Which laptop for university?

[kingzl3y]

Hoi people of XS, I'm looking for something small for uni, I don't want a 17" Quaddolphincore with 36Terabizzle of ram..
So, I done a bit of research and found two which both have their own advantages but not sure which would suit me more.

Seeing as I haven't even started UNI yet and I'm already in £7,000 debt for my first year, I may as well use the £4000 loan respectively ^^
I've got a budget of around £200 (£300max).

So, It's down to:
Asus 8.9" EEE PC
-Mobile Intel Celeron M
-8.9" TFT screen (1024 x 600 pixels)
-1024MB RAM
-20GB Solid State
-Linux/Wlan/1.3MPcam/
here (http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Product.aspx/TruHome/TruComputers/TruComputersLaptop/777218?ref=Search) | £269.00

OR
Advent 4211
-Intel Atom N270 (1.6Ghz, 533Mhz)
-1024MB RAM
-80GB Hard drive
-10" TFT
-WindowsXP/Wlan/Bluetooth
here (http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1663867460.121883143 2@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckadeelkiihkecflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=1&sm=0&tm=6&sku=219404&category_oid=#productInformationSection) | £279.99

Okay, I work for a Dixons Group, so 'cause Currys is part of DSG, I get 10% (£28) off the Advent laptop.

I'm doing a HND in Applied IT so the laptop will basically be used for word processing, surfin' the interwebs, maybe some graphical work, Programming (VB, PHP, CSS etc).

So, which one do you think would suit me more? I Personally think the Advent would, but Advent isn't really a GREAT make, so I'm worried about it dieing, so I just might take out insurance on it.. but yeah, that's to be decided later on.

Thanks for any input, and hope everyone has a nice day :)

[TRF-Inferno]

The Advent 4211 (A.K.A. MSI Wind) is going to be better for word processing, since it has larger keys. That's not saying it's impossible to type on the ASUS, but it will take longer to getting used to. Another thing to consider is that the Advent runs cooler than the ASUS as well; I've used the Celeron EEE PCs before, and they can get pretty hot after 30 minutes.

[acidpython]

I think the battery life on the Wind is much better. The EEE isn't great on battery life so either look a spare battery or the Wind to be honest... Don't see you having time to charge it every 2-3 hours :|.

[kingzl3y]

Oh, Didn't think this thread would actually get any replies :'D
Thanks for your input.
Oh, it's the MSI Wind? Just with Advent written on it?
Yeah, you're right, Seeing as I was the only person in the warehouse today, I decided to open the Advent box and take it out and have a lil' play (without power ofcourse), and the keys were almost perfect.
We have the ASUS on display and I keep going to see it whenever I've got a spare few mins, and you're right the keys are waaaay close together, it's really hard to type fast :')
I've also read up on the battery life on the ASUS and I read something about it uses power even when the laptop is off so the thing to do, is when it's turned off is to take the battery out :') which is pretty pointless.

Is there any massive difference between the Solid-state drive as opposed to a normal IDE one(Not sure if the Advent/Wind is IDE, maybe it's SATA :x)? (I know there's a huge difference in Desktop computers) but would there actually be any noticeable difference on a netbook?

Dankje wel!

[Savuti]

Is there any massive difference between the Solid-state drive as opposed to a normal IDE one(Not sure if the Advent/Wind is IDE, maybe it's SATA :x)? (I know there's a huge difference in Desktop computers) but would there actually be any noticeable difference on a netbook?

With SSD, at least with the one the EEE comes equipped with, theres slight improvements in boot times, reliability, operation noise and possibly power consumption, but wouldn't say "significant" over traditional IDE. In the case of the EEE PC, is it worth? It depends on what you're after. Are you willing to go for marginal improvement in performance/reliability vs trade off in storage capacity? Are you going to be using a portable external drive?

With your intended usage patterns of browsing, light graphical work, word processing and coding, they're not really disk and i/o intensive tasks and in such scenario I doubt a SSD would be worth it over more storage space with IDE drive.

[chinaguy]

My vote is for the MSI Wind, but not the Advent. Its like Coca Cola only the real thing will do. You can get the MSI Wind with 2GB of RAM and a SATA 160GB HD.

Also the Chipset is better, based on the old Intel 945 set. The video card is also better for when you want to plug into a large LCD monitor.

[zanzabar]

or u could wait a few weks for a via open book, the nano smokes the atom

[kingzl3y]

@ Savuti
Ah, I kind of guessed that there wouldn't be any noticeable difference for what I'll be using it for, Cheers for clarifying that though :D

@Chinaguy
Well, from what I can gather, the Wind and the 4211 are identical (http://msiwind.net/how-similar-are-the-wind-and-the-advent-4211/). The 4211 is £279.99 and the Wind, the lowest price I've found is £329.99.
I think the 4211 can be upgraded to 2GB of RAM aswell.
But, I'm not too sure about your last statement about the chipsets, There's not enough information about it :(
Would it really make much difference if they were different?
Chance of me connecting it to a large LCD are pretty slim, I'd say the maximum I'd connected it to will be a 22", but hey, you never know.

@zanzabar
That does actually look really nice, but what's the price of the babèh? :(

[Frank M]

For uni, both the Wind and it's Advent/Medion counterpart have a serious
shortcoming: they have just a 3-cell battery, with battery life up to 3 hrs.
The Asus 1000H is similar to them in specs (10.2", 80G HDD), but it has a
6-cell battery with battery life around 7 hrs. That's a major difference,
essential if you are considering mobile devices IMO.
I assume it's also a bit more expensive, though.
If I were you, I'd wait a bit more for the Atom-fever to die down. They
are expensive now and have a shortage of parts because they are in
high demand. I think the prices will fall in a few months. Till then, you can
still use pen and paper for taking notes on lectures, we somehow
managed to survive it without laptops ;)

[kingzl3y]

Hey buddy, well i understand what you are saying.
However I read an article last night when I posted this topic about there being new batteries coming out (3rd party i guess) which will double battery life.
But tbh, 3 hours is pretty good for me i guess, don't think i'll be far from a power point.
Hmm, they're cheap enough as it is? £279? so there's room for them to go down even more? Awesome!
Well, As i said, I took out a Loan and I may as well use it :D
I Don't get it until the 14th of September so I guess I'll have to wait until after then anyway!

I spent the last 2 years writing with pens on paper and it was horrible :'D
I'd write atleast 400 words about something, put it in my folder.. and then when I come to use it, i can never find it xD

Which is one of the main reasons for a laptop.. that and the option of goatse in class :D

[Bobsama]

I have an EeePC 900 12G XP. Works quite well. Pure idle battery life is >5 hours on the standard 5800mAh battery. Basically in class, download the notes and you can turn WiFi off. WiFi range is a bit disappointing... it's not horrible, and it's better than other laptops in the same generation, but I have met laptops that get much better range. Plenty fast for MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, Firefox, Thunderbird, & IMing. I also did some internet radio plus all that and it's just fine. Biggest quam is storage setup... the new 16G laptops seem to be using junk SSDs compared to the normal primary and secondary SSDs (both are faster). Also, the 4GB primary setup's a pain in the rear. I deleted the D: partition and repartitioned it so that a 6GB is D: and the remaining ~1.5GB is mapped to C:\Windows\Installer. I figure mapping it like that makes sense, though I think I should have made that a 3.5GB partition now that I think of it. Keyboard's sufficiently... small... so it takes some time to relearn typing on it. I think the screen's big enough... I would never be able to stand the 7" 800x480 screen, but the 8.9" 1024x600 screen is fine. If i was buying again, I would buy a 1000 (not H) and get XP to put on it, but that's quite pricey. Still, 8GB+32GB SSDs and 20GB internet storage would be a huge improvement. Look at Acer's sublaptop as well... their mini-Aspire looks fine, though all cheap subnotebooks seem to have junk hard drives. The new 901's should have the big battery plus the power-saving options, so look at the new 901s. Oh, and I typed that all out on my 900.

[iddqd]

my advice is - don't get a laptop at all. so difficult to pay attention in class when IM/games/web are just a click away.

[Tulatin]

Actually, I'd suggest you abstain for now.

See if there's any particular programs you'll need to run for your programs this year, and make sure your laptop is powerful enough. Oh, that, and make sure your University doesn't have their own proprietary crap.

[kingzl3y]

@ Bobsama
Thanks for that, I've read alot about the EEE, and there seems to be a lot of mixed reviews, but, from what you've said they've gone up abit in my books ^^
I only have a few issues with it
-The size.. I've got quite large hands and when i had a go at the one at work, it was really.. i dunno, just seemed really close together and quite uncomfortable :(
-Battery life (which from you what say seems to cancel this bullet point :rofl: )

@ iddqd
hahah, i know what you mean, I've spent the last 2 years doing a computer course, daily behind a computer and every few minutes i had to physically stop myself from opening firefox, comin' on here, or some other site.. or open my games folder and play doom @ LAN with my college mates :')
It was really bad, especially in my 2nd year.. the most important year and i spent atleast 1/2 the time i was there on games or basically doing F'all :'D

@ Tulatin
Yeah, well, I planning on getting it the middle o' September.
From what I gather it's just my previous course, just alot more advanced.
I'll be doing more CISCO work, but they'll, ofcourse, have their own computers which we can use.

I'm only going to buy one of those laptops purely for the fact it'll be more efficient then pen and paper and because they're quite inexpensive.
Cheeers! :up::up:

[Bobsama]

@ Bobsama
Thanks for that, I've read alot about the EEE, and there seems to be a lot of mixed reviews, but, from what you've said they've gone up abit in my books ^^
I only have a few issues with it
-The size.. I've got quite large hands and when i had a go at the one at work, it was really.. i dunno, just seemed really close together and quite uncomfortable :(
-Battery life (which from you what say seems to cancel this bullet point :rofl: )

@ iddqd
hahah, i know what you mean, I've spent the last 2 years doing a computer course, daily behind a computer and every few minutes i had to physically stop myself from opening firefox, comin' on here, or some other site.. or open my games folder and play doom @ LAN with my college mates :')
It was really bad, especially in my 2nd year.. the most important year and i spent atleast 1/2 the time i was there on games or basically doing F'all :'D

@ Tulatin
Yeah, well, I planning on getting it the middle o' September.
From what I gather it's just my previous course, just alot more advanced.
I'll be doing more CISCO work, but they'll, ofcourse, have their own computers which we can use.

I'm only going to buy one of those laptops purely for the fact it'll be more efficient then pen and paper and because they're quite inexpensive.
Cheeers! :up::up:

Depending on what you want to do with it, the livability of the laptop really changes. I've already been through airports with it, took it to my college orientation, and traveled a few hundred miles with it in a car. It's tiny and light--certainly it's biggest advantages. Battery life is decent--depends on what you do just like other laptops. It can be deceptively long--as you are aware, the laptop is quite slow (630mhz when mobile, 900mhz when plugged in) so you will likely not have the urge to do particularly heavy things on it. For that reason alone, it seems to get better laptops than "the competition". Keyboard's definitely small. In now 4 months owning and using it, I'm still a bit inaccurate. For that reason now, I'd say look at the 1000H XP systems. Keyboard's larger, CTRL is still in the bottom left (a major reason I went with the EeePC instead of the Wind). Biggest adjustment for this laptop is that the `/~ key is between Esc and F1... so that means that the 1 key is directly on the edge. With the 1000_ series, that's not the case and it's back where it belongs. The Fn setup is fine, though I sort of miss no media keys between this and other laptops. Oh well--you make your tradeoffs and it's not like it matters much. My fingers are thin but my hands are the length of the average ~6' tall man. So, I'd think the 1000H would be a better choice for you. If you want more battery life, consider buying a Clevo (or whatever... :p:) or Mugen battery off of fleaBay. I have enough battery for what I do now, though I may buy one myself once I see which classes allow or disallow laptops. Even so, the charger's small and the sleeve is great. Toss your laptop into the sleeve, toss it into a book bag, and if you're gone for any more than about 3-4 hours (of use), perhaps the charger too. About the charger--the cord's quite short. I found it sufficient for airports (where a plug may be a few feet from the chair) and most other places, but I've never had a reason to use my laptop from the center of a room. I've not used it in any classes--I'll tell you about that in about 3-4 weeks though if you're still in the market. Also, the battery drains at the rate of about 10% a day, even if you don't use it. Oh well--so just charge it overnight and let it drain over the day. Also, the battery is a dumb battery for all intensive purposes. It is tracked by 10% increments, and the last increments are 7% and maybe 1% (I don't remember :p:).

[kingzl3y]

Hmmm, damn you!
I was going to get the 4211, but after reading that - the competition is back on!
I think if the size of the keyboard affects me, I guess i'll just get an external USB one, maybe that one which isn't actually a keyboard, you know the one with the light? (I'm soo poor at explaining things when I'm tired and slightly stoned :'))
I'm going to get a mouse anyway, because the one on the EEE and the 4211 are really really annoying, so small and I'll probably get RSI within a few seconds or so :lol2:

I'm guessing I won't be that far from a power point anyway so I don't think that'll be an issue.
Mann, I'm really stumped now :')

OOO and I've just realised neither of these 'netbooks' have cd/dvd drives :'D
Well, I guess that's another reason to get some external storage ^^

But, Just looking at the 1000H, cheapest seems to be £339 and the MSI Wind is almost the same price.
Which are both £90 more then the Advent 4211 :down:

Oh, another thing, I read that the Atom isn't a dual-core.. but from the screenshots I've seen, It is? :confused::confused:

[Bobsama]

Hmmm, damn you!
I was going to get the 4211, but after reading that - the competition is back on!
I think if the size of the keyboard affects me, I guess i'll just get an external USB one, maybe that one which isn't actually a keyboard, you know the one with the light? (I'm soo poor at explaining things when I'm tired and slightly stoned :'))
I'm going to get a mouse anyway, because the one on the EEE and the 4211 are really really annoying, so small and I'll probably get RSI within a few seconds or so :lol2:

I'm guessing I won't be that far from a power point anyway so I don't think that'll be an issue.
Mann, I'm really stumped now :')

OOO and I've just realised neither of these 'netbooks' have cd/dvd drives :'D
Well, I guess that's another reason to get some external storage ^^

But, Just looking at the 1000H, cheapest seems to be £339 and the MSI Wind is almost the same price.
Which are both £90 more then the Advent 4211 :down:

Oh, another thing, I read that the Atom isn't a dual-core.. but from the screenshots I've seen, It is? :confused::confused:

Bigger, better, properly-setup keyboard, and longer life on most new EeePCs. I actually bought an 8GB flash drive (Sandisk Cruzer Micro) for the heck of it (my old Lexus SecureII was... old... and 512mb limited me a lot). Take a look at an external slim DVD burner. I think the 80GB drive is PLENTY for WinXP. Also, the Atom has HyperThreading. I am thinking, however, of buying a slim USB2.0 hub and a basic keyboard/mouse set for when I use it on my desk in my dorm. I find the touchpad excellent--multitouch is AWESOME to say the least. I find it a very good touchpad--right texture for me, large enough, and I set the sensitivity up a tiny bit as well. As for my comment--it's basically better safe than sorry. If your laptop goes dead on you... well... you're stuck.The charger's small and rather light, and I used electrical tape (I seem to have acquired an electrical tape fetish as of late :rofl:) to cover the blue LED on it (as well as all blue LEDs on both my 36cm case fan and my 25cm case fan). I'm not that sure about the Atom processor, but it seems just fine and improves battery life (or lets Asus stick in a better battery for the price difference) without too big a loss of performance (compared to the 900MHz CeleronM).

[chinaguy]

Ww have to wait for the Atom Duo to come out before a replace my 6 year old Toshiba 2.4Ghz. You can get a 6 cell pack for the Wind but it sticks out the back and makes the wieght more to carry!

Remember you get what you pay for! If you want a cheap laptop look in Tesco!

[kingzl3y]

@ Bobsama
Ah dude, stop it!
I was really going to get the 4211, but no.. I'm really tempted to get the 1000H :mad: hahah
- Yeah, If I was to get the 1000H I'd probably get a SDHC card for extra storage.
Why the hell have you got an electrical tape fetish? :rofl: and why have you covered up the LEDs? xD

@chinaguy
so the current atom isn't a dual-core?
Yeah, I don't think that would be a problem buddy, It's only what? 2KG (max) which is about half of what I used to carry (pens, paper, folder etc) so I'll probably be carrying less weight then before :rofl:

Yeah, I guess you couldn't be more right!
I don't want to buy some £100 laptop and watch it fall apart a week later, which is why I'm looking at the advent/msi and the asus because they've all got good build quality.. (i hope :D )

Cheeers!

[kingzl3y]

Just found this:

On paper, the Eee PC 1000H and the MSI Wind NB are evenly matched, especially considering there same $549.99 price tag. In our close, the Wind took two rounds, the Eee PC 1000H took one, and one ended in a tie.

Certainly the Eee PC 1000H is a strong mini-notebook. It has a stunning design, strong speakers, and solid performance and battery life. But if you are looking for the best 10-inch mini-notebook, the MSI Wind stands triumphant – though not by much.

Updated: 7/30/08 as of MSI's change in price
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/eeepc-wind-faceoff.aspx

[Bobsama]

@ Bobsama
Ah dude, stop it!
I was really going to get the 4211, but no.. I'm really tempted to get the 1000H :mad: hahah
- Yeah, If I was to get the 1000H I'd probably get a SDHC card for extra storage.
Why the hell have you got an electrical tape fetish? :rofl: and why have you covered up the LEDs? xD

@chinaguy
so the current atom isn't a dual-core?
Yeah, I don't think that would be a problem buddy, It's only what? 2KG (max) which is about half of what I used to carry (pens, paper, folder etc) so I'll probably be carrying less weight then before :rofl:

Yeah, I guess you couldn't be more right!
I don't want to buy some £100 laptop and watch it fall apart a week later, which is why I'm looking at the advent/msi and the asus because they've all got good build quality.. (i hope :D )

Cheeers!


Just found this:

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/eeepc-wind-faceoff.aspx

I have the fetish because I've used it quite often as of late. I dislike blue LEDs, especially when I'm trying to sleep. Now the clear fans glow a dull blue--which is barely noticeable compared to the bright blue from before.

I am currently using the 12G XP... storage is adequate, though I would have preferred Windows setup to use the larger partition. A 1000H comes with an 80GB hard drive... meaning plenty of space. Your call... it'll be your notebook.

My only commentry on the Wind v. 1000H review was know what you want to buy. I had a few important points for a laptop. One was matte finish on the LCD (for airports, classrooms, and anywhere I may have a window or light source behind me), the other was Ctrl key should be bottom left, with Fn to the right (I hate laptops with it the other way around... after hitting the wrong button wayyyy too many times). The multitouch pad is a nice feature--I use it often. Keyboard's sturdy enough in my opinion, but I don't have a Wind to compare it with. Oh well--your choice.

If you think the Wind's smaller price tag is a winner, go for it. I pay extra for a properly-setup keyboard and a matte finish LCD.

[acidpython]

I have the fetish because I've used it quite often as of late. I dislike blue LEDs, especially when I'm trying to sleep. Now the clear fans glow a dull blue--which is barely noticeable compared to the bright blue from before.

Yes bob-sama is very strange :). I'm personally looking at the Eee-1000 for uni too. the 10" screen, battery life, keyboard and weight (1.3kg?) would make it portable and comfortable to work with. Plus bob-sama RAVES about his Eee-900 so it can't be all that bad ;)

[Bobsama]

Yes bob-sama is very strange :). I'm personally looking at the Eee-1000 for uni too. the 10" screen, battery life, keyboard and weight (1.3kg?) would make it portable and comfortable to work with. Plus bob-sama RAVES about his Eee-900 so it can't be all that bad ;)
Yeah--I worked on Acid a good bit a few months ago. Once I get my CAD job, I may trade this 900 up for a 1000 and install XP on it. $800. That, or save up and get a MacBook Air.

BTW--Acid, you've still not bought your subnotebook? Wow--I would have thought you'd have bought it by now... we were in a bit of a race around May, and you still haven't finished? :rofl: BTW--Acid's a lot stranger than I am ;)... he's from the UK! :down:

:ROTF:

[kingzl3y]

Hahah, you worked while on acid? :confused: High five! :lol2:
Oh, bob! I have the exact same thing! But it's not with electrical tape, it's with blue tack xD
I've got this PS3 Controller for my PC and the dongle blinks 24/7 and when you're in bed.. and it's just blinking.. it's sooo f'king annoying! I just go around with tiny bits of bluetack :')
Same with my TV when it's on standby xD :rofl:

Hmm, I've never really thought.. or took into consideration the reflection on the screen, and now that I come to think of it, it's really annoying!
Guess that'll be another factor to think about!

Oh, you're right with the keyboard! But I've never actually owned a laptop, so I haven't really used the FN key much. But, I guess It'll just be pressing CTRL and the actual CTRL button will be the Windowskey.

I thought the Wind was heavier than the 1000H but on review sites they always say that a bad point of the 1000H is the weight :confused:

Hhaha, Yeah, I'll agree there, People from the UK are pretty strange.. except me ofcourse.. although i like... 2gir.. nevermind :D

[lawrywild]

Firstly, congratz on getting into uni.. where you going? Imperial for me :D

I just bought a 10" Asus EeePC 1000H and couldn't be happier, installed Vista Home Premium on it too :) Getting estimated battery lives of about 4.30 Hours with WLAN and Bluetooth on and super hybrid engine on Power Saving Mode (EIST on too). PS: This is the 80GB mechanical harddrive version (seagate momentus 5400.3).

[kingzl3y]

Ah, cheers buddy :) I'm going to Staffordshire University (Only because it's close :D) But in fact I'm taking my HND at a Lichfield College (It's one of those courses which is led by the UNI but can be taken at certain colleges too).
And After that I'm going to top up the HND to a BSc(Hons) @ Stoke University..
.. i think :confused:

Ah you did? Awesome. How does vista run?
I keep hearing bad things about laptop hard drives, something about they have a limited ammount of read/write spins before they become kaput :( Is that true? :')

Where did you get it from? and more importantly, how much? :up::up:

[Bobsama]

Hahah, you worked while on acid? :confused: High five! :lol2:
Oh, bob! I have the exact same thing! But it's not with electrical tape, it's with blue tack xD
I've got this PS3 Controller for my PC and the dongle blinks 24/7 and when you're in bed.. and it's just blinking.. it's sooo f'king annoying! I just go around with tiny bits of bluetack :')
Same with my TV when it's on standby xD :rofl:

Hmm, I've never really thought.. or took into consideration the reflection on the screen, and now that I come to think of it, it's really annoying!
Guess that'll be another factor to think about!

Oh, you're right with the keyboard! But I've never actually owned a laptop, so I haven't really used the FN key much. But, I guess It'll just be pressing CTRL and the actual CTRL button will be the Windowskey.

I thought the Wind was heavier than the 1000H but on review sites they always say that a bad point of the 1000H is the weight :confused:

Hhaha, Yeah, I'll agree there, People from the UK are pretty strange.. except me ofcourse.. although i like... 2gir.. nevermind :D
Tape fixes everything. I used masking tape and electrical tape too doing cable management in my desktop. Mostly electrical tape--black tape and black sleeves on my TT PP 500W. Defnitely consider gloss v. matte for the LCD. I have lived with CRTs all my life, and the reflections in the glass really annoyed me. A few years ago my mom got a new laptop (Gateway, PentM 1.73GHz, 2x256MB DDR, 80GB storage, glossy screen :down:). I hated the LCD whenever I used it. Other than the entire thing being too big, the keyboard died about a year ago. We replaced that, though Gateway swapped it with a new keyboard with Fn in the bottom right. It's not so much where the Fn key is--it's more that I lose my bearings on it. I can't tell you how many times I used it and wanted to hit Ctrl-L (to select address bar in Firefox), but I thought my finger was on Fn so I moved it one to the right and kept hitting the Windows key. Big annoyance. Since then, all my laptops must have Ctrl in the correct place. It's more problems using a standard keyboard v. laptop keyboard v. bad laptop keyboard. I am used to Fn being right of Ctrl on laptops. Also the 1000_ series are a good bit heavier than the 900 series. My 900 weighs 990g, coming in at a cozy 2.2lb or so. There is really no weight in it--it's so small it fits into any backpack, and carrying it around in my backpack in the airport was easy. I almost lost the laptop in the bag! And my bag is small.

Firstly, congratz on getting into uni.. where you going? Imperial for me :D

I just bought a 10" Asus EeePC 1000H and couldn't be happier, installed Vista Home Premium on it too :) Getting estimated battery lives of about 4.30 Hours with WLAN and Bluetooth on and super hybrid engine on Power Saving Mode (EIST on too). PS: This is the 80GB mechanical harddrive version (seagate momentus 5400.3).
Nice--that's better than my 900 with WLAN on. What do you get without Bluetooth? Without WLAN?

Ah, cheers buddy :) I'm going to Staffordshire University (Only because it's close :D) But in fact I'm taking my HND at a Lichfield College (It's one of those courses which is led by the UNI but can be taken at certain colleges too).
And After that I'm going to top up the HND to a BSc(Hons) @ Stoke University..
.. i think :confused:

Ah you did? Awesome. How does vista run?
I keep hearing bad things about laptop hard drives, something about they have a limited ammount of read/write spins before they become kaput :( Is that true? :')

Where did you get it from? and more importantly, how much? :up::up:
You may be thinking of laptop SSDs. All SSDs really--they can't take heavy abuse. I prefer them in laptops--makes it easy to carry since you don't have to be overly-careful. They go into a bag, small enough to hide behind other things, and are unlikely to get damaged because they don't cause problems with weight or size. However, laptop HDDs can be a real annoyance. My uncle's old Gateway (CelM ~1.2GHz I think, 2GB DDR) is on its 3rd or 4th drive now--Hitachi first, then Seagate, and now I think Western Digital. He is more careful with it than anyone I know--and keeps it in his house either on the floor under the coffee table out of harms way or on the coffee table. For that reason alone, I decided 100% to go with SSDs for my sublaptops. For that reason as well, I don't want a 1000H (despite the storage being awesome).

[kingzl3y]

Yeah, You're right there :) I've used electrical tape as a type of cable management it does actually work perfectly! Hmm, Yeah, I've only just realised what you're on about.. I really really REALLY hate it when you're on a computer and there's a light-source behind you and it reflects of your screen and you can barely see stuff, especially if you're on battery power and the brightness isn't at it's highest >:(

I don't really understand you much about the FN problem, maybe that's because I've never actually used a laptop for long enough to use the FN key, but don't really think that'll bother me because I'll either get used to it or just buy a cheap external keyboard :')

2kg is a nice weight for a laptop, At Currys they've got all these new 17" lappies and they're like 4/5kg.. I think at that type of weight they stop becoming a laptop and more of a annoyance :')

4:30?! With all that enabled? Man, turn off your wallhack :(
I guess you could probably get 5/6+ hours with wifi/bluetooth disabled?

Oooh, I though SSDs were the way forward, but, now that I come to think about it, it actually make sense..
Well, I hope i don't encounter any hard drive problems like your uncle because that'd be well annoying :')
But was that because he abused(you know what i mean) it?

Hmm, I was reading the Independent (an English Tabloid newspaper) and in there was an article about netbooks(or as i keep reading on here, sublaptops) and it ranked 1-10 netbooks.. If i remember correctly the Acer Aspire (something) was number 1 and the MSI wind was at number 10.

But, I think I'm just going to go with the MSI Wind/Advent 4211 purely for the fact It'll be my first laptop, It's quite inexpensive (when you compare it to other laptops), and it's got everything I need.
Although If I go to get the Wind/4211 and they're not instock, I guess I'll just have to settle for the 1000H ( I hate waiting :D)

[Bobsama]

Yeah, You're right there :) I've used electrical tape as a type of cable management it does actually work perfectly! Hmm, Yeah, I've only just realised what you're on about.. I really really REALLY hate it when you're on a computer and there's a light-source behind you and it reflects of your screen and you can barely see stuff, especially if you're on battery power and the brightness isn't at it's highest >:(

I don't really understand you much about the FN problem, maybe that's because I've never actually used a laptop for long enough to use the FN key, but don't really think that'll bother me because I'll either get used to it or just buy a cheap external keyboard :')

2kg is a nice weight for a laptop, At Currys they've got all these new 17" lappies and they're like 4/5kg.. I think at that type of weight they stop becoming a laptop and more of a annoyance :')

4:30?! With all that enabled? Man, turn off your wallhack :(
I guess you could probably get 5/6+ hours with wifi/bluetooth disabled?

Oooh, I though SSDs were the way forward, but, now that I come to think about it, it actually make sense..
Well, I hope i don't encounter any hard drive problems like your uncle because that'd be well annoying :')
But was that because he abused(you know what i mean) it?

Hmm, I was reading the Independent (an English Tabloid newspaper) and in there was an article about netbooks(or as i keep reading on here, sublaptops) and it ranked 1-10 netbooks.. If i remember correctly the Acer Aspire (something) was number 1 and the MSI wind was at number 10.

But, I think I'm just going to go with the MSI Wind/Advent 4211 purely for the fact It'll be my first laptop, It's quite inexpensive (when you compare it to other laptops), and it's got everything I need.
Although If I go to get the Wind/4211 and they're not instock, I guess I'll just have to settle for the 1000H ( I hate waiting :D)

He didn't abuse it--and it's a few months older than my mom's. It's actually a rather nice laptop... small and enough power for what he does. Just like this EeePC--enough power for what I do. Anyways--choice is up to you. There's too many drawbacks (for me) with the Wind, but it'll be your laptop. I decided on the EeePC because I knew I already had a good desktop but wanted a laptop. It works, it's small, and this one is light. Besides--I didn't have $640 to burn ($550 for the 900, $90 for XP Home OEM), and if I did I'd prefer to get a 1000 40G.

[lawrywild]

Ah, cheers buddy :) I'm going to Staffordshire University (Only because it's close :D) But in fact I'm taking my HND at a Lichfield College (It's one of those courses which is led by the UNI but can be taken at certain colleges too).
And After that I'm going to top up the HND to a BSc(Hons) @ Stoke University..
.. i think :confused:

Ah you did? Awesome. How does vista run?
I keep hearing bad things about laptop hard drives, something about they have a limited ammount of read/write spins before they become kaput :( Is that true? :')

Where did you get it from? and more importantly, how much? :up::up:

Runs pretty good, AVG8 slows things down quite a bit, but Vista itself is just as quick as XP on here IMO. I think you're getting confused with SSDs, they have a limited number of writes to each block before that block will die.

Ebuyer for £338 inc VAT

[kingzl3y]

@ Bosama, well, why did he go through so many hard drives?
Ah yeah, I hear what you're saying. Well, I'm pretty much the same as you, except I like the other laptop :P
I guess it's just down to your personal preference.

@ lawrywild, Ah, I haven't used an AV-scanner or even a Firewall for like 2-3 years now :'D well, I've got a portable one.
What does it score in vistas benchmark? Doesn't vista require a certain amount of video memory to use Aero?

Yeah I think it was SSDs, ah cheers for that ^^ £338 is the same price I'm seeing every where, for the Wind, EEE, Acer etc.

I Keep reading on websites that there seems to be a lack of netbook in stores so people are having to wait ridiculous times to get their hands on a netbook.
This was the store I work at at 7PM last night
83905
40x Acer netbooks(can't remember model #'s, but there were 3 different colours)
2x Advent 4211
8x Macbook
and 11x EEE (different models #'s though)

:confused:

[BigDisk]

Just found this:

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/eeepc-wind-faceoff.aspx

Dude, be careful with that review. The Wind they used had a 6-cell battery. Check online if you want but I haven't found a single dealer selling the 6-cell Wind/Advent anywhere! All there is are 3-cell Winds man.

BTW, I just bought myself a 1000H here in Canada at ncix.com
I paid $500 CAN incl. tax & shipping, which is really cheap IMO. That's like 260 pounds for you brits.

Also, you might want to have a look at the Dell Mini-9, it really looks nice only the battery life sucks (just like the Wind) cause' it's only a 3-cell

[perry_78]

Have you considered getting a 14" inch? Used IBM T60s are going *very* cheaply on ebay, and they're the perfect machines.

Or the smaller but pricier X60?

[BreeSpree]

Macbook if you are cliche and believe that PC's ruin the world...
Seriously I believe it is popular for colleges.

[kingzl3y]

Yeah, I've considered nearly everything but due to my budget I think the MSI/Advent Wind/4211 will be the better choice. It's not like I'll be doing anything demanding, I think the only thing which might kill it off with be programming (web and the odd vb.net - c#) whilst listening to some rammstein.

I'd love a macbook, they're bloody gorgeous, but the price tag :x no thank you!

[BreeSpree]

R&J Tech... They make custom lappies. If you know your lappy chipset lingo, it's hard to navigate the site without it (they only use technical terms and stuff), you should visit the site. I used to mod laptops. The D901c is a beast. Buy one. It can support a socket 775 overclocked quad. Supports SLI too. It's so heavy you can use it to beat up bullies at college. It's so big you can use it as a desk, and it is still a laptop. Nuff said.

[kingzl3y]

Typical - I'm taking my Advent 4211 back to the shop tomorrow.
It was all perfect until last night when I put it into Hibernation and started to charge it, I came back 2 hours later, went to turn it on (running off batteries) and it didn't boot up, absolutely no power what-so-ever.
Put in main charger, it started up.. but once i took the power out it died on me.
Took the battery out, left it out for about 10 minutes, put it back in and then tried to start it up.. but yet again it's completely dead.
google'd it and there seems to be other people with the exact same problem, however they updated their bios to the latest ADVENT one and it solved it (or caused it ;x) however i tried that and none, still didn't help.. still 1 dead battery.
Also tried the latest MSI Wind bios and well, at first i thought i broke it, but i just restarted and it worked again, but the battery didn't.

The battery is completely forked. The lil' battery LED on the front just flashes orange, I left it over night with the charger in and well, I woke up and it was off.. so i thought it would work, so i took the charger out and prayed it would work..
but.. nope, still forked.

Going to take it back tomorrow and ask for a replacement with stock at the back of the pile (i've read it's because of a bad batch of 'em)

Cheers

[kingzl3y]

Took it back this morning. Got a brand new'ne.
The battery seems to hold about 14more minutes than the other one did (at 100%) which is pretty strange.
The shop i got it from said it's the first one they've had back and they've sold about 20 of 'em. So maybe I just had a crappy one.
But, dang, this keyboard.. it's so small but it's so nice to type on!

[kingzl3y]

Wish I waited now and got the 4213 for an extra £30 -.-

[Loser777]

I'm also considering the MSI Wind... is it nice to type on? It's about the same size as the ASUS N10J also, and that seems to be good also (performance-wise).

[kingzl3y]

Hoi, I'm typing this on my Advent 4211 and it's amazing.
Yeah the keyboard is tiny, but it doesn't mean it's hard to type, it's just like a normal laptop.
I think the asus you mentioned is similiar to the new Advent 4213. The performance isn't brilliant, but it's not bad either!
I'm thinking about modding it, adding another 1gig of ram and then maybe bios updates etc. (Last time I updated the bios, I had to take it back to the shop, battery went half way through, (even though you should bios update whilst connected to external power) oops).
Buy it mate, you'll be a fool not to. For the price, it surely is amazing.

[kingzl3y]

http://www.imgme.nl/images/photos/normal/00/00/04/00/3f892fd21881536456b2fbe47de32be5.jpg

[kingzl3y]

upgrade'd ram the temps we're 12-15c for about 15 minutes, up to 30 now.

[luie]

Looks good.
Hope the Windows 7 would work well when it comes out.