^my HTPC isn't that amazing. It still runs all the latest games maxed out though.

Quote :

"While you have to check the label on the bottom"

never have to do that, all the games run fine.

Quote :

"fiddle with settings"

no all the new games auto detect.

Quote :

"driver updates,"

nope. all driver updates are automatic. never had to go to a single website with windows 7.

Quote :

"and inevitably go out and drop another $500 on a video card."

Nope the video card i bought 3 years ago in my HTPC can still max every game out just fine.

Oh and you have to actually go out and buy your games and deal with an actual disc. So archaic. I just pre-order my game from steam and it's on my computer ready to play when it's released. No gas wasted.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 5:29 PM. Reason : f]

3/11/2010 5:21:39 PM

Quote :

"Oh and you have to actually go out and buy your games and deal with an actual disc. So archaic. I just pre-order my game from steam and it's on my computer ready to play when it's released. No gas wasted. "

But you see, I am employed so I just stop at the local best buy on my way home from work.

Also, you can purchase games on xbox live marketplace.

So what you are saying is, your gaming experience is the same as my gaming experience on my MBP...hmm..interesting.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 5:25 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2010 5:25:11 PM

Quote :

"So what you are saying is, your gaming experience is the same as my gaming experience on my MBP...hmm..interesting."

haha no my gaming experience doesn't suck. I'm playing them on a 50" HDTV a week before you with better graphics. Or pre-ordered ready to go at the TV without having to stop anywhere.

3/11/2010 5:28:31 PM

Quote :

"I'm playing them on a 50" HDTV a week before you with better graphics"

But I can hook my laptop up to my 50" HDTV too...or just play it on my 24" LED display

And how do you get your games a week before street date? I'd like in on this!

Ok ok...i'm done now...after you answer me how I can enjoy playing games a week before anyone else (legally, not the del nacho way)!

3/11/2010 5:30:54 PM

Quote :

"But I can hook my laptop up to my 50" HDTV too"

Yes but a MBP would look really shitty trying to play newer games at 1080p with an nvidia 9600m. THAT would actually look worse than a 360.

Quote :

"or just play it on my 24" LED display"

Or play on my 2 24" LED displays. haha. ok we are getting side tracked here.

I get them the del nacho way, but i pay for them via steam so it's like i'm just testing them out a week in advance and still pre-ordering them. heh.

Do you even own a netbook?

oh and btw does SC2 beta let you play on a lan? I need to try that out. I've downloaded a copy that lets me play a few maps i think.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 5:36 PM. Reason : s]

3/11/2010 5:34:09 PM

Quote :

"Yes but a MBP would look really shitty trying to play newer games at 1080p with an nvidia 9600m. THAT would actually look worse than a 360. "

I think I might be confused...is a 1080p TV's display resolution > 1920x1200 (Because thats what I play all my games at)... rhetorical question

Quote :

"I get them the del nacho way, but i pay for them via steam so it's like i'm just testing them out a week in advance and still pre-ordering them. heh. "

ooh...ok, i thought maybe because you claim to have superior hardware that you some how qualify for an early delivery on all your games. So really what you are saying is nothing at all.

Quote :

"Do you even own a netbook?"

Why would I waste money on a netbook when it doesn't offer me anything my laptop can't do? (including extended battery life)....however an iPad/Slate would be something different.

Quote :

"oh and btw does SC2 beta let you play on a lan? I need to try that out. I've downloaded a copy that lets me play a few maps i think."

if you didn't get a beta key you can't play on battle.net and SC2 has no lan capabilities. You can only play against scripted AI's unfortunately. I think the AI version is up to 5 or 6 now.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 5:39 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2010 5:38:04 PM

Quote :

"I think I might be confused...is a 1080p TV's display resolution > 1920x1200 (Because thats what I play all my games at)... rhetorical question"

From this statement I assume you haven't played too many PC games. Resolution does not determine quality. My displays are 1920 by 1200 too. Besides the point. In the settings menu you can actually control each quality settings, shadows, HDR, vertical sync, anti-aliasing, anisotropic filter, etc.

So for example if you were to hook up a MBP to your HDTV and try to play a newer game. Say batman, you could play it at 1080p but you'd have to turn all your settings down to get a playable frame rate. So it would look like crap. When I'm playing a game it auto-detects max settings and I don't have to fiddle with them, but with lesser hardware you have to turn settings down to be able to play it (like your MBP).

Quote :

"ooh...ok, i thought maybe because you claim to have superior hardware that you some how qualify for an early delivery on all your games. So really what you are saying is nothing at all."

That would be awesome. Wouldn't it? Haha. It's every boy's dream to be a video game tester.

Quote :

"Why would I waste money on a netbook when it doesn't offer me anything my laptop can't do? (including extended battery life)....however an iPad/Slate would be something different."

That's a matter of opinion. Some people like the decreased weight (2-3 pounds instead of your 6.6), smaller screen (8-12" instead of your 17") and increased battery life (12-14 instead of 6-8 hours). But if none of that matters to you then you are correct. You have no reason to "waste your money" on a netbook.

Quote :

"if you didn't get a beta key you can't play on battle.net and SC2 has no lan capabilities. You can only play against scripted AI's unfortunately. I think the AI version is up to 5 or 6 now. "

Think i'll just play with the scripted AI's and buy it when it comes out. Which i hope will be soon.

3/11/2010 5:47:56 PM

Quote :

"That's a matter of opinion. Some people like the decreased weight (2-3 pounds instead of your 6.6), smaller screen (8-12" instead of your 17") and increased battery life (12-14 instead of 6-8 hours). But if none of that matters to you then you are correct. You have no reason to "waste your money" on a netbook. "

they make much smaller versions of the MBP. I do a lot of design work and coding, and sometimes gaming when i'm not tethered to a desk which is why I opted for a larger screen and higher resolution.

just curious, what video card do you have thats so old yet so 1337?

Oh yeah, i totally forgot about the constant tinkering with display settings on a per-game basis to get the game to look good yet have a decent frame rate.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 5:56 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2010 5:54:07 PM

Quote :

"they make much smaller versions of the MBP."

Yes but it's still not a netbook. The 13" MBP is still $1200. For $300 you can get a 10" netbook with a 14 hour battery life and the same resolution of the MBP 13" (they come in 1366 by 768 now).

It does everything a 13" MBP would do except maybe video editing or cpu intensive photoshop filters.

Price may not be an issue for you but for many people they'd rather spend $300 for a netbook with a 14 hour battery life that they can facebook and gmail all day on rather than spend $1200 on a MBP that they'd also be facebooking and emailing on.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/alienware-m11x?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

Hell you can get one of those that's 11.6" for $799 and it will eat your MBP for dinner in terms of performance. You can even put OSX on it and call it a hackintosh. You get better performance, plus OSX, for a third the price!!

Quote :

"just curious, what video card do you have thats so old yet so 1337?"

I've got an 8800gtx in my HTPC. Still maxes out all new games.

Quote :

"Oh yeah, i totally forgot about the constant tinkering with display settings on a per-game basis to get the game to look good yet have a decent frame rate."

See that's only with poorer hardware (like a MBP) if you have a decent computer it will always auto-detect and set it to max. Like mine. I never have to mess with settings at all. It v-syncs at 60 fps.

3/11/2010 6:02:37 PM

Quote :

"Price may not be an issue for you but for many people they'd rather spend $300 for a netbook with a 14 hour battery life that they can facebook and gmail all day on rather than spend $1200 on a MBP that they'd also be facebooking and emailing on. "

this is why you get an iPad/HP Slate

btw...that notebook you linked looks like horrendous garbage. I wouldn't take it if it were free. I didn't even bother looking past the photo because I was so turned off by it. I guess i'm just spoiled and too used to pretty hardware.

Quote :

"I've got an 8800gtx in my HTPC. Still maxes out all new games."

It maxes out all new games just as well as my 9600M GTS 512mb card does. (i would know because the 8800gtx was the card I had in my gaming rig before i sold it)

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 6:19 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2010 6:16:31 PM

Yes i would like one as well. I imagine it'd be great for web browsing. But for email, instant messaging, and word processing a touch keyboard is not going to be near as good as a real physical laptop keyboard.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 6:21 PM. Reason : s]

3/11/2010 6:19:07 PM

Quote :

"Yes i would like one as well. I imagine it'd be great for web browsing. But for email, instant messaging, and word processing a touch keyboard is not going to be near as good as a real physical laptop keyboard."

We'll just have to wait and see. I'm blazingly fast on the iPhones tiny touch screen keyboard so it's only going to get better on a bigger one.

Time to go home...thanks for your time

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 6:20 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2010 6:20:07 PM

Quote :

"btw...that notebook you linked looks like horrendous garbage. I wouldn't take it if it were free. I didn't even bother looking past the photo because I was so turned off by it. I guess i'm just spoiled and too used to pretty hardware."

haha well you're in the minority there. It's a great looking laptop that won best of CES 2010. You're familiar with CES right?

Quote :

"Time to go home...thanks for your time "

You too. I had some oral surgery on wednesday so i've been sitting at home high on percocet eating soup and watching movies. this has been very entertaining.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 6:22 PM. Reason : s]

3/11/2010 6:22:08 PM

^^eh i wouldnt be so sure of that. i'm fast as shit on the regular vertical keyboard mode on the iphone too but the landscape mode is a disaster.. way way slower for me. a bigger screen != typing faster on it.. esp when there's no way to tell where you are on screen by feel alone

3/11/2010 6:39:02 PM

Ahaha, you fast typers on the touchscreens must have dainty hands. rofl

3/11/2010 6:57:57 PM

Quote :

"haha well you're in the minority there. It's a great looking laptop that won best of CES 2010. You're familiar with CES right?"

If thats a great looking laptop then I'm Santa Clause. And if it won 'best looking laptop' award at CES then I'd honestly hate to see what the competition looked like

Although in their defense...the PC world doesn't really have much in terms of good looking hardware. But I guess they only care about whats under the hood and not the presentation layer.

Quote :

"Ahaha, you fast typers on the touchscreens must have dainty hands. rofl"

Or good hand eye coordination, but then again even that wouldn't help you, fat fuck.

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2010 6:59:29 PM

Quote :

"Ahaha, you fast typers on the touchscreens must have dainty hands. rofl"

My fingers are pretty big and i'm a pretty fast type on the iphone. It's all about coordination.

Quote :

"If thats a great looking laptop then I'm Santa Clause. And if it won 'best looking laptop' award at CES then I'd honestly hate to see what the competition looked like"

It's all a matter of opinion. Some people think Apple Laptops are boring, bland and too minimalistic. Some people like the Asus or Dell laptops. I happen to like the Dell Studio laptops a lot. But you're right most PC laptops don't look too great. I really wish a company could have the nice compact and sturdy feel of an Apple laptop with the new powerful hardware of a PC laptop. I'd buy one right away.

3/11/2010 7:06:11 PM

Aww, did I upset the girly men.

3/11/2010 7:39:29 PM

no, just pointing out why you have such difficulties with simple tasks.

3/11/2010 7:45:40 PM

Quote :

"It's all about coordination spell check"

[Edited on March 11, 2010 at 7:49 PM. Reason : space]

3/11/2010 7:49:17 PM

Quote :

"It's a great looking laptop that won best of CES 2010. You're familiar with CES right? "

I really hope not. That thing looks like something IBM used to make in the 90's. Though to be fair, it's a small step up from the LIGHTS AND FLASHING THINGS AND FLAMES THAT MAKE IT GO FASTER!!!!!!! crap that seems to dominate most company's high performance / gaming laptop lines.

3/11/2010 8:27:34 PM

just installed windows 7 on my lenovo s10...pretty good so far

3/11/2010 9:10:13 PM

anyone know of any good netbook deals right now? I checked slickdeals/salescircular and didn't see anything good, just curious if anyone has seen a good deal recently, thanks

3/12/2010 8:51:45 AM

netbooks with the ion 2 should be coming out soon . . .

i really want a "high-end" netbook with an ion like the HP Mini 311 or the Asus 1201N but i am trying to convince myself to wait on the ion 2 netbooks to come out, either to get one or take advantage of a price drops

3/12/2010 9:27:35 AM

Quote :

"i really want a "high-end" netbook with an ion like the HP Mini 311 or the Asus 1201N but i am trying to convince myself to wait on the ion 2 netbooks to come out, either to get one or take advantage of a price drops"

Yeah wait on the Ion 2's. Although with the 1201n it's weird. They moved from the dual core 330 to the single core n450. Not as powerful but longer battery life. They also downgraded both the ram and hdd from 2 gigs and 250 gigs to 1 and 160. It is getting the switchable Ion 2 graphics so I'm assuming a long battery life, but in general windows computing performance on the older 1201n is probably faster considering it uses the dual core atom and Ion all the time, instead of turning them on only when needed.

http://www.netbookreviews.net/asus/eee-pc-1201pn/

[Edited on March 12, 2010 at 2:26 PM. Reason : f]

3/12/2010 2:08:39 PM

Any way to give your desktop a scroll bar so you can access buttons at the bottom of fixed size windows? I use a form software for work that most of the dialog boxes run off the bottom of the screen and I cant click save.

3/12/2010 2:28:12 PM

^yeah i ran into that problem when i had the 1024 by 600 resolution on the NC10. Although it had an option to switch to 1024 by 768 to see the windows, then switch back. I guess your only options are to try to re-size the window or maybe hide the taskbar?

-or maybe alt-s would get you to the save button?

V well since this is a netbook thread i don't see how OSX is relevant.

[Edited on March 12, 2010 at 2:37 PM. Reason : s]

3/12/2010 2:35:46 PM

I know you can in Mac OS X but not sure about windows.

3/12/2010 2:36:30 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/tsa-netbooks-e-readers-and-ipads-can-be-kept-inside-bags-durin/

YES!!! I hate taking my netbook out of my bag.

4/8/2010 9:54:52 AM

ok so i'm looking to get a netbook within the next few weeks. what's the best option out there? i don't really want to spend more than $500 and mainly just need it for surfing the net and maybe storing my music (although i might have too much so it could stay on my ipod if needed). i would also like to open and revise word documents. i wasn't sure how limited i would be with windows starter but i know i could always upgrade. any help is appreciated!

4/29/2010 3:41:26 PM

^well, I'm currently hunting eCost and other refurbished warehouses for good deals. I don't care about anything except battery life - I'm already aware how slow it's going to be and I'm not planning on doing anything serious (much like yourself.)

I saw a 10" ASUS with N450 and 14hour battery life last week for $239. Should have pounced but I was too slow and they sold out Get on the eCost hotsheet and hit up Geeks.com if you'd like to check this route - you'll have a solid deal within 2 weeks.

Also, look for a model with the BroadcomHD or ION chipset. They're the only graphics sets (that I know of) that will hardware accelerate flash video - which means without it no HD flash video for you. Of course we're gonna want to plug up and watch HULU or something so make sure it's packin'

EDIT:

Here's some deals that are running today that look tempting:
http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=54997184&source=EWB042910EML&cm_mmc=Exact%20Target-_-Hotsheet-_-Recertified%20Blowout-_-None&cm_em=mattbeitzel@hotmail.com
It has a 7200RPM drive - very rare on a netbook, but the speed boost is definitely there.

[Edited on April 29, 2010 at 4:09 PM. Reason : a]

4/29/2010 4:03:01 PM

^
That's a good deal, although I'm a little iffy when it comes to buying something like that refurbished. What are the best brands for netbooks? I figure I would stay away from anything like emachines and gateway. I've heard good things about Toshiba. Anything else?

4/30/2010 9:36:01 AM

Asus e-PCs are great.

Quote :

"I saw a 10" ASUS with N450 and 14hour battery life last week for $239. Should have pounced but I was too slow and they sold out Get on the eCost hotsheet and hit up Geeks.com if you'd like to check this route - you'll have a solid deal within 2 weeks."

My dad picked up one of those a couple months ago and loves it. The battery life is insane compared to my Asus 1201n.

Quote :

"Also, look for a model with the BroadcomHD or ION chipset. "

Yeah highly recommend that. Big speed boost. I don't really notice any slowness when doing basic stuff. Photoshop even runs great as well as some older games. I'd personally wait for pinetrail + an Ion 2 to come out.

4/30/2010 11:13:47 AM

http://www.officemax.com/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=22135066&cm_mmc=Shopping-_-Te chnology-_-Computers-_-Netbook%20Computers&srccode=cii_13736960&cpncode=24-8 1498667-2
$250 11.6" netbook. I just bought a 10.1" netbook, so I can't use the deal, maybe someone else can.

There is a coupon for phone orders that can be use to take off $40 on $200 purchases.
PHONE ORDERS ONLY.
CODE: 169390210315
EXP: 5/1/2010

[Edited on April 30, 2010 at 3:25 PM. Reason : .,.]

4/30/2010 3:24:04 PM

^shitty netbook. "up to four hours of battery life". Not even a district GPU? There's $299 netbooks with 12-14 hour battery life out now.

4/30/2010 3:29:54 PM

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00303G9G8/ref=oss_product

i bought this yesterday. not a bad deal considering it's around $350 in stores. I also signed up for a free trial of Amazon prime to get overnight shipping for $3.99

5/4/2010 11:27:50 AM

good riddance netbooks

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/05/06/how-the-ipad-gobbles-up-netbook-sales/

5/6/2010 11:09:59 AM

the relative explosion and decline of netbooks shows, i think, that notebook makers weren't really listening to their customers for a while. you see far more variety today in laptop products than you did a few years ago. once they got past the "customization only means case color" mentality, you've seen variety that's a lot more meaningful.

5/6/2010 11:14:39 AM

personally, i find the variety in notebooks to be pointless, gimmicky differentiation. i was recently considering giving my MBP to my wife and getting a new windows laptop, but there wasn't a single model at best buy that i would even consider buying.

for example, asus seems to make reliable hardware, but look at all these models
U30 Series
UL80 Series
F6 Series
UL50 Series
UL30 Series
U20 Series
N10 Series
U6 Series
F70 Series
N71 Series
N61 Series
M51 Series
M60 Series
N70 Series
N90 Series
X71 Series
G72 Series
G73 Series
G51 Series
G71 Series
K61 Series
K52 Series
K42 Series
K70 Series
F50 Series
F80 Series
K40 Series
K50 Series
N20 Series
N50 Series
N51 Series
N80 Series
N81 Series
B80 Series
B50 Series

i mean, i don't know what the hell i'm looking at here, and this is just one manufacturer


netbooks were popular b/c #1 they were cheap. for the most part though they are all underpowered pieces of crap


[Edited on May 6, 2010 at 11:24 AM. Reason : .]

5/6/2010 11:20:07 AM

Quote :

"for the most part though they are all underpowered pieces of crap"

How so? I wouldn't say underpowered. Newer netbooks with a pinetrail processor and an ion chip offer 10-14 hour battery life and are quite zippy in doing tasks considering so much software is moving to gpu acceleration. They handle high bitrate 1080p HD video just fine with HDMI out, and run most other programs fine for sub $300-400. I can't see how that's a bad deal.

I could never imagine doing anything I do on my netbook on a tablet/iPad. Maybe if i had the external keyboard. I use it for photoshop, an HD portable home theatre PC, and playing some older games while traveling. I guess the line is just blurring between laptops and netbooks with all the new ULV Laptops coming out.

5/6/2010 12:07:49 PM

Does anyone know of a cheap netbook with a matte screen running XP? We have one of those giant LED billboard signs at work and I really get tired of bringing my laptop in whenever we need to change it. It runs off of a Serial cable & I just use a Serial to USB adapter. I do all image editing on my desktop. I really just want something that I can use to upload the images so there are no special needs other than the matte screen (now I have to pull my car to the sign and sit inside since all of my stuff uses glossy screens now). Any ideas?

5/13/2010 4:26:53 PM

haven't looked at the more recent netbooks, but have considered a nice one with the ION graphics. Haven't heard too much about the ION2 yet. What should I look for and from what manufactures? I've had my eye on the HP 311's, but haven't really seen the dual core atom's on it. I'd like to do simple office tasks, maybe some light photoshop work and casual gaming when needed. I'd like to keep it simple and under the $400 mark.

5/13/2010 10:54:06 PM

Netbooks will be a small anomaly in computer history. They only exist because phones are not powerful enough, a good laptop is too expensive, and the ipad wasnt out yet.

In fact, they are already a footnote since the only people who have them are the cheapest of nerds.

5/13/2010 11:02:13 PM

Wow, such an insightful post 11 pages in. We'll just ignore how many normal people have bought them for their kids, parents/grandparents, & themselves because it's cheap and all they need. These are the same people that don't own smartphones or, if they do, are completely unaware of what they're capable of. iPad will definitely cut out sales (as will the cheaper notebooks available now) but for now they're definitely more than a niche and anyone that looks at the sheer magnitude of choices would be pretty dense to consider them a footnote.

5/13/2010 11:56:38 PM

^^ I know plenty of nerds who have 5k+ desktop machines running triple and quad SLI 295 and the new 480's who have netbooks. Net books offer something simple and easy on a bigger screen with a keyboard than a smart phone and the stupid ipad's. If the ipad ran a fully functional OS then i would consider it, but since I'd like something functional for business work and not spend $$$, a net book makes since.

I have an old 17" dell laptop that I still use and its still a power house, but its becoming too bulky and big for daily tasks. I also plan on grabbing the new 4g EVO from spring this summer so it should go well together with my uses.

5/14/2010 11:40:50 PM

huge e-peens ITT

5/15/2010 10:56:41 PM

Netbooks make total sense for someone like me, in my opinion. For 60% of the price, you can get a lot more capability than an iPad (more computing power, multitasking, USB ports, a keyboard...)

I travel a LOT (military deployments, taking a jet on the road for the weekend, going to pick up and drop off my daughter once 1x each every other month, weekends in Raleigh, etc). Lots of time I have limited space (rucksack or helmet bag, or motorcycle saddlebags, or my S2000).

I have an iPhone 3GS, and that will do the trick 90% of the time, but sometimes it's helpful to have a "real" computer.

I am probably going to buy a new, nicer computer when I get home from this deployment, and I'm thinking about an iMac. I pretty much only use my computer for email/internet/playing mp3 files/storing pictures...but I want to assemble a home recording setup when I get home, and probably use Logic. I don't care or need to cart an expensive Mac around (even if I bought a Macbook), and I don't need serious computing capability for anything I'll do away from my house.


___________________
break, break:
___________________


What're the suggestions for best deals on a netbook? I want the following:

-Windows 7
-1.3MP or better webcam
-6+ cell battery

processor capability and RAM are also nice to haves, but I don't need world-beating netbook computing power just to surf the web.

Is an "n"-wireless card something I should really care about, or is a "g" fine? Obviously the "n" can be a lot faster, but how often would a "g" ever be the bottleneck?

5/24/2010 5:26:55 PM

my fiancée and i are looking to get a netbook to take with us on our honeymoon so that we can review/edit pictures we take and then do the usual web surfing...i can't deal with the netbooks that are less than 10", but the 10" ones ARE fine...i'm torn between going as cheap as possible and getting a used unit for $100-150 off CL, or spending a bit more and getting something nicer (dual-core atom or nvidia ion or whatever)...suggestions? what's the best bang-for-your-buck netbook right now and do you think it'll still be a good value come august?

5/25/2010 8:20:55 AM

Toshiba makes some nice netbook like laptops with a real low voltage intel cpu in it that's a lot faster than the atoms starting around $400 that would fit the bill. I think they are 13" laptops. Personally, I'd probably look for a nice dual core atom netbook that's 10" with windows 7, 6+ cell battery that can last 10 hours, and the ion graphics chipset.

5/25/2010 11:03:41 PM

I'm assuming that some places will have deals for Memorial Day (even for online orders), so I guess I'll wait until then to order anything.

5/26/2010 12:00:56 PM