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Posted by phlog on Aug-07-2008 21:55:

Buying a laptop

So I'm buying a laptop for school. I'm pretty much sold on getting an 'ultra mobile' because they're light, small and they look cool.

I've got it down to a couple that I like so far:

1. ASUS Eee PC 1000

2. MSI Wind

Both seem to be solid little laptops. The main difference is the Asus has an SSD (solid state drive, no moving parts!).

This laptop is going to be used mainly for taking notes and web browsing which is why i don't need a larger, more powerful rig. I'd buy a Lenovo but I don't really want to drop 3G's.

Any input or suggestions from my fellow ta nerds would be helpful.

Posted by zydus on Aug-07-2008 22:00:

As long as you dont plan on using the Asus as your main PC i highly recommend it.

I've changed the OS on it a bunch of times, going from the xandros to ubuntu, then to xubuntu (not really new os but still) and currently running xp.

Just make sure u up the ram to 2 gigs, and if u are planning on using windows, disable the swap to force windows to use the ram. Oh and there are nlite versions of windows xp available that work great for the eee pc.

I dont know too much about the MSI wind, but considering the Asus has been out for a while now, there is a lot more support and a very strong community for it.

Cheers

Posted by phlog on Aug-07-2008 22:03:

quote:
Originally posted by zydus
As long as you dont plan on using the Asus as your main PC i highly recommend it.

I've changed the OS on it a bunch of times, going from the xandros to ubuntu, then to xubuntu (not really new os but still) and currently running xp.

Just make sure u up the ram to 2 gigs, and if u are planning on using windows, disable the swap to force windows to use the ram. Oh and there are nlite versions of windows xp available that work great for the eee pc.

I dont know too much about the MSI wind, but considering the Asus has been out for a while now, there is a lot more support and a very strong community for it.

Cheers

Sweet, thanks! I was wondering how it would handle xp.. you've got the 1000?

Posted by zydus on Aug-07-2008 22:10:

quote:
Originally posted by phlog
Sweet, thanks! I was wondering how it would handle xp.. you've got the 1000?

no i have the 4G (non surf) in white.

http://www.eeeuser.com/ <----- Lots of info and very useful forums and wiki here.

PS. Battery life isn't stellar, but the charger is so small and light it def makes up for it.

Posted by I_Am_Vince on Aug-07-2008 23:15:

Yeah the EEE PC is awesome for just taking down notes and web browsing. It's really small and light. I've sold easy a hundred of those things at work and not one person came back complaining about it.

Posted by exstasie on Aug-07-2008 23:20:

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
Yeah the EEE PC is awesome for just taking down notes and web browsing. It's really small and light. I've sold easy a hundred of those things at work and not one person came back complaining about it.

Do you get a discount?

Posted by Kamka on Aug-07-2008 23:29:

Re: Buying a laptop

quote:
Originally posted by phlog
This laptop is going to be used mainly for taking notes and web browsing which is why i don't need a larger, more powerful rig. I'd buy a Lenovo but I don't really want to drop 3G's.

Any input or suggestions from my fellow ta nerds would be helpful.

I'll get you a discount on Lenovo! PM me. I have employee discounts

Posted by I_Am_Vince on Aug-08-2008 00:04:

Re: Re: Buying a laptop

quote:
Originally posted by exstasie
Do you get a discount?

I don't work there anymore lol. And we didn't get any discounts on the EEE PC.

quote:
Originally posted by Kamka
I'll get you a discount on Lenovo! PM me. I have employee discounts

Hi Friend

Posted by Kamka on Aug-08-2008 00:51:

Re: Re: Re: Buying a laptop

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
I don't work there anymore lol. And we didn't get any discounts on the EEE PC.

Hi Friend

Hello buddy Did you use to work at our big Olympic sponsor as well?

Posted by VERTiG0 on Aug-08-2008 01:43:

Buy this instead and thank me later.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index....anufacture=Acer

8.9" screen, typical Atom N270, 120GB 2.5" HDD, 1GB RAM, Windows XP Home, and a 6-cell battery.

The Aspire Ones are the best value right now by far, and don't have awful build quality like other Acer products. They are really solid.

Posted by phlog on Aug-08-2008 02:06:

quote:
Originally posted by VERTiG0
Buy this instead and thank me later.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index....anufacture=Acer

8.9" screen, typical Atom N270, 120GB 2.5" HDD, 1GB RAM, Windows XP Home, and a 6-cell battery.

The Aspire Ones are the best value right now by far, and don't have awful build quality like other Acer products. They are really solid.

damn, your not making this decision easy...

i'm kind of leaning toward an SSD laptop though... mainly because it sounds nifty (and boots faster)

Posted by I_Am_Vince on Aug-08-2008 02:15:

quote:
Originally posted by Kamka
Hello buddy Did you use to work at our big Olympic sponsor as well?

lol which big Olympic sponsor is this? I doubt it's Canada Computers :S

Posted by VERTiG0 on Aug-08-2008 02:24:

quote:
Originally posted by phlog
damn, your not making this decision easy...

i'm kind of leaning toward an SSD laptop though... mainly because it sounds nifty (and boots faster)

Lack of storage space though... Mind you, you can always add SD cards but holy shit they are slower than hell. I'd still get a regular HDD now, and when SSDs come down in price in a year you can pick up a really fast 2.5" and just swap the Acer's HDD with that slammin' new SSD.

Posted by Kamka on Aug-08-2008 02:28:

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
lol which big Olympic sponsor is this? I doubt it's Canada Computers :S

read again... there's only 1 company mentioned in my previous post... If you're following the Olympic games in China closely, you'll know who is a big supplier there

Posted by I_Am_Vince on Aug-08-2008 02:32:

quote:
Originally posted by Kamka
read again... there's only 1 company mentioned in my previous post... If you're following the Olympic games in China closely, you'll know who is a big supplier there

lol well that's because the Chinese Government owns Lenovo I believe... :S

Posted by spolitta on Aug-08-2008 03:03:

Get the Wind or Aspire One.

Posted by Kamka on Aug-08-2008 03:11:

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
lol well that's because the Chinese Government owns Lenovo I believe... :S

Really?? That's news to me, I thought it was a private company..

Posted by I_Am_Vince on Aug-08-2008 03:16:

quote:
Originally posted by Kamka
Really?? That's news to me, I thought it was a private company..

Ownership

As of February 29, 2008, 44.4% of Lenovo is owned by public shareholders, 41.8% by Legend Holdings Limited, 6.7% by IBM, 6.5% by Texas Pacific Group, General Atlantic LLC and Newbridge Capital LLC and 0.6 by the directors. Because the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Chinese government agency, owns 65% of Legend Holdings, effectively the Chinese government owns about 27.17% of Lenovo and is the largest shareholder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo#Ownership

Posted by Kamka on Aug-08-2008 03:30:

quote:
Originally posted by Invasionmix
Ownership

...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo#Ownership

Aaah, thanks man, now I'm more informed - I guess up till now I always thought they're entirely privately owned. I only read their own website, never any Wikipedia articles or other external sources about them. Oh well, one learns something new every day

Posted by phlog on Aug-09-2008 23:09:

So i bought the Eee PC 1000 with the 40GB ssd. I'm a sucker because it was significantly more than the other options (aside from lenovo), but it suits my needs well.

Next step is to install xp from a flash drive or lan... which is proving to be more dificult than i thought it would be.

Posted by LKD on Aug-09-2008 23:15:

quote:
Originally posted by phlog
So i bought the Eee PC 1000 with the 40GB ssd. I'm a sucker because it was significantly more than the other options (aside from lenovo), but it suits my needs well.

Next step is to install xp from a flash drive or lan... which is proving to be more dificult than i thought it would be.

make ur usb drive bootable and have all ur windows content on it...

edit: or u could buy an external cd drive from a store which has a return policy and install, then return...lol

Posted by phlog on Aug-09-2008 23:25:

quote:
Originally posted by El K Dee
make ur usb drive bootable and have all ur windows content on it...

tried this. step by step from some tutorial i found on google. it isn't working.

quote:
Originally posted by El K Dee
edit: or u could buy an external cd drive from a store which has a return policy and install, then return...lol

lol not a bad idea