What's the best netbook out these days?

macbook air +boot camp

there are no "best" netbooks ... they all have short limited lifespans

why ask here?

Mba

I'd also reccomend the MacBook Air. It's small and light enough to take almost anywhere, while also powerful enough to be my primary machine. Is IE the only reason for needing windows? VirtualBox set in seamless mode worked great for me. I used it for GFS online and spreadsheets when I ran a kitchen and it did everything I needed it to. Since Windows was only needed to access a single website(IE plugin) I had a snapshot of IE on the login page; it was faster for me to do this than mess around with the ancient office PC.

After experimenting with three different netbooks, (HP Mini 2140, Samsung NB30, Asus Eee 1005HA) over the span of three years, I came to the conclusion that they are all just as useless as the next one. The best thing about netbooks are battery life and portability. Of the three I had, the Samsung performed the best, but it was amazingly slow, even after maxing out the RAM to 2GB. That's how I ended up here, and I will never look back. I ended up buying the MBA a few months ago, and it was the best 800.00 I ever spent on a computer. Trust me, the extra money is worth saving any headaches, take it from a guy who has dabbled more than enough in the PC netbook department.
The MBA outperforms any laptop or desktop I have ever used. Forget the whole PC/Mac argument. I was a hardcore PC user all of my life, and yes, both have their ups and their downs. I never did get the whole Mac until I bought one, and it was an easy adjustment. This thing is a toy, and is the way a computer should be. If you got the money to buy one, do it. You will not regret it. But if you absolutely have to buy a netbook, close your eyes and point to one, because they are all pretty much the same.

glen e said:

why ask here?

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I think it's a credit to this forum and members that people ask non apple questions. It shows trust in the membership to get the smart and intelligent replies, unlike...

rocknblogger said:

I think it's a credit to this forum and members that people ask non apple questions. It shows trust in the membership to get the smart and intelligent replies, unlike...

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ummmm....ok...

Perhaps to add on a little to the knowledge of this forum, here are few suggestions of the best netbook (categorically a netbook)

Most powerful netbook:
Likely one with an E350 or E450, the Asus 1215B, Vaio Y Series or MSI X370. There are even variants of these with a dedicated HD 6450m inside.

Best hackintosh netbook, refer here:
http://www.mymacnetbook.com/compatibility-chart/

These are by no means the best, those that excel in performance may not have outstanding battery lives.

Netbooks are worthless machines. Either buy a tablet and take notes with that or spend the extra and buy a REAL ultraportable

For me: iPad. Seriously. Does all the "net" functions just fine, and given the small screen size of net books, is about equal for other functionality.

There is no such thing as a good netbook. They are all crap. Buy an Air if you want a nice light portable.

wangchunggti337 said:

I asked hear because I assumed that out of all the categories, people interested in MacBook Airs at some point probably considered a netbook.

I am a big fan of Apple gear and would love to pick up a MBA, but for my limited needs... I really only need this for listening to lectures and taking notes. I figured a netbook would be more cost effective, plus the battery life seems to be better. Also, I wouldn't be paranoid about throwing it in my bag and hauling it around day in and day out.

I have been scanning my local craigslist for a used one, but haven't had much luck.

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An MBA would most likely be fine as a computer for all your needs instead of having a computer in your dorm and a netbook for lectures.

Off topic, but are all college students bringing laptops to take notes during lectures?? Is that really better than handwriting notes? Or is this so students can share/distribute their notes as part of a transcription service?

The 11" MBA is a pretty dam good netbook. You'll have the usual crowd pipe up and try claiming the MBA is not a netbook and spout off their definitions of what a netbook is and isn't.

Fact is, if you want a small lightweight portable then the 11" MBA is in the same camp with various others as far as many people are concerned and thats about all there is to it.

I've been through a few, Dell, HP, Samsung, Sony VAIO Y and an MBA, I prefer the MBA.

I always buy Moleskine notebooks.

Sorry I just noticed you said netbooks. If you want the best tiny machine which is ideal for just using the net on it you would want a macbook air.

I had a netbook a couple of years ago. God it sucked.

I had an Asus 1005 HA and it was really bad.

I just bought it to see what was up with the netbook market and to have something to run windows for fun.

It was just so slow as to be almost useless.

Even Email and net surfing was a pain.

The Atom processor is just no good.

Apple OC said:

there are no "best" netbooks ... they all have short limited lifespans

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This is quite contrary to my experience.

Please provide a link to validate your claim.

If your willing to pay $400-$500 you can start choosing between fairly good 11.6" laptops with AMD Fusion. I've never had a performance problem with my Thinkpad X120e and it has one of the best keyboards for its size.

VMMan said:

Off topic, but are all college students bringing laptops to take notes during lectures?? Is that really better than handwriting notes? Or is this so students can share/distribute their notes as part of a transcription service?

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Can't speak for everyone, but I can type faster than I can write and my notes taken on a laptop are FAR easier to read. I can also later go back and adjust the formatting for optimal organization.

wangchunggti337 said:

The Eee X101 looks awesome, I like the thinness, but doubt I'll like the OS. Unfortunately I need something with windows so I can use internet explorer.

I'm having a hard time keeping track of all the different Eee models.... what about the lenovo?

Just looking for something portable, great battery life, reliable, and enough power to run videos, etc.

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check out this new Asus:

http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_PC/Eee_PC_1225B/#overview

their 12xx series have a rep of being real good netbooks

Unless you really really need internet explorer (Which I really don't understand as it is the worst PoS software ever written), you might wanna look at this http://eee.asus.com/eeepad/transformer-prime/specification/ .
It's a netbook, it's a tablet. Not only you can type notes like on a netbook, you can also buy a capacitive stylus and handwrite on it ;-)
Oh and it's quad-core too!

2IS said:

Can't speak for everyone, but I can type faster than I can write and my notes taken on a laptop are FAR easier to read. I can also later go back and adjust the formatting for optimal organization.

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I imagine using a laptop during a chemistry lecture would be difficult.

What percentage of students bring laptops to a lecture nowadays?

VMMan said:

I imagine using a laptop during a chemistry lecture would be difficult.

What percentage of students bring laptops to a lecture nowadays?

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I haven't done a study on percentages. What I do know is Chemistry isn't the only class students take. Im not sure what you have against laptops in class but you should get over it, they aren't going to stop.