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NetBook Recommendation for Technophobe Roommate

J

joshuarobi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 7, 2009
123
0
Arcata, CA
I'd like to buy a Netbook for my roommate who is not technically inclined at all. I've thought about just an iPod Touch but she uses her Vcast phone for her music, it's limited internet and email.

So where do I start? Which ones have better reputations?
 
Lenovo S10. I don't own one personally but a friend of mine does and its really held up. Based around the Atom platform, cheap, and durable.
 
I tend to stay away from Acer with the build "quality" they have...

I'd go with a Lenovo or an Asus... Asus seems to have some of the longest battery lifes these days on the eeePC1005, 1000HE and 1008 models.

Also, many of the makers are waiting to see what the apple "slate" turns out to be before releasing their new products.
 
Really depends on what more important

* Batterlife - MSI Got a new one, U110 out with claimed life of 15hrs, so at least 8-9 hrs actual. Otherwise Asus has a couple which claim to offer around 10-12 hrs and are good allrounders. Most others offer models with claimed life of 7-9 hrs and last a decent 4-6 hrs.

*Keyboard - I've found that the HP's have some of the best keyboards, followed by Lenovo and Dell. But thats a personal preference, and really depends on what your used to typing on currently.

* Size - I think the Dell Mini 10 and 10v are some of the smallest and thinnest regular netbooks. The sony P is a tad too overpriced, but is super compact, and the keyboard is pretty usable.
 
Personally...I say wait until they bump the ram up to 2 GB and up the processor speed a bit...just a bit.
 
Does she want a computer?

I mean if she is a technophobe the gift of a computer would be like giving someone with allergies a kitten wrapped in rag weed.
 
synth3tik said:
Does she want a computer?

I mean if she is a technophobe the gift of a computer would be like giving someone with allergies a kitten wrapped in rag weed.
Click to expand...

Ok, technophobe might be a little exaggeration. She's not afraid of tech, just kind of automatically thinks if it's technical it's difficult.

The reason I came up with the netbook idea is she uses the internet for social networking and email, but has absolutely no need for a computer other than for those reasons. I've thought about an iPod Touch for the Wifi, but there's no computer for it to sync with. I figured a netbook would be the way to go. Ideas?
 
I would recommend a used powerbook or ibook... They can be had fairly cheap, its OSX (easy for the non tech savy to use), and they're pretty durable...
 
tinyj316 said:
I would recommend a used powerbook or ibook... They can be had fairly cheap, its OSX (easy for the non tech savy to use), and they're pretty durable...
Click to expand...

You know that's not a bad idea. Never occurred to me. If I could pick one up in the 2-300 hundo range, I'd jump on it.
 
If he's a technophobe, netbook isn't the best choice.
She would continue to think computers are slow, unintuitive (if running windows), POS.
Netbook = speed of 3, 4 year old computers.

Powerbook would be better.
 
I love my HP mini 2140 HD. Having previously used an Acer Aspire One, I will never use a netbook again with less than 768 of vertical resolution. (I've got 1366x768). It was also easily upgradable to 2GB of ram.
 
i would also get her a iBook g4 , 12 inch screen just fine the g4 will outperform any atom procesor and the 2 inch bigger screen (also 14 inch available) makes a big difference in userfriendlyness ,so does the fact that a ibook comes with optical drive build in and the style is just timeless :cool:;):apple:
and a used one should be within your budged ;)

on the netbookside i would suggest a toshiba .... if it has to be intel atom and windows inside and a poxy little 10 inch screen,
its alright if she likes scrolling all the time ,
or if you think she might not find a use for a optical drive anyway, as all netbooks come with 9inch and 10 inch screens and without optical drive
 
Dr.Pants said:
Lenovo S10. I don't own one personally but a friend of mine does and its really held up. Based around the Atom platform, cheap, and durable.
Click to expand...

They may have fixed this by now, but I sold mine after a few weeks this summer. It is NOISY!!!! The fans are really loud, and are more or less either completely ON (most of the time) or completely OFF (seldom).
 
I've messed with a few netbooks, and they've all got some inherent drawbacks in design; you have to skimp on some items to make a small, cheap notebook:

MSI wind: mattel build quality, tiny trackpad, crappy 3 cell battery, hard to hit right shift key

Dell mini 9: keyboard significantly modified to fit chassis, will take some adjustment

Lenovo s10: tiny right shift key, meh battery life on 3 cell

Dell mini 10v: 2 hr life on 3 cell battery :(, upgrading ram requires disassembly of computer, one button trackpad may require some getting used to.

HP mini: meh life on default 3 hour battery, placement of trackpad buttons to the sides of the trackpad.

I'd wait for netbooks to come out with the ion platform, which pairs an atom processor with nvidia 9400 graphics. The intel gma 950 graphics won't do high def video, and struggle with online videos period. Once the ions come out, you may see a lot of people dumping their existing units on ebay and cl.

There's also a recent rumor that apple will disable support for the atom processor in os x 10.6.2. Doubtlessly, the hackintosh mini community will find a workaround.

I'd take your roommate to a bestbuy and let them lay hands on the machines before you made a purchase. Good luck.
 
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