So, my girlfriend got tired of her surprisingly awful laptop. It doesn't have a battery, it heats up like a griddle, it's got a crappy screen, and everything freezes all the time for no reason.
She's in the market for a new computer.
The thing is, she's also got no money. That's not that bad, though, because really she isn't asking for much out of a computer. Her basic needs are:
-Firefox not freezing every 10 seconds
-ability to play streaming/downloaded video
-ability to use standard suite of text/whatever editors
-reasonably high speed for these tasks, ability to run things at the same time
-ability to carry to and from class without it being a huge hassle
She'd also kind of like the option to attach a bigger screen/mouse/keyboard for home viewing. I wouldn't mind her having just barely enough power to try some of the indie game things I bug her about either, but it's not a priority.
So what's the deal? Is a Netbook a good idea? Is there any secret downside to them, or is it pretty much just a $300 laptop that does what she needs it to do?
If yes, what the hell determines which one to get? As far as I can gather there is literally no difference between any manufacturer on NewEgg. All 1.60 Ghz, all 1 GB ram, all $299.99...
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And my EEEPC doesn't play HD video very great, so you might need to think about if she's going to watch a lot of it.
The $500 versions will do what you want. The $300... may, or may not.
Pretty much none of them will stream HD with the Intel integrated video they come with. Normal, yes. HD, no.
EDIT: She should consider switching to Chrome if she gets one. Firefox takes forever to boot up for me on this machine and the performance loss is too great to even bother with it. I can't imagine using anything but Chrome on low end machines now.
Edit: Scratch that, they ARE on the market now. I just checked. http://www.amazon.com/Asus-1015PEM-PU17-WT-10-1-Inch-White-Netbook/dp/B0042TYYLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1284602486&sr=8-1notebookscom-20
Newegg has 'em for the right price. $379 + Free Shipping is hard to beat.
In your choice of three colors!
That is pretty tempting. I want to pick one up but also can't find any reviews.
I'm afraid that having only a netbook will be shooting too low for her, but at the same time she really just wants to be able to use the internet and type without constant fuck-ups.