Mini Notebook or Laptop

[diversteve]

I bought the HP Mini with the 10" screen a few months ago. Wanted something to take on trips that was useful yet small and light. Model 1030NR. I looked at it, the ASUS models and one Sony. It came with Windows XP Home. It has the N270 Atom processor. I think I paid $350 out the door at Best Buy.

For my big hands the spacing on the HP was much better than the ASUS. I was surprised at the difference. I like the trackpad buttons better and it has the vertical touchpad scroll which I use often. The Sony's was even better but it was a widescreen and almost double the price.

I have the solid state memory model with 16GB built in. I've installed Photoshop which is acceptably fast. It also has Microsoft Works factory installed. I also store short HD video clips and some misc. files on it and still have over 9GB of storage left.

I haven't tracked battery life but it seems around 4hrs, I used it about 2 hrs. yesterday and the battery is showing 52% right now.

One USB port, one proprietary HP memory card port (2GB card included) and it has a MMC/SD card reader.

The sound is slightly tinny but it's usable to watch videos/play games. Has a VGA out port but needs a proprietary optional cable.

Wireless connectivity is excellent, takes just a few seconds to find and list all available network connections. Including my neighbor's down the street..lol - about 4 houses down or more. I've used it around town (Starbucks, restaurants etc.) and recently on Utila with no problems.

If there's one slightly annoying feature it's that the LED light that tells you the trackpad is working is just under the spacebar. It's also the switch to turn the trackpad on/off. Why they chose to illuminate that in both modes is beyond me.

Overall I'm very satisfied with it. It fits in the top pocket on my carry-on roller bag so I eliminated a second carry-on (regular laptop bag) my last trip.

 

[cfelliot]

I bought a Dell Mini-9 last fall and have used it on two scuba trips.

In a small carry-on, actually a soft LLBean cosmetic case, I can pack:

Mini-9
WD passport 320GB external hard-drive (A must have since the Mini-9 only has a 16GB SS Disk)
Logitech mini optical mouse (I hate touch pads)
USB serial cable
Dive computer with interface cable
Mini GPS
Extra Battery
Headphones
Thumb-drives to hold the movies

I get 3+ hours/battery and use it for movies on the plane, Internet, e-mail, Skype and photo storage.

It only has an Intel Atom processor, so running full Photoshop would be painful, but I do my processing when I get home and the advantage is a very small package to hold all this stuff.

 

[Hoosier]

Don't you think 3~4 hrs battery life is too short for netbook? I prefer at least six hours.....

 

[cfelliot]

Don't you think 3~4 hrs battery life is too short for netbook? I prefer at least six hours.....

Smaller netbook, smaller battery. That's why I have 2!

 

[Kingsley Zissou]

I recently picked up an Acer One Netbook and its perfect for travel. I got the version with windows, and I get an average of 3 hours of battery life when doing tasks like searching the web, etc. They have an Extended Life battery that will allow up to 8 hours battery life available as well. The netbook is roughly the size of a half sheet of paper, and the Power brick to charge it is very small as well.

It has no DVD player, so u cant watch movies on it unless you rip them to it. It is perfect for traveling if you just need something to search the net, check email, and backup or edit photos.

I second what orionnt said. I have the 3-cell Acer, and my wife has the 6-cell. They are great for travel. On our last trip I used mine for all of the following:

download and view pics
surf the net (to keep up with scubaboard of course)
check email
video chat w/ family (built in webcam)
log dives
watch ripped movies on the plane
listen to music when my ipod battery died
charge my ipod battery via usb cable
keeping my podcasts up to date and synced w/ ipod
turn by turn directions for all my driving (w/extra gps antenna and software)

I bring mine with me almost everywhere at this point.