Where can a person find a tiny handy netbook around here?

April 22, 2009 11:57 AM

probably-hopeless-filter: Where can I find an 8.9" netbook with a "real" HD (not solid-state) running linux in a store? I'm in Chapel Hill, willing to go to Raleigh, Durham, Hillsborough, Cary, Apex, wherever (Charlotte or Greensboro would be too far). I've checked all the obvious-to-me places.

Places I've checked: Intrex (in Chapel Hill), Staples, Office Depot, Sam's Club, Target, Best Buy @ Southpoint. I've looked at web sites for other vendors. I also looked at Craigslist.

I want to try one in person, running linux, before I purchase it, so ordering online isn't going to do it for me.

I e-mailed Acer's customer support and they were unhelpful.

I do believe I want an 8.9" model; my fingers are small enough that the size is fine for typing, and this would be mainly for travel.

posted by amtho to Computers & Internet (25 answers total)

I wonder if the TigerDirect store at Northgate or in Raleigh has one. Maybe call them to see?
posted by barnone at 12:06 PM on April 22, 2009

Prep a bootable USB stick with your linux distro of choice and take it to the store with you? Some tools.
posted by adamk at 12:09 PM on April 22, 2009

Worst-case scenario, you could start going to Linux User Group meetings--there's a pretty good chance that somebody at one of those would have one.
posted by box at 12:14 PM on April 22, 2009

What does the SSD vs hard drive have to do with you trying one running linux?

If you really need to try one with a hard drive, create a bootable USB stick running linux.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:15 PM on April 22, 2009

2nding a LUG, someone is sure to have one and want to show it off. Here's a list of NC LUGs.

The thing is, even if you find it in a store it is not likely to be running a distro you necessarily would want, nor the latest and greatest version (FWIW, the newest kernel has really added a lot of "out of the box" utility to my Asus eee that was previously only obtainable with using the array.org kernel, lots trips to netbook forums and arcane scripts).
posted by quarterframer at 12:38 PM on April 22, 2009

Why not just get a laptop utilizing SSD, this will save you a lot of battery life. If you have large files to store, like movies, just throw them on a portable USB hard drive.
posted by ShootTheMoon at 12:44 PM on April 22, 2009

Wal-Mart has the Acers and eePCs sometimes.
posted by rokusan at 12:52 PM on April 22, 2009

Response by poster: I want a real HD because 1) I want to avoid dragging around multiple electronic components (I'm considering traveling with a backpack for several weeks) and I want to have some foreign language dictionaries, music, photos, etc. on the thing, and 2) I've heard that SSD drives are actually slower and clunkier than "normal" drives.

I don't really want to dork around with installing/configuring linux myself, finding drivers, etc. I want to be fairly sure that everything -- including WiFi -- will work out of the box. In Europe.

OK, I admit I haven't tried Wal-Mart yet. Thanks.

And I hadn't heard of TigerDirect! Thanks for that!

Other places I've tried (forgot to mention) - UNC bookstore (Ram Shop), NC State bookstore
posted by amtho at 1:06 PM on April 22, 2009

I'm really not sure how a solid state drive has anything to do with carrying any additional electronics with you, and I don't really understand the concept of them being "clunkier." Maybe you're misunderstanding what an SSD is. It's internal, just like a normal hard drive would be, it just doesn't have any moving parts. Many netbooks are moving to these types of drives to be faster, lighter, and more energy efficient. Of course, I could also be misunderstanding what you're saying.
posted by joshrholloway at 1:13 PM on April 22, 2009

Many people who use Linux, it seems, enjoy the dorking around and installing and configuring. Many people who want everything to just work out of the box use Windows (or OS X).

Is there a reason you're set on using Linux?
posted by box at 1:15 PM on April 22, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, I do understand what a solid state drive is. Given how they work, one would expect them to be faster. They are certainly more elegant in concept. However, word on the street (from a few different sales guys) is that they are in fact slower.

They also are smaller in capacity than regular drives. I need that capacity. I could carry an extra drive around for my files to make up that capacity, but I don't want to. Hence my reference to carrying additional electronics. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

And, yes, I enjoy coding and configuring -- but when it's convenient for me. Not when I need to quickly get online to get my job done. I also want to be able to (perhaps slowly, and yes on a netbook) run apache to test my CGI scripts (yes I know one can do this under Windows, but I'm more used to a *nix/BSD environment). I'm also extremely interested in learning what the experience in using a netbook is like, so that I can recommend it or not to others.

Am I allowed to purchase one now? Thanks! (Sorry to be surly, but I'm frustrated by how difficult it's been to find one, and it's a little annoying to have to justify my choice...)

Do you guys have any other ideas for where I can acquire a linux netbook?
posted by amtho at 1:24 PM on April 22, 2009

Target carried eeepc's until a couple weeks ago, and they had no working models on display. Walmart may be similar, so call before you go over there.
posted by chazlarson at 1:35 PM on April 22, 2009

No need to justify your choice, amtho, I was just trying to make sure everyone was on the same page. Turns out I was the person on the wrong page, though.

Good luck in your hunt.
posted by joshrholloway at 1:59 PM on April 22, 2009

2) I've heard that SSD drives are actually slower and clunkier than "normal" drives.

I find this so odd as to be nearly unbelievable. The capacity argument makes sense, but... SSDs being slower? Unless they've got wanky driver issues I don't see how this can be the case.

Everyone I've talked to that has gotten a laptop with a solid state drive has raved about how quickly it boots, runs, and especially compiles large projects.
posted by flaterik at 2:28 PM on April 22, 2009

You've been misinformed. SSDs *are* generally much faster than traditional hard drives. There are however, cheap SSDs that are slower than hard drives, you just have to do your research (ie SLC vs MLC)

FWIW, I just replaced the 4GB stock SSD in my Dell Mini with a Runcore 16GB SSD ($70) just yesterday and it's now significantly faster than my 15" Dell notebook with hard drive.
posted by wongcorgi at 2:28 PM on April 22, 2009

FYI here's an article on Intel's X25 SSD, which outperforms even the fastest of hard drives.
posted by wongcorgi at 2:31 PM on April 22, 2009

You can get decent sized SSDs too. I upgraded my eee's to the runcore 64GB (you can also get 128). It's fast and was pretty easy to do; I speak as someone with very limited tecchie expertise.
posted by rhymer at 3:18 PM on April 22, 2009

Response by poster: OK, here are the first two Google hits for [solid-state drives slower], which seem to indicate that the write speed is the culprit. Intel said early this year that they couldn't reproduce those results (latter article also references tests that show the performance lags more on older drives; not sure if a defrag would help).

I don't treat this as conclusively anti-HDD, but enough that it's not "nearly unbelievable".

I still want the larger capacity of a traditional drive, whatever the case.
posted by amtho at 3:23 PM on April 22, 2009

If you want to try one before buying it, I second (third? fourth?) showing up at a Linux User Group. I think you'll have a hard time finding a new netbook with an HD running Linux in a store. You'll likely have to install it yourself, so get yourself a 1GB USB stick at the same time.

For what it's worth, I bought an Acer Aspire One with a 16GB HD a couple of months ago and loaded it with Ubuntu. A few warnings:
* Linux isn't (yet) for the squeamish. Linux on a laptop, doubly so. Linux on a netbook, triply so.
* There's no CD/DVD drive, so you can install off a USB CD-ROM, or a USB memory stick using UNetBootin.
* The "ath5k" wireless driver used in this netbook isn't natively supported. You'll need to download, compile, and install the wireless drivers. Whenever the software updater installs a new kernel, you'll need to re-compile and re-install the wireless drivers. See the Linux Wireless page.
* The gigabit ethernet driver is also buggy and doesn't deal well with suspend/hibernation. Upgrade it.

Other than that, it's been a great machine. The keyboard is usable for me, the mouse is okay (I don't like the buttons being on either side of the mousepad). The battery life is slim (2 hours, tops), but I just bought a 9 cell battery and I get about 15 hours out of it now.
posted by Laen at 3:34 PM on April 22, 2009

Argh. I said 16GB, I meant 160GB.
posted by Laen at 3:35 PM on April 22, 2009

You can ask at the Duke computer store too, although I kind of doubt they'd have one. And RadioShacks carry Acers, I think.

But I definitely haven't seen netbooks on display running linux - not even in big computer stores in bigger cities. Good luck!
posted by barnone at 6:06 PM on April 22, 2009

But I definitely haven't seen netbooks on display running linux.

Again, the evil Wal-Mart has PCs, laptops and sometimes netbooks running Linux. It lets them save the cost of Windows or whatever, I suppose, giving them some cheaper xxx.99-cent prices.
posted by rokusan at 7:18 PM on April 22, 2009

Just trying to help, amtho--sorry if it came out wrong.

I probably wouldn't buy one here, and I dunno what OS they're using, but you might check out a Radio Shack or an AT&T cellular store (old story here).

It might also be worthwhile to check out previous netbook threads--several of them have had comments from people who use netbooks for programming and development and whatnot. Of course, that's not the same as trying one firsthand.
posted by box at 7:31 PM on April 22, 2009

I can't help you with the the Linux part really, but Radio Shack has the 10.1 Acer with the 160Gb hard drive (not SSD) running XP. If you get a nice salesperson he or she might let you boot Linux on the floor model.
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:12 PM on April 22, 2009

For those of you saying "helpful" things like "Linux isn't (yet) for the squeamish. Linux on a laptop, doubly so. Linux on a netbook, triply so.", let me say:

I have little interest in user friendliness. I run Slackware, Gentoo, and FreeBSD, and I prefer the command line, with lots of discrete manual steps. This is mainly because anything automatic always breaks, and I like to know when it does to counteract it. Because I distrust it, I am always ready to criticize automagic. And because I don't closely track progress in that arena, I like to think I'm not lulled into complacency by slow improvement.

But I got an Asus Eee 900A recently and put the latest Easy Peasy release candidate on it. (The RC came out 5min before I was going to download the previous stable version and install it.) I had played with Ubuntu once before but briefly, so I had little expectations.

I have to say this is one of the best OSes I have used, on any platform, ever. Some bits I don't care for, but that's only because I want to peer behind the scenes. It really works out of the box for both technical users and newbies, with no "vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf" interludes.

The one thing is that the wireless doesn't reliably come back from suspend without a hacky command but I'm sure that will be patched soon. In fairness, though, suspend-to-RAM never works, ever, anywhere.

To make the comment you did about Linux without saying the same to a greater degree about Windows and, a little bit less, about OS X (yes, I said it; the way systems such as the name resolver are tied into OS X's network configurator is grotesque) is absolutely intellectually dishonest. Windows hardware support is nothing but a bloody horror show and if you just want to pop open your netbook to type something quick the last thing you need is devices being re-enumerated for no good reason, or the wireless profile suddenly refusing to work without being recreated exactly, or some other nonsense that yes I have seen in the field repeatedly. Nor do you want the complete lack of privilege separation that has characterized Microsoft platforms since MS-DOS 1.0 until the hopeful future day when they prioritize user security and privacy over the mythical "compatibility" that they always break anyway, and is an inevitable vector for trojan horses and wretched daemons running loose.

I've had people use my netbook with zero problems or confusion whatsoever. A client of mine, not technical by any means, recently got an Eee. It's still got Xandros on it, which I wasn't impressed by, but my client raves about how trivially easy it is to use, how fast, and how easy network activity and editing MS Office documents are.

So there's an anecdote to counteract a throwaway comment. At least I backed up my argument with unscientific evidence. Yours had nothing.
posted by vsync at 11:37 PM on April 22, 2009