Very Specific Netbook Questions

[TSE]

I am pretty sure I am going to buy the Toshiba NB-205 netbook, I really want to, but I don't think I necessarily need it right now for school, but it would be nice! I was looking at a netbook less than 400 dollars that is up to date and looks good, I don't like the interior of the laptop to have glossy plastics and the Toshiba is the only one that fits my criteria.

Anyways, I am going to be using this netbook to bring me to school to type with OpenOffice, listen to my 20 GBs of iTunes music, browse the web, and maybe do some light gaming (Games before 2001). I just have a couple questions:

1. Can netbooks handle older 3D games such as Deus Ex?

2. Can netbooks handle Hulu movies/TV shows in fullscreen?

3. If a certain game requires, say, Windows 98 and doesn't work in XP, would running a virtual machine with Windows 98 running with XP to run that game really hurt performance even if I upgraded the RAM to 2 GBs? Would it still be able to run the game (System Shock 2) decently since SS2 doesn't work in XP?

4. Is anything extraordinary coming out to the netbook market anytime soon? Should I hold off?

 

[Hamster747]

Netbook advice?

I think your posting in the wrong forum, Its a MAC forum about apple products and OSX not toshiba and windows XP 😱

 

[J&JPolangin]

....4. Is anything extraordinary coming out to the netbook market anytime soon? Should I hold off?

...Asus and Acer are holding off new models to see what Apple is actually doing with their new "iTablet" or what ever they bring to market... if you can wait, I would...

 

[michael.lauden]

1. Can netbooks handle older 3D games such as Deus Ex?

2. Can netbooks handle Hulu movies/TV shows in fullscreen?

3. If a certain game requires, say, Windows 98 and doesn't work in XP, would running a virtual machine with Windows 98 running with XP to run that game really hurt performance even if I upgraded the RAM to 2 GBs? Would it still be able to run the game (System Shock 2) decently since SS2 doesn't work in XP?

4. Is anything extraordinary coming out to the netbook market anytime soon? Should I hold off?

1. probably not, and if so - very poorly
2. yes, make sure you try it out yourself on your specific model.
3. running a virtual machine would be a bad idea.

you seem like you want to run something other than a netbook. just look for some smaller old computers if price is the issue. you can buy a nice 4-5 year old dell (like my mom has) and upgrade it to 4GB of RAM and have a bigger processor.

ps wrong forum but i don't have the mean in me to not reply over it.

 

[UngratefulNinja]

How come you already have that computer listed in your sig?

 

[PlaceofDis]

I am pretty sure I am going to buy the Toshiba NB-205 netbook, I really want to, but I don't think I necessarily need it right now for school, but it would be nice! I was looking at a netbook less than 400 dollars that is up to date and looks good, I don't like the interior of the laptop to have glossy plastics and the Toshiba is the only one that fits my criteria.

Anyways, I am going to be using this netbook to bring me to school to type with OpenOffice, listen to my 20 GBs of iTunes music, browse the web, and maybe do some light gaming (Games before 2001). I just have a couple questions:

1. Can netbooks handle older 3D games such as Deus Ex?

2. Can netbooks handle Hulu movies/TV shows in fullscreen?

3. If a certain game requires, say, Windows 98 and doesn't work in XP, would running a virtual machine with Windows 98 running with XP to run that game really hurt performance even if I upgraded the RAM to 2 GBs? Would it still be able to run the game (System Shock 2) decently since SS2 doesn't work in XP?

4. Is anything extraordinary coming out to the netbook market anytime soon? Should I hold off?

1. older games might be playable to an extent. depends on the chipset. if you find one that has the ION platform i should think it would handle it just fine. (although the ION netbooks are fewer and far between/still waiting to come out/and cost more.)

2. Hulu/TV shows work just fine on my hacked dell mini9.

3.you would likely be highly taxing the system imo. but i don't use Windows on mine so its hard to say. the Atom has its limits.

4. newer Atom chips are in the pipeline, including the possibility of dual core ones coming out sometime next year, but there are always newer and better things coming out. that said, imo the current Atom chips are dated and if you can wait certainly do so.

 

[electroshock]

I am pretty sure I am going to buy the Toshiba NB-205 netbook

I wouldn't recommend it because unless you're really good with putting together hackint0shes, it may not boot into MacOS X too well. Depending on your luck (and driver support), you may be able to run the apps and games you mentioned under Parallels/VMware Fusion or BootCamp.

 

[Theclamshell]

i play a game called 1nsane on my netbook the games from 2001 and it runs it great!

 

[SkyBell]

I wouldn't recommend it because unless you're really good with putting together hackint0shes, it may not boot into MacOS X too well. Depending on your luck (and driver support), you may be able to run the apps and games you mentioned under Parallels/VMware Fusion or BootCamp.

I'm pretty sure the OP isn't going to be hackintoshing it.

To answer your questions:

1. My HP mini 110 runs Halo. Make of that what you will.

2. Yep.

3. You could, but it might really be pushing the limits of usability depending on the game.

4. In the next year or so, maybe. But nothing soon.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

I am pretty sure I am going to buy the Toshiba NB-205 netbook, I really want to, but I don't think I necessarily need it right now for school, but it would be nice! I was looking at a netbook less than 400 dollars that is up to date and looks good, I don't like the interior of the laptop to have glossy plastics and the Toshiba is the only one that fits my criteria.

Anyways, I am going to be using this netbook to bring me to school to type with OpenOffice, listen to my 20 GBs of iTunes music, browse the web, and maybe do some light gaming (Games before 2001). I just have a couple questions:

1. Can netbooks handle older 3D games such as Deus Ex?

2. Can netbooks handle Hulu movies/TV shows in fullscreen?

3. If a certain game requires, say, Windows 98 and doesn't work in XP, would running a virtual machine with Windows 98 running with XP to run that game really hurt performance even if I upgraded the RAM to 2 GBs? Would it still be able to run the game (System Shock 2) decently since SS2 doesn't work in XP?

4. Is anything extraordinary coming out to the netbook market anytime soon? Should I hold off?

1. Probably. But if they're anything like Sim City 4, then absolutely not.

2. Maybe. I don't have a totally equivalent machine, but the family's XPS 410 would probably handle them just fine.

4. nVidia ION is just emerging. My Engadget RSS feed said the following a few days ago:

We know how relieved you were when you found out that rumors of Pineview's delay were greatly exaggerated. But have you heard this one? In addition to the N450 1.66GHz system-on-a-chip due to hit the streets in early 2010, Intel is said to be releasing the N470, which will run along at a cool 1.83GHz and sport a 667MHz FSB, hyperthreading support, and a TDP of 6.5 watts (which, considering you won't need a separate graphics controller, is none too shabby). It really makes the whole concept of microprocessor without its own graphics seem a little 2009, doesn't it? Not a bad deal all around -- provided this thing comes in at a decent price point it's sure to put a smile on the face of netbook manufacturers and consumers alike. But NVIDIA? Not so much.

 

[akbc]

I would definitely wait...

Netbooks with ION platforms are slowly coming out and in a month or two, I'm sure we'll see some major releases from big companies.

Some companies here in Korea already announced a couple of Atom + ION netbooks which will definitely play Hulu/YouTube HD stuff (although not very well sometimes.. as Flash heavily relies on CPU still)

Some rumors are that Atom Dual Cores are coming soon as well... for like 12" form factors.

 

[TSE]

Okay I think I will hold up, researching more I think something like the gateway LT3103u would be more of my style, just a bigger, but slightly faster version of a netbook, I would probably buy the LT31 if it weren't for the 3 hour battery life, though.

Hopefully nVidia ion reaches the 300-400 dollar mark.