Opinions on new netbook

[Prototype]

So, I'm selling my old Acer Aspire One D250, and upgrading to the Toshiba NB205-N230
Newegg.com - TOSHIBA NB205-N230 Black Onyx Intel Atom N280(1.66GHz) 10.1" WSVGA 1GB Memory 250GB HDD Netbook - Netbooks

Just wondering if anyone has this netbook, or knows of any netbooks that have the same specs, for cheaper, or something just as good.

Oh, and I will most definitely be dumping Win7 Starter (blech) to give Jolicloud a try, and if that doesn't work out, Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[mfo]

So, I'm selling my old Acer Aspire One D250, and upgrading to the Toshiba NB205-N230
Newegg.com - TOSHIBA NB205-N230 Black Onyx Intel Atom N280(1.66GHz) 10.1" WSVGA 1GB Memory 250GB HDD Netbook - Netbooks

Just wondering if anyone has this netbook, or knows any netbooks that have the same specs, for cheaper, or something just as good.

Oh, and I will most definitely be dumping Win7 Starter (blech) to give Jolicloud a try, and if that doesn't work out, Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

Thanks for any opinions.

That's a very good price for such a netbook. However if you wish to run Win7 on there, you might want to throw some more RAM in there. It definitely seems like a very good deal though...

 

[rpaloalto]

That looks like a sweet little netbook
I love netbooks, because most are more then powerful to run everyday normal Apps.
Yet their small enough, and light enough, to truly take anywhere.
And at that price, if you break it, or it's stolen, you wont be crying.

I have a dell mini 9 running OS X leopard. I have yet to try win 7, on it.
It came with XP, and was completely unusable. I tried Ubuntu and it worked great, But decided to just to use OS X since thats my main choice of OS.

 

[Prototype]

I've considered Ubuntu, and it's between it and Jolicloud (thanks website that completed tests on WinXP, Win7, Slax, Ubuntu, Jolicloud, and Moblin who's name escapes me right now) they seem to be the best at memory management/ease of use.

 

[iskor12]

ok....one thing that I have found is that ubuntu doesn't seem to have good Intel graphic drivers.

Outside of that, it all looks good.

 

[jwc]

I've considered Ubuntu... they seem to be the best at memory management/ease of use.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Man, you brought tears to my eyes.

Ubuntu is based off of Debian. Debian is notorious for implementing a ton of absolutely unnecessary services on their default installations. These services waste a ton of resources. Ubuntu takes it a step further by adding even more bloat to the system. Now, for an average computer, the developers can get away with this kind of thing even though it's bad practice. But netbooks are very different. The reason why they can be so cheap and so small is because they are designed for unitasking. Having an operating system that runs a ton of services which occasionally get woken up means that your experience will not be smooth.

Anyways, you're best off with a Linux distribution that focuses on minimalism. Of course, you've probably already heard me trumpet Arch Linux enough, but there are also other distributions like Mint (Main Page - Linux Mint) which are a little more friendly to someone who hasn't used Linux before.

Oh, one other thing: memory management doesn't necessarily mean using the least amount of memory. A typical Linux-based operating system will use much more memory than Windows XP, but the way in which it uses memory efficiently allows it to cache files that it anticipates you'll use to memory.

iskor12: This is a major problem between different distributions of Linux. Ubuntu is still using an old version of the X graphical subsystem. That old version has drivers that barely function correctly. However, the new version of X has much better Intel drivers. I have an Intel GMA 965 on my laptop and I can play 3D games, use Compiz, etc. very easily. A lot of people give Intel a lot of crap for how bad their graphics accelerator line is, but when you run it on a minimalist Linux distro using their newest drivers (which are better than the drivers for Windows), you probably wouldn't be able to say that at all.

ArchLinux always has the newest versions of software (they package things literally hours after new versions are released), so I get to enjoy excellent graphics support.

 

[mfo]

Just go with Win7.

 

[pwnstar]

If you can't find the netbook you want with 2gb of ram you can alway upgrade the ram later if it is upgradeable. I would also recommend one that has a Solid State Drive. If they have a SSD they can boot up in less than 30 seconds and get up to 8 hours of battery life. SSD are usually small capacity (under 20GB), but I took the sacrifice for the sake of speed and battery, I love it.

IMO these all should have SSD because the point is convenience. I think its more convenient not to have to charge it twice a day, rather than being able to store every song ever made. But it all comes down to personal preference. If you are going to use it to store pictures, SSD lacks the space and isn't the way to go.

This is what I have
Amazon.com: ASUS Eee PC 901 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 12 GB Solid State Drive) Fine Ebony: Computer & Accessories

I bought it from amazon last year when it was only 270$ shipped! It is a great model, but looks like the price went up 60$

 

[Traveller]

So, I'm selling my old Acer Aspire One D250, and upgrading to the Toshiba NB205-N230...

Tbh, I'm not really fond of the Atom and although it's not officially sold under the Netbook label, I can highly recommend the Acer 1410/1810TZ series.

Although you can expect to pay ~$450 for the basic model, you are getting a much more powerful CPU and a luxurious 11.6" panel, all in a Netbook-sized package. This puppy will go for up to 7~8hrs on one charge (lite surfing, med brightness, BT / Ethernet off, etc.)

Mine is the ultimate setup (imo, of course). It's white (to hide fingerprints) and comes with a built-in 3G (WWAN) module. BT is also included.

Here's my review, if you're interested :beer: