« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks  (Read 502 times)

Offline Rondar

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 682
Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« on: May 31, 2009, 10:19:52 AM »
First, I know this probably doesnt pertain to Aces High much unless I read the BBS for what I want to do.  I was thinking of getting a mini laptop, or netbook, as they may be called.  Approx a 10" screen.  In the summer we work long hours and spend a lot of time in machinery (tractor mainly).  What I wanted to do was to get on the internet and be able to look at java based pages for the most part.  I know I would probably have to buy a usb mobil phone modem and pay to have data on my phone plan. Will one of these critters do Java pages?  Specifically I wanted to watch some stock pages from my scottrade account while in the tractor.  Secondary is web surfing and email, etc.

Now, before y'alls get to worrying about driving,  :O  our tractors have satellite guidance with autosteering.  It means it drives itself in the field until you get to the end and then you turn it around and it drives itself the next round again.  Lots of our fields are a mile long, so I have a fair amount of time to surf if I would so desire.

I wanted a small laptop like maybe one of these simply because by the time you take a lunchbox, water jug, gloves, etc there gets to be a lot to carry.  So I thought a little one might fit my needs.   Although, maybe something with a dvd player might not be a bad thought, if I had to get a bigger laptop.

What say you guys?
Logged
To understand true love, lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour and then see which one is glad to see you when you come back

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

  • Persona Non Grata
  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 11633
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2009, 10:24:18 AM »
Why not, Asus EEE or similar.. should work.
Logged
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline BaldEagl

  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 10791
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2009, 10:39:49 AM »
Yes it should work but you'de probably be better off just signing up for a wireless broadband Internet service than running it through your phone.  If the signal's weak where you are you can use a booster.
Logged
I edit a lot of my posts.  Get used to it.

Offline Rondar

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 682
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2009, 10:45:47 AM »
I see there are a couple three operating systems for these little guys.  Ubuntu, home XP, vista, and linux.  I would suppose I would want homeXP?
Logged
To understand true love, lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour and then see which one is glad to see you when you come back

Offline Pollock

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 519
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2009, 11:52:21 AM »
I would use xp home. I have an asus eee 900 and love it.  I use it everday.
Logged

Offline Spikes

  • Aces High CM Staff
  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 15839
    • Twitch: Twitch Feed
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2009, 02:16:29 PM »
Rondar...I'm buying this along with my Dell Studio 17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152093
Logged
i7-12700k | Gigabyte Z690 GAMING X | 64GB G.Skill DDR4 | EVGA 1080ti FTW3 | H150i Capellix

FlyKommando.com

Offline Pollock

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 519
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2009, 06:52:29 PM »
Logged

Offline Rondar

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 682
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2009, 09:56:14 PM »
Ok, thanks guys.  I will do some checking.  Currently we have Alltel.  And only Altell in our area.  I know that Verizon bought Alltel, and at this moment Verizon is making us do everything through altell, but I think I have been told that in June or July we will be switched over to Verizon.  So, I cannot get the service and the little laptop yet through verizon, and I really dont want to be tied up to Altell's plan for 2 years from now if I go altel, so I may just have to wait a month.  But I am looking and if the right deal comes up I will buy it and just do what I have to do I guess.
Logged
To understand true love, lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour and then see which one is glad to see you when you come back

Offline Tigger29

  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2568
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2009, 10:56:01 PM »
Don't be afraid of what these little suckers can do... I have an Acer Aspire One (9" Version) with the small battery.  It came with a 120GB Hard drive, WinXPHome, 1.6GHZ Intel Atom Processor, and 1GB of ram.

While I don't plan on using it for Aces High anytime soon, it is plenty fast enough for just about anything on the internet, including downloads, movies, Flash Games, and Java Applications.

It has wireless LAN networking built in with a small switch to turn it on and off at the very front.  With it turned ON, I get a good 2.5-3 hours of battery life.  With it OFF I would imagine it would push 4-4.5 hours, and with the big battery they claim up to 9.5 hours of battery life!

No DVD player, no problem.  Just purchase a USB thumb drive (you can get 10GB-20GB versions now quite cheaply) and copy your dvd's onto this drive at home... then just use it to watch your movies out in the field (no pun intended).

The first thing I did after getting mine was uninstalling all the proprietary JUNK off of it, and installing AVG.  You'll probably want to do the same.... just don't be afraid because these are more capable than you think.

Good luck!
Logged

Offline Bruv119

  • Aces High CM Staff
  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 15678
      • http://www.thefewsquadron.co.uk
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2009, 07:02:30 AM »
g/f has a samsung NC-10,   nice little bit of kit and a slightly bigger screen/keyboard than the really tiny ones.
Logged
The Few ***
F.P.H

Offline RTSigma

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1318
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2009, 03:20:14 AM »
Yeah these mini's are pretty awesome. My  HP Mini 1000 plays Half-Life 1 no problem. I mean I have no use for it as a gaming laptop since its mostly for writing and web, but its nice to know that if I'm in my coffee shop I can be an MIT grad Rambo!
Logged

Sigma of VF-17 JOLLY ROGERS

Offline mipoikel

  • Gold Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3521
      • http://www.llv32.org
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2009, 05:24:53 AM »
Rondar's satellite guidance went kaputt... :x

Logged
I am a spy!

Offline Rondar

  • Nickel Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 682
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2009, 12:42:33 AM »
LOL thats pretty funny mipoikel.  I hope I pay more attention than that tho :confused:

I did buy an Asus 1000HEB from bestbuy.  I dont have anywhere local to buy one, only internet.  Wife and I went to Wichita and I went in a bb and they had one (several) so I bought it.  Still getting used to it but so far its pretty cool.
Logged
To understand true love, lock your dog and your wife in the trunk of your car for an hour and then see which one is glad to see you when you come back

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

  • Persona Non Grata
  • Plutonium Member
  • *******
  • Posts: 11633
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2009, 03:22:15 AM »
I'm currently using the GPS in my Iphone 3G. At first I absolutely hated the lack of live directions but now that I got used to using only the map / location pointer I find it's almost better than the active guidance because it just tells you where you are and lets you make your own decisions.

I've had many cases where the guidance system told me too late to turn from a junction (in heavy traffic and several junctions in a row) so in this sense I like the map-only better as it forces me to check how many junctions there are in vicinity and figure out the correct one.
Logged
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline Ghastly

  • Silver Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1756
Re: Mini Laptops, or Netbooks
« Reply #14 on: June 16, 2009, 12:02:13 PM »
Are you using standard "Maps" or another application?  I ask because I find that "Maps" works great 95% of the time - except invariably the times when I really really need it, it either can't download the maps at all and I'm looking at a blue dot on a grey background - or it can, but I could swim the Channel faster than it is downloading the section I'm trying to see.

<S>
Logged
"Curse your sudden (but inevitable!) betrayal!"
Grue
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »