Netbook

[david_77]

Was looking at buying a netbook for my 6 year old daughter, Dell mini 1018 with these specs:

Intel Atom Single Core N455 - (1.66Ghz, 667Mhz, 512K L2 Cache)
10.1" Widescreen WSVGA with Truelife
Integrated Camera
1GB (1 x 1024MB) 1333Mhz DDR3
250 GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
Intel Integrated Graphics Card 3150
Wireless 802/11n
Bluetooth
Windows 7 Starter (32BIT)


Just wondering if this would cope with basic flash games like the dress up games kids play of Mallworld type games on facebook?

Thanks for your help guys

 

[jaguarskx]

Hmmm...

Based on a few netbook reviews I've read 1GB of RAM is really too little for Win 7 Starter; it's not really enough even for Win XP which uses less resources. The occasional stuttering can occur even when surfing the net using a few tabs. Upgrading the RAM is recommended, but it seems the RAM is soldered into many netbooks which makes upgrading it impossible. There are netbooks that do allow you to upgrade the RAM, but it's not as easy as on a laptop. It usually requires you to strip down the netbook to access the single memory slot so that you can install a 2GB RAM module or 4GB RAM module (if supported). Doing so voids the warranty.

The GMA 3150 has very limited capabilities. Will it be enough for Flash games? I don't know. It can play videos fine up to 720p as long as it is stored on the netbook, but watch Flash encoded video on Youtube and similar sites like Hulu generally results in less than smooth video playback. This is also likely due to a single core CPU. You probably should consider looking into a dual core Atom N2600 CPU which is not really that much more expensive. It usually comes with a GMA 3600 graphic core. Better than the GMA 3150 I suppose, but nothing really to write home about.

A glossy screen makes colors "pop", but is generally very reflective and can produce a lot of glare in a brightly lit room or when used outdoors.

 

[willard]

That system is going to be really slow, even for simple web browsing. You really want something that's dual core and with at least 2GB of memory.

 

[david_77]

Went with this model instead, it's dual core and 2Gb ram. thanks for your help guys.

http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/79153-35-netbook#t316576