Fully Loaded Eee PC: Netbook or Notebook?

[Marcus Yam]

Last week we found out about an upcoming Eee PC model that contained an optical drive. Strange, we thought, considering the original philosophy behind the netbook, a segment Asus helped to pioneer.

Fully Loaded Eee PC: Netbook or Notebook? : Read more

 

[rantsky]

So..... ahhh....... we discussed this exact point just a week ago.......

You basically just quoted last week's discussion

 

[radguy]

Exactly why should I post it again... ok fine
It is a netbook not because of atom or screen size. Its small, low powered, lower-end spected, and low cost.
Its low cost for its size (comparing to laptops) although many might think that would just buy a laptop and personally the dell inspiron 13 looks really nice customised to the same price. A 3.2lb 10 inch to 4.5 13inch is not the same thing. It may be at the upper end of the netbook areana and not something I would buy. It's not a good deal and I don't think many on this site need an optical drive. But just cause they add an optical drive doesn't mean its not a netbook.

 

[solymnar]

To me the distiction is a subset of the other.

AKA the term netbook defines a subset of notebooks. Slow (relatively) lower power consuming, and small, with cheaper parts at a cheaper price.

Netbooks are notebooks that ride the by far lowest end of the curve and are not oriented around anything beyond internet and basic apps.

Its like the variations on the term desktop replacement. It defines a laptop that is very powerful, enough to replace your desktop, but usually isn't cheap and has horrid battery life with a bit of weight. Designed to be your main computer and taken between home and work. Or home and friend's houses...either way its plugged in 99% of the time.

/shrug

 

[Daller]

Netbooks shouldn't have dvd-drives - Nothing "net"-ish about a disc. Also I wouldn't call any eee pc a netbook 'cause their screens are horrible (that actually goes for most "netbooks"). nettop is taken so netlappie?

 

[Guest]

Want to watch DVDs? Get a DVD player! They cost even less than a netbook and do a much better job of playing DVDs. I'm writing this on my Eee900A, on which I'm running Eeebuntu, and I love it. It does everything I need for day-to-day computing. It doesn't replace my desktop, but it replaces both my notebook and my old ipod nano. My desktop has just about become an accessory for my netbook! I know I'm on my netbook much more than my desktop now. Although Asus' linux distro that came on the netbook was crap, it didn't take me long to settle on this (after a fun search through maybe 20 distros). Oh, and this is my first experience with Linux. But complaining that netbooks don't play DVDs is like complaining that they don't open wine bottles, either. They're just not designed to do that well.

 

[rigaudio]

It's whatever label will get them more money.

 

[matt2k]

so when will they add Blu Ray?

 

[Guest]

clearly if you would go for this laptop you'd do it for the size.

The battery life and performance of it isn't that great.

I'd definitely go for a core2duo laptop for that price,seeing there are many out there, and pretty soon everything is expected to run Windows 7.

I think an internal DVD is pretty useless. Especially with these battery specs. You'd only be able to see 1 movie on the battery; is that worth lugging the thing with you?
You might as well save the space for an extension battery pack, and play games for 5 hours in a row.
But then, the laptop probably barely is able to play any decent game.

For me an external DVD more then makes up.
In fact, I wonder why no manufacturer ever created a dockingstation for these devices yet!
A dockingstation equipping the laptop with a LAN, DVD, PS2 ports for mouse and keyboard, extra USB ports, and external DVI/VGA out.
(Perhaps even an extension battery and AC input).

That way you'd have an extremely light and cheap netbook for travel, and a dockingstation for the more desktop environment user.

I agree fully that any atom based system should cost no more then $399; $299 preferably.

 

[garydale]

Good comments above. I disagree with comments quoted in the article about the need to install the OS however. I use Linux and would install from a USB key if needed. Even with Windows, plugging something into a USB port makes more sense than adding to permanent weight.

The soul of a netbook is the Internet. Adding a DVD reader (rewriter?) is just wrong. Again, Windows users may need an optical drive to install additional software but Linux users just need the net.

I'm aghast at the prices some of the netbooks are asking. While I'd pay extra for a good SSD instead of a hard drive, a lot of the extra "features" just seem to add weight and drain power. A good SSD on the other hand can go a reasonable distance toward overcoming the lack of processing power. Unfortunately they don't come cheap.

My perfect netbook:
- Ion platform or better (where's AMD's low power entry?)
- 1G RAM
- 30G SSD - Intel X25, OCZ Vertex or similar
- under 1Kg
- 720p widescreen - not for movies, I just like lots of pixels.