Netbooks

[Octopod]

It's obvious fastbilly1 is a fan of EeePC's

Sure sounds like it. Since he bought his netbook though it is possible that new models have come out...just a thought.

Yeah, I can go check some out somewhere. I was just thinking that I would get better deal over the internet but I guess that does not prevent me from window shopping.

[DerekG52]

Just a quick question billy, did you try running HL through Wine?

[CRTGAMER]

It's obvious fastbilly1 is a fan of EeePC's

Sure sounds like it. Since he bought his netbook though it is possible that new models have come out...just a thought.

Yeah, I can go check some out somewhere. I was just thinking that I would get better deal over the internet but I guess that does not prevent me from window shopping.

Maybe buy local. Better to spend that slightly more when you can test the investment up front. Save by not buying service plan. I have good luck at Frys, can try out all functions of all the displays. Another advantage is I can see which laptops can handle daily abuse, by missing keys and mouse pad accuracy.

[fast]

Its true, netbooks have gotten much better since I bought mine. Dual core and Ion make for a capable little pc - Borderlands at 20 fps on low settings is pretty impressive.

I suggest this, go to a big box store: Bestbuy, Frys, Target, etc, and play with one. Find the size you want then watch the tech deal sites: Newegg, Tiger Direct, Slickdeals, etc, for a sale on one. The trick here is that all of them have one of a handful of motherboards and monitors, so no matter what brand you get, itll be the similar. The difference between most EEEs and Winds is color of case. My netbook is an Asus EEE while my nettop is a MSI Wind.

I did not try Half Life through wine: Juggling stuff on a 4 gig drive is rough. Ill give it a go when I get a SDHC card.

My recommendation is figure out what version you think will work best for you, and then buy online. I got mine for $150ish on sale at Mwave (refurbished), my old man who bought the harddrive version of mine at Bestbuy for $400 new...

Case in point, you can get a 10 inch HP mini for $300 right now on Slickdeals:
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread ... &t=1962754

[Octopod]

I went to BB and bought a netbook. I went with an Asus Eee PC 1005 series. Intel Atom N450, 250 GB HDD. Hopefully it is everything I dreamed it would be.

[CRTGAMER]

Congrats! Slam that next to the blind iPAd user at next starbucks visit, so how much did you pay for that keyboard portable?

[Octopod]

Are you asking how much I ended up paying? It was $329 and I got a $10 gift card for a doing a quick survey. I am thinking about upgrading to 2 GB RAM. Newegg has RAM for it for $52.

Might and Magic 1 fires up no problem, not that that is much of a test really.

It came with Windows 7 Starter, I was thinking of upgrading that but really I do not think there is a point in doing so.

[CRTGAMER]

Killer price! You can wave that way better value price against the iPad user who has no keyboard. Thats what I meant to say earlier. I don't know why anyone would want to buy an Internet browser computer without a real keyboard. Never heard of WIN 7 Starter, maybe runs faster then full featured bloated version?

[Octopod]

Physical keyboards are a necessity for me. I guess Windows 7 starter is less resource hungry since it not 64 bit but I am unsure really what difference there is besides that.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Physical keyboards are a necessity for me. I guess Windows 7 starter is less resource hungry since it not 64 bit but I am unsure really what difference there is besides that.

Win 7 starter is the insanely locked off idiot proof version of Win 7 designed for schools and children.....literally.

Also is the Atom N450 itself 64bit? Basically 64bit applications can use more of your computer with less resources and fewer processes on your CPU. 64Bit programs are also smarter and can handle data in much more efficient manner without hiccups or stuttering such as HD video and heavy flash content like youtube and other bloated websites.

If anything at least get Win 7 pro which still has some neutered features but is moderately customizable, or go with Win 7 Ultimate if you want a fully unlocked and non-user restricted version of windows.