A
Amaris
Guest
Ah, sounds like more trouble than it's worth. That must mean I'm getting lazy in my old age, too. 
J.
J.
Netbook Recommendations?
- Thread starter Spot's Meow
- Start date
So here's a question, did you guys go with Windows XP or Windows 7 Starter? Did you end up upgrading the system? What do you suggest?
A
Amaris
Guest
Mine came with Windows XP, which I heartily recommend over Starter 7. Windows 7 is awesome, but Starter 7 is just severely crippled in terms of features. You can't even change your background to anything other than a color (no images), no aero at all, you can't change the windows style, and you can only open three apps at a time, there are also media and networking restrictions as well. Windows XP SP3 (what comes on the Acer Aspire One D250 I have) runs flawlessly.
J.
J.
Yes, I've been thinking a bit about netbooks and Windows 7 Starter would be a stumbling block. What's the performance of say Windows 7 Professional going to be like?
Performance between XP and Windows 7 is seen as fairly comparable, from the benchmarks I've looked at. 7 edges out XP and tends to handle lower-end hardware better, unlike Vista which was put on machines that had no business running it in the first place.
The performance of the various versions of Windows 7 is going to be about the same, though. So, go with the version that suits your needs. Home Premium is suitable for most people. If you need remote desktop, domain functionality, or virtualization, you have to go to Professional or higher.
The performance of the various versions of Windows 7 is going to be about the same, though. So, go with the version that suits your needs. Home Premium is suitable for most people. If you need remote desktop, domain functionality, or virtualization, you have to go to Professional or higher.
That's good to hear. I was concerned that it would be too much of a resource hog.
Windows 7 Starter is just for cost and absolute maximisation of resources then, I guess.
Yes. It has less functionality than XP. It's an utter waste of money unless it's for someone who does nothing more with their PC than surfing the web.
I think it's just that they're so much more portable than a laptop.
I like the concept, but I never carry a briefcase or bag with me (in fact, I hate doing so), so it wouldn't work for me. I make do with a smartphone instead, but I do sometimes wish for a slightly bigger screen.
I think there's scope in the market for a slightly bigger touchscreen and foldable "netbook". Maybe using that e-paper/ink technology used in some e-readers. I hear both Microsoft & Apple are working on sort of hybrid device, merging the best of phones, tablets, netbooks and e-readers. The devices we have at the moment seem very much "not quite there yet", awaiting a moment of convergence.
If I was writing the design brief for a netbook it would be this:
- lightweight
- long battery life
- full-length-wallet sized, comfortably sitting in a suit jacket inside pocket, but unfolding to double/triple the size (like a wallet would).
- touch screen user interface like that on a smartphone, that includes an on-screen touch keyboard when needed
- full internet & email access including smooth video playback
- mobile office apps
- ability to use it as a cellphone, with all the current tech you'd expect in a smartphone including GPS.
That's it. Most of the technology for the above already exists - we have netbooks, we have touch screen interfaces, we have e-paper, we have smartphones. It's just a matter to integrating it all together (and making the e-paper full colour). I suspect something meeting these requirements to be available within the next year or two and have held off buying a netbook while waiting for this.
In the meantime, I make do with my laptop (which is actually a desktop replacement for me) and my smartphone.
The e-paper is the problem. It's not in color, and it's not remotely ready for a full laptop device. The refresh rate is much too slow for laptop capability. It works fine for books (taking one second to flip a page), but that speed would be a nightmare for surfing the internet or typing out correspondence.
Last edited:
Hmm, that's annoying to hear.
Is teh refresh rate issue an intrinsic limitation in the nature of the technology itself, or is it something that could be overcome with enough R&D cash thrown at it?
R&D is working on it (using various techniques, some much different than anything on the kindle), but they couldn't begin to give you a time-table. We could hear about some new e-paper technology tomorrow or in 100 years. *shrugs*
Edit: I'm sure we'll see some minor updates over the next few years (slightly faster refresh rate and/or color capability), but it could be a while before we get full laptop capability.
Thanks. I guess what I meant was whether it was possible in terms of the core technology behind e-paper or whether I'd have to wait until a whole new type of screen technology was invented. I think from what you're saying that I'll remain cautiously optimistic... and hold off spending any money on a new laptop or phone for as long as possible!
I'm just going to wait until they can put a screen on the back of my eyelids.
Thanks. I guess what I meant was whether it was possible in terms of the core technology behind e-paper or whether I'd have to wait until a whole new type of screen technology was invented. I think from what you're saying that I'll remain cautiously optimistic... and hold off spending any money on a new laptop or phone for as long as possible!
To give a comparison, look at the colour LCD screens we have today in computers, tv's and mobile devices.
It's been nearly 20 years since the first colour LCD screen appeared on portable computer (the NEC Pro Speed CSX). It was small 8" irrc and it's power consumption meant that you couldn't run the thing off batterys.
In that time we've got from passive to active matrix, screens up to 50", power consumption has dropped (and battery storage has increased) and most importantly - the price has gone through the floor.
Thanks. I guess what I meant was whether it was possible in terms of the core technology behind e-paper or whether I'd have to wait until a whole new type of screen technology was invented. I think from what you're saying that I'll remain cautiously optimistic... and hold off spending any money on a new laptop or phone for as long as possible!
The e-paper in current book-readers is an electrophoretic display. My understanding is that color e-paper developments have mostly been in other forms of e-paper (electrowetting, electrofluidic, or organic transistors embedded in flexible substrates).
Okay people, I've made a choice! I bought an Acer Aspire One this morning from Amazon - in blue! It was a very good deal I think, on sale for $280 and it has a 250GB hard drive and a 6 cell battery with apparently over 8 hours of battery life. It comes with Windows 7 Starter, which I will probably test out for a couple of days but likely upgrade to Home Premium with a Best Buy gift card that I have.
It comes tomorrow!! I decided that now was a good time to use the 3 month free trial of Amazon Prime since I will be making a lot of purchases in the next few months. Overnight shipping was only $3.99, how exciting!!!
It comes tomorrow!! I decided that now was a good time to use the 3 month free trial of Amazon Prime since I will be making a lot of purchases in the next few months. Overnight shipping was only $3.99, how exciting!!!
Yes, I've heard there are work-arounds you can download online to change the background but like I said I'll probably upgrade to Home Premium anyway.
Also, I read that the difficulty in upgrading RAM on the Acers has been fixed by the company. They moved it to the bottom of the computer near the battery I guess.
Also, I read that the difficulty in upgrading RAM on the Acers has been fixed by the company. They moved it to the bottom of the computer near the battery I guess.
Sounds good!
Windows 7 Starter, however, blows. My son's netbook has it and you can't change the background/wallpaper! What a dumb thing to leave out
Other than that, he loves it
given the sort of systems that it will targeted at I can understand Microsoft' logic.
Fancy wallpaper, Aero etc etc, all require processing power and memory. By stripping them down to bare minimum they reduce the requirements to run the OS which leaves resources available to run applications.
As Windows has gone along, the system requirements to run it have gone up.
To give an example - Windows XP cruises along very nicely with 1GB of ram, in comparison 1GB is what people say is the mimium you should have to run Vista with 2GB being better (I have used Vista with 1GB and found it acceptable but not brilliant).
When it came to Vista on Netbooks, performance was found to be close to unacceptable (yet they ran very nicely with XP)
So the only way for the Netbooks to get the same level of performance with Windows 7 was to go with the slimmed down version.
Now with latest Atom processors and Ion chipset, there's a bit more grunt so you could probably upgrade to say Windows 7 home.
Oh and another thing with Windows Starter is that as MS have stripped out a lot of features (well disabled might be a better word) they sell it at much lower price which goes a long way to the current prices on netbooks.
