Brand new Netbook for $200 at Futureshop.. worth it?

[gostumpy]

http/www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-10-1-intel-atom-n455-netbook-aod257-13665-blue-aod257-13665/10171796.aspx?path=deec7ad70bce49bd9e34eebb40db3b0ben02

What are your thoughts?

Looks awful good... Brand new for $200+tax... I would quite likely dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10... Or just run ubuntu

 

[hpfreak]

It is a budget netbook. Decent for the price, but freaking slow, I mean... battery life, come on... On a netbook it says you get up to 4 hrs? And usually the ads are stretched... It doesn't look like a scam, but it does look like you are going to have to be very patient with it. If anything, I'd just run Ubuntu, Windows 7 starter is garbage, and running Windows on a netbook is illogical. Netbook = Ubuntu
Notebook = Dual-boot Win7 and Ubuntu

The current version of Ubuntu is 11.04 if I'm correct, why settle for less?

 

[gostumpy]

Thanks for the input, never really thought about battery life...

Did a little digging, and for $50 more this one has double the cells, and advertises to last up to 8 hours:

http/www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-10-1-intel-atom-n450-netbook-ao532h-2806-english-ao532h-2806/10151101.aspx?path=d383ed541673c2e5324f657e82fa927den02

And since I would really just be using it for web browsing anyway, Ubuntu should work just fine

 

[hpfreak]

Yeah that one will last longer battery life wise.... But it has less HDD space, not something crucial to you since you only want to browse the web though.

 

[jaguarskx]

What do you plan on doing with the netbook? They are pretty weak in comparison to a laptop so if you are going to be doing something that's moderately intensive, then you will probably be disappointed.

 

[gostumpy]

Good questions to ask and I'll answer as best I can.

I have a Desktop right now with a 1TB HDD for storage, and I use the desktop for any intensive tasks.

My wife has a Dual-Core Sony Vaio 15.4" Laptop with 3gb Ram etc... I do love her Laptop, however it is a bit bulky, the battery life SUCKS (3 years old, lasts MAYBE an hour on a charge) so it's always plugged in... and it's pretty heavy...

I am thinking of getting a netbook purely to be able to sit with her in the living room on the couch with a laptop on my lap browsing the web, maybe playing online poker, nothing intensive for sure... my desktop would be doing all the DVD burning/Decoding...

I think a small netbook is perfect for my situation?

 

[jaguarskx]

You should be fine then with a netbook then. Not sure about ubuntu since I don't use it.

 

[hpfreak]

The netbook is great for your situation, Netbooks are too small for my taste, but it looks like you have a desktop to take care of any "work".
Ubuntu would run great on it. Windows 7 is pretty bulky itself, since you don't need any of the features that Windows has to offer, Ubuntu would be the best way to go, it is lighter, faster, and more reliable. And... if you do need install a Windows program, you could install Wine, and Wine will install files that Windows PCs normally have, giving you some the best of Ubuntu, and a bit of Windows.

Go with the netbook you found + Ubuntu.

 

[gostumpy]

Best answer selected by gostumpy.

 

[gostumpy]

Thanks for the support!

I went to London Drugs today and played around with the netbooks a bit.. I like the feel of the keyboard just as much as any normal laptop.. they all feel small compared to a desktop keyboard

I am really excited for this since I've never owned a laptop before! Wife barely lets me use hers because she is on it all the time, lol.

I suppose it really is worth the extra $50 for double the battery life?

 

[gostumpy]

Edit

NVM, different topic new thread