Downloads. What other options do I have?

[spoolin01]

I was just at Costco a couple days back and they had that Acer Aspire One with the N550 for $250. I thought that looked pretty good. From what little I know, that's one of the top low-power processors.

I've thought about the SSD approach, but that would mean lugging an external HDD around as well, unless you drop huge bucks on the SSD. I've got a couple of really small thin clients, and am mulling over a way to make them work for this too. If I could count on a usable TV monitor while traveling, it would still require a small keyboard and HDD - not much weight or bulk savings, but it would save the $250+ netbook outlay - and being leashed to the TV is a negative for general use.

The netbook really looks to be in the sweet spot. I've been poking around with the thin clients for Magic Jack service recently so I have some idea what these processors can do, but I've just gotten on to the idea of a netbook. A decent computer the size and weight of a paperback book is a big attraction over lugging the 5 lb laptop on every trip.

 

[craracer]

Spoolin: From what I understand, there are something like 26 or more models of the Aspire One, each with a different configuration. There were several listed on the Acer web site.

Upgrading the RAM was a bit tricky on the Aspire since there are no access panels on the back. I ended up removing the keyboard to access the screws that hold the entire backside of the computer on. Once that was off, removing the RAM was a breeze. You can YouTube tutorial videos on how to do it.

The Windows 7 Starter isn't that bad, but I haven't played around a lot yet. First thing I noticed was that you can't do as much personalization, such as screen savers. Not a big deal as this is a purpose computer for me.

 

[flareside]

Spoolin: A huge SSD is really not necessary in a netbook as long as you keep it clean. OS on a netbook plus some basic programs will eat roughly 20GB so with a 60GB SSD that leaves plenty of space for the current vacation photos. And with 60GB SSD's turning up on special more and more in the $100 range, it becomes a worthwile investment. The only real issue would be as to how much video you take as that can eat up space fairly quickly.

The two year old 64GB SSD I have in mine dropped the boot times from 1:15 to 30 seconds and internal file handling for viewing photos shows practically no hesitation. Current models are easily twice as fast as the one I have. I typically run the photos from the card to the computer and then immediatly run a copy to a 32GB thumb drive which I store separately. You need to get an accurate estimate on how much space you will need for a typical vacation and unless you shoot video, you may find it's not as much as you would think. My last trip was less than 10GB for a week and I was shooting entirely in RAW.

And BTW, netbooks are far nicer than a thin client when you are stuck in an airport (especially if you can piggyback internet off your cell phone).

 

[spoolin01]

Yeah, the thin client was just the cheapo thought, not nearly as versatile. I'm trying to recall how much we shoot, usually 20-25 dives with two still cams or a cam and video - just checked and it was about 30GB the last trip. I guess 60 GB with another big thumb drive could do it. The speed downgrade of those low power computers takes some attitude readjustment, but all I really need is storage and web access, so either way it seems like a pretty good solution. After seeing how fast the stripped down XP versions on the thin clients work, I'm tempted to take that approach with the netbook.

I'm surprised you can't get to the RAM easily on those Acers, that and the HDD are pretty key for upgrades. I guess when you're packing it into such a small box, there's not much design flexibility. I gave up trying to research the specs on those netbooks online, I couldn't see that the model number was definitive for hardware configuration, and the Acer website was pretty useless in scoping out the range of products. Just blah blah marketing pablum - does that boilerplate stuff really catch anybody's eye? I'm gonna go take another look at the Costco unit - does $250 sound good for price with the N550/250GB HD/1GB RAM?

 

[flareside]

...does $250 sound good for price with the N550/250GB HD/1GB RAM?

Yes, especially since it's an N550 which makes it a dual core (avoid the N4xx single core models). Try it out in the store first if possible so you can get a feel for it.

As far as upgrade difficulty, the conspiracy theorist in me tends to think it’s intentional as it immediately voids the warranty. When netbooks were introduced three years ago, they all had trap doors on the bottom for the memory and many like my S10 also had one for the hard drive. Check Youtube for upgrade videos as that will give you an idea of difficulty. Regarding swaping the OS for XP, I didn’t notice any perceptible speed loss when I upgraded from XP to Win7 Home Premium as most netbook activities are not speed critical and many are limited by bus speed anyway. You may also have a problem finding drivers for XP.

 

[craracer]

I paid $239 for my refurb unit, so the Costco unit sounds like it's a better deal. Not to mention that you get the full warranty, whereas I only get 30 days. However, I may have voided that when I replaced the ram.

 

[spoolin01]

Shoot, I went back to Costco today and they don't have the Aspire any more. It doesn't google up much with Costco either, nothing recent. Must be discontinued. Guess I have a few months before I need one anyway...

 

[craracer]

Check out Micro Center, where I bought mine. Maybe there is one near you, or maybe the shipping wouldn't be horrible.

Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more!

 

[spoolin01]

I see the N570 model for $280 plus the lovely Cali 10% sales tax - looks like they have a store just down the road. I won't need this for at least a couple of months so I'm going to watch these and look at other models. Looks like the computing power on these is not too bad now - I'll see what's available when I need to buy.

 

[craracer]

When I was at the store, I asked the sales person about a few of the models that were listed as not being able to increase the RAM from 1gig. The person said that this was a manufacturer deal in that they didn't want to take sales away from the full-sized lap-tops, which obviously cost more money.

My netbook was listed as not having upgradable RAM, which was obviously not true. It was simply more difficult than opening a trap door on the back, and plugging in the new RAM.

My point is, make sure to talk to the sales person about any claim that you can't upgrade the RAM buy.