[akabigtuna]

Hey guys, Im new to the netbook revoolution and have a mainstreem laptop. i want to get a netbook. It needs to be able to have a dvdrw or cdrw external dirve that is powered via usb and it needs to be fast and good. it sould be nice to see some comparison pictures. I will mostly be using it for watching movies, listening to music through itunes, email, internet, and word/excel/powerpoint. which would be best for the money. I can get an education discount so, just tell em the price with the discount. also, battery life is a big thing for me, so it needs to have at least 4hrs with wifi off and screen adjusted. Let me know the price and basic accessories I should get. also, why sjould I pick a certain one? Which is thinner and has what ports? I know this is a mini forum so the suggestions will most likely be biased towards the mini series, but be honest... Also, for the money, would it be smarter to just get a refurbished XPS m1330 for about $600-700? Thanks, Tuna

[medicThree]

You will never see me buying a mini 12. The ram is hard wired in and can't be upgraded. I love my mini 9 and you can buy new, previously ordered units in the dell outlet for ~400 bucks. I would get a system with 512 ram, but 16gb ssd, then upgrade to 2gb ram on your own(took 3 minutes).

I don't care for HP products, so I won't comment on them. I have had a few experiences that have left a bad taste in my mouth.

[akabigtuna]

Do you know about the xps m1330? here is what I have come down to... Either a used m1330 from teh outlet with nvidia 128 dedicated ram, 4gbram, 320gb hdd, and a wireless g card with 6 cell battery. so, for the money, which would be better, they are both very portable, and I like having the regular keyboard and the cd drive built it. But from what I have found, i can get the xps for $750 and the mini setup for $600... Which to go with, I think the XPS, but wanted to see what you thought.

[medicThree]

Why is the mini going to cost you 600?!?!?!?

Brand new from outlet: under 400.

Buying external drive off ebay... 25 dollars.

16gb sdhc class 6 a-data from ebay 30 dollars.

You don't necessarily need either.

[medicThree]

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSale ... 0910&s=dfh

[dont]

Originally Posted by medicThree

Why is the mini going to cost you 600?!?!?!?

Brand new from outlet: under 400.

Buying external drive off ebay... 25 dollars.

16gb sdhc class 6 a-data from ebay 30 dollars.

You don't necessarily need either.

I think he is talking about the Mini 12.

Personally, I would rather buy an Inspiron 13 than a Mini 12. I can't imagine buying a Vista machine that can only ever have 1GB of memory on board. I know that MS restricts manufacturers from selling cheap XP installs on machines that have > 1GB of memory, but Vista? This makes no sense, especially as they have hard-wired it in.

Not being in the US I don't know the law, but why aren't these sort of restrictions imposed by MS illegal? Surely there is some sort of anti-trust or consumer rights legislation that US lawyers would love to sue MS over?

[jdizzle]

mmmmm! litigate. The 12 would be all right if it were 12" nine

[medicThree]

I agree. It seems to make it bigger they cut corners all over the place on the 12.

Ram, cpu(depending which you choose), screen(LCD, not LED), ram, ram, ram, ram, vista, ram.

[jdizzle]

I really don't get it. taking advantage with the extra space to add upgrades in processor, RAM(of which they are limited to in MB/GB, not slots, right?) and maybe a tiny fan for airflow for the upgrades. does any other corp. support modding? Look at the automotive field(stagnant 80's models followed by bubbly 90's then all of the sudd'n Toyota,Honda,Acura take one from the consumers and offer base model fast n furious tuners), they(DELL) could build a reasonably affordable net/note which would satisfy 98% of buyers and still make it highly modable or upgradeable for the other 2%(they're the ones DELL will get the best ideas from, not these ding-a-ling designers. As far as bigger drives,more RAM... that should all be upgradeable post-purchase and it wouldn't be tough to add places to tap the motherboard for mods. besides, aren't you supposed to brag about you cool stuff(and not in a Orwellian way). DeeeLL may be late to jump on the band wagon, but they can still jump. Open the back door to modders and fiddl'rs DELL, don't be Ma [s:3jspgfla]Bell[/s:3jspgfla] Dell. and microsoft stop being such dicks
p.s. get the 9, if no one buys the 12, maybe they'll rethink they're next release and offer something decent(however, I dont have a 12 so ?????? maybe it rocks) but I doubt it

[Fanfoot]

If you're only going to have one computer, I'd probably suggest getting a regular notebook. It'll be more functional, faster, and the keyboard will be more comfortable. Some people who use netbooks though swear by them so this isn't gospel. But you won't know how you feel until you use one for a while.

I wouldn't buy the Dell Mini 12. Too many compromises on battery life, performance, etc for me. If you're okay with a 12" notebook just buy a 12 or 13" notebook.

The Dell Mini 9 is very nice. It is highly moddable/upgradable. An ASUS 901 though is probably more moddable/upgradable since it has been around longer. But the Dell is smaller and cheaper and given that it is Dell there will be lots of support for it in the long run, don't worry.

An 8.9" screen and keyboard are real compromises. I love the small size though and am willing to put up with those. You might find them too much, and prefer a 10" model.

If you are going to go with a 10", it looks like the MSI Wind, the HP mini 1000, the Lenovo S10 and the Samsung are the ones to look at. The HP has some oddball connectors. The Samsung has the best battery life. The HP has the best keyboard. But probably you'll end up going on price, so just look around. You can find good reviews of all of these on http://www.laptopmag.com