Solved! Portable Work/School + TV/Movie Watching

[ilves]

Hi Everyone,
I'm looking to get a portable and fairly cheap laptop to take with me to work and school everyday. It'll require some train + subway + walking, so weight is a big consideration. A side bonus, but not required, is being able to watch TV/movies from the internet or the harddrive and plug into a TV, so an HDMI connection would be nice, but not the primary concern.

1_What is your budget?
<$500

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
10-12"

3_What screen resolution do you want?
Unsure

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Have a destop, portability is required.

5_How much battery life do you need?
The more the better. Definitely looking for 6+ hours, 10ish would be best.

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
I might do light gaming, but not looking for newer games. Probably older games like stuff off of Gog.com.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Watching movies, TV.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Don't care.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Don't care.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
A few years.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Nothing specific

13_What country do you live in?
USA

I've been looking at various 10-12" netbooks, like the 1201N, just not sure what type of stuff is our there and whether there is anything on the horizon in the next 2 months that I should wait for. Looking to get this the latest around the end of June. Any input would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[WR2]

Right now the Dell Inspiron 1110 $450 is looking pretty sweet.
Dell 11z review (the previous model to the 1110 but with the same basic specs).

There are new dual core ATOM netbooks due out in the 3rd quarter this year (July?). And AMD seems to be about to catch up with a new line of low power notebooks also due out in time for the back to school season.

 

[ilves]

Right now the Dell Inspiron 1110 $450 is looking pretty sweet.
Dell 11z review (the previous model to the 1110 but with the same basic specs).

There are new dual core ATOM netbooks due out in the 3rd quarter this year (July?). And AMD seems to be about to catch up with a new line of low power notebooks also due out in time for the back to school season.

Thanks, doesn't look too bad, only thing I'm not sure is the battery life, reviews say ~5 hours with normal use. It would be basically what I'm looking for if it would last a little bit longer in regards to battry, maybe I'll wait until June before buying anything, I just need it in mid-July anyway. I guess I'm really looking for a sub-notebook, 11-12" with decent battery and light-weight is preferred.

 

[WR2]

To get your 10hr battery you'd need to get something like the $360 Asus 1005PE. 10hr rating is basic web surfing with WiFi using the bigger 6 cell battery. Probably something close to 6hrs with the standard battery.
If you're watching an occasional flash based video while surfing at 50% screen brightness expect something 20% lower battery life. With anything like normal use? No one I know with a netbook gets anywhere near 50% of the rated battery life - mostly due to wanting a brighter screen and doing more than the minimum 'basic web surfing'.