Tom's Hardware: Topic [Solved] Netbook Comparison
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Laptops & Notebooks > General Laptops & Notebooks > [Solved] Netbook Comparison
Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions.
Sign up now! Its free!
I too am in the market for a netbook, primarily because I think they're cool but also because I want something lightweight that I can take to coffee shops as well as travel with. Aside from the normal web, email, and doc creation, I'd also like to do some light gaming and watch on-demand content from Netflix. From what I hear, the Intel graphics cards suck but the ones with a dedicated one are around $700.
About the RAM question, all netbooks are required to come with 1GB of RAM only. Netbooks that come with Vista installed come with 2GB. That was mandated by Microsoft for some odd reason. Upgrading to 2GB is pretty simple though and costs $25 - $30. It literally is so easy to install that even a cave man can do it
Me personally, I've decided between the Asus EEE 1005HA-PU1X or the MSI U123 netbooks. Both have virtually the same specs and are the same price, but the Asus attracts fingerprints like magnets, so I'll have to see how the MSI holds up. I've also contemplated waiting a few months for netbooks with the nVidia ION chipset and see what happens with those.
My recommendation would be to do the detailed search on Newegg for what you want and then compare them. Write them down and go to your local Best Buy or Frys and take a look at them to see if it's something that you really want, then buy it online. That's what I'm going to do if I decide I can't wait for the ION cards to be integrated.
About the RAM question, all netbooks are required to come with 1GB of RAM only. Netbooks that come with Vista installed come with 2GB. That was mandated by Microsoft for some odd reason. Upgrading to 2GB is pretty simple though and costs $25 - $30. It literally is so easy to install that even a cave man can do it
Me personally, I've decided between the Asus EEE 1005HA-PU1X or the MSI U123 netbooks. Both have virtually the same specs and are the same price, but the Asus attracts fingerprints like magnets, so I'll have to see how the MSI holds up. I've also contemplated waiting a few months for netbooks with the nVidia ION chipset and see what happens with those.
My recommendation would be to do the detailed search on Newegg for what you want and then compare them. Write them down and go to your local Best Buy or Frys and take a look at them to see if it's something that you really want, then buy it online. That's what I'm going to do if I decide I can't wait for the ION cards to be integrated.
Best answer
Reply to mereena
I too am in the market for a netbook, primarily because I think they're cool but also because I want something lightweight that I can take to coffee shops as well as travel with. Aside from the normal web, email, and doc creation, I'd also like to do some light gaming and watch on-demand content from Netflix. From what I hear, the Intel graphics cards suck but the ones with a dedicated one are around $700.
About the RAM question, all netbooks are required to come with 1GB of RAM only. Netbooks that come with Vista installed come with 2GB. That was mandated by Microsoft for some odd reason. Upgrading to 2GB is pretty simple though and costs $25 - $30. It literally is so easy to install that even a cave man can do it
Me personally, I've decided between the Asus EEE 1005HA-PU1X or the MSI U123 netbooks. Both have virtually the same specs and are the same price, but the Asus attracts fingerprints like magnets, so I'll have to see how the MSI holds up. I've also contemplated waiting a few months for netbooks with the nVidia ION chipset and see what happens with those.
My recommendation would be to do the detailed search on Newegg for what you want and then compare them. Write them down and go to your local Best Buy or Frys and take a look at them to see if it's something that you really want, then buy it online. That's what I'm going to do if I decide I can't wait for the ION cards to be integrated.
Sponsored links
Ad
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
- 19:47 JofaMang won the Graphics badge
- 01:00 Pwndeta won the Uniformed badge
- 01:00 tobinmarch won the Uniformed badge
- 01:00 SOSTrooper won the Freshman badge
- 01:00 crowheart27us won the Freshman badge
- 01:00 cleopatra won the Uniformed badge
- 01:00 rogerthat won the Freshman badge
- 01:00 cades won the Freshman badge
- 16:56 siliconchampion won the Sophmore badge
- 01:00 tb123 won the Freshman badge