Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with netbook

Laptop / Netbook that runs cool and has long battery life

gilast — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:08:05 -0800

Interested in a Netbook or lower power laptop that runs cool (doesn't require external cooling like this) and has long (6-8 hour) battery life. Would like to run Windows 7 so Chromebook is not a good candidate for me. And of course want to come in around $200. I know there a lot of candidates here but would really appreciate user's real life experience. Thanks.

Wifi for Dummies, or I Have a Little Netbook

still_wears_a_hat — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:57:44 -0800

I have a small netbook (Samsung NC10), running Windows XP, that I very much like for travel. But in some places, it doesn't connect to the internet over wifi. I've never tried to figure out why, or fix it: it's so far always been somewhere I could either skip being connected for a few days or plug directly into a router. But for an upcoming trip I'd like some help with a better plan and some tools and resources. To get ready so far, I've uninstalled/removed everything I didn't need, including an old VPN connection, deleted a lot of old wireless networks, and collected as much information as I was able to find about Windows XP not connecting to wifi. But it wasn't much, and some of it doesn't seem to apply to my netbook. I do have information finding and changing various wifi settings, restarting Wireless Zero Configuration and resetting Winsock. I also have copies of winsockxpfix.exe and MicrosoftFixit050203.msi that I will try running if I have a problem.

My question is - is there more information I should have? A good step-by-step guide somewhere I haven't found? A way to upgrade my netbook's networking to be mroe like Windows 7's (if that's any better)? I'd appreciate any suggestions.

(I guess a last resort option would be trying to upgrade the whole netbook OS to Windows 7, but I haven't had much success with OS upgrades in the past, and if the upgrade didn't work, I'm not sure I could reinstall XP. But if that's the best idea, I'd at least like to know that, then I could make up my mind.)

oy vey with the gaming

BlahLaLa — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:42:28 -0800

If I buy a newfangled Chrome netbook will my kid be able to use it to play Minecraft? I understand virtually nothing regarding gaming and computer hardware. So please forgive me if this is a really dumb question. My kid wants to be able to play Minecraft. I'd like him not to be doing it on the desktop Mac that I use for work. So I'm looking for the cheapest possible solution.

I know there is the single-player version that he can play on the iPad (which we have). However he prefers to play on a multi-player server and for that he needs a computer. (At least that's my understanding.)

Need to find a store in the US to buy a netbook.

jim.christian — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:45:03 -0800

Where is the best brick and mortar store to buy a Windows netbook in the US? I'm travelling to the States on a ten day trip to visit my sister, and part of her Xmas gift from the family on this side of the pond is a new laptop, which I've promised to help spec out and tailor to her needs.

While I'm familiar with UK stores and brands, I don't know the best place to take her in the US to shop around.

Where in your experience is the best place to go? BestBuy etc? Bonus points if you know somewhere in the Indianapolis area!

(Apple Store recommendations need not apply - while I work with and love Apple technologies, my sister is not similarly inclined - we're kitting her out with a Windows-based device)

Thank you

Netbooks for the helpless

Frowner — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:35:21 -0800

Help an easily confused person with netbook needs (or do I want a starter ThinkPad?) - some snowflake details inside. Particularly interested in 11" netbooks, but at a huge, giant loss about how to proceed - like, ridiculously helpless here. So I have hitherto always used a 13" Mac laptop, but it's on its last legs. I'd like to nurse it along as a spare for home use but have a netbook for daily use. Daily use would be mostly reading the internet, downloading music and writing via something like Google Docs, and uploading pictures from my camera when I sell stuff on eBay. I would like to be able to make PDFs. (You can tell how device-savvy I am, right?)

I'm also really excited about having something smaller to carry around - my laptop is heavy! I do not think I want a tablet, because I want a device with an integral keyboard.

I have about $400 to spend for the laptop itself and could kick in some extra for more memory. I would like an 11" netbook since I have fairly large hands and find the smaller keyboards difficult. What do you recommend?

Next question: how do I add the memory?

I have read review sites but find them overwhelming and contradictory.

You're talking to someone who has an old boring non-touch-screen-y phone, no iPad, no tablet, nothing like that. I do not play games and generally watch movies on the teevee screen like an old fogey. So gear all your advice accordingly.

Chromebook questions

Artw — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:20:14 -0800

Would the Chromebook be right for me as a writing device? I'm looking to replace my old netbook I use for writing with something more swish and it looks to fit the bill, however I'm not a Google Docs user - how easy is it to transition to from using OpenOffice/Word? How well does the local storage/offline working option work? How easy is it to export Word files and how well does formatting carry over? Is there anything else i need to know?

Help me pick a netbook

quietshout — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 15:37:18 -0800

Which netbook/tablet should I get? I know this question has been asked twenty million times before, and I have tried to read through past questions, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with my options.

Here are my requirements, in order of importance: 1) Low cost. I don't have a lot of extra money right now, and I want to purchase said gizmo as quickly as possible, so I won't have much time to save up. It should cost as little as possible. 2) Rugged. I tend to be a bit hard on things, and I'd like this to last as long as possible. I know I can't expect a cheap laptop to last forever, but I'd like to get as much use out of it as I can. 3) Small/portable. Should be as small and compact as possible. 4) Ease of use. Yet is it should be easy to type on, and with sufficient screen size to watch videos. I definitely prefer a physical keyboard.

Here's what I'll be using it for: 1) Word processing. I'll be writing stuff for up to several hours at a time. 2) Watching netflix, etc. 3) Probably playing silly flash games, unfortunately. 4) General browsing, reading news, catching up on mefi, etc. 5) Managing/storing a medium sized media library (though it's fine if I need an external storage device for this).

Thanks so much for your advice, Metafilter!

What is a good cheap netbook to run SPSS on?

mlle valentine — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:11:42 -0800

Any recommendations for an inexpensive and highly portable netbook? I want to run the PC version of SPSS on it and take it to my stats class. I will also want to check email, but that's about it. If for some reason I can't run SPSS on a netbook, I would like to know that too! I am a total noob.

(Also, I have seen that there are a couple other netbook threads but since I'm not well versed in netbooks I'd like to know if there is anything new and exciting out since those Asks were asked. Thanks.)

The rest of the world has moved on to tablets, now I'm looking at netbooks.

MeatyBean — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 00:10:42 -0800

Must every 2GB netbook have a glossy screen? Netbook shopping woes. I am in the market for a netbook & am hurting for advice.

I'm expecting something that can handle the MS Office suite, Internet, and occasional movie (720 & 1080p if possible but not a requirement). I know I don't want a tablet & lugging around the laptop is getting to be a bit much.

I have tested two & found both wanting:

Asus 1025C-BBK301 - 10" Eee PC Netbook - 1GB Memory - 320GB Hard Drive - Matte Black Stats Page

I like this Asus model for its sleek design & matte finish, could do without the chrome (much prefer the Acer's style touchpad) but other than that the size is great. Unfortunately after stripping the crap/bloatware it performs sluggish with only a couple Chrome or Firefox tabs open. However at around $200 I am still considering it.

Acer AO756-2623 - 11.6" Aspire One Laptop - 2GB Memory - 320GB Hard Drive - Ash Black Stats page

While this Acer model is not as sleek in design as the Asus 1025C, the larger screen is nice & it doesn't sport the annoying chrome. The touchpad is a single large surface which includes hidden left/right mouse buttons which is quite nice. Having 2GB in memory is showing a difference, I have yet to notice any of the slowdown I was with the 1GB Asus model. However the gloss finish is annoying. The reflections are distracting & it is never clean of dust bits which are very noticeable.

Well, have at it.

New netbook's display gives me headaches

IndigoRain — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 00:28:30 -0800

My netbook is giving me headaches and sometimes migraines. Help me adjust my display? I have a new netbook: an Asus Eee PC 1225B. I've had it about 3 weeks and the display gives me headaches and sometimes even triggers migraines.

I've tried adjusting the brightness, color, contrast, gamma, and color saturations through both Windows 7's tools and AMD's Vision control center. No adjustment that I've made had seemed to help.

Sitting it side-by-side with my old Eee PC (a 1005) that did not give me headaches - the new display looks greener and more washed out. But turning it down and blue up (via the 3 choices AMD gives me - Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast for each color) doesn't help. I can't seem to find the right color balance. Also, text does not look as sharp, despite running Clear Type repeatedly.

What, specifically, should I be tweaking? The display seems extra bright to me, but turning down the brightness alone doesn't fix the issue. None of the pre-installed presets are right either. I've been to plenty of those "help me calibrate my display" websites to no avail. Are there any other programs with presets I can try? I am so tired of tweaking color by color.

Best device/devices to stream music from a HD to surround sound receiver and read e-books?

plumberonkarst — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:24:31 -0800

I need advice choosing electronic device/s to perform 2 different tasks (e-books and streaming music from an external HD to Surround sound receiver)

I have a large amount of e-books in PDF format (although I have Calibre and could convert) and an external hard drive with lots of music that I want to stream (on shuffle) through a surround sound receiver/TV.

Would an e-book reader and something like a sling box be best? or can I find a notebook/Ipad/Microsoft surface etc type device that could perform both functions?

I do not mind paying for quality but I do not need top end by any means.I prefer to directly connect to the receiver as opposed to wireless.

Acer netbook keyboard and mouse about to die

she's not there — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:33:43 -0800

Acer netbook keyboard and mouse threatening to quit working any minute now. Hoping someone can point me to the right place for assistance before it's too late. The system: Acer Aspire One netbook with an attached monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

The problem: keyboard and mouse stop responding as the should. Rebooting fixes things - temporarily. When this first happened about 24 hours ago I figured it was a fluke. The second time, I thought "better check into this...". I've had to reboot 3 times in the past hour, which is interfering with my effort to google a solution.

When things start to go bad, it seems that the keyboard and mouse respond randomly to whatever I do, but here are some specific examples:

mouse: clicking on a link doesn't take me to that address, but just switches to another window or opens a new window; using the wheel to simply scroll down the page selects everything on the page - and it's impossible to "deselect" the material-sometimes; other times, when I try to scroll vertically, I end up scrolling horizontally.

keyboard: will switch to all caps mode even though cap lock is not selected - selecting all caps will return lower case letters, but the top row of numbers will still return the upper case option; keyboard will stop functioning altogether - typing simply results in switching tabs and windows.

Unplugging the mouse and keyboard and using the built-in options does not fix the problem. In fact, after the last reboot I did not attach either and I'm starting to see problems.

I haven't had much luck with google - partly due to problem itself, but I imagine that I'm not using the best search terms either. Looking for a good site for technical assistance. (But if you can just tell me how to fix it, that would be fine, too!)

good, cheap, fast....

tylerfulltilt — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:40:25 -0800

Looking for a netbook that's great for general web surfing and streaming video. What is there that meets those needs? preferably, sub $400

I need to replace my netbook

rhymer — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:05:10 -0800

Help me replace my eee901 netbook. My needs are annoyingly specific. For the last four years I’ve had an Asus eee901 which I’ve really liked, but it is now dying. I’ve loved the size and portability and, by putting in a decent 64GB SSD and extra RAM and using Ubuntu, I’ve mitigated the slowness of the N270 Atom chip somewhat. I use it mainly for email, word processing and browsing so I’m not that bothered about the speed, although it would be nice to be able to watch smooth videos. The keyboard I’ve learned to live with. In fact, the only thing that really annoys me is the low resolution of the screen (1024x600).

So, it’s replacement time and, irritatingly, netbooks have barely moved on and don’t come in 8.9 inches any more. My needs are: highly portable, can run Ubuntu, better than 1024x600 screen, can write longish docs on (so no tablets please). I don’t play games and I don’t really want to spend up into Ultrabook territory (yeah, the Asus UX21 is cool and thin, but it has a big footprint and is £750+). I’m thinking a max of about £550. This is not my primary computer. I live in the UK.

So I find myself looking at some very different machines:

One is the Acer Aspire One 522 which has 1280x800 resolution. It has a C-60 processor and again I’d upgrade the RAM and put in an SSD. Here I’m worried that I’m looking at something that is little better than the four year old netbook I’m replacing. I’m also worried that Acer’s build quality isn’t great.

The second is a Lenovo x121e which is 11.6 inches (1366x768) and rather bigger. But it is a fairly serious laptop and far better engineered and specced than the Aspire. It’s pricier too, at about £400, but I’m not really concerned about that. What I am really concerned about is the extra size. I want something I can carry in a smallish bag without really noticing.

A third, outside, consideration is the Asus Transformer Prime. The size of this is fantastic. But I’m very, very unsure of being locked into Android or, if I’m lucky, some iffy future Ubuntu port. Also, I’ve heard that word processing capabilities on it are terrible.

Anyway, if anyone has any experience of these machines or any other suggestions, I’d be very grateful.

smashed my linux netbook, must replace in LasVegas

Mngo — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:34:12 -0800

Emergency laptop purchase in Madison WI or Las Vegas NV. I dropped mine on the hard world. I go to Vegas tomorrow for research. What and where should I buy. I dropped my work-supplied lappy on the floor in the hall as I was leaving work to go to Vegas. I think it's bricked. It was a nice but noisy Zareason Ubuntu Linux laptop {hoverboard, but bought at the very end of the cycle...major booster's remorse; netbooky spex, but good screen and keyboard.).

If I can't fix it, I guess I want a not-extravagant-portable with good battery life and a decent screen. Not making a 3d movie about moon landings. A comfy netbook should do me, but I'm out of the loop.

Should I try to replace in MSN or Vegas?

Long term, I will haul it around classrooms and meetings, so not awkward is good. But I'll take awkward if you say there's a good deal at the Sam's Town 'puter store. I don't care what make and model. I use libreoffice and zotero. I love linux-only hardware but i am happy to drop 'nix over another OS.

I leave Friday afternoon for 8 days of research in Vegas.

What laptop/netbook should I buy and should I buy it here or there and where specifically there should I buy it. Like, can I get in a cab at McCarran and go somewhere that I'll leave with decent hardware and no hassle. Do not really want to blind buy something off the net and send it to my hotel.

Netbook / Ultrabook Recommendations?

14580 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:47:17 -0800

I'd like to replace my 2 or 3 year-old Acer 12-inch netbook with something that has more horsepower. But I still want something that's small and light with at least 6 hours of battery life. I also want a netbook or laptop that's sturdy and doesn't get hot or have a loud fan. It looks like the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook meets my needs and it gets very good reviews. Although I'm nervous about it having only a 3-cell battery. I also like the specs for Lenovo's $750 Thinkpad Edge e220s but there are no customer reviews for it on Newegg or Amazon. I'd like your input and to know if I've overlooked any other good choices. I'd rather spend $500 than $800, but I might be willing to pay even more for a truly great machine. I don't play games, I usually use a wireless mouse and I don't need a DVD/CD-ROM drive. I tend to have lots of files open and I primarily do writing, web design, web surfing and some light graphics/CAD work. BTW, I won't even consider a Dell or Fujitsu.

Any recommendations?

AustinFilter: Need small durable shoulder bag, approximately netbook sized or so.

bitterkitten — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:09:01 -0800

AustinFilter: Austiners - where can I buy a durable bag for a male, today, that would hold something about the size of a netbook or a little bigger (a standard size notebook/messenger bag is too big) that has a shoulder strap for easy carryin' around? I feel like REI or Whole Earth Company should have something. Any other suggestions?

computers don't like to be dropped

soft and hardcore taters — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:30:52 -0800

Help me find a cheap and bombproof laptop/netbook/tablet After dropping my poor laptop for the billionth time, the hard drive has died. My budget for an new machine is miniscule (under $300 would be ideal) but I must have my internets. Are there any rugged laptops or netbooks in that price range, or am I better off with a used Ipad and an otterbox case?

Help a n00b buy a harddrive

Brodiggitty — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:38:56 -0800

Recommend me a decent, cheap hard drive for my HP netbook (or at least a reliable site to shop from) I've got an HP Mini 210 netbook. The hard drive crapped out one month after the warranty expired and its been sitting around for a few months. I know everything else works because I booted it off a USB key with a few different OS-es (Ubuntu, chrome). However, I'd like to get it back to working condition. I use it strictly for surfing the web.

I know how to get at the hard drive. I just need the hivemind's help in buying an affordable hard drive from a reliable online vendor who will ship to Canada.

This site's cheapest one was 95 bucks and it was a 160gb. I really only need 80gb or less. If I could get it for $75 or less before shipping, that would be an ideal price.

I also need help getting a new OS onto the HD. I have an old windows XP disc kicking around. I'd be happy with that, although the netbook came pre-installed with Windows 7. Is there a kit i can get that will allow me to hook the hard drive up to my desktop computer and install the OS? Is there a cheaper way to do it?

It's an HP 210 -1010CA
Model WD265UA

Can I get by with an iPad?

lunasol — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:28:52 -0800

I need a secondary computer. Can that computer be an ipad? My laptop is biting the dust, but I'm not sure if I want to go whole-hog on a new one quite yet, so I'm thinking about getting an iPad instead, which seems like it might be a better fit for my needs anyway.

I have a (very nice) laptop provided by my employer that I can use as my "base computer" to store music and other documents, and do things that require a more powerful computer (my employer doesn't have a problem with me bringing the laptop home and/or using it for personal purposes, as long as it's nothing illegal or harmful to the computer, but still I'd like to have my own computer for privacy reasons).

Plus, I just lost my kindle this week, so I need to replace it. This makes the iPad even more appealing. My alternative would be to buy a netbook, something like the eee PC, and a kindle.

What I'm looking for:

- Small and lightweight, but with a good battery life. I travel cross-country an average of once/month, and I'd also like to be able to carry the thing around wherever, so this is key.
- I'm your standard web-browsing/IMing/music-listening/IMing computer user. Not a gamer or a coder or anything like that requiring a lot of power.
- Minimal fuss. I love that, with the iPad, you just press a button to turn it on and the OS seems clean and easy to use. I don't want to deal with all the pop-ups and other bloatware that comes with Windows.

Concerns:

- It seems like the biggest issue is the touch-screen keyboard, although I have my eye on this case/keyboard which may or may not solve that issue.
- I'm wondering how well it works for multitasking while web browsing. For instance, if I want to chat with someone on gchat while I'm also reading AskMe, that's pretty easy on a normal computer. But just from my experience with my iPhone, it seems like that might be more difficult with the iPad.
- Storage of personal documents. I know you can store documents on the iPad, but it seems like you can only back them up via iTunes. This should be fine 99% of the time, but what about those rare sensitive personal documents that I don't want shared, primarily financial records?

(For those of you who think it's foolhardy to use my work laptop for personal reasons, please note that the employee manual explicitly states that personal use is fine, and my employer has a stated policy of not monitoring employee computer usage. Computers are remotely backed up to a server, but the employee manual says these records are only accessed if the computer crashes/needs a backup. I'm represented by a union, so while it's not inconceivable they'd break this policy, it's not a huge concern of mine that I'd get in trouble - I'm more concerned about some rogue IT staffer accessing personal information.)

Cat Pee OS

Memo — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:50:23 -0800

A cat peed on my netbook, now it smells like cat pee. What to do about the awful smell? I haven't tried turning it on since noticing it had been peed on but it should be dry by now (I dried what I could and left it dripping during the night, now it has a bag of silica gel on top of the keyboard just in case).

The smell is awful though and makes it unusable.

Restore netbook to factory settings

little_c — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:23:53 -0800

How to restore NB305 netbook to out-of-box state after installing Ubuntu, possibly on the recovery partition? I have a Toshiba NB305-N442bl netbook with dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7 starter installed. When i try to do a system restore holding down "0" and powering on, the system hangs until i release the "0" and then boots normally.

When i am in Windows 7, i can view the HDDRECOVERY drive and all the files are there. However i can't create any recovery media using the Windows tool for doing so.

Seems like the recovery partition is fine, I just can't seem to run a system recovery through the normal channels (ie holding "0" at power on). Thoughts?

HAL-lite for Mom

vidur — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:06:41 -0800

What netbook should I buy for my mother who has very limited experience with computers? My choice of retailers is limited to those operating in Sydney (Australia).

I don't want to buy a macbook (too expensive, something under A$500 would be nice), and I would like to be able to install Ubuntu on it to minimize most common maintenance issues. She will be using it to read news on a handful of websites (I'll create bookmarks), access e-mail (I'll configure Thunderbird), and use Skype to video chat with me. That's pretty much all for now.

The idea is to configure everything for her while she is here in Sydney so that she can just take it back to India next month and only needs to plug it in.

Flash problems with Chrome/Linux

altopower — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:53:22 -0800

Problems with my netbook that I don't understand! Linux/Chrome/Flash...details inside. Last spring, the SSD on my ASUS EEEpc fried. A friend of mine was gracious enough to fix it enough so that it now is running Linux (Puppeee distro) off of an SD card. This has been acceptable, but I'm now having some issues. I'm using Chrome as my browser, and it's completely incapable of using Flash...it just immediately crashes as soon as I go to watch a video or something. Is this a problem with Flash itself, with Chrome, with the SD card, or with Puppeee? It's also an issue with audio...nothing crashes, but it skips and skips.

Getting it on with a netbook.

Frasermoo — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:27:14 -0800

What programs/practices do you advise in setting up my wife's new netbook? I have bought my wife a netbook for Christmas (Acer Aspire), and would like any advice on setting it up and guiding her to use it wisely. She will mostly be using it for web surfing and light office work. If I treat it like our home PC, she'll get Chrome, Open office, VLC player, Foxit, Microsoft security etc..

Anything else you think I should change or consider? Any tips on keeping it safe, transporting it, charging practices.??