Netbook

So I'm kinda thinking about getting a netbook for school and all that jazz, so I'm kinda stuck between the Dell mini 10v or the Asus Eee PC 1005HA series. So whats your thoughts on the matter, for those that own netbooks how much to you enjoy them?

I would mostly be using it for internet, email, typing papers, and generally "studying" in between classes I would plan on installing ubuntu rather than windows on it, cause well I like it much better.

I've had the mini 9, which isn't much different then the 10 (the screen was better on the 9, the keyboard is better on the 10, the processor, ram, accessories are pretty much the same short the storage as with the 9 you were only able to use ssd due to size and connector constraints in the unit).

It was a decent little system. I used it for a while at work - the screen was good enough, although sometimes hard to read when I was tired. For games, well, it ran Doom great... Ran Diablo great... Ran Sacred OK (as long as you're not zoomed too far out) - but it just isn't a powerhouse.

The Atom is a neat chip, but it is only single core (with hyperthreading - read poor mans dual core), the CPU speed is ok. The Graphics chipset is fair at best (unless you look at some of the higher end ones like one I think from Asus or Samsung, can't remember which off hand, that has a 9400m in it). For portability - you really can't beat a netbook. The mini 9 (not sure about the 10v) was fanless which made it silent so it was awesome in quiet places where you don't want to disturb people.

If I were going to school today, I'd get a regular laptop rather then a netbook. To me a netbook is better geared for a businessman that travels a lot or someone that will be returning to a main machine to sync up and use when they are not traveling. If this is going to be your main machine through school - get a regular desktop or laptop and if you have cash left over - great, get a netbook to carry to class. Things that might cause you problems depending on what you will be doing at school include the resolution (1024x576 for the base model) which screws up any programs that can't resize for that minimum verticle resolution (1024x600 was bad enough on the mini 9, it may not seem like a big loss, those 24 lines, but you'd be surprised). If you're going in for a CS or CIS type degree where you'll be doing compiling of software - oye, you may want to stock up on reading material if you have a large hunk of code to compile. I compiled a few things on mine, and it definitely wouldn't win any speed medals - it was faster then a PIII and some low end P4s but no where near what a more powerful system can handle.

Thanks, this would be for small little things, when I do transfer off to my university I would be buying a mbp most likely for now I am sticking with my iMac and pc desktop at home for the majority of things. And yeah I'm in for a CS major so compiling on it would be a problem latter on since as of now I am still in some basic C++, or at least what I consider to be basic. So compiling should not be to much of an issue I think, if it is I can take it with me and go grab a bite to eat while waiting for my next class.

While doing some more reading on cnet, they were compairing the mini 10v to the Eee pc 1005HA, it seems that the Asus did out preform it on many of there tests, so I would be leaning towards it more than the dell.
Thank you for your input.

Well I bought the Asus Eee Pc 1005HA-VU1X in blue along with a little cloth sleeve cover thing for it, should be here in a few days. I'm going to give a whirl with xp, but I have a feeling by the end of the week I will be using ubuntu NBR or something to that matter, found a nifty little tool that will take a .img or .iso and turn it into a usb installer, which is going to come in handy.

If I were to purchase a Netbook today, it would either be the Lenovo or the Dell. I love my friends Lenovo as far as a Netbook goes.

I was given a brand new Acer Aspire with the 9" screen. It's ok but I hate the Battery Life, Trackpad and the location of the buttons on the sides. That alone almost drives me insane. The screen is nice for it's size and I have no issues seeing it.

I got better batter life in Ubuntu and Open Suse than in XP, but for some reason Windows 7 RC beats them all in battery life.

Since I did not pay for it, it's ok for the little I need something that small, but like I said, I would never purchase the Acer with my $$$!

I will also say, even though Windows 7 is pretty good for Windows and much better than Vista, every time I take that Acer with me, I keep wishing I had my Mac with Leopard with me instead!

Well I have had my Asus for a few days now and I must say I really really do like it, I havn't had the chance to test the battery out yet. I decided to keep win xp on it, keep life somewhat simple, still boots very fast even after firewall antivirus and all that junk. Screen is big enough I can read everything clearly without increasing font size or lowering screen resulotion. The trackpad is fairly good though it takes some time to get used to, as in ain't your normal pad it is part of the casing with little senor bumps or something to that affect does allow multitouch commands. Another nice little feature is that it has a recovery partition built into it incase anthing goes wrong since it is windows, lol.

I will edit this once I test the battery a little more, but the end result will most likely be the same and that would be I like this netbook very much and I would suggest it to a friend. So if your on the market for a netbook why not give Asus a glance over.