Love This Netbook...

[Cujobob]

So I finally got around to picking up a netbook and I've gotta say, its a must-have. The Asus 1005HA gets enough battery life to last a full day's use without having to be charged (which means, overnight charging).

Tiny screen and won't do a lot of games...but if you can live with that, its the ultimate laptop. I've owned a few laptops...Powerbook, a few Macbooks and several windows-based offerings. None were truly portable or 'laptops' in any way.

Haven't seen a lot written about them on here so thought I'd start a topic.

[dvenardos]

Here is the link:

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/product1005ha.html

[the7comeback7kid]

Bought my Madre an asus netbook. She loves it. They are great.

[Stereodude]

I hate my netbook. It's an underpowered unusable pile of crap with too few pixels on the screen. When I first got it I was in love, but that love turned to hate the more I used it.

[Rondar]

I bought the 1000 model netbook earlier this year. Also I purchased an Altel modem so I could take it with me out on the tractor with me this summer. Yes its small but that is why I bought it. For what I needed it works great. Took it with us to las vegas and used it. That alone saved us 14 bucks a day, as that is what they wanted for internet hookup at the hotels.

No it wont run many games and big programs but I wanted to use mine for watching my scottrade account during the day all summer long. It worked fine and great for that. Some places we farm didnt have good wireless coverage so it didnt work well there, but overall had good luck.

As mentioned, they can have great battery life. Also, the small size and weight make it easy to take with you. I did buy an inverter as I spend 12 hours in the tractor and stuff, and when markets were over I would scan the internet for stuff or watch a movie or two that I had put on the usb stick.

[Cujobob]

I don't know which versions you guys have...but some netbooks are certainly better than others. While the resolution issue Seth mentioned is certainly a factor to consider, I wouldn't say that is an issue for most considering the purpose netbooks are really designed for (at this point in time).

My brother in law has a Gateway with a nice processor and an ATI gpu which is nice, though no 802.11N, integrated bluetooth, and battery life is considerably less than the model I have.

I think after a few more variations come out, you'll see some truly incredible netbooks available. As solid state HDDs improve/cheapen, performance will increase even more. I've heard there is a dual core netbook in development and I'm sure 2GB or more RAM will be standard soon.

The most impressive thing, for me, is the battery life. I (or my girlfriend for a long while) browsed the internet and watched videos for nearly 9 hours last night without charging. I've owned wonderful laptops costing $3,000+ in the past, but having to be plugged in relegated it to desktop duty the majority of the time. The small screen is nice for web-browsing, as I find that its the perfect size to view a browser in.

I'm getting my Touch Pro 2 in soon which can tether, so no matter where I go I'll have internet...looking forward to that. The IPhone can tether with certain apps, but the battery life is horrid. Looking forward to getting rid of ATT (off topic obviously)...and I found a way to get a corporate account with a 20% discount :thumbsup:

[SomeCiscoGuy]

I had an ASUS netbook earlier this year for about two (2) weeks before I sold it. Concept is great and many people love them, but it didn't work for me for the following reasons:

1. Keyboard - just too small for me;
2. Processing power (obviously this has/is getting better, but at the time...);
3. "Reason to own" - I thought I would find a good use for it, but I kept finding myself going back to my other laptops and desktops.

No question there is a strong market for them, they're just not for me (yet).

[m-fine]

I am having a hard time finding value in todays netbooks as well. When it comes to weight size and general portability my iphone blows any netbook away. When I want to do something the iPhone can not do or can't do well, the netbook doesn't cut it either and I go for a traditional laptop or desktop.

Give me a thinner lighter notebook(tablet?) with a usable KB, 15" screen and decent CPU memory and SSD storage, and longer bettery life for a main PC and an ever improving smartphone for my ultra mobile. You can keep the netbooks which are either oversized or undercapable

[Cujobob]

1. Keyboard - just too small for me

The Asus keyboard I'm using is nearly the same as a Macbook keyboard I have laying around, but I don't know if they changed that in recent models or not. I have read that many other netbooks really shrink things down and that the new Asus models had one of the best keyboards available.

As to the other points mentioned, I'd agree that they are a niche product in some respects. Many people have computers at their jobs or settle for using their phones which are much easier to drag around, though battery life can't match what these new models put out.

[Stereodude]

The 11.6" CULV based notebooks offer much better performance on a near netbook price. You can get a Core2Duo @ 1.3gHz (SU4100) processor, a much better graphics core (GMA4500), and a higher res screen (1366 x 768) without giving up much battery life in a similar size and weight package. Once the Acer 1810TZ comes out in the US (supposedly drops with Win 7 on Oct 22) I'm selling my netbook (Samsung N120) to a coworker and I plan to buy one for an actually useful small light notebook.

[zx10guy]

I don't understand this ground swell over Netbooks. To me Netbooks are nothing but toys. I had THE ultimate portable laptop at my last job. It was a Fujitsu P7230...I think that's the model number. The Fujitsu had a 10.6" wide screen, Core Dual 2 GHz Intel processor, 2 GB of DDR2 memory, 80 GB HD, DVD burner, PC Card interface, 2 USB ports, 1 Firewire, and biometric reader. Now that is a full featured laptop that is very portable and still very functional. The only drawback was the price which was stratospheric at $2800.

Sony had a TT laptop which had a 11-12" wide screen with specs very much like the Fujitsu except with faster and more modern GPU and CPU. The big draw for me was that it had a Blu Ray burner built in along with an HDMI port and an Express Card slot. Again the draw back was a high price. The other Sony computer I was interested in was an ultra portable which had a slide up 4.5" LCD touch screen that ran full XP and Vista. Both of these have been discontinued for the US market.

I was budgeting for the Sony TT but now I'm back to looking for a real full function ultra portable laptop.

[Mep]

They are cheap, do just enough to have a purpose and have a long battery life.

I bought a laptop resently and was very serious about getting a netbook instead. In the end functionality won over ultra small size. Still that 8 hour battery life is tempting.

[Cujobob]

I played with my netbook all day while watching a variety of baseball and football games...over 8 hours unplugged of nonstop use. Few current laptops can do that, I guess it just fits my purposes rather well. Great for college courses and lounging around the house.

The lack of a DVD rom I was concerned about, but really I think it's advantageous. The slim external drives take no space up in a bag, are unnecessary 95% of the time, and are cheap to replace should something go wrong.

The lack of heat is extremely nice too...these can actually be used ON your lap.