Which netbook (notebook)?

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Jayne, I use a Logitech USB wireless mouse with my MSI Wind netbook, and see no reason why a USB keyboard wouldn't work as well.  All of the netbooks I've seen have external VGA connectors so you can use your monitor as well.  Although they don't get the press that the major manufacturers get, do look at the MSI Wind netbooks.  They offer a lot of value for the price.
 
DonTom said:
No need, with one of these thingies.


-Don- SF, CA​
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I didn't think about those.  Of course, I think the last thing I used that had a serial interface was my last external dial-up modem, which I pitched in the trash about six or seven years ago.
 
JNewkirk77 said:
I didn't think about those.  Of course, I think the last thing I used that had a serial interface was my last external dial-up modem, which I pitched in the trash about six or seven years ago.
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I use my USB to RS232 adapters quite often, as I have several old GPS units, including the one (Garmin GPS 3+)  I use in my RV, with an external antenna in a roof vent,  going to one of my netbook computers on a Delorme jottodesk.

These days, they seem to have everything run from a USB so there's no need for much else. USB to Dial up Modems, USB to Ethernet, etc.  I even have a USB to VGA adapter card so I can use two monitors with separate programs on one of my computers, with one of these thingies.  That computer is  small and not expandable internally to fit a dual VGA card or much else, but the USB VGA  "card" and other USB stuff works perfectly.

-Don- SF, CA​

 
DonTom said:
I use my USB to RS232 adapters quite often, as I have several old GPS units, including the one (Garmin GPS 3+)  I use in my RV, with an external antenna in a roof vent,  going to one of my netbook computers on a Delorme jottodesk.

These days, they seem to have everything run from a USB so there's no need for much else. USB to Dial up Modems, USB to Ethernet, etc.  I even have a USB to VGA adapter card so I can use two monitors with separate programs on one of my computers, with one of these thingies.  That computer is  small and not expandable internally to fit a dual VGA card or much else, but the USB VGA  "card" and other USB stuff works perfectly.

-Don- SF, CA​
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It really is amazing what you can do with USB.  It seems there are more new things coming out all the time.  For my part, I am seriously thinking about buying a USB TV tuner for my netbook; a buddy let me borrow his AverMedia digital tuner a couple of months ago, and it worked flawlessly.  If nothing else, it'll allow me to ditch the current TV we use in the bedroom of our rig.  I'm usually the only one who watches it back there anyway!
 
JNewkirk77 said:
For my part, I am seriously thinking about buying a USB TV tuner for my netbook; a buddy let me borrow his AverMedia digital tuner a couple of months ago, and it worked flawlessly.  If nothing else, it'll allow me to ditch the current TV we use in the bedroom of our rig.  I'm usually the only one who watches it back there anyway!
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I use one of these thingies.

It works well, but one thing that is tricky is that  the USB 2860 Device driver canNOT be updated to the latest or it won't receive any channels above 64. This driver has to be a couple of years old for the TV to work above channel 64. It took me a while to figure that one out!

-Don-  SF, CA​
 
DonTom said:
I use one of these thingies.

It works well, but one thing that is tricky is that  the USB 2860 Device driver canNOT be updated to the latest or it won't receive any channels above 64. This driver has to be a couple of years old for the TV to work above channel 64. It took me a while to figure that one out!

-Don-  SF, CA​
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That looks interesting.  I wouldn't worry too much about channels above 64; the FCC has taken everything above channel 51 for other purposes since the digital transition, anyway.  Even the low-power analogs that are still on in my area have left that part of the UHF band.

The AverMedia tuner is about the size of a thumb drive, and it comes with a 12" extension cable so your computer doesn't get hot ... the tuner itself can get pretty warm!  Aside from that minor consideration, it does a wonderful job.
 
JNewkirk77 said:
That looks interesting.  I wouldn't worry too much about channels above 64; the FCC has taken everything above channel 51 for other purposes since the digital transition, anyway.  Even the low-power analogs that are still on in my area have left that part of the UHF band.
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It's important to me to get the channels above 64. I watch Tru-TV a lot (channel 81  here).  I enjoy programs such as Forensic Files (even though I have already seen them all). Here in San Mateo County, it's still all analog on the cable, at least with Astound Cable, which is what I am using here.

However, in San Francisco, just a couple of weeks ago, they switched to digital for many channels on Comcast cable. That means there's a limit to what I can watch direct off the cable without a converter box. They did this so they can squeeze in more channels onto their cable, which leaves me less channels when I watch TV from where I "work" (a true sinecure!) since there's cable, but no converter box.

BTW, now that I am at my home computer with the USB TV, it's the "USB 2860 Device" driver (listed under "Sound, Video and game controllers" in the Device Manager) that cannot be later than 9-20-2006 or my USB TV Box (Geniatech Model UTV3) won't work at all above channel 64.

BTW, I am running Windows 7 here and it updated this driver automatically,  so I had to reinstall the old driver and roll in back to it in the device Manager.


-Don- SSF, CA​

 
A quick report on my MSI Wind U100 and Windows 7.  Windows 7 installed from a USB flash drive in about a half hour.  It has found all of the hardware without requiring ANY additional drivers.  This includes the built in webcam, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n and my Logitech wireless mouse (and all the buttons work!).  I installed Street Atlas today over the network (no DVD drive in a netbook) and also my DeLorme BT Logger and they work together perfectly.

I hope my other computers take to Windows 7 as nicely as this netbook :)
 
Thanks for your responses to my questions.  Since I can't afford to buy a new printer and scanner yet, I'll plug (pun intended) along with my old stuff.  Somewhere around here is an IBM Thinkpad T20 laptop that I inherited.  I may be able to upgrade it for my needs.  It has the connections I need and has Windows XP.  I just haven't taken the time to see if the memory, etc. can be upgraded.
 
Thanks for all the help everyone.  We have been gone on a trip and just got back, so I am trying to catch up with everything.  Some of those discussions are way over my head! ??? ::)  I still haven't bought anything.  Still thinking and trying to decide if I should go for a 10 or 11 inch netbook.  I will probably be using it quite a bit.  Should I try to hold out for Windows 7 or would Windows XP be OK? 
 
boaterkathy said:
Thanks for all the help everyone.  We have been gone on a trip and just got back, so I am trying to catch up with everything.  Some of those discussions are way over my head! ??? ::)   I still haven't bought anything.  Still thinking and trying to decide if I should go for a 10 or 11 inch netbook.   I will probably be using it quite a bit.   Should I try to hold out for Windows 7 or would Windows XP be OK?  
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IMO, for a netbook, XP works great. No need for Win7. I have several computers. Win7 on three, many others with Vista and XP.

Which is best all depends on what you wish to do. But I decided to leave XP on both of my netbook computers, but put Win7 on this one and a couple of others. No real advantage of Win7 for anything that I use my computers for. Your mileage may differ, but I doubt if you will see any advantage of Win7 over XP on your netbook.

My HP V/W XP netbook works well. I see no reason to change anything.

-Don- SSF, CA​
 
The one version of Windows you want to avoid is the Windows 7 Starter Edition that may be preinstalled on some netbooks.  XP is a better choice in that case, but Windows 7 Home Premium will run just fine on most, if not all, netbooks.  Make your choice on the other features and don't be too concerned about the OS, other than to avoid the W7 Starter Edition.
 
I've tried 7 Starter and agree with Ned -- steer clear.

XP will be fine for 99.99% of anyone's needs.  I run my own website, write a newspaper column, do some rudimentary graphic design work and basically anything else I can get into that's above and beyond what my friendly local big-box store "experts" said a netbook would handle when I bought the thing.  The MSI just shrugs it off and keeps on going, and I intend to keep it that way ... WITH XP!

Be sure you get a good-sized hard drive.  I like the concept of the solid-state drives, but a 160GB hard drive will give you plenty of room for pictures, music and whatever else you can cram on there.

Also, I would suggest one upgrade right off the bat:  Most netbooks come with 1 gig of RAM.  Spend a little more and punch it out to 2GB.  I did that, and I've never been sorry.
 
Thanks for the really helpful hints!!  I wondered about the Windows XP which I think I have on my big laptop now and seems to work OK.  I am so glad to know that I should stay clear of Windows 7 Starter, which is on most of the netbooks I have looked at.  That might change a lot of what I am looking at.  I think I may look at some 11.6 inch screens now.  I had been considering them also, but most of them still have the Windows XP.  Glad to know it would be OK to go with one of those. 
Thank you so much.  You have helped a LOT!  ;D
 
Starting to look at netbooks, and found this topic. Had a few questions ....

What's the issue with Win 7 starter? If it's pre-installed, should I be able to install something in its place?

Some things I see as must-have, but which aren't all spelled out in the specs when I look online:

  • Battery life; Looks like 3-cell claims are around 3-5 hours, and 6-cell claims are 8-11 hours.
  • Multi-voltage (100-250V) power supply for recharging.
  • 1GB RAM, preferably 2GB (or ability to upgrade).
  • Several USB ports.
  • Camera (SD) card port.
  • Wireless 802.11.
  • Ethernet port (RJ-45).
  • 160GB HD would suffice, although higher capacity might be a plus. OTOH the smaller solid-state drives have some appeal; Are they still offered?
Anything important I left out?

TIA.
 
I have a 6 cell battery and a 4 hour life is more typical.  You might get more if you turn off the WiFi radio and run it in power saving mode, but then it's not nearly as useful :)  I recommend 2GB RAM regardless of OS.  Windows 7 Starter has some severe limitations, such as only 3 simultaneous applications running.  I would look for a model with Home Premium.  I like having 802.11n available, not all netbooks support that, most are b and g only.  A built in camera is pretty standard and a handy device for video messaging.

An option to Windows 7 is Ubuntu Remix, a distro designed just for the netbooks and their smaller displays.
 
My ASUS EEE is now over a year old and is still running as good as new.  It has traveled in the MH and a motorcycle for thousands of miles and many bumps.  It has some quirks but overall is a great little pc.  It still does Skype, still gets email from whatever net access that is available, still downloads the pics from the digital camera, still runs XP SP3 and gets all the upgrades, still surfs the internet with IE8, still runs openoffice.org software and opens all the word documents, spreadsheets, ppt files that Microsoft Office did/does, still has plenty of HD space and still allows me to access the bank and other accounts regularly.

They are now available for less money than last year, G.
 
If you are going to want to connect any older devices, device drivers are always a concern with a new OS. Win7 has its own driver specs, though many (most?) Vista drivers seem to work ok on it. Drivers for the 64 bit version may be less available than 32 bit.

Question: When does a netbook become a notebook? Or a laptop, for that matter? Is it just a matter of screen size?
 
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