Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook

*Timmie* · 25-09-2009

I just posted the article Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook.

Quote:

Learn what you should know when buying a Laptop or Netbook, and read these 5 tips!

Read the full article here: http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/2036...op-or-netbook/

Feel free to add your comments below.

Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.

Bakst0ne · 25-09-2009

Thanks for this guide! I'm looking for a notebook, and I'm considering buying a netbook - the price is very attractive! Do you, or anyone else, have tips or models they would recommend? From what I can see, the specs of most netbooks seem to be almost the same!

geraldoconnor · 25-09-2009

Excellent article! I, for one, have a tendency to buy more "zoomers and wizzers" than I will ever need or use. Obviously, this drives up the purchase price. We all know this, but your 5 TIPS are a good reminder. WELL DONE.

CCRomeo · 25-09-2009

Note some laptops are becoming like large netbooks; with optical drives, long battery life but slow CPUs; fine if that is what you plan to use it for.

**Seán** · 25-09-2009

Most Netbooks do indeed have the same or very similar spec when it comes to RAM, CPU and hard disk. The main things that differ are the screen size (8.9" to 10.2"), speakers and the battery life. For example, the Acer Aspire One and Samsung N120 have the same Atom N270 CPU, 160GB HDD and 1GB RAM, but the Samsung N120 has better speakers, larger screen (10.2" vs 8.9"), much longer battery life (up to 9Hr vs 3Hr) and a larger keyboard.

One thing in common with most Netbooks is that they run Windows XP and the performance feels a lot better than many entry level laptops running Windows Vista, at least every one I've used. For example, my Samsung N120 fully boots from the power button to the desktop with HDD activity stopped in 50 seconds. Generally I put it in hibernate, in which case it is ready to use in a couple of seconds, much like a full size laptop getting out of hibernation. From my experience, most applications run just as smooth as on a full size laptop, obviously except anything CPU or memory intensive, such as a graphics suite, video editor, etc. For video, it plays pretty much everything including H.264 up to 1280x720 with smooth video.

As the Atom CPUs used in Netbooks are quite limited, if you do get one, be very careful which software you install that loads on startup or which runs in the background. For example, Skype is quite hefty and can add around 25 seconds to the boot-time alone! A workaround is to configure each software to not automatically start with Windows and this way you can manually run the software as you need it.

I would not worry too much about hard disk space, as 160GB can hold quite a lot. Just don't dump your entire movie collection on it! If you need additional storage, get a 2.5" HDD, which is self-powered by USB. An external Western Digital 500GB passport is about half the size of DVD holder.

The screen will take a little while to get use to due to its lower resolution. Despite the myth that the writing will be tiny, I find it very comfortable to read the text on my Samsung 10.2" netbook. However, after using an Aspire One with an 8.9" screen, I do find the writing on its display a little too small for my comfort. The resolution of nearly all Netbooks (8.9" to 10.2") is 1024x600, which is the same horizontal resolution of 15" PC LCD monitors, so the vast majority of websites display fine on it without the need to scroll left/right. Due to the narrower height, it's best to avoid installing toolbars. The best browser from my experience on a netbook is Google Chrome, where the header contains nothing more than the tabs in the title bar and the address bar below it, leaving plenty of viewing area for displaying webpages, probably as much vertical viewing area as using Firefox without toolbars on a regular 1280x768 laptop display.

For travelling, especially on holidays, a Netbook is a lot more travel friendly. As they are around 1.5kg lighter than full size laptops, this is a huge weight reduction in a carry-bag, especially in an airport. It's also more comfortable to use on a bus or plane and the lengthy battery of some (e.g. my Samsung N120) means that it will run most of the day. At home, I occasionally use mine as a portable TV, using DVBViewer to stream satellite TV from my desktop.

The following shows a rough size comparison between a 15.4" laptop and a 10.2" netbook when placed on top of each other:

Netbook_vs_Laptop.jpg

Despite the size difference, the distance between the left of the 'A' key and the right of the ';' key of my desktop PC keyboard is about 18.5cm. The same measurement on Samsung N120 is also about 18.5cm! The main keys made smaller are the 2 far-right keys on each row.

The following gives an idea of how the viewing width compares between the two while on the forum index. This also gives an idea of how much smaller the the writing size is, since the forum has a fixed width:

laptop_15_vs_10_width.jpg

**mciahel** · 25-09-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seán

If you need additional storage, get a 2.5" HDD, which is self-powered by USB.

Any USB powered 2.5" HDD overloads the USB port it is connected to quite heavily. Reliability is something different. Worst case scenario is a fried USB controller.

Michael

**Seán** · 25-09-2009

It seems like the Samsung and older 7" EEE must have robust USB controllers, as I've often used two at the same time

, but then again I never had an issue.

**mciahel** · 25-09-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seán

It seems like the Samsung and older 7" EEE must have robust USB controllers, as I've often used two at the same time

, but then again I never had an issue.

You were lucky then

Checking the specs of randomly chosen 2.5" HDDs, you will find that they draw about 1000 mA during spinup. An USB port is specified to feed 500 mA if requested by the device.

Michael

*DrageMester* · 25-09-2009

[Off-topic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mciahel

Any USB powered 2.5" HDD overloads the USB port it is connected to quite heavily. Reliability is something different. Worst case scenario is a fried USB controller.

I never had a USB controller fry or heard of anyone experiencing this problem. It sounds like a mostly theoretical or very rare problem.

I have experienced some combinations of 2.5" drives and USB ports that won't let the drive spin up, however.

I have also experienced write corruption on SD flash memory in a cardreader connected by USB while a 2.5" USB harddrive was connected to the same USB controller, because the cardreader didn't get enough voltage or current when the harddrive was attached.

*deanimator* · 25-09-2009

ON-topic,

but still talking about USB ports...

When buying a Netbook, check how many ports it has. Most seem to have just two, while only a few have three. I find I need three quite often.

*DiiZzY* · 26-09-2009

If you want durability get a business laptop, it's more expensive and usually offers less bells and whistles but works way better in the end and battery life is by far better than useless consumer laptops.
//Danne

CCRomeo · 26-09-2009

Look for a Notebook or Netbook with most if not all ports on the right or left sides not in the back (hard to use) or front (hard to use on a stand).at least 3 USB ports four if you use a mouse. Be sure it can updraded easly with additional RAM and a new HDD.

If used mostly like a desktop, get a stand; runs cooler and better for typing. A 2nd power supply is more usefull than a 2nd battery. Get or make a set of recovery discs ASAP.

*deanimator* · 26-09-2009

BTW, did you know that a licensing agreement between Microsoft and the netbook manufacturers means that netbook hardware is limited to less than 1.6GHz/1GB RAM/160GB, if they are running XP. If the manufacturer wants to offer the consumer a higher spec´d netbook, then they are required to install Vista!

*BussyB* · 28-09-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by deanimator

BTW, did you know that a licensing agreement between Microsoft and the netbook manufacturers means that netbook hardware is limited to less than 1.6GHz/1GB RAM/160GB, if they are running XP. If the manufacturer wants to offer the consumer a higher spec´d netbook, then they are required to install Vista!

Yeah I've heard about it. I'm curious whether the introduction of Windows7 will finally leed to a '2nd' generation of netbooks (that are still reasonable priced).

dcampbe · 28-01-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by mciahel

You were lucky then

Checking the specs of randomly chosen 2.5" HDDs, you will find that they draw about 1000 mA during spinup. An USB port is specified to feed 500 mA if requested by the device.

Michael

A 'y' USB power cable works wonders.

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/adet.to?poid=438342

**mciahel** · 28-01-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcampbe

A 'y' USB power cable works wonders.

By accident. Sometimes. It gives another 100mA, and it's not specs-compliant.

Quote:

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/adet.to?poid=438342

The "user reviews" there are very promising

Michael

25-09-2009	#4
CCRomeo Retired Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: The quiet NE corner of Connecticut, USA Posts: 5,036	Re: Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook Note some laptops are becoming like large netbooks; with optical drives, long battery life but slow CPUs; fine if that is what you plan to use it for. __________________ Panasonic DMR ES25 with DiMax Grex Sima GoDVD CT-200 two Scintific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVRs New home built Asus mainboard,AMD Phenom II X4 3.0Ghz, 8Gb Ram, 2x 1Tb HDD, 2 DVD burners, Sapphire Vapor-x video card. Acer Aspire 6530G 16" (820Gb total HDD space) on a wireless home network Asus Eee PC 1000HE 10.1" (upgraded to 2Gb Ram and 320Gb HDD, Asus external DVD burner) DVD Burners: Liteon: SHW-160P6S, 165H6SLH-20A1P, LH-18A1P; Sony DRU-120C, AWQ170A-B2 DVD Players: Panasonic 2x DVD S52, DVD S1; Philips DVP5140/37DVP642/17, Magnavox MWD200G Others: WD, Roku, kworld Media Players, Plextor ConvertX PX-M402U, Toshiba VCRs W808 SVHS, W704 VHS click here to become a member of cdfreaks.com

25-09-2009	#5
Seán Senior Administrator & Reviewer Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Republic of Ireland (North West) Posts: 9,654	Re: Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook Most Netbooks do indeed have the same or very similar spec when it comes to RAM, CPU and hard disk. The main things that differ are the screen size (8.9" to 10.2"), speakers and the battery life. For example, the Acer Aspire One and Samsung N120 have the same Atom N270 CPU, 160GB HDD and 1GB RAM, but the Samsung N120 has better speakers, larger screen (10.2" vs 8.9"), much longer battery life (up to 9Hr vs 3Hr) and a larger keyboard. One thing in common with most Netbooks is that they run Windows XP and the performance feels a lot better than many entry level laptops running Windows Vista, at least every one I've used. For example, my Samsung N120 fully boots from the power button to the desktop with HDD activity stopped in 50 seconds. Generally I put it in hibernate, in which case it is ready to use in a couple of seconds, much like a full size laptop getting out of hibernation. From my experience, most applications run just as smooth as on a full size laptop, obviously except anything CPU or memory intensive, such as a graphics suite, video editor, etc. For video, it plays pretty much everything including H.264 up to 1280x720 with smooth video. As the Atom CPUs used in Netbooks are quite limited, if you do get one, be very careful which software you install that loads on startup or which runs in the background. For example, Skype is quite hefty and can add around 25 seconds to the boot-time alone! A workaround is to configure each software to not automatically start with Windows and this way you can manually run the software as you need it. I would not worry too much about hard disk space, as 160GB can hold quite a lot. Just don't dump your entire movie collection on it! If you need additional storage, get a 2.5" HDD, which is self-powered by USB. An external Western Digital 500GB passport is about half the size of DVD holder. The screen will take a little while to get use to due to its lower resolution. Despite the myth that the writing will be tiny, I find it very comfortable to read the text on my Samsung 10.2" netbook. However, after using an Aspire One with an 8.9" screen, I do find the writing on its display a little too small for my comfort. The resolution of nearly all Netbooks (8.9" to 10.2") is 1024x600, which is the same horizontal resolution of 15" PC LCD monitors, so the vast majority of websites display fine on it without the need to scroll left/right. Due to the narrower height, it's best to avoid installing toolbars. The best browser from my experience on a netbook is Google Chrome, where the header contains nothing more than the tabs in the title bar and the address bar below it, leaving plenty of viewing area for displaying webpages, probably as much vertical viewing area as using Firefox without toolbars on a regular 1280x768 laptop display. For travelling, especially on holidays, a Netbook is a lot more travel friendly. As they are around 1.5kg lighter than full size laptops, this is a huge weight reduction in a carry-bag, especially in an airport. It's also more comfortable to use on a bus or plane and the lengthy battery of some (e.g. my Samsung N120) means that it will run most of the day. At home, I occasionally use mine as a portable TV, using DVBViewer to stream satellite TV from my desktop. The following shows a rough size comparison between a 15.4" laptop and a 10.2" netbook when placed on top of each other: Netbook_vs_Laptop.jpg Despite the size difference, the distance between the left of the 'A' key and the right of the ';' key of my desktop PC keyboard is about 18.5cm. The same measurement on Samsung N120 is also about 18.5cm! The main keys made smaller are the 2 far-right keys on each row. The following gives an idea of how the viewing width compares between the two while on the forum index. This also gives an idea of how much smaller the the writing size is, since the forum has a fixed width: laptop_15_vs_10_width.jpg Last edited by Seán; 25-09-2009 at 20:39. Reason: Added another image

25-09-2009	#7
Seán Senior Administrator & Reviewer Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Republic of Ireland (North West) Posts: 9,654	Re: Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook It seems like the Samsung and older 7" EEE must have robust USB controllers, as I've often used two at the same time , but then again I never had an issue.

25-09-2009	#10
deanimator MyCE Resident Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Between a rock and a ...bar (usually nearer the bar than the rock) Posts: 6,867	Re: Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook ON-topic, but still talking about USB ports... When buying a Netbook, check how many ports it has. Most seem to have just two, while only a few have three. I find I need three quite often. __________________ ATTENTION THIEVES...I have stuff for you: Dell Vostro 1400 laptop, 2.0 GHz dual core, 3 GB RAM, Vertex 2 60GB SSD, W7 Ultimate, internal Litey clone, external Lite-On 1635SU, & a BenQ EW 164B, numerous external HDDs by Trekstor, Transcend & WD (total about 4TB). ...and a PC with i7-2600k, 12Gb RAM, Crucial M4 128GB SSD & 2TB HDD, W7 Ultimate, and a Dell Ultrasharp U2410 monitor. Canon iP4600 printer, Canon 4200F scanner, Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 (32GB) phone. GoPro Hero camera. Canon G12 and Canon 5D MkII cameras. Assorted mountain and road racing bikes (one is as pink as this font!) , and a slightly scuffed black BMW 316i coupé to impress chicks with... Oh, and bars, locks, electrified door handles, alarms, video surveillance...& sometimes a hungry dog hangs out there too.What else: Feel free to join my fan club on Facebook as "Dean Nixon Photographer" and on Instagram as "instamann" (just add beer...!).Click here to get to Mordor! Get AnyDVD CloneDVD2 CloneCD here, and don´t forget to read The Rules.

26-09-2009	#11
DiiZzY MyCE Resident Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Nordic Region, Sweden Posts: 3,676	Re: Five tips on buying a Laptop or Netbook If you want durability get a business laptop, it's more expensive and usually offers less bells and whistles but works way better in the end and battery life is by far better than useless consumer laptops. //Danne

Today
Mr. Adbot Register to remove me Join Date: Today Location: Myce HQ Posts: Zillions

25-09-2009	#2
Bakst0ne MyCE Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 92	Thanks for this guide! I'm looking for a notebook, and I'm considering buying a netbook - the price is very attractive! Do you, or anyone else, have tips or models they would recommend? From what I can see, the specs of most netbooks seem to be almost the same!

25-09-2009	#3
geraldoconnor New on Forum Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 1	Excellent article! I, for one, have a tendency to buy more "zoomers and wizzers" than I will ever need or use. Obviously, this drives up the purchase price. We all know this, but your 5 TIPS are a good reminder. WELL DONE.

Today
Adbot Always the best offers Join Date: Today Location: Myce HQ Posts: Zillions

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Difference between Pioneer 215d and 216bk ( Buying tips for Pioneer DVR-215D)	Wii	CD, DVD and Blu-ray Writers	3	23-10-2008 01:48
Help needed in buying a laptop	mickscool	Newbie Forum	3	29-07-2005 10:28
Any tips for buying DVD writer and media?	ha107900	Newbie Forum	12	28-12-2004 23:27
tips for buying liteon 812 + installation	mcbyte	LiteOn / PLDS / Sony Writer	9	16-06-2004 14:27
buying a new writer, tips welcome	kontra	General Hardware Forum	1	10-11-2002 01:07