Just a quick question here while I am between classes. I may add to this later.
Do any of you use a netbook — one of those minature laptop thingies? I am considering buying one for myself to be primarily used around campus. I’d like to be able to put Word on it since my teaching materials are all in Word. Other than that, email and web browsing would be most important.
Do you have thoughts? Recommendations? HALP ME.
Raveling Out 
I have an EEE PC and I LOVE IT!!!! I don’t use Word on it, but OpenOffice, which will open Word documents, so that isn’t an issue…
I suggest getting a Linux version instead of Windows, and installing a different version of Linux designed for netbooks when you get it. I personally like jolicloud (very pretty and clean), but it’s in Beta, although you can always sign up for the beta. There are also other version (e.g., a netbook remix) that work well…
You can give me a buzz if you have questions.
Sorry for incoherenceness of email. Cold is steeping in brain… Or something…
I don’t have a netbook, but I liked what I saw of suomichris’s EEE PC when we were at the conference in Hawaii together.
Since I haven’t owned a netbook, I will attempt to be a librarian and give you a couple of good computer-buying resources:
http://www.woot.com – This site offers one deal a day and I just noticed that they’re offering a refurbished Gateway notebook for $285.
http://www.newegg.com – This is where I do most of my research on tech products. Their prices are competitive and the customers/reviewers appear to be pretty knowledgeable most of the time.
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-netbooks/ – Lastly, I always go to CNET to get some professional reviews.
Thanks for the tips, guys!
I forgot about Open Office – that’s definitely a good option so I wouldn’t have to buy Word but could still open my lesson plans or read student papers.
At this point I think I would rather buy something with Windows already on it (I know, barf!) and then have the option to switch over to Linux at some point in the future. That would be more of a long term strategy. Right now I need something that will work “right out of the box” for all the school and professional things I have to get done in the next week or two (when I’ll be without my MacBook) (I realized that with papers to grade, final exams to write, and job apps to submit, it is a REALLY BAD TIME to be w/o my computer!). After I have the MacBook back I can think about changing the OS and whatnot and then making it my commuting computer. Suomichris, I will probably have to call you and get your advice when that time rolls around.
For now I think I will go check around town, see what brands are available where, and then check out those review sites you listed, Sho. That’s the pain with buying PCs. There are too many different brands and models to compare! GACK!
OK. Gotta go teach another class now.
The one Sean got is one of those little Dells that you can get in any color of the rainbow. I already told you he had to buy Word, but with a school discount, that might not be terrible. He bought the computer & the software at on campus. We have a store in our IT dept now. Go figure. You might see if your Uni has something similar. Good luck.
Keep in mind that the Linux versions will work right out of the box, too… Most of the ones I’ve seen come with Open Office preinstalled, so you wouldn’t have to worry about that.
Also to keeping in mind: if you buy a netbook with Windows, you’ll be paying $25-$75 than for the same netbook with Linux…
C -thanks. I did check out the school, but they only carry one model and it’s much more expensive than I’d like. Going to check around town later today.
SC – hmm. I had never seen one sold with Linux on it so I though that was something you had to install yourself later. Come to think of it, I have never seen or heard of anyone buying a machine with Linux on it ever. I always heard of people “turning [their] windows machine into a Linux machine.” if I see one sold with Linux on it I will definitely check it out.
Also, it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll be ordering anything online. My main purpose right now is to go buy something that works today, for doing work i need done today. If I can’t do that I’ll just have to spend the weekend in the workroom on campus, in which case I may as well not buy anything at all and just wait for my MacBook to be fixed. Sigh.
Going to see what’s available here soon.