Netbooks

[Turki Azamat]

I'm looking at getting a cheap, but reliable netbook.

I want at least:

512mb RAM
5gb HDD
RJ45 port
2x USB ports
9inch screen
3 hour battery life

I could care less about the operating system, as I'll be nuking it for either Gentoo or Mint anyway.

I'm really looking for as cheap as I can, I don't really have a budget, but I need it to be as cheap as it can.

I want it to just do the basics:

Firefox
Mail
Text Editor
IRC

That's about it, so I don't need 8gigs of ram and a 3ghz quad core.

Oh and, I'm buying from the UK.

Thanks.

[GaynericMonk]

EeePc 1005HA.

Has all the specs you listed and more, has a fucking 10 hour battery life, and is pretty cheap compared to some other netbooks.

[butre]

Either Gentoo or Mint? That's an awfully wide spectrum you've got there.

The cheapest worthwhile netbook would be the Lenovo IdeaPad S10e.
But there a few cheaper ones with 800 MHz Celerons, but they're pretty terrible. If you ever have to compile anything on them you might as well just kill yourself since you're not going to live long enough to see the end of that.
There is another with a 250 MHz PPC that costs just under $75, but I can't remember where I found it.

There is also the OLPC laptops, but those are pretty hard to get now unless you're a starving Ethiopian.

[robmaister12]

I've got a 1005HA-MU17, it's got an atom @ 1.60GHz, 250GB HDD, 1GB RAM (soon to be 2GB :v:), 3 USB ports, an RJ45 port, a wireless N card, a 10.1" screen, and a 10 hour battery life.

Everything you wanted + more for only $340

[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220648[/url]

oh, and it says 8.5hr battery life, but on lowest settings, I've gotten 10+ hours battery life.

[editline]10:07PM[/editline]

oh and it comes pre-partitioned into two partitions, 100GB for windows 7 starter, 120GB for anything else. So if you wanted to dual-boot and keep windows 7 starter, then you can - otherwise, nuke it and install your own OS.

[MasterQuief]

[QUOTE=GaynericMonk;18972342]EeePc 1005HA.

Has all the specs you listed and more, has a fucking 10 hour battery life, and is pretty cheap compared to some other netbooks.[/QUOTE]

yea i'd go with this one^

[rieda1589]

Also note that battery life tends to be an hour lower in Linux than Windows.

I think it's because it doesn't scale the CPU frequency correctly, I'm sure it can be fixed.

[MetricMoose]

[QUOTE=rieda1589;18984299]Also note that battery life tends to be an hour lower in Linux than Windows.

I think it's because it doesn't scale the CPU frequency correctly, I'm sure it can be fixed.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, apparently the power management sucks. I was really close to putting some form of Linux on my netbook (Something quick booting when I didn't want to wait for Windows to start), though when a friend told me that, I backed down.

People are trying to get regular consumers to use Linux, though is it ready? No. Not even close.

[blackdenton]

I'm looking at getting one of those Asus EEEs. How do they run Win 7 with just 1 GB RAM? I'll probably have chrome with 7 tabs open max on it. Not that upgrading would be that expensive, but I don't really want to upgrade it right away.

[rieda1589]

[QUOTE=blackdenton;18995842]I'm looking at getting one of those Asus EEEs. How do they run Win 7 with just 1 GB RAM? I'll probably have chrome with 7 tabs open max on it. Not that upgrading would be that expensive, but I don't really want to upgrade it right away.[/QUOTE]

Well 7 ran fine on my MSI Wind with 1GB of ram.

Usually most netbooks perform the same as they have the same components (n270 atom CPU and an intel GMA). Apart from those new Ion ones, which sound really sexy.

[philxyz]

I use Haiku OS on my netbook. The only thing missing is encrypted Wi-Fi support but that will be working soonish.