Laptop buying advice : What's the difference between Netbooks and notebooks?
- 10/31/08 3:43 PM
If you noticed he said 'lower' capacity.
by bored1040 - 11/1/08 7:30 AM In reply to: Part of this ....... does not compute by Dango517And he meant it. Here is an example:
Model: Dell Mini 9 Netbook
!!!Price: $399!!!
Screen: 8.9” Screen
Weight: 2.3 lbs.
Bat. Life: 4 hours
Processor: 1.6ghz single Intel Atom
Memory: 512meg
!!!Disk: 8gb Solid State Drive!!!
OS: Windows XP Home
Options: Camera, Bluetooth
There are SSD's and then there are SSD's...
by Techdaddean - 11/1/08 8:18 AM In reply to: Part of this ....... does not compute by Dango517Yes, some of these Netbooks have small SSD's and run Linux. But these are not the high-end SSD's you and I are coming to love, and they do not deliver the performance or reliability you would expect. In fact, this class of SSD is nothing more than some NAND flash sitting behind a Compact Flash controller. In one early Netbook (which earned the genre the telling moniker "Crappy-Lappy") there were actually two of these SSD's, one for OS and apps, and the other for user data. These types of SSD's are notoriously slow and tend to wear out the NAND quite quickly.
In SSD-land we measure something called "write amplification" which is a metric of how much writing to NAND occurs for a single write to the SSD. The CF-controller-based SSD's often have a write amplification of 8 to over 200(!!!) compared to a write amplification of 1.1 or less in the higher end SSD's from Micron, Intel and Samsung. Obviously this has an impact on the endurance of NAND and on the performance of the SSD's.
It is a fact that these early, low-end CF-based SSD's have done much to hurt the image of SSD's. A report by Avian Securities based on industry experiences with CF-based SSD's was widely quoted by SSD skeptics as proof positive that SSD's were unreliable. The Register similarly found the early crop of SSD's to be less than impressive.
With the recent rapid dropping in NAND memory pricing we can expect to see more impressive SSD's from the NAND flash manufacturers and at prices that will start to get reasonable.
Those SSD drives that cost 500-700 are
by orlbuckeye - 4/21/09 12:47 PM In reply to: Part of this ....... does not compute by Dango517larger capacity say 128 gig compared to the smaller size SSD's on notebooks.
Linux errata
by porsche10x - 11/1/08 7:40 AM In reply to: Difference between notebooks and netbooks by 3rdalbumRE: "The last difference is that most netbooks can run
>>either Linux or Windows XP."
Actually, this isn't a difference. ANY computer can run either Linux or Windows XP (even Macs!) It just so happens that Linux is often offered preinstalled on netbooks because, it's cheaper than Windows.
more...
by porsche10x - 11/1/08 7:53 AM In reply to: Linux errata by porsche10xOh, and since many netbooks are less powerful, they will run much better with Linux which uses far fewer resources than Windows XP. FYI, if you have an old, slow computer and don't know what to do with it, install Linux and it will perform nearly as well as your new PC, maybe even better (if the new one has Vista on it). (disclaimer: I am not one of those Linux-head Microsoft-bashers, and don't want to start a flame-war)
This is true but
by CFlash74 - 12/20/08 6:23 PM In reply to: more... by porsche10xLinux and its apps (like OpenOffice) are good and all until the one day you discover you need a feature that full-blown PC's do easily and readily... and usually you need that feature right then and there. Print a tri-fold invitation? Connect to that Scanner/Printer combo that you just bought? Visit a particularly advanced website that goes beyond what the (relatively limited) W3C "standards" call for? You're stuck. And, there's more.
Many of these things CAN be done on Linux.... but only after a lot of headache, scouring the web for help, and wasting hours of your time. WinXP and Vista have their problems for sure, but it's not lack of features.
FUD
by 3rdalbum - 1/10/09 2:11 AM In reply to: This is true but by CFlash74"Print a tri-fold invitation?"
Who does that? And who does that on a netbook? I've never had the urge to try this, but I'm sure Scribus can do it. If you're trying to do it on OOo then you're using the wrong class of program - it's like complaining that you can't print an invitation using Final Cut Pro.
"Connect to that Scanner/Printer combo that you just bought?"
Plug it in, open your printer management program, and tell it to look for a new printer. Do the same with your scanner management program. Remember, like any sane person, we're buying a printer/scanner combo that is Linux-compatible and has drivers out-of-the-box. Dude, the process on Linux is *quicker* than on Windows and doesn't require any rebooting.
"Visit a particularly advanced website that goes beyond what the W3C standards call for?"
I have no idea what you're talking about. Any website that runs in Firefox on Windows runs on Firefox on Linux. It's the SAME BROWSER. Any website that uses Flash on Windows will work with Flash on Linux. It's the SAME PLUGIN. Java? Cross-platform. Web video? It all works. The only difference is Microsoft Silverlight, which of course almost no websites use (and there is a Microsoft-sponsored open-source equivalent which can run quite a bit of the extremely-rare Silverlight content).
"Lot of headache and wasting hours of your time"
This is 2009, not 1999.
I call FUD on this whole post. Some people need to join this decade before it ends.
cool down the FUD
by Otterpray - 1/10/09 9:04 AM In reply to: FUD by 3rdalbumFirst, Linux is no more new age than any other OS. The main three have been around for quite some time now. Second of all, if there is something to be joined, then in communication terms, it ought to be with the largest part of the world as possible.
Sorry, that means Windows.
And while it is true that you can tell your OS to look for a new device, Windows generally does it automatically. When it doesn't the majority of my customers call me. Even though I've taught them every time, they do it so rarely that they always retort, "they forgot".
Now about Linux? I have several copies of linux that I try to put on "last years computers", and the result? There is something it always doesn't like and requires replacing. Usually a network card or soundcard. This makes it to annoying to deal with in terms of cost and I usually wind up putting some version of Windows back on it.
Apple and Linux are very cool systems, but they have yet to show me that either are world class enough to connect anywhere and everywhere to anything.
Linux is great for the cyber tweeker and Apple is good for the rebel without a cause and the "teenage Brittany's" wanting to show everyone their galleries.
But if you want to connect to more people, more businesses and do so without having to spend time looking for fixes and tell your computer every little thing it should do, then stick with an OS that does that.
And let Apple and Linux keep working on it.
Inexperience?
by CFlash74 - 3/6/09 2:45 PM In reply to: FUD by 3rdalbumI guess I was using the wrong program. But considering MS Works (yes MS Works, MS Word, and MS Publisher all can do it beautifully and easily, I figured OpenOffice could handle it. I tried to help my daughter create an invitation for her party. A folded invitation (with front/inside-left/inside-right/back) that she has been able to do all her 9 years on this planet using MS Works and MS Publisher. I scoured OpenOffice's pitiful online templates. No go with OpenOfice. I then downloaded the free Serif PagePlus. Great program- a lot like MS Publisher... but in the end, it couldn't really do it either (not in a way that she could understand since it displayed sections up-side-down etc). I saw that Google Docs had some templates that came close. But, in the end, they they didn't accomplish what she wanted either.
You're being disingenuous with the printer/scanner thing. You know full well that the manufacturers add many features to the drivers beyond the basic capabilities. If you've never realized this, you haven't used much hardware in your life. In fact, even on Windows this is apparent when you compare the built-in drivers (for printers for instance) and the ones you download from the OEM site. Linux drivers are (usually) the absolute bare bones.
Anybody that does web development knows the W3C standards are extremely behind-the-times and are missing A LOT of features that browsers try to overcome each in their own way (IE, of course, more aggressively). Often it seems the standards throw you back to the stone age by breaking things that used to work quite well in old HTML (XHTML and 100% height, anyone?).
Computers are suppossed to get to easier to use. Not harder. That's why Linux fails despite whatever technical things it might have over Windows.
True
by 3rdalbum - 11/15/08 11:16 PM In reply to: Linux errata by porsche10xI wrote the response that you are replying to. Yep, you're right; an ordinary laptop or desktop can run Linux and Windows as well. I meant to say "A netbook can come preinstalled with either Windows or Linux". I think I said the word "preinstalled" later on in the post.
Apologies to anyone who might have thought that only netbooks could run Linux.
My Netbook does everything (almost)
by jose_luis2006 - 3/6/09 1:12 PM In reply to: Difference between notebooks and netbooks by 3rdalbumI have a new Toshiba NB100.. I paid 350 Euro for it (about 437USD, 16% Tax included). It works better than my older P IV 1800 Mhz.
It came with WinXP Home installed, 1 GB RAM, 160 MB HD, WiFi, Bluetooth audio in/ot stereo ports and three 2.0 USB ports.
I use it now as my desktop unit. And I do more than surfing the WEB, like using a sound editor (Audacity), a Music Notation Software and a few others applications.
This Intel Atom dual core CPU is amazing and it takes about 10W of power instead of the 150+W of the PIV.
Small screen? yes, just 8.9". So I connected my 19" AOC TFT.
Small keyboard and tricky touch tablet? Oh yes!. So I use a 10USD Logitech 102 keys USB kbd and an optical tiny USB mouse, also 9 USD.
No DVD/CD burner? Yes. That is the only reason I keep my old PC in a a corner. But certainly not a major drawback, as almost everything conceivable can be done with USB interfaces, so the CDs and DVDs are to be used somewhere else, not with the netbook.
Needless to say I am very happy with my new toy. Or I should better say, my new jewel...
Hello Sir, According to me the difference is:
by gowhar_noor - 10/25/08 3:03 AM In reply to: What's the difference between Netbooks and notebooks? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Netbooks are an underpowered computer in a notebook form factor. Netbooks are designed for basic internet access only. They are built to surf the web and get e-mail, but if you wish to do any type of computing work, i.e., spreadsheets, gaming, databases, etc., you will need a full notebook. Netbooks are built with the new Intel Atom processor which is a really low power cpu that is designed to extend battery life by minimizing performance. A true netbook will come with Windows XP installed because it is not powerful enough to run Vista. If you are just looking for something small and lightweight but with enough power to be a true computer, then go for laptops with latest configuration.
thanx byee
Underpowered... really?
by Flashfox - 11/16/08 12:15 AM In reply to: Hello Sir, According to me the difference is: by gowhar_noorInteresting comment as my netbook, an Acer Aspire ONE, came with a 120GB HDD, Windows XP Home SP3, 1GB RAM and the MS Office 2007 suite. I use this netbook with the Office suite and I have not seen any measurable differences.
Granted, an Atom based system is NOT a gaming system nor should someone expect very high performance. However, from this to stating that it's pratically useless for anything but net surfing is questionable.
Not all netbooks are made the same... SSD based computers with Linpus do offer limited uses but a 120GB HDD verion with XP satisfies many other needs.
netbook v notebook
by Big A - 11/17/08 11:58 AM In reply to: Underpowered... really? by FlashfoxI agree with you - to go from the extreme of gaming to saying that they are only useful for interent access is underestimating them. I also have an Acer Inspire with 120gb hard disk/1.5gb memory. I have loaded all the programmes I like to use including Photodex and Adobe and Office and can use them just as in PC, but as far as I am concerned the best bonus is the weight being only 1.1kg - I can put it in my handbag ! When you have a back problem and No Frills airlines are increasingly restricting weight, it is a real treat.
acer aspire netbook
by pitsmeet - 12/29/08 8:40 PM In reply to: netbook v notebook by Big Ahow did you move the programs from your desktop pc to your netbook
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