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I bought this laptop about 6 months ago, and am so glad that I did! I was hoping to spend 0-600, as I figured these days you can get somewhat of a decent comp for that price. I was looking at a Gateway with a 17" screen, which I thought would be nice for my art and photography... But THEN I took a walk on the wild side to the nicer lineup of comp's and saw this Sony. It is quiet (you dont even hear the fan running), fast, doesnt get hot, easy to type, amazing HD qualities, awesome windows 7, web startup with a press of a button, etc... I was very worried about spending 0 or so, when buying a MAC is only a few hundred dollars more. (I'm a MAC lover!)... But really, this is a great computer with everything that I need (and some). Dont settle for a crappy machine when for a little more you can have this reliable smooth Sony. Best Buy has an 18 month no-interest deal on their credit card, which I did. You wont be dissapointed...
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Ever heard of Petticoat Government by Fanny Trollope? My favorite pastime is reading old books, including obscure Victorian novels not available in reprint. Google Books has a huge collection of these books, ditto Internet Archive. Was using a Kindle to read these, but tired of the fussy steps needed to convert PDF books containing pictures. (Also tired of the unlit grey background.) Thought of getting an Ipad, but really craved a full service PC. This darling little pink netbook fills the bill. Weight feels about the same as reading a hardcover book - acceptable. It was easy to download Adobe Reader, and use google to find PF shortcuts. E.g. to get the book's page to fill the screen: Ctl/L (full screen), then Ctl/shift/+ (rotate clockwise), then Ctl/3 (fit visible). Screen resolution must be 1024x600. A great way to page up/down is to use the built-in mouse buttons (the metal bar in the wristpad area). So far the netbook has remained cool even after several hours reading. Since Adobe Reader does not have bookmarks, when I'm done reading I don't close the book's window, just minimize it using Windows/D. Likewise I hibernate instead of shutting down - thus the book is still at the page where I left off. Another method is to record the page number in Wordpad, and later go back to the page in Adobe Reader using Ctl/Shift/N (go to).
Lots of great features including the Fn hot key which lets you do a lot of common tasks easily from the desktop: brighten, darken, turn on/off net access, adjust or mute volume, change screen resolution, etc. Internet access is as fast as on my other PCs. I did notice one of my scanning programs ran noticeably slower, ditto some downloads, but overall the 1GB RAM is fine for my needs. MS Works comes with an old version of Word, nice. Btw each time the battery fully drains, and is recharged, more hours are available. I think 11 hours is realistic if one is doing a low-level task like reading. Usually don't need an external mouse, but when I do, I like the Eee corded one in matching pink. Kindle for PC came installed for reading current books and periodicals.
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I've owned this item for ~2yrs now. It replaced a 14" Averatec laptop (AMD-2200M) and feels zippier than it for practically all applications. It's also *much* more portable! I chose it primarily to support my photography when travelling -- it has a large hard drive I can use to free up my memory cards, and a decent display that I can use to review my pictures. In this role, I've been exceedingly pleased with this product.
The keyboard is excellent, and I was immediately able to touch-type on it at full speed. The matte display is also a plus, as it is much more readable outside. The wireless is better at getting and holding a signal than any laptop I've owned before or since.
My main complaint is that the touchpad is very sensitive and small, and especially under Ubuntu, I find that I am frequently clicking when I meant to drag-scroll. The screen resolution is lower than I'd like, making web surfing a little less enjoyable, and it struggles to play hulu full-screen, but I was aware of this going in.
The unit is still running solidly, and I'm still getting ~5+hrs of battery life on the original.
I supplemented this unit with 2G of memory and an external DVD writer. I'd recommend these accessories as well, as they improve the usability of the netbook.
If you're looking for a netbook and are aware of the limitations incurred by its form factor, in my opinion the nc10 still represents many of the best-in-class design decisions for this product category.
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I bought several netbooks and this by far is the best. I would prefer black, but I choose the white over brown. It won't be long when they add a CD drive. If you need additional storage space an external hard drive will suffice. I am a name brand person and Sony held their name on this one. Its worth the extra few dollars. The hard drive and picture quality is superb. I do alot of traveling and this little bad boy is a perfect size for that and the appearance is none other, hey its a VAIO! I am a U.S. Contractor and taken this to the sand box (Iraq) and its been outside the wire many times and its built tough like the MRAPs. I do suggest buying a HP sleeve for it cause it fits perfectly and the neoprene is thicker.
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I have used this laptop for a week now and can say that I am impressed.First of all mine came from TigerDirect and arrived prompt and in perfect condition.It is shipped in three boxes: the original ASUS box which is colored in a black and red theme and carries the ROG markings which houses the laptop quite securely,a brown cardboard box in which the original box is encased and another bigger box.I stated earlier that I bought mine from TigerDirect because up to this date (July 28th,2010),the laptop is still shipping with DDR3 1333Mhz 4Gigs Ram and since I am a computer person I was glad for the plus that mine came with 1333Mhz rather than the 1066Mhz stated on the packaging box for the same price of the laptop.A 4Gig DDR3 1333Mhz kit costs about 0.You can check this easily in the BIOS of the laptop at the info screen.
The laptop is a fingerprint magnet but it comes with a display cleaning cloth that can double to clean the shiny lid.The look of this laptop in reality outweighs the fingerprint magnet thought for me because it just looks awesome with its lighted logo and side lights on the lid.There is a problem you will read in reviews that the keyboard flexes a little too much and that is true but you can counter that easily with a USB keyboard like I did because generally I have never found keyboards on laptops comfortable for long term typing or gaming.It also runs warmer than your average laptop because of its i7 quad core and also the Nvidia 360m GTS GPU.The heat sink on the left of the laptop is responsible for the cooling of the processor and the GPU so the heat blown off is expected.I recommend a cooling pad or use the system propped up at the back to allow its fan to breathe in an ac environment or with a fan.The display is also superb,full HD 1080p,clear,sharp and comes with an array of color settings thanks to the Splendid Technology ASUS uses in their display products.There is always two other facts that should be taken into consideration..1)The lid lights do not change color depending on the fan speed in this model.It stays white all the time and 2)The center bar under the lighted ASUS ROG logo does not light up.It is not a manufacture defect..its just not wired physically to light.
If you have read the customer's review before me with the backup & bios problem, note that the laptop comes with a recovery partition like most laptops and you can access this to recover the system at the initial boot screen by pressing F9.Flashing the bios of any laptop is a very delicate process compared to flashing a desktop motherboard since laptops do not carry advance bios recovery or dual bios,etc.Be sure to double check to see if the new bios matches your motherboard model #,laptop model # and do a little research before upgrading your bios.Don't just go downloading from the Asus website and flashing.
There was a bit of junk ware on the system which I removed on first use.It will run any game you can throw at it up to this point and even if not maxed out it will run any game with slightly lower than max but still super comfortable settings with eye candy such as anti aliasing on.The pixel density of the display is very high and even resolutions of 1280x720 looks reasonably smooth in games.I own a lot of items from ASUS including monitors,motherboards and graphics cards and none have failed me yet or given me problems.The ASUS brand is always in my list and would recommend this laptop and the premium ASUS brand to anyone.
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After seeing some of the other reviews I thought I would add my two cents worth, as it may help out some of you who are looking to purchase an Inspiron 1545.
I've owned this laptop now for a little over a week and I am very happy with the experience so far. I am very knowledgeable about computers, and currently run several machines running Windows 7, Windows Home Server, Mac OSX, and Ubuntu. I have also worked in IT support in the past, so diagnosing and upgrading PCs is something I'm very comfortable with.
Quick Pros and Cons List:
PROS:
+ Windows 7 (it really is a nice and stable OS)
+ Intel dual-core T4400 processor (works well for most users, easy on battery life)
+ 4GB of RAM (helpful for running programs simultaneously, such as Office, Photoshop, Media Center, etc)
+ 320GB hard drive (plenty of storage for most users)
+ Integrated 1.3MP Creative Labs Live! webcam
+ 7-in-1 media card reader (almost a necessity today)
+ Easily upgradeable (discussed below)
CONS:
- T4400 is a dual-core processor, not as powerful as a Core 2 Duo, or the current Core i3 (1545R)
- Memory is slower 800MHz speed, not current 1066MHz (1545R)
- Wireless (wifi) card is A/B/G, but not N-spec
- While the webcam is 1.3MP, it isn't of the highest quality - but it's okay
- VGA-out included, not HDMI-out like on the newer 1545R
- Bluetooth not included (though upgradeable)
- High gloss surfaces do attract fingerprints (not a big negative)
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:
I've owned many Dells, and this is the third computer I've purchased from Dell this year... not because something was wrong, but they've had good deals on desktops and laptops this year. This is the first entry level laptop that I have purchased from Dell, and overall I am happy with the design, layout, and quality of the build. The high gloss plastic areas on the palmrest and LCD bezel are obvious fingerprint magnets, but not as bad as an iPhone or iPod. They keyboard is laid out well, with good distance between the keys and a nice feel when typing. The keyboard includes dedicated buttons on the right hand side for Home, Page Up/Down, End, and the four arrow keys.
The hard drive, a Seagate Momentus 5400.6 has decent storage space at 320GB, though it is slower at 5400RPM with an 8MB cache. After formatting, you have about 300GB of usable storage. The memory for this machine is 4GB, though the motherboard can support up to 8GB. The memory speed is 800MHz, which is fine, but is slower than the current 1066MHz memory available. It would have been nice if Dell included an HDMI video port, but instead chose VGA. The HDMI comes standard on the new 1545R with the Core i3 processor. The LCD is crisp and bright, with decent viewing angles. The native resolution of 1366x768 is good, though a little compact, but makes viewing 720p video very nice. The AC adapter is the slim variety... the only issue is that the power plug into the computer fits a little loosely - though probably on purpose to prevent damage to the laptop if the cable is snagged by a passerby.
UPGRADEABILITY:
The nicest aspect of this laptop is that if you find that you need more speed, hard drive space, memory, faster wifi, or even bluetooth - all of these components can be easily upgraded. Reading the service directions at Dell, you can see that taking apart the Inspiron 1545 is easy and straight forward. By removing the keyboard, you can easily add the bluetooth module and cable, which together go for about on eBay. By removing the bottom cover, you can replace the memory, wifi card, and processor with little difficulty. An Intel 5100 N spec wifi card goes for about on eBay. You can also add memory if need be - up to 8GB is supported. The processor can also be replaced, though make sure that the processor you choose is supported by the laptop's bios. The 1545 supports Intel Socket P (478-pin Micro FCPGA) processors; with the bios specifically supporting the Celeron 900, Dual-Core T4200, T4300, T4400, and the Core 2 Duo T6400, T6500, T6600, P7350, P7450, P8600, and P8700. The faster processors, like the P8700 include more onboard cache, faster processor speed, faster bus speeds, and virtualization. Replacement processors like those mentioned can be found on eBay for around -150. The hard drive can also be easily upgraded - I installed a new Western Digital 64GB SSD, which took about 60 seconds to install. The hard drive slot is on the right hand side, and comes out with the removal of two screws. I installed the new wifi in about 60 seconds, adding bluetooth took about two minutes. It doesn't take a lot of know-how to upgrade these components - just a screwdriver and a quick read of the manual.
CONCLUSION:
It's a good laptop for the price, which can be upgraded into a better computer easily and cheaply... all you have to do is read the manual, which is straightforward. I usually keep computers for about a year or two, and by next year I'll probably be ready to sell this at a decent price and use the proceeds to get another Inspiron - but it will have been worth it for sure. In my opinion, for the price, quality, and support, you can't go wrong with a Dell.
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PRO: Battery life at 10% brightnes web surfing, wordpad, adobe ebook reading.(aprox. 8hrs), 50% brightness last a while doing web or video (aprox. 5-7), 100% brightness web surfing(aprox. 3-4 1/2), good touch pad response feedback , keypad is pretty easy to navigate for big (me) or little hands, touch pad gesture are pretty smooth, plays 720p video smoothly, sounds as good as it gets for a netbook, N450 Intel Atom processor is very effective for the new to experienced home office user (word pad, excel, powerpoint, internet surfing, web cam, skype, bluetooth pairing, occational wifi hotspot connecting very user friendly, weights less than 4 lbs., chicklet keyboard, great wifi draft n speed.
CONS: High glossy screen, web cam lags a bit up close, battery isn't 15 hrs or at least mine came as a 9 hr life with a bigger size battery than what was shown on the website, no gaming video graphics card, no over the top SRS sound enhancement, 1 memory slot instead of two, Win7 Starter edition
Overall quite please with the performance on this netbook, just a few quirks and sensitivity issues mosly cause I have big hands. Slighly on the medium quality side as fas as processor speed. Not overly please with the U160 just it's a little better than just OK.
MSI Wind U16 wesite
[...]
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I probably read through every review and article on laptops out there before committing to this one so if you're a little anxious like I was, hopefully this review will be helpful to you (and I've had it for 8 months so it's not like I haven't put it to work). I bought this computer for law school and don't do any intense gaming on it (except procrastinating solitaire).
Specs since it's older:
Screen: 15.6"
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo CPU T6500 @ 2.10GHz, 2100 Mhz
Memory: 3GB DDR3 System Memory
Hard drive: 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Pros:
The screen and keyboard are big enough to work on every day.
It starts up quickly and doesn't lag when running OneNote, Word, the internet and iTunes all at the same time.
I absolutely love the finger print scanner. At first, I thought it was silly to spend the extra but this way you can store the million log ins/passwords you have without letting anyone else who might be using your computer have access to them.
So far it has only crashed once and frozen twice.
The two touch buttons on the keyboard to turn your WiFi on/off and to mute/unmute are pretty handy and save you a few extra clicks.
I don't use my laptop as a boom box, but the few times I've used the speakers the quality was above average.
It's quiet, you don't get a heavy humming ever and it also doesn't get very hot when you actually have it on your lap.
Cons:
The battery life, even on `power saver mode' is 4 hours, MAX. I only used Word, didn't have my internet on/running, music playing, any external accessories sapping power and it barely hit the 4 hour mark before dying. (This is with the regular battery, not the upgraded 12 cell.)
The touch volume controller thingy on the keyboard isn't very precise, its loud and has been activated accidentally an annoying number of times. And you can't disable it, to my knowledge.
The keyboard area is a glossy finish, so you see all the oil and skin and grime and dirt you've left on it after you're done typing. It's gross and makes the computer look dirty. This may not bother other people but it really bugs me.
The left click button on the touch pad is starting to fail (its loose and pushed down) and I haven't had it for a year. Oh and I don't "type with purpose" either.
My A/C adaptor broke even though I make sure never to smash it with books in my bag, always kept the cord wound nicely like it came and generally tried to not abuse it. That made me mad, and goes to show the quality of the material they're giving you for your money that you paid. In HP's defense, they did send me a replacement in 2 days without any hassle. But it was only the box part with the wire that goes into the laptop, and not the other half of the wiring that goes from the outlet to the box part. And they didn't tell me that so I'm happy I didn't throw my old one out expecting to get an entirely new one.
It is kinda heavy. I notice a distinct difference when it's in my bag compared to when it isn't.
All their keyboards come with a dedicated number pad. I'm good at using it so I don't mind, but I don't know how many people really need or want it. Meh.
Conclusion:
It's a decent laptop for the price. I hemmed and hawed and worried about the difference between getting a 2.10 and 2.26 Ghz processor or whether to go with an Intel or AMD chip. But unless you go straight to the top of the line, you're not really going to notice any difference. These days everyone should have an external hard drive to store their beloved music/movies/photos on anyway. If you see this laptop at a good price, buy it and I don't think you'll regret it.
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Ever heard of Petticoat Government by Fanny Trollope? My favorite pastime is reading old books, including obscure Victorian novels not available in reprint. Google Books has a huge collection of these books, ditto Internet Archive. Was using a Kindle to read these, but tired of the fussy steps needed to convert PDF books containing pictures. (Also tired of the unlit grey background.) Thought of getting an Ipad, but really craved a full service PC. This darling little pink netbook fills the bill. Weight feels about the same as reading a hardcover book - acceptable. It was easy to download Adobe Reader, and use google to find PF shortcuts. E.g. to get the book's page to fill the screen: Ctl/L (full screen), then Ctl/shift/+ (rotate clockwise), then Ctl/3 (fit visible). Screen resolution must be 1024x600. A great way to page up/down is to use the built-in mouse buttons (the metal bar in the wristpad area). So far the netbook has remained cool even after several hours reading. Since Adobe Reader does not have bookmarks, when I'm done reading I don't close the book's window, just minimize it using Windows/D. Likewise I hibernate instead of shutting down - thus the book is still at the page where I left off. Another method is to record the page number in Wordpad, and later go back to the page in Adobe Reader using Ctl/Shift/N (go to).
Lots of great features including the Fn hot key which lets you do a lot of common tasks easily from the desktop: brighten, darken, turn on/off net access, adjust or mute volume, change screen resolution, etc. Internet access is as fast as on my other PCs. I did notice one of my scanning programs ran noticeably slower, ditto some downloads, but overall the 1GB RAM is fine for my needs. MS Works comes with an old version of Word, nice. Btw each time the battery fully drains, and is recharged, more hours are available. I think 11 hours is realistic if one is doing a low-level task like reading. Usually don't need an external mouse, but when I do, I like the Eee corded one in matching pink. Kindle for PC came installed for reading current books and periodicals.
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I've had mine for a few months now. Its tiny size and light weight make it a champion for people like me who travel extensively. The large hard drive at 250 Gigs is a very nice feature. The battery life is terrific and the screen sharpness and brightness is unsurpassed. The picture quality is better than any of the other computers in our inventory. I can see the screen clearly in bright light. I have been able to run programs like Lightroom on it and it streams video very nicely from my SlingBox over the internet or WiFi. The keyboard is just fine.
My only complaint is the horrible "mouse" buttons that take a considerable amount of effort to depress. Since the computer itself is very small and light, you can easily knock it off your lap trying to press the mouse buttons. This is a very serious flaw in an otherwise excellent computer. It has been suggested that I buy an external mouse. No thanks! This is supposed to be a "portable" computer and carrying an external mouse is a silly fix for a problem that should never have happened in the first place. It would add yet another thing to pack in the computer bag for absoloutely no reason and won't work in limited space such as on an airline tray table.
I found Win 7 Started Edition to be just fine. It boots and shuts down very rapidly and it has been quite reliable. I bumped my Acer up to 2 Gigs of RAM, and bought an external DVD Burner very inexpensively.
That little inconvenience of not being able to change the desktop wallpaper with Starter Edition was easily overcome with shareware. The instructions are all over the internet to do that. All in all, this is very inexpensive, very light and small netbook and I have found it to be quite reliable so far and a more than adequate performer. I would give it five stars if it just had better mouse buttons.
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I bought this computer in January 2008 and sold it yesterday-June 2009. It came with a duo core processor and 1 gb of Ram. I purchased an additional 1 GB of RAM and had it installed. This computer is great for the price! Let me tell you that I use and abuse computers and this one held out! The major obstacle you will have is getting Vista to work properly. To get it going you have to reduce Vista to minimal settings and take off all the extra malware that it comes with. After this it works like a charm. I used it during two years of college and it went through major abuse but it held in there playing games, itunes, and all sorts of downloads. I bought it on sale from Best Buy for 400 dollars and sold it yesterday for 300 dollars on craigslist because people like the duo core that works well and runs itunes, bf2, bf1942, MS Word and Autocad like a charm. And if you are having problems with your ipod you need to update itunes or replace the firewire cable. Trust me, often it is just the apple firewire cable. I'm no apple wiz but after blaming my Toshiba for not detecting my ipod I began to suspect my firewire and bought a new one from Apple and the itunes loaded in a sec.
One Note:
For the laptop and technically challenged - Anti-Virus software and IE8 bog down your system. Remove it and back up your sensitive data on an external hard drive and run Vista on minimal settings and it will run super fast.
Also: it over heats if you keep it on a blanket or a table and run it for hrs. and hrs. like I did and then automatically shuts off so invest in a cooling fan. Heat is the enemy of all electrical components.
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I just couldn't rationalize purchasing a 10" Netbook, the screensize is way too small for my taste in performing office task in Word or Excel for long periods of time. Some say purchase both a Netbook and Notebook for different tasks, but SOME of us aren't made of money, and would like to have one portable Net/Notebook for all their needs. I bought my NC20 nearly 6 months ago; back then there wasn't such a huge selection of 12" Netbooks as there is now, and at the time the NC20 was perhaps the best on the market, and I believe it still is one of the best 12" Netbooks available.
For me the most attractive feature of the NC20 is the 1280x800 screen resolution, the higher vertical resolution compared to other 12" 1366x768 resolution Netbook screens is a lot more useful imo, than having a lot wider screen (though your taste may vary depending on use). I work in Microsoft Word a lot, and a higher vertical resolution is just more useful to see more of the page, most of the time a wider screen would just go un-used. With Wi-fi turned off and the screen brightness toned down a bit (around 70% screen brightness, very readable), the NC-20 does get the advertised 6 hours of battery life, great for Office productivity; expect around 4 hours for heavy web usage.
Having owned the NC20 for nearly 6 months now, I can't help but feel a little bit of envy for all the new, more powerful netbook configurations, such as the Consumer Ultra-low Voltage (CULV) Core 2 Duo "Netbooks/Ultra-Portables" and other ION-powered machines. However, I'm happy with my purchase, it does what I need it to do well (Office work), and is still powerful enough for everyday webrowsing and watching standard videos on Hulu, Netflix, or Youtube. Compared to the most recent 12" Netbook releases, the NC20 is a bit underpowered, but if you can live without streaming 720p content (it can play encoded 720p content from the hard-drive flawlessly, but isn't powerful enough for streaming 720p from the web), for 0 I would whole-heartedly recommend anyone purchase the NC20!
I also have installed Windows 7 Home Premium on my NC20, and everything (namely the Aero interface) works smoothly; also Samsung has updated all their software and drivers for Windows 7 on their website.
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I've been in the market for a netbook, decided to bite the bullet when these became available with the N550 dual core processor. This is my first netbook and only experience with one, so take my review for what it's worth. Had it a few days before I upgraded to 2gb (no questions asked, absolute must) and immediately upgraded the BIOS after setup and running.
Nice little compact size. Relatively thin and not too heavy. The black matte has a rather odd hue, it seems almost having a blueish tint, which I thought was rather peculiar. It attracts finger prints more than I thought it would, maybe not as much as a gloss finish, but they do show up.
Screen seems alright, didn't notice any dead pixels. There is some bloatware, but not an excessive amount. I removed the majority of it including most of the asus add-ons. The key board takes a little getting used to as I'm accustom to a full size standard board and this lay out has a few different things about it. Overall it dosen't seem difficult to use. Mine appears to have a little flex around the G and H keys. With that is a tap-tap-tap-tap-thud-tap-tap when striking the H key. I find this to be a little annoying, along with distracting, hence demotion from a perfect 5 -- maybe I'm a little harsh, but I was disappointed in the fact.
Haven't really put the battery to test as this sits on my couch and AC power is always within reach. Have had no wireless issues, holds signal well and haven't dropped a connection from my linksys router. It does seem to get pretty warm after some use while on your lap, and the fan is a little louder than I expected it to be when spooled up. The heat and fan noise are side notes, and not enough to dock any overall points. Maybe it's actually cool and quiet for its class, like I said, this is my first netbook.
The touch pad responds well and feels pretty intuitive. I don't care for touch pads, but find this one is easy enough. The mouse button click could be a little softer to use but I prefer tapping the mouse pad for clicking anyway. Apparently there is suppose to be some "pinch" type zooming with the touch pad. It doesn't appear to work, or maybe I unistalled the software that supports it, or maybe I just don't really know how to make it work. For some reason, the thought of it actually working, doesn't motivate me enough to figure it out.
Webcam works fine, gets the job done. Picture is clear from the other side, so I've been told, and the mic picks up well enough. The speakers are pretty decent for what they are. Its not gonna throw your party, but if three's a crowd, it can provide ample background music.
Overall the more I use it the more I really like it. Super handy for internet conveniences and very portable. My only let downs are: the keyboard issue, windows 7 is pretty limited, but really it does everything these machines are intended to do. I feel at this price point it should come with 2 gb installed. +0 after the ram upgrade and throw another + bucks for real Windows 7 upgrade and you're approaching full size laptop pricing.
Really I am satisfied with it being a netbook, and would recommend it to anybody shopping around for one. It was some adjustment going from my desktop (i7 920/6gb ram/win 7 pro 64) and then jumping into this little guy. When I remind myself that its only a netbook, I'm pretty happy with it.
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The Bad: Windows 7 Starter SUCKS! Speakers SUCK (but headphones are good)! Lack of Bluetooth +/-. Reported battery life - not quite the stated 8.5 hours, but still excellent at about 6.
The Good: Nice HD capacity (250GB). Good screen (esp. if u use Chrome). Enough guts to use OO.o. Works well with Win XP. One-button touchpad on/off NICE!!! Full-sized right SHIFT key (with reconfigured arrow keys) NICE!!! ASUS software package is good.
The Verdict: I bought this netbook as a replacement for my other ASUS netbook (1001 I think) with a 40GB SSD. I loved the earlier netbook but the storage capacity wasn't enough. When I installed CPU intensive applications (e.g. 120 years of National Geographic on DVD run from the HD) the CPU found itself in the Everglades. However, this netbook is everything I need in a lightweight computer with good storage capacity, connectivity, office suite compatibility and speed, screen size, keyboard layout, portability, and overall ease of use. THIS NETBOOK IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A DESKTOP COMPUTER OR A MUSCULAR LAPTOP.
Thus, if you have a copy of XP handy or are Linux competent and have a pair of headphones handy, this IS your lightweight machine.
P.S. I believe I've had this netbook for about a year or so and have definitely put it through some paces.
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When the Macbook Air first came out, I thought it was pretty pointless, with a fairly small 13" screen, no optical drive, and so forth. In the last few weeks, though, I've been working on different notebooks at various Starbucks, Peets and similar locations with free WiFi, and I'm starting to see the point.
Last Christmas, I upgraded from my tiny and very handy MSI Wind netbook to an HP DM3-1030us "ultraportable". Like the Macbook Air, it doesn't have an optical drive, it has a relatively small 13" screen, but it is pretty thin and light (and expensive-looking, even though it didn't cost more than a high-end netbook, and was 1/3 the cost of a MacBook Air.) What it DOES have is enough portability to easily fit in my soft briefcase and leave room for a textbook or two, it has a dual-core CPU and discrete graphics so it performs pretty well, but these are all low-power devices (the CPU maxes at 1.6GHz!), so the normal battery easily lasts for more than 3 hours even with full screen brightness, wifi, and normal surfing/app use. 4GB of RAM and 320GB of disk space on a fast 7200rpm drive are improvements over the MacBook Air, as well.
Even though we live in the modern Wifi cafe age, it turns out that *power outlets* are what are scarce. With this HP, I never have to worry about not being near an outlet, because I can do a whole morning's or afternoon's work on the battery. The keyboard is fine, and the notebook is small enough that it easily fits on whatever little euro-table the cafe provides, whether round, rectangular, or some funky shape. The screen is bright, and just big enough to allow proper viewing of web pages and documents, which the 600-pixel-high netbook screen never quite managed.
Unlike the MacBook Air, it's got lots of USB ports (one of which I use for a proper Logitech mouse), a memory card slot, and even HDMI to connect to a TV set! If I need to use optical media, I just plug in a portable drive to a USB port, but almost all of the time, USB flash drives are plenty.
Like I said, I finally understand the point of a MacBook Air, but I've found something even better. Thanks, HP!
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I have had this netbook for a little over a year and am very pleased with it. I use it for typing only and use it a lot. I do not use it for the internet. I chose the white because another reviewer mentioned that it does not show fingerprints and I am very happy with that. Also it looks classy.
The matte screen works well even in sunlight. the computer is very light. Its screen has limited tilt, but that hasn't been a problem neither has the thin pin on the adaptor plug. I am a fast typist and the keyboard size has not been a problem. The only difficulty with the keyboard is I have the habit of accidentlally hitting the shift key on my right and highlighting text and accidentally deleting it. That's something to watch out for.
The battery does not hold a charge as long as is claimed but still it runs for a good 6 1/2 to 7 hours (with text-internet may use up more power.) I usually run it in the lowest power mode available. I use flash drives and a portable drive with 250 GB. In lowest power mode, only the left USB port will read the portable drive. But all will read it at higher modes.
My main difficulty is I have not been able to get it to print. The printers I have are not in the available lists of printers and since I'm not online I cannot download them. Eventually I will try to transfer one via flash or portable drive from another computer. I am not a super techie. If anyone knows how I can get it to print, I would appreciate the information. The manual that comes with the computer is pretty slim.
Despite the minor problems, I am very pleased with this product and glad to have purchased it. The price was good. It shipped promptly, and came undamaged. it is a good computer. This is the first netbook I have ever used and I quickly adjusted to the small size and would recommend it to anyone.
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I've got big hands and simply couldn't type on the majority of netbooks out there. I wanted to love my Asus but there were a lot of issues and the keyboard was a deal breaker... absolute junk. I have a XPS 1640 as my main laptop so I did some reading and thought I'd give this one a try. It's not that attractive but I needed function over form. This little guy delivers on every level. I upgraded it to Win7 AFTER I added RAM. I installed Office 2010, chrome, Nortel VPN for work and Sprint Air Card software. I love the fact it has 3 USB ports. I'm getting about 5 solid hours out of the battery and I don't do any every saving nonsense - I often do the opposite. I will mention the battery takes forever to charge if you are on it. (so did my Asus though) The aesthetics will grow on you.
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>>>>See More Details & Check Price Now!<<<<<
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>>>>See More Details & Check Price Now!<<<<<
>>>>See More Details & Check Price Now!<<<<<
>>>>See More Details & Check Price Now!<<<<<
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