I was very pleased with my ASUS as many of you who own them have agreed, but the ASUS 1000 series that were available locally just weren't doing it for me. I had narrowed my choices to three brands.
Lenovo's Ideapad - this netbook support 4GB of RAM as opposed to 2GB on the ASUS, prices started at $400
ASUS 1000 Series - running XP Home, 120-160 GB HD, starting at $379
HP Mini - mostly the same deal as the ASUS but much better support, also about $60 less.
Now keep in mind, there are other netbooks ont he market that may be just as good a machine, but (1) I hate Toshiba and have had horrible luck with that brand, (2) Dell Mini is a nice machine but slightly overpriced, and (3) Acer ONE are never in stock. I needed a machine ASAP as I was leaving the next day.
My choices in town were Target, WalMart, Best Buy, and Sears as they sold the three brands I was looking for.
So I go to Best Buy first. They have all three brands. I really liked the HP Mini as the ASUS was somewhat clunky and cheap feeling. They were out of stock on the $400 range Ideapad. That left the ASUS running XP Home and the Mini running the same.
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| Size Comparison: HP Mini 110 vs IBM Think pad T41. Also note the size of the Age of Empires CD case. |
The salesman wouldn't even speak to me. I had $1200 burning a hole in my pocket and he wouldn't even speak to me. I chalk that up to poor sales staff and left, very pissed that he wouldn't help me part with my money.
Next stop WalMart. I walked right back to the electronics section - no ASUS, but they had the Dell Mini, the ACER One, and the HP. I looked at the OS - the dell was running Vista - NO. The Acer and the HP were both running Windows 7, but the HP was $329.
I walked over the electronics counter and got a guy to unlock the case. I was out the door in another 10 minutes with my new HP Mini in hand.
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| Compared in size to an IBM Thinkpad T41 - 14.4" vs 10.1" |
Now some thoughts on a Netbook.
You are typically going to get a machine with a 10 inch screen, 2-3 USB ports, a flash storage, VGA out, and either a 120 or 150 GB HD. OS will either be XP Home or Windows 7, unless you find a system running a Linux or Vista variant.
System Specs
1.6GHz Intel Atom
1GB of DDR2 RAM
150GB HD (130 free + 11 recovery partition)
Intel 945 Express w/ 256MB of Vram total (64 dedicated + 184 shared)
Integrated Webcam
3x USB (1x left and 2x right)
1x VGA out (rightside)
1x SD (combo multiple SD formats, right side)
Ethernet (right side)
Integrate N wireless
combo Audio in/out (left side)
touchpad
3-cell battery (about 1 - 1.5 hours battery life).
Windows 7 Starter 32bit - I really like this OS as it has alot of the good from Vista with the stability of XP. Windows 7 Starter is a stripped down version of Windows 7 that allows you the option to download the additional componentns of the other versions of Windows 7 to make it a specific version.
Example - you want Windows 7 Professional, you get online, pay the additional fees and then download the content to unlock and install those features. Your COA then becomes specifically for that version of Windows 7.
Windows 7, once you remove some of the bloated trial software and convert over to "Windows 2000" mode runs better than XP did on a comparable spec'd P4 system.
"Windows 2000 mode" is where you turn off all the graphical bells and whistles. This gives the desktop the gray taskbar similar to Windows 2000 (and Windows 95-ME). This conserves system RAM and improves performance.
You can do this from the System Control Panel in XP - Windows 7, under "Advanced" Performance Settings. Select "Adjust for Best Performance." This turns off the advanced options like animated cursors, menus, and other graphical options.
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| The HP Mini has a 92% size keyboard, meaning that normal typing is quite comfortable, unlike the cramped key layout on some of the previous Netbook designs. |
Keyboard - This is where the Mini shines above the other machines. The keys are full size as opposed to the 80 or 90% keys on most netbooks. i understand this should become standard on most netbooks soon, but I really liked the feel of the keyboard as opposed to the others out there.
Battery - The 3-cell battery advertises 3.5 hours. The maximum I've gotten was 3 hours - tweak power settings, turn off wireless and bluetooth. I have read the battery is the most common complaint about this series. I would suggest immediately buying the 6-cell battery. It's advertised as getting 6+ hours of battery life to it, which roughly translates to 3-4 hours realistically. The 6-cell will tack an additional $100 (you can find the battery for $60 at some places) to your price tag, so consider this into you total price.
Graphics - The system runs the Intel 945 Express Mobile as do most netbooks and budget laptops. 256MB of Video RAM. The system has 64MB dedicated on board, and then shares the 187MB from the system ram. I liked this right off the bat as it would mean I could play all of my current games. The native max resolution is 1024x600 which is standard for the 10" Netbooks.
RAM - The system has one SODIMM slot occupied by 1GB of RAM, but supports a maximum of 2GB of PC 5300 DDR2. This, also is standard for most other netbooks. Average price for the PC 5300 DDR2 2GB stick is $50. The sodimm slot is accessible via a bottom bay, as is the harddrive, so you don't have to full disassemble to upgrade, as was the case for previous Netbooks.
Harddrive - this is a 150GB Sata, 5400 RPM. This gives you better storage capacity at slightly reduce battery life as compared to the previous SSD equipped systems. 5400 RPM will be slightly slower in performance, but has been the standard factory drive for laptops for several years. BIOs is said to be compatible with up to 300GB, but to be honest, higher capacity probably would be overkill for this system.
Networking - the system has a gig ethernet port and integrated N wireless. The Wireless N is backwards compatible with G and B systems. It does seem to be able to do alot more with less of a signal. But am finding it performs about the same as my Thinkpad with Wireless G card. I don't really see much of a selling point on the N over G right now, but it is nice to have it.
Performance - this system matches the physical specs of my Thinkpad T41 in all but the graphics. The Thinkpad runs a 1.6GHz Pentium M, which at times, run almost too fast for Unreal Tournament 99. I don't know what it is about this processor series, but it runs the few games I have on it exceptionally well.
My HP Mini is running a comparable 1.6 Atom with less RAM AND Windows 7 and is easily able to run Rainbow Six 3 at full speed and details settings.
The only real bonus of the older thinkpad is its larger display and DVD drive. Otherwise, the HP Mini is an excellent replacement.
Overall Impression - I had wanted to find a replacement for my Thinkpad and the Mini easily fits the bill. While I had originally intended to sell the Thinkpad, I have since decided to hang onto it a little longer, at least until I can find a complete replacement laptop.
Until then, the HP Mini is perfect for field tech work such as making house calls, doing wireless network troubleshooting, and simply having a smaller fully functional Windows machine in my toolbox.
I have no doubt this system would fly if I chose to put XP on it, but have been pleasantly surprised by Windows 7 and apart from some glitches in Firefox, don't foresee installing XP anytime soon.
Notes:
This is a review of a Mini 110, Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r9yEXgvRW0
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