HP N270

[gadgetgary]

I guess this is the latest computer that Verizon Wireless is offering for $199(plus a 2 yr. contract for internet access).

Has anyone used this Netbook?
What are the pros and cons of a Netbook vs. a laptop?

The computer seems very lightweight, has Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works.

It is offered at Best Buy this week for $329.99.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9377097&type=product&id=1218094853466

 

[parunner58]

Gary,

I have the Acer One mini notebook it was $299. I love it. I got mine the Saturday after my surgery when my old laptop died. My wife went up to Staples for it. For 6 weeks i was not able to go up and down steps and my desktop PC is downstairs in my laundry room/office. I mainly use it for email and internet surfing. The speed is great, the screen is sharp and clear and i have glasses and bifocals. The only drawback so far is there is no CD/DVD drive. You buy that separatley if you want it. What I have done was Mapped my cd drive from my desktop to it over my wireless network.

 

[tlee618]

I have the same Acer that Mike has. I got mine as a Christmas gift and love it especially for traveling. My only recommendation would be to get a wireless mouse to use. So much easier!!

 

[kenmore58]

Gary,

I, too, just recently purchased the Acer Netbook. I LOVE IT! I use it as my work computer when I'm on the road, then copy my work onto a thumb drive and do my editing with my old laptop or my desktop. The keyboard is a little small for my big, clunky hands.

Any questions, give me a call.

Ron

 

[j2400]

The one con I've really noticed with netbooks is the keyboard is usually smaller than standard. It could be hard to adapt.

One word of warning about plans like this one with Verizon: the price of the netbook is very attractive now. But you probably will pay a lot through the service contract.

A bit about these netbook plans:

TGDaily – More than the news

www.tgdaily.com

 

[j2400]

Another article about these subsidized plans:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2009/04/atts-wireless-netbooks-come-with-strings.html

 

[gadgetgary]

Thanks for the information

Are the screens too small to read?

These new computers seem to be the perfect solution, but, I wonder how easy it is to read text.

The HP comes with Microsoft works. Could you open a word document with Microsoft works?

 

[veg-o-matic]

I have the same Acer as Mike and Terry.
Handiest. Thing. Ever.
No bigger than a book to carry around, and light, too.
I also have a Dell that's not quite so satisfactory--HD is really too small and the keyboard's not quite up to snuff; a few of the keys are smaller than the others which takes some getting used to. The keyboard on the Acer is closer to standard. Keith has big hands and he has no trouble typing on it.
I'm terribly nearsighted and don't have any trouble reading text. The screen is very sharp.
The only time we turn on the "big" computer now is when we need the printer.
veg

 

[danemodsandy]

CD Drive Lack:

I don't think the lack of a CD drive is quite so important now as it would have been once. Thumb drives are so cheap and hold so much now that I rarely use my computer's DVD/CD-RW drive for anything other than installing software or listening to music on the road or maybe watching a movie. I realised only the other day that I haven't bought any blank CD's in a long time - that I had been using the thumb drive for most of the transfer jobs formerly done via CD.

 

[j2400]

I've only really played with the Acer Aspire. It seemed like the screen was easy enough to read. I opened a Works word processor document, and adjusted to fit the width of the screen, it was more than acceptable. As for screen, the Acer could work for my (heavy) word processing needs.

Web pages may be a problem, although that depends on the site. This one, if I recalled right, opened nicely. Other sites, however, might not be easily readable and need font size increase, which will then (because of the site's design) end up calling for horizontal scrolling. But these sites days are probably numbered--between netbooks and iPhones, a designer can't assume that people will always be using a large monitor.

The biggest complaint I had with the Acer (and some other netbooks) is that the screen is glossy. It reflects light easily. In the store, it was bad, and in use it could be bad. At home, one can set the computer up so this isn't a problem. Other places, like my local library, are other issue. This issue, however, is not one that would bother everyone. It's worth thinking about and comparing--what do you want? Matte (non reflective) or glossy (reflective)?

As for Word documents, it might or might not. I THINK it does support them, but I've heard that the support can be a problem with some formatting. However, there is another option: OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org Writer is like Word (different in some ways, but similar in that it's "feature rich." It can open Word documents. And, best of all, it's free. The link:

Apache OpenOffice - Official Site - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

The official home page of the Apache OpenOffice open source project, home of OpenOffice Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw and Base.

www.openoffice.org

 

[j2400]

A couple more thoughts:

It would be worthwhile to go to a store that sells netbooks and play with one. I've seen them at RadioShack and Office Depot. I think Best Buy has them too. See several brands. Play a bit. See what works and what doesn't.

As for Word documents, another thought: if you only need to read existing Word documents, Microsoft has had a free Word viewer.

 

[danemodsandy]

OpenOffice:

I concur about OpenOffice. Once you've tried it, and found that you've gotten 99.99% of Microsoft Office for a 100% discount off Microsoft's price, you'll be hooked. It's compatible with all of Microsoft's formats, even that damnable docx. format that was put on Office 2007 for no reason anyone outside of Microsoft can discern. I personally have found no compatibility problems; anything created on one is fine on the other, in my experience. Some Excel users report certain issues with very esoteric functions, so if you're a number-cruncher, you might want to tread lightly until you're convinced OpenOffice's Calc will do what you need done. And if you hate OpenOffice, the price was right.

 

[thomasortega]

HP never more...

...Since this fu**ing DV6000 laptop computer i'm using at this moment and the multifunctional printer that flew from the balcony to the ground floor.

In a few days I'm going to buy a Toshiba or Sony Vaio notebook and I will throw this crap from the top floor and celebrate when i see it boken in thousands of pieces.

The HP DV series has a huge project mistake that makes the motherboard overheat and all the internal connections melt.

The printer is also a crap. 100 proper prints for each 500 pages package. All the other 400 pages went to trash jammed or misprinted.

 

[gadgetgary]

Thumb Drives?

Are those the same as the portable flash drives?

 

[danemodsandy]

Yep!

Thumb drive, flash drive, two different names for the same thing.

 

[danemodsandy]

Thomas:

If you're considering a Sony VAIO, I can tell you they're great machines. I love mine. However, they have one quirk you should pay attention to:

Sony does not supply a recovery disk with the machines; the recovery utility is on a partition on the hard drive. You have to make your own recovery DVD or CD's, using the VAIO Recovery Console programme. I strongly urge you to do this if you get a VAIO, because certain problems with a computer can make it impossible to access the hard drive - which is where your recovery utility is. Sony makes the recovery disk available through their website for a fee, but ordering one takes time that you may not have if your computer gives trouble at a busy time.

Also, as with most machines in this class, the VAIO is not really for gamers. Sound quality is not that great either, due to ultra-small speakers, but okay enough for the occasional DVD viewing or whatever.

That having been said, an upper-series VAIO, like the Z series, is a great machine. Very light (Mine's 3-1/2 pounds, with the battery IN), very powerful, and excellent battery life. The interior architecture is very well thought-out, with details like an A/C adapter jack that plugs into the motherboard instead of being soldered in place, making repairs easier and cheaper. I put a new hard drive in my machine recently; it took less than thirty minutes start to finish.

Go get one. And use the Recovery Console to make recovery disks as soon as you get it.

 

[whirlcool]

After reading that article I came to the following conclusion.

This is just another scam by the wireless carriers to get you hooked. They get you in for cheap and then charge your ass off with data fees. Radio Shack used to do this with their cheap Tandy computers. The computer was cheap, but upgrades were very expensive for what you got.

In the end, you'll end up paying the same amount for this as you would for a full blown system without limits.

 

[thomasortega]

Gary

Thumb drive, flash drive, pen drive, portable card, keychain drive... they are all the same thing.

Her ein brazil some gas stations convenience stores or cigarrete brands give them (almost ridiculous 128, 256 or 512mb capacity) if you buy 3 bottles of oil or 2 packages of a brand of cigarretes.

In paraguay some stores (they never have change) fill your pockets with 1gb pendrives (here a pendrive costs only a few cents.)

If you want more space (30gb, 52gb) you can buy them very cheap too. (Less than 10 dollars) and by the poor quality you can be sure they are made by a garage company in China.

 

[thomasortega]

Sandy (which is a male)

The crap I have at home also comes with a different partition with the windows and other softwares and drivers.

I hate that crap. It's useful when you want to do a quick restore, but most of the times the HD is damaged as you said.

The first thing I do when i buy a computer is burn a dvd with those softwares and also make more than 10 copies of the DVD

Every 6 months I remake the copies to prevent a damaged disk.

About windows... I use the original that comes with the computer until the first crash. If I loose the windows installer that comes with the computer, I just install a pirate version and look for the crackers on the internet (and I always find them).

Bill Gates will NEVER steal my money.

About netbook (those tiny notebooks) my company imports and sells the Acer Aspire One. In my opinon it's one of the best (considering cost x benefits) because it's very cheap.

I got one a few months ago when my Hewlett pack-paininthea**-ard died for the first time, It's a good machine but it wanted to swim inside my electrolux top loader when i was doing a load with the lid open. I didn't even try to dry it or even check if it was really dead because that little toy is too cheap and there was nothing inside the HD. just tossed it and when I need something compact again, I'll get another with my boss.

By the way, my pendrive with important informations was connected to it. It survived and now it's smelling Ariel.