Ideas for a netbook?

[Szos]

Isn't the Acer Ferrari one exactly like one of the other Acer netbooks in their lineup, but with a ridiculous price premium?

If you like Acer's overall layout, I would suggest you look at their website for one with the same specs but with an actual reasonable price. And honestly, netbooks are almost a commodity - most of them have the same specs no matter who sells them.

[irwit]

Hey man, thanks for the quick reply.

The ferrari one is a bit of a one off from what I can find. It uses an athlon dual core processor, decent gfx card and decent res LED screen. It seems to be the only acer with these specs. I just cant believe that you have to buy it with the awful red case and ferrari logo on it!

[Jettatore]

What are your needs and priorities for the device?

[Szos]

Hey man, thanks for the quick reply.

The ferrari one is a bit of a one off from what I can find. It uses an athlon dual core processor, decent gfx card and decent res LED screen. It seems to be the only acer with these specs. I just cant believe that you have to buy it with the awful red case and ferrari logo on it!

Athlon dual core? Decent graphics? and LED screen?

No way is it a netbook then. That's a regular laptop, in which case, you would be able to find those specs on many other systems. Also, I personally am not a fan of Athlon chips for laptops - I would say that a Core2Duo would be much better.

[InfernalDarkness]

Athlon dual core? Decent graphics? and LED screen?

No way is it a netbook then. That's a regular laptop, in which case, you would be able to find those specs on many other systems. Also, I personally am not a fan of Athlon chips for laptops - I would say that a Core2Duo would be much better.

Well, it actually is a netbook, because of the size and lack of optical drive.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/sc/33911685-2-440-CARRY-4.jpg

And normally I'd ask why you think the Pentium 12 or whatever is a better CPU, but the specs on this particular Athlon X2 aren't mind-boggling. 1.2Ghz? But then again, compared to almost any other netbook with an Atom or Tegra or whatever, that's a big speed and bandwidth gain the Athlon brings to the table. At that price, it's a good deal, especially compared to Pentium 16 netbook prices.

[Szos]

I think the general rule of thumb is that a true "netbook" is a cheap (~$300), low-powered computer that a user is mostly going to use it for surfing the net. Yeah, it is also small, but something with an Athlon duel-core is more powerful than I think most people would consider a netbook would have. I personally would consider that to be simply a small laptop.

Yeah, I realize that there is no set-fast rule about this.

If you do like that form-factor, I know that Dell has one that is about that size. My buddy has one and it's a very nice machine... if not kind of expensive. Still a really nice machine.

[irwit]

hi all

Thanks for the replies.

My requirements are obviously small enough for day to day travel. I commute to London and want something I can throw in my bag and use when I want.

Obviously internet and movies is a big thing, but I'm also hoping to use it for some maya stuff. Testing scripts and some very basic tasks. Also Im hoping mental MIll will run ok as Im hoping to look into that.

Basically my new job involves a bit of commuiting into London so instead of spending that time bored Im hoping I can be slightly more productive.

I know athlons are normally slower of the 2 but in the netbook world a dual core processor and decent gfx card is pretty rare. The acer ferrari one has some great reviews but the styling is really holding me back and I cant seem to find an alternative?

[irwit]

acer ferrari one 200 spec

Operating system: Windows 7® Home Premium 64-bit
Platform: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor L310
System memory: Up to 2 GB of DDR2 667/800 MHz memory, upgradeable to 4 GB using two soDIMM modules
Display 11.6″ HD 1366 x 768 (WXGA) Acer CineCrystal™ LED-backlit TFT LCD
Graphics: ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 Graphics (good for 1080p HD video)
Storage: 2.5″ 9.5 mm 160 GB1, 9 or larger hard disk drive / Multi-in-1 card reader
Dimensions and weight: 285 (W) x 204 (D) x 24/30 (H) mm (11.22 x 8.03 x 0.9/1.2 inches) – 1.5 kg (3.31 lbs.) with 6-cell battery
Audio: Optimized 3rd Generation Dolby Home Theater®

It really is a great netbook but I cant think of anyone I know who could use a laptop in public with a ferrari badge in the middle of it! What were acer thinking !!!

[Jettatore]

If possible, some electronic stores have no issue with you installing demo software on their display models to test before you buy. Power wise with Mental Mill and Maya scripting your not asking for too much, but display drivers could potentially prove to be an issue.

[Tama]

I purchased the Acer Aspire AS1410-2039 netbook from Newegg and installed 4 gig of memory and Lightwave 9.6 and I am pretty happy with the netbook's performance. Plays back 1080P video without any hiccups has an HDMI port that works great for big screen TV hookup. Nice size and about 6 hours of battery life with the included Windows 7 64 bit OS. Lightwave renders rather quickly as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS4fj4YI6DI&NR=1&feature=fvwp

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115658

[irwit]

Hi guys,

thansk again for replies and advice

Jettatore - What do you mean by check the display drivers ? You mean gfx card drivers ? To make sure they can handle things like maya and mental mill ? What do I need to look out for ?

Tama - Thanks for the links, just a look at the review. That looks like a great little machine and hdmi is a serious extra the ferrari one 200 needs imo. The only thing holding me back is the single core in comparison to a possible dual core. I'll have to look into how much of a real difference that makes but I am really tempted by the one you recommend so thansk for that.

Anyway, I'll carry on investigating and let you all know how I get on :beer:

[InfernalDarkness]

If you're using Maya and mm, then multiple cores is always the best option. The more, the merrier. Especially with Maya and mental ray.

[Saurus]

Get one with an ION (Nvidia). It handles graphics way better than most netbook GPU. If you want power, Alienware is coming out with an 11inch with some serious GPUs...and it plays Crysis.

[irwit]

I have read you can get the Acer Aspire AS1410-2039 with a dual core intel chip which sounds like the best of both worlds as that laptop also has hdmi. However I also read you cant get this version in the uk so will have a look into this when I get chance. Alienware will be a bit more pricey than I want to spend I think. The acer is around 350 mark.

DO you know any examples that use the nvidia chip ? Any reviews etc ? Sounds like an interesting alternative!

[goldilocks20]

It may e worth a look to get the cheapest Ion based Atom notebook. The problem is that the single core Atom in most netbooks is very weak and as HD flash and video becomes more and more common it will start to struggle. At least the Nvidia IGP in the Ion notebooks will offload a large amount of the decoding off the CPU.

[meleseDESIGN]

The problem is that the single core Atom in most netbooks is very weak and as HD flash and video becomes more and more common it will start to struggle.

Watching HD stuff on a netbook makes no scence since HD rsolution is made for bigger displays.

[Saurus]

I have read you can get the Acer Aspire AS1410-2039 with a dual core intel chip which sounds like the best of both worlds as that laptop also has hdmi. However I also read you cant get this version in the uk so will have a look into this when I get chance. Alienware will be a bit more pricey than I want to spend I think. The acer is around 350 mark.

DO you know any examples that use the nvidia chip ? Any reviews etc ? Sounds like an interesting alternative!

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9400M-G.11949.0.html

lf you go down the page, you will see a list computer that uses Ion.

This site is awesome for searching for laptops. You search base on GPU screen size, etc.

[Tama]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PHM3TC/sr=1-4/qid=1264482830/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1264482830&sr=1-4

This looks good but I'm pretty happy with the 1410. Plays nice with Maya and audio aps like
Cuebase 5 and vst instruments etc.

[irwit]

I really want that 1410 to be honest but you cant seem to get the dual core version in the UK. I'm hoping one might turn up on ebay at sometime.

[irwit]

Hi all

Just an update really. I ended up buying the 1810tz. It a dual core 3 gig of ram windows 7 12inch net-book. Its absolutely brilliant! I got it from pc world for £370 after some haggling. Also after seeing mine 2 friends from work have bought one.

Runs maya great as well as half life 2 ( haven't tried any other games ) . Would absolutely recommend this machine to anyone.

[Szos]

Hey, it's great that you like your new machine, but please don't confuse other people by calling it a "netbook" - that computer is simply a small laptop (some would call it a sub-notebook)... a netbook would never be able to run Maya or a game like HL2.

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