooks at John Lewis - Free Delivery

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook Details

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 | Dell UK (not the (£379 one though....too dear)

Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop Details


My home pc is a Dell, running XP. The ones available in John Lewis look enticing, because I get 12% discount

Please don't talk technical stuff at me, because I just hear white noise!

I really just want someone to say 'Get this one!'

Thanks.

BlkKnight

Just installed a samsung n10, nice little machine.

Get April's PC Gamer they did a roundup on netbooks.

Personally, I'd find a 10" screen a right PITA to use. If it were me I'd get a proper laptop, you can get some recon dell's off ebay for that money.

Quick search:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Inspiron-...3A1|240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-VAIO-VGN-...3A1|240%3A1318

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...1936b2ff724ad7

oldsplice

My home monitor is only 15" so I don't think 10" would bother me too much *ahem* . Also, as I'm a girly and don't have hands like shovels, I don't think a small keyboard would be as much of a problem as it would for a big hairy-arsed bloke.

I must admit, I quite liked the sound of the n10. Especially as my discount would bring the cost down a bit.

oldsplice

I couldn't get PC Gamer, so I bought 'What Laptop' instead. They seemed to like the Samsung nc10. It scored 8 for performance and build quality and the battery life was 298 minutes. I'm so confused.

Would I be able to load photos on it, or would that take up too much space?

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

The NC10 is a really great netbook, the inlaws have one. I personally have an Acer Aspire One which I'm really happy with, ony downside is battery life but then it cost half the price of the NC10.

As long as you're looking at getting one with a hard disk rather than a solid state drive, you'll be fine loading your photos on. Generally they come with 160Gb+ hard drives as opposed to 8gb or so SSD's. I prefer the touchpad on the NC10 too.


In summary, my advice . . . get the Samsung NC10 if it suits your budget

IWatkins

Have the NC10, love it. I load photos on from my camera using the SD Card slot, no worries.

oldsplice

Ooh.....ooh.......my camera has a 4 GB card. Would that work on it?

Also........what's the difference between a hard disk and a solid state drive? (just pretend you're speaking to someone from another planet. Well, you are actually, because I'm a girl! )

oldsplice

I think I need to go and lay down in a darkened room...............

IWatkins

Should do assuming your camera uses an SD card :-) Card in my camera is 8GB and that works fine on my NC10.

Even if your card isn't SD you can just hook up the camera via the USB ports.

Cheers

Ian

oldsplice

Thanks for your help guys!

I'm definitely leaning towards the Samsung nc10. I shall probably go and see one in 'real life' first. As I said, I only want it for basic stuff, but then when I started looking through the mag, I was thinking......'will it be enough? Should I get a bigger one?'.......

By the way, this is what I hear when you talk computer stuff at me......... (it's a bit faded)

boomer

Well i have just bought an NC10 from eBuyer - on offer at the moment for £308.

Been on charge overnight, so i haven't yet had a play, but looks and feels fantastic

The only thing that it lacks is a built-in 3G SIM slot (for very mobile Interweb access) so i will have to use my USB dongle one. Other than that, i can't wait to try out the 6+hours of battery life

mb

oldsplice

Boomer.......when you say very mobile internet access, how mobile do you mean? I really only want to use it at home, (in the garden and on the sofa ) so I won't need that 3G thingy whatsit......will I?

boomer

The NC10 comes with wired network, wireless network and bluetooth as standard, so no problems using it around the home and it should be able to talk to your phone, PDA etc.

3G means accessing the Interweb over the latest phone technology, so using a SIM allows you to work where-ever there is an appropriate "phone" signal. It sounds like you don't need this.

I have now booted mine up and gone through the basic setup stuff but still need to install antivirus, firewall, FireFox, OpenOffice etc. It's a pretty clean setup, with just McAffee trial-ware pre-installed (which i immediately took off). Pixel-perfect screen, good solid feel and actually quite heavy for a netbook - but thats the 6-cell battery that will keep it running for over six hours (wow).

So far the only niggle is the orangey-brown sticker on the left-hand side that looks naff so i tried to remove it. It has got extra-sticky glue underneath, so took quite a bit of finger rubbing (fnarr, fnarr) to clean it up.

Time to load all of my installation kits to USB flash-drive ready for full configuration

mb

IWatkins

Top Tip - Ever need to remove super-sticky glue from stickers on computer gear? Small cloth/paper towel and a dab of lighter fluid (stuff for Zippos is top).

oldsplice

Nail varnish remover works. Or if you can get enough of the sticker off, use the stickiness on the sticker to get the residue off (if that makes sense! )



Boomer.........You're not supposed to rub it that hard! (fnar fnar back at ya!)

And why did you un-install McAffee? I run Norton on my 'grown-up' pc.

boomer

IWatkins,

i actually have some Sticky Stuff Remover (more fnarrr, fnarr), but wanted to be extra careful especially as the NC10 has some fancy anti-bacterial coating on it (and some solvents can make as mess of certain plastics). I might try removing the "Atom" and "Designed for XP" stickers as well, to give it a clean look.

oldsplice,

Years ago (on my big PC) i used Norton, but it grew and grew into bloat-ware, massively slowing things down. I went to McAfee but sadly that became a resource hog as well so for quite a while now i have been using Avast which is free for home use, easy to use and doesn't use lots of your computer resources - which is quite important on a netbook as they aren't as fast as yer normal laptops.

El computer says 4.25 hours to go on batteries, which have been running since 11:30 (albeit with an hour and a half's hibernation) - so looking good

mb

oldsplice

Boomer.......'Sticky Stuff Remover'........it says 'safe for use on skin and hair'! (fnar fnar )


Avast! (yer landlubbers!) sounds like something a pirate would use. Is it really, really good/safe? Every time I've renewed my Norton it's cost me double what I had thought it was going to be!

And you might find the battery lasts longer if you stay away from rumpo websites!

IWatkins

Yep, first thing I did on my NC10 was remove McAfee, bloat-tastic pap. Otherwise left as is plus any Windows updates.

I tend to only use mine for surfing and a little Flex/Flash work and always get 6+ hours.

Cheers

Ian

Ray T

put eset nod 32 on mine in place of the MccAfee.

Boomer, there are various settings under the "battery tab" that give you longer/shorter battery life combo's

boomer

Avast does a pretty good job, along with AVG. You are right about Norton's prices - that is another reason why i dumped them (they even sneaked in VAT at the last minute to inflate the price even more ).

As for rumpo - ten inches just isn't enough (at least with my poor eyesight )

Currently giving the batteries a soak-test by playing a 20-minute MPG of me driving around the Isle of Man. Very impressed so far

mb

oldsplice

Ooh....ooh......when did you go to the Hile of Man? We go every year for the TT!


And everyone knows blokes think that <> is ten inches!

oldsplice

Oh gawd!


Mr OS has just suggested I get a 'proper' laptop rather than a netbook.

I had decided to go for the Samsung nc10, now I don't know what to do........Dell has an Inspiron 15 for £329, £349 etc. What should I doooooooooooo?????

Sorry........I know I'm being a pain in the ****.

Dedrater

I can't be doing with Netbooks, personally, on your budget I would be getting one of these..

Product Comparison

oldsplice

I'm starting to lean that way. 15" has got to be better than 10" right? *ahem*

It's just that I'd get 12% off in John Lewis, so that would knock the price down on the Samsung.

Dedrater

What about this then..

Buy Compaq Presario Laptop, CQ60-214EM, 1.66GHz with 15.6 Inch Display online at JohnLewis.com

A well speced laptop and you would get it for £333, bargain imo

adehook

my missus uses an eee pc and i use a macbook 13". the eee is ****e compared but then it cost 3 times more

boomer

Twas the 2002 SIDC birthday bash. They closed the Ramsey to mountain-top (TT circuit) road for our "private" use, which was VERY nice .

Had the (MPG) video looping for around 4 hours at max brightness on a set of batteries - which is excellent.

As for size, try holding it in your hands (fnarr, fnarr). The NC10 does feel about right, even though the screen resolution isn't massive. I also have a 13.5" VAIO, which seems much bigger even though it isn't much heavier. Once you are into 15inch and 17inch you do start to need a desk to rest it on.

But choose soon, otherwise Apple will be bringing out their tablet, and all the ***** will be back up in the air

mb

boomer

£284 (plus a free 2 year warranty) is a no-brainer!!!

mb