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Netbooks compared

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These diminutive sub-notebooks have become the unexpected sales hit of the laptop market. Asus kicked off the trend with its original Eee PC, and following the popularity of that device other manufacturers have been scrambling to make their entry into the netbook market. Though underpowered compared to more full-featured workhorse laptops, netbooks offer low cost and high portability in exchange. Popular with hackers as cheap and useful computing toys, netbooks are also extremely useful as a secondary device or complement to a main setup, or as a lightweight machine to keep in a bag for easily accessible web browsing or note taking at all times; we also think they'd make great first computers for kids. Check out some of the currently available netbook options in the following comparator and let us know if we're missing your favorite.

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Comments (33)

Add a comment Inappropriate or promotional comments may be removed.

Reply
acernetbooknews.com (5:07 PM on Wed Dec 3, 2008)

The Acer Aspire One does not have an Expresscard slot.

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Tavana (1:00 PM on Fri Dec 5, 2008)

I would like to see a review on the Samsung NC10, if you would, please.

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Barb Dybwad external link (10:02 PM on Tue Dec 9, 2008)

The Samsung NC10 has been added -- thanks to everyone who requested it!

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Ducky (4:46 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

The EeePC 1000 also has Windows XP Home as an option. The 40GB HD you reference is also flash drive size. It has larger HD variations.

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Anonymous (11:41 AM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

I don't think the Asus S101 is 22 pounds.
I agree with the Samsung comment, where is it?

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Anonymous (2:14 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

and my aspire one doesn't have wireless 802.11 n(?) and is also available with windows xp home sp2

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Anonymous (2:43 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

maH is not "battery voltage". It is "battery capacity".
Voltage is in volts.
maH is current (milliamps) per hour (H)

Other thing: Isn't there a myriad of different EEE models? How come they're not up, because they are obsolete? EEE N10 is missing.

Last thing: Is there a difference between the eee 1000, 1000H and 1000HA?

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Anonymous (3:30 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

Aye! I would also like to see the NC10 on this comparison!

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Anonymous (3:53 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

Seems the S101 is a bit on the heavy side...22 pounds...didja mean 2.2 pounds??

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Bob (4:31 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

Hmm, this chart lacks the eeePC.

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Anonymous (9:02 AM on Mon Dec 8, 2008)

And the eeePC is availble in either a Windows XP or Linux variant, and with either a SDD of various sizes or an HD for varying price points.

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Anonymous (5:41 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

Any chance of metric weights for ease of comprehension?

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matt (5:46 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

How about mentioning the platform chipset? So far, all the netbooks posted look like they are 945/ICH7 based. But there is another Atom chipset, the US15W. And I think Via is trying o get into his space as well.

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Barb Dybwad external link (11:26 AM on Tue Dec 9, 2008)

Hi matt -- if you expand the "processor" spec group the chipset is listed in that group. Thanks!

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Anonymous (9:49 PM on Sat Dec 6, 2008)

why do you not have the msi wind u100 on here?

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Nicholas Woodall external link (4:09 AM on Sun Dec 7, 2008)

Also if you could tell us how much memory is in the video

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Barb Dybwad external link (9:16 AM on Mon Dec 8, 2008)

If you add the spec group "Video" at the bottom of the comparator there is a VRAM line in that section. Thanks!

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Nicholas Woodall external link (4:08 AM on Sun Dec 7, 2008)

The vaio kicked it off, but to go before that, the hp jordana

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Wyatt (7:46 AM on Sun Dec 7, 2008)

Hi, I just have a couple quick suggestions for improving the comparator:

First, the way it display's currently forces me to scroll left and right to see all five models which is rather inconvenient (and this is with 1280 horizontal pixels to work with-- many people still use less). A visible option to view fewer models or with smaller images would be nice to have for both myself and those interested in seeing more models at one time.
Second, better indication of what it is sorted by would be nice. Make the tickmark larger, and maybe even highlight the row (maybe something like #E0C1FD; reduce the saturation of your purple to around 60 or so)
Third, an "advanced" (nitpicky) mode that lets you select individual features rather than categories might make a number of people's lives easier (or at least reduce the amount of scrolling they need to do).
Finally, the "Choose a Spec Group:" text is somewhat hard to read, currently because of the background colour-- would it be possible to make it use the #8E17FD value instead?

In any case, thank you for this. The Ultra-portable market suddenly exploded and caught a lot of people off-guard, myself included. I hadn't even heard of some of these.

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Anonymous (8:15 AM on Mon Dec 8, 2008)

I like the comparisons very much. Nice job on the whole thing.

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Pepeserto (9:01 PM on Mon Dec 8, 2008)

Why dont consider the macbooks?

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Anonymous (5:48 AM on Tue Dec 9, 2008)

There is no macbook netbook... read!

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hH Holmes (10:47 AM on Tue Jul 14, 2009)

Why not macbooks? They are too large and do not qualify as netbooks. Furthermore, Mr. Jobs has stated repeatedly that he will never make netbooks because he (unlike Sony) can't make a small computer that would satisfy the needs of folks like me. I am female and deaf and with the end of the telephone relay for the deaf that was free to all of us, we now need to find work arounds. Netbooks have the advantage of fitting in my purse and letting me in on broadband coverage while providing a 92% sized integrated keyboard. I and others have written to Apple for several years and while they have a single page on products for the disabled, they refuse to make what the deaf need. Breaks my heart because all my other equipment is Apple but I will go back to Microsoft if it will make my own life easier. I do think more and more netbooks will be coming and that Mr. Jobs made a poor decision, but I can't wait any longer. I don't want an iphone platform with a dangling keyboard when obviously I don't have to put up with that approach - at theirs, the highest of prices. It's sad that one man's vision clouded his company's direction because now hearing people are jumping at netbooks as fast as they are made. Nothing from Apple though as they promised.

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Sam Mancuso (8:44 AM on Sun Dec 28, 2008)

Awsome! I have additional netbook information at http://www.netbook.buying-tips.info/

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Olin (8:47 AM on Sat Feb 7, 2009)

I Have the Avertec Buddy and love it. It gets 2.5 hours battery life and is very powerful for the size. I installed an extra gig ram, and a 320gb 7200rpm drive from best buy made this lil pc even faster. Boots up internet ready in 25 sec and shuts down in about 3 sec. It plays 1080i raw mpeg2 video no problem full frames! The only beef i have is that there are no after market batterys like the eee pc.

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Anonymous (6:15 PM on Wed Mar 4, 2009)

Could you add a "Boot Time" column to the comparison? I'm looking for a fast-booting machine. Nice comparison chart! Thanks!

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Anonymous (9:56 AM on Fri Mar 27, 2009)

Hi,
Thanks for this nice comparator. Could you please add the Toshiba NB100?

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M.K.Akbar (11:43 AM on Sun May 10, 2009)

Need advice on netbook with large screen (10-12") with external hard drive

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Chris Kiyiva (4:49 AM on Tue Jun 9, 2009)

My 10.1 Acer aspire 1 does have a bluetooth. Is that the difference with the 8.9.
How does the Toshiba minibook fair in here?

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robert (3:41 PM on Tue Oct 6, 2009)

Thanks for the great site. To me the main criteria is keyboard size. I want a netbook with a full-size keyboard. That is, one with the keys the same size as in a regular laptop.

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Mark (4:29 PM on Wed Nov 25, 2009)

Are you joking with us? you get paid to post these models or what? there re much better ones lol.

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