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On Tiny Computers And My Desire For One
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This is all very ridiculous. I can't imagine using a harddrive with 4-16gb. The 15" laptop I'm currently rocking has a 500 gb harddrive, and I like it like that, :P.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the outcome.
Fast as fuck boot-up
Improved battery life
Longer lifespan
If the laptop is your main computer, sure. I can definitely see someone getting one of these as a travel/work computer and only using it for such, and having a home PC for their gaming and videos and stuff.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
This is precisely why I just ordered one as well. I'll be able to network the computers at home and get any files I need for the netbook from my main computer.
How does it compare to the average lifespan of a mechanical hard drive? I was mostly assuming that 'Doesn't Move > Does Move' when it comes to components wearing out.
We got my in-laws an Acer Aspire One last month. For what it is, I think it's a great little machine. Really, we bought it for them to use more or less exclusively as a skype video phone, so that they could talk to my wife and see her and the baby. They talk on the phone twice a week anyway, so there's definitely a money incentive to those calls transferring over to skype and the Aspire One made it ridiculously easy and cheap to set up. It comes with a built in mic and video camera which, whilst hardly excellent quality, are certainly functionally fit-for-purpose and the custom user interface that sits on top of linux makes it really easy for them to use. It boots up in seconds, and everything is contained in one piece of equipment so it isn't a hassle to set up in the living room.
It even has a 3G sim card slot, so if you had a 3G contract with an unlimited data rate you effectively have a portable video phone (I think some cell networks over here will actually give you an Apsire One free with a 3G contract instead of a regular handset - so for £35 a month you could have an Aspire One instead of a Blackberry or iPhone).
They definitely fill a niche in my opinion, although you need to be a member of that niche to really appreciate them. While I was setting it up I kept wishing I had a reason to own one myself.
Overall, the SSDs are more power-efficient with the no-moving-parts thing, but they still do have a lifespan. . rather than try to make complete sense of it myself I'll just throw up the Wikipedia entry:
The quick bootup is nice and it's generally a bit snappier than a system with a hard disk. Also less prone to serious damage if you dropped it (of course, at it's size, the average netbook would probably crack pretty bad depending on the fall.)
Skype works pretty well on my Mini 9, though I've only run the testing stuff for the mic and camera. With the custom GUIs that most of the Linux-based netbooks come with they are very, very user-friendly if you don't really want to get more complicated than surfing the net or checking your email. Some folks put together a pretty nice alternative to the Dell Netbook Interface for their machines called the Ubuntu Netbook Remix Edition that does a good job with the limited screen real estate.
The Mini 9 (and it's larger cousin the Mini 12 [and maybe the new one, the Mini 10]) all have a SIM card slot for 3G. AT&T has started rolling out data plans with the Mini 9's price subsidized to only $99 (after a rebate.)
My phone contract is up in June, and right now I'm seriously considering Palm's new phone, the Pre, because it supports tethering, so I could use it as a modem for my Mini instead of dealing with a separate plan for my phone and netbook.
I eventually talked myself out of buying one and instead going to build my own computer.
Hey Smart Hero, do you still have that Ocean?
I hate my phone so much. It's died on me twice now. Thank god for that warranty.
gonna install hella operating systems
Yeah, I've still got mine. . .it works. . .kind of. The earpiece only works about 1/3rd of the time, so I have to keep my Bluetooth headset on hand if I need to actually hear the other person. I'd go through the trouble of the warranty, but I'm getting rid of it in another couple months.
It's useful, but compared to what's out there now, it's lame. The Ocean 2 is pretty disappointing too.
The Dell Mini 9 has been on sale a lot lately as Dell is trying to push for the Mini 10 (even though it sucks because you can't get RAM any higher than 1GB. Period.)
you've probably looked into this, but do you really need SLI?
what resolution are you running?
you could always buy one card and see how it feels before getting another, obviously
I laughed when I saw the Ocean 2. It doesn't even have touch screen. It's like the red version of the Ocean.
My contract expires sometime this summer. I look forward to it every day.
"Yes I will take the one with the highest numbers thank you."
The only thing they added was some haptic touch stuff to the buttons on the bottom, but beyond that it's basically the same phone.
I would've gotten out of my contract when Virgin Mobile bought out Helio, but since the contract didn't actually change in any way, I'd still have to pay the ETF.
Of course, a refurbed 8GB iPhone for only $99 these days, and that's pretty tempting.
For twice the price you get like at most a 30% performance increase. From a purely cost/benefit perspective it is absolutely not worth it.
all it comes down to now is brand preference -- just go with one that has a lifetime warranty
Yeah, when my contract runs out (in September!) I'm seriously considering ditching Helio and going for an iPhone. Of course, an AT&T unlimited data/texting plan is about $30 more expensive a month, but man the iPhone looks neat.
I never saw the point in SLI either, but I guess if you have money to blow on something that doesn't help you a whole lot...
it also has serious issues when it comes to older games or MMOs that dont support SLI
Always roll with the middle class cards. That way you didn't dump a lot of money into one card and you won't feel bad about upgrading when the next-gen middle class is smoking the previous gen's high end models.
Not DX10, sure, but there aren't really any DX10 games I want so I'm not too fussed. Really, the only PC-exclusive game I'm probably going to get this year is The Sims 3, and that's not going to be pushing the envelope very much in terms of graphical prowess.
I had an SLI motherboard when I had a 7800GT
by the time I felt a 2nd card would help, it was just a much better option to get whole new card
basically if you're going to use SLI, do it from the start
I really should say that a single 260 should be enough for anything you throw at it in 1680x1050
hell, I'm using an 8800GTS at that resolution and I couldn't imagine upgrading right now
Agreed. Also, they have the Step-Up program, which is awesome.
600mHz ARM processor, 256 RAM, resistive touchscreen, Bluetooth, wifi, microSD storage, $300 for the version w/o the keyboard, $400 for the one with.
Approximately the same processing power as an iPhone, built with open source hardware/software. It'll likely run Android or maybe a slim Linux distro.
I don't see a swivel mechanism, and what's the point of the sliding motion
ah, so you separate it into two parts, flip the screen and reattach to the keyboard
that "keyboard" looks pretty fuckin' chunky to be just a keyboard