At 03:18 PM 8/4/2009, Herbert Graf wrote: >Many days my netbook has been the only machine I used. It's perfect for >meetings and even town halls. I hadn't taken the time yet to respond to this thread, but your comments regarding netbooks is right on the money. I purchased an Asus 1000HE back in March with the sole purpose of it being a travelling movie machine - my wife and I were about to embark on a trip to Jamaica and I wanted the ability to watch what I wanted rather than whatever the airlines might have. To that end, I replaced the drive with a 500GB version and upped the RAM to 2GB. Also purchased a couple of extended run-time batteries (12000 & 13000 mAh) for it just in case. I filled most of the drive with movies and music - even a couple GB of audiobooks. Loaded up my favorite browser (Opera) and email client (Eudora) and away I went. Used it for a couple of weeks in Jamaica and promptly fell in love with it. You know - that little machine is a REAL performer! I realize that the N280 processor is wussy by todays standards but I think that machine works VERY well. I've since loaded MPLAB, Corel Draw X3, some CNC stuff, Kitsrus K149 (I think) PIC programmer, PicBasic Pro - pretty much all of the tools I use with my 'real' laptop (Dell XPS M170) - the Dell now lives most of the time sitting on a table in front of the sofa in my living room and the little tiny Asus 1000HE travels with me wherever I go. Its good for around 10 hours use with the aftermarket large batteries. Asus says that its good for "9.5 hours" with the stock battery, but I'd guess that's with all peripherals turned off and the backlight turned to its lowest level. I get a solid 10 hours with the backlight at about half-way (plenty bright) and don't worry at all about what peripherals are running. I'm back to using the Dell M170 right now - but not by choice. My wife is in California for another week and she took the netbook with her. I can see that I'm going to have to get a similar machine for her. I spent a fair while looking at the various netbooks in stock at our local Futureshop and Best Buy stores before settling on the Asus line. I've actually purchased 2 Asus machines: the first was a 1000HA which I in turn sold to the in-laws after purchasing the 1000HE. I did upgrade the 1000HA to 2 GB RAM and also installed a bluetooth card before deciding that I wanted the N280 processor instead of the N270. The in-laws were only too happy to purchase that machine from me - they, too, also love that little machine. You know, the first netbooks WERE pretty wussy and bordered on useless. Not so with the current crop. dwayne -- Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist