Was looking at possibly getting a cheap netbook so i can cut down on my desktop use when i only want to do basic stuff like web browsing...etc. Now i was looking at an Acer Asipre One and on the specs it lists the OS as Linux Linpus Lite which until now i hadn't really heard before. Has anyone used this before and if so what are your thoughts on it. I've taken a quick look at it on the Linpus website and it looks good but of course just because it looks good doesn't mean it is.
How much cash you want to spend? You can get a celeron 900 laptop here in the states for $200 and swap in a T9xxx down the road for $100 when you have more cash.
Was looking to spend £150 and under but of course the cheaper the better. Of course a laptop would most likely be a better choice but to be honest i'm more into desktops than laptops so don't know much about them or what models i can upgrade CPU.
I have the Aspire One - cheapest version with the 5gb SSD. Any other Linux distro is better than Linpus. If you want something with a nice netbook user interface, go for the latest MeeGo but the latest Fedora also supports the hardware 100% and gives you all the flexibility in terms of applications and configuration. If you decide to get it order an additional 1gb of RAM as well to max it out to 1.5.
If your going to go with the Aspire One, at least try and grab the one with the HDD rather than the solid state drive. The RAM upgrade if you try doing it yurself is a pain unless you enjoy popping the case apart and removing plenty of screws because the memory slot is located on the underside of the motherboard and the case has no access panels. Do as Cez says and get one already upgraded. Ive tried plenty of OS's on it. Ubuntu is pretty nice other than a couple of SD card slot issues. I'd even hazard to say Win7 starter doesn't go too bad on it. I use a paired down version of XP though .. almost obsolete i know but seems to work ok.
Is the ssd in the Acer not very good or is the HDD just much better. I'm thinking if i get a laptop then windows xp or 7 would be what i use and i would be upgrading the RAM on it to as much as i could but if i get a netbook then i'll stick to something like linux and may or may not perform a memory upgrade depending on how much i have to take apart. At the moment though i'm leaning more toward a netbook unless i can either find a decent laptop cheap enough or unless i can somehow manage to go for a brand new laptop.
Have you had a go on a netbook before now? A lot of people struggle with the tiny keyboards. Ergonomically they're even worse than a laptop. If you do go with a netbook I'd tend to suggest going with the SSD. The main benefit netbooks have over laptops is that they're small and durable and can be thrown in a bag without too much worry about breaking something. Having a fragile magnetic disk in there doesn't make much sense to me, better to keep the spinning parts to a minimum.
I have used a netbook before and don't find the keyboard to be a problem nor the smaller size compared to a laptop which is actually something i like as it makes it easier to shove in a bag and carry with me If i were to go with a laptop i would probably add more RAM straight away then go for an SSD in the near future so wouldn't worry too much about a regular magnetic HDD.
SSD's are great .. if you use the ones that are almost as expensive as the netbook your thinking of buying. The SSD in the AAO pretty much sucks donkey balls. Huge, great, dusty, scabby, flapping donkey balls. Its as slow as an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping.
I actually did it myself, the upgrade that is. It is a pain but, hey, you only need to do it once. Some people, I read, just cut a hole in the back to avoid unscrewing...
On the subject of OS, if your going to go with Linux go with Ubuntu. It's the most popular distro out there and it's great for newbies. Even if you happen to hit some obscure problem, chances are someone else has hit it too (With a solution). Not only that, with the liniage of Debian, the package repos are huge!
I will only be going linux if i get a netbook and it's probably ubuntu i'll go for anyway. Of course were i to get a laptop or netbook with decent sized HDD then i could always dual boot windows and linux.
Buy an old Thinkpad (X31+, T40+, etc) and install Linux Mint on it. Linpus Lite on the Aspire One sucks.
Well i got a Toshiba tecra m5 with a 1.8ghz dual core T2400 cpu, 60gb hdd and 1gb of ram so i'm going to increase ram to the 4gb max the laptop can take then i'll add a bigger HDD so i can dual boot linux and windows.
I have a AAO ZG5 on my desk for repair now. The SSD only works for a while without blue screening windows. I'm installing a ZIF hard drive for them and, the extra memory. I found it very easy to dismantle, only 20 screws.
