Russell McMahon wrote: > 1. Question- detailed at end: Is there any inobvious reason why a netbook > seems a bad choice for this task. Is there a better newer brighter solution > that IO've missed? > 2. People may not be aware of this nicely specd recent netbook offering. > ___________ > > > > Choices seemed to be variants of HP/Acer/Asus in around the 10" screen size > in each case. > Yeah 10 inch seems to be about the sweet spot, not too big to lug arround, big enough that they can fit a decent screen resoloution while not making the pixels ridiculously small (though unfortunately most manufacturers still fit the same crappy resoloution as the 9 inch machines) and the can fit a proper 2.5 inch drive. > I've probably decided on the reasonably new and well specd HP 5101 with Atom > N280 1.66GHz, 1366 x 768 10.1" display, 2GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, WiFi, > Bluetooth and Win XP Pro with Vista Business downgrade optional. Including a > 3 year pickup and return HP warranty the prices is about $US700, which seems > a bargain for such a well specifiEd machine, when compared with specs and > cost say a year ago. HP keyboard is generally felt to be as good as any in > this class, this model has a real DB15 VGA port (unlike some earlier HPs). 4 > cell battery is a shame compared to 6 cell of some competitors. Assuming you are in the US you might want to consider the older HP mini 2140 with HD screen option. It's no longer availible new but you can often get it "refurb" from the "HP buisness outlet store". It has the same 10 inch screen but it's smaller than it's replacement and has an expresscard slot. On the downside it doesn't have the mobile data option availible. > NO internal > DVD As you would expect in a machine this size > and external USB DVD probably won't be added as premium pricing of small > USB powered units seems unjustified. 1.3kg. 23.2 (at front) x 262 x 180 mm > Personally when buying one for my brother (haven't got a netbook for myself yet) we compromised and bought one that was slimline but not USB powered. It gets used at home for installing software and packed in the suitcase when going on holiday but does not get taken on shorter trips. Sony have a similar machine too though they only offer it with XP home. > Microsoft have poleaxed the display resolution on all netbooks with XP home > by requiring they be no more than 1024 x 600 to gain license rights to the > low cost XP home variant. Afaict this requirement is only for windows 7 starter not for XP home ULCPC. Both HP and sony seem to be offering XP home in conjunction with the "HD "displays. They do ban manufacturers putting more than 1GB of ram in the XP home machines (though there is nothing technical and afacit nothing legal to stop you upgrading the ram yourself after purchase) > XP Pro versions don't have this limitation and the > extra height makes a large difference on some pages. > > The major tasks are 1. the assimilation, retention and possible display of > photos along the way with external HDD as backup) plus 2. WiFi / LAN > internet access where appropriate. I haven't tested CF card download speeds > yet but expect they may be slow by laptop speeds but not absolutely > terrible. I may be wrong. > I'd expect them to be much the same as any other laptop, USB and the cards themselves are far more of a bottleneck than the CPU afaict. > Post trip use liable to be more of the same. > > QUESTIONs: This SEEMS like an excellent version of this class of machine to > me. What have I missed? Am I going to regret this? The only potential issue is being a new model it's build quality is relatively unproven and HP doesn't exactly have the worlds best reputation in that regard. Getting the 3 year warranty definately seems like a smart move to me > Why should I not instead > buy eg an HP 12.1" 'proper' noteboook with substantially more size, more > weight more processing speed, more cost and a DVD writer? Any fatal flaws > (apart from lack of internal DVD).. > Not really, the processor is a lot slower but thats not a big deal for any of the applications you are proposing. If at all possible I'd try to find somewhere you can see one in person so that you can decide if the pixels are too small for you. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist