Netbook for photos and videos

jdoo said:

Of the ones you have listed - I would go with the first one, the Eee PC 1015PEM-PU17-BU. It has a dual core atom N550 (the others do not) - so you get a slight boost in battery life and performance. I would also consider bumping your RAM to 2GB right off the bat (the Amazon page you linked to - has suggested memory linked on it, for $26.99).

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Thank you.

Is ASUS a reliable brand; it seems to get high marks from users. Or are there other manufacturers I should consider.

This is a gift for a young granddaughter. She primary plays games on educational sites and we video chat on Skype about once a week. I'm giving my grandchildren a NetFlix account for a Christmas present, so I'd like there to be enough processing power so the video runs smoothly.

If there are netbooks with specifications that meet these needs that are a little less expensive, that would be great.

--
gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb

My Canon s90 BLOG: http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/canon-s90/canon-s90-first-impressions/

Darnit gail. If you had asked this question two days ago (worded like you just did), I would have told you to run to the newegg BF sale. They had the younger brother ASUS Eee netbook for $210.00. Who knows - they may run a similar sale for Cyber Monday (tomorrow). I would look at slickdeals, or hit the major sites. The Toshiba (system you mention above) and Acer (the Aspire One system I mentioned earlier) systems will easily run video, do video skyping, etc. (all the things you are looking to provide for your grandchildren). These are both available for around $330 now. I have an Aspire One, and my wife has the Toshiba. We use them both for netflix, video chatting, and an occasional on-line flash-based game. Like I said though - would highly recommend bumping the RAM from 1GB to 2GB (and the surgery is quite easy).

Here are a few suggestions, if you are looking for sites that aggregate Cyber-Monday (and any day) check out this article: http://lifehacker.com/5699278/navigate-deal-sites-effectively-for-maximum-cyber-monday-savings

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Joe
Old Acct: http://www.dpreview.com/members/5617432530/forums/Messages?Page=19

jdoo said:

Darnit gail. If you had asked this question two days ago (worded like you just did), I would have told you to run to the newegg BF sale.

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It was only two days ago that I started thinking about a netbook when my daughter informed me that my grandson and granddaughter constantly fight over a laptop. I thought a netbook for my grand daughter would solve the problem, as she doesn't need it for school like my grandson. I can't afford a notebook at this time.

I very much appreciate all the very helpful information. I'm going to dig in, digest the info, and then shop around.

Thanks so much!!

gail

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gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb

My Canon s90 BLOG: http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/canon-s90/canon-s90-first-impressions/

Acer Aspire One AO532H that you mentioned looks great. Good price, plus I can upgrade the RAM for under $40. I have Amazon Prime so I can wait for a few weeks to see if it drops in price again.
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gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb

My Canon s90 BLOG: http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/canon-s90/canon-s90-first-impressions/

Dual core for video is the way to go. I'd like to hook one of these little rascals up to my HDTV for streaming, but single core won't cut it...

HDMI from laptop/netbook to big screen TV and use wireless keyboard/mouse and you have a fairly nice video "streaming" TV where you can surf the internet too!
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Gary

steelslider said:

Dual core for video is the way to go.

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If I may ask, why do you sad "dual core for video" is the way to go? Others with single core processors have said video plays fine for them.

Perhaps your video needs are more demanding. I'm not asking this to be funny; I know little about netbooks and am trying to further educate myself before buying one.

Thanks!

--
gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb

My Canon s90 BLOG: http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/canon-s90/canon-s90-first-impressions/

If it was me, and knowing what I know now, I would be hesitant about getting any of these.

I've just come back from 2 months touring around Europe.

For the trip I purchased an Asus EEE PC 1005PE. It worked OK, but had one very serious issue - the display resolution.

It had the same resolution as the three you have listed (1024x600). There are many programs that will REFUSE TO INSTALL at this resolution (including Panasonic's photo studio program and, I think, Photoshop), and even if you attach an external monitor (at a larger resolution) to install them, some (eg Pana's) will still refuse to run at the lower resolution.

I managed to find a work-around for this that allowed me to run the laptop at a higher resolution , but the images were then distorted and the text was almost too small to read (maybe it's time I got glasses ...)

Additionally, wrt to the resolution , when I had it at 1024x600, my wife found tasks like blogging and using facebook a little painful (she complained when I set the display to its native resolution).

Was I glad I got this? Absolutely ... it was also great to be able to post my images to Zenfolio and to keep backup copies ... as well as keep in touch with others, trakc my finances and download my GPS tracklogs.

Will I continue using it? No - I droped it as I was getting ready to put it through the x-Ray machine at Heathrow as we were leaving Europe - it has refused to start since then - the most likely prognosis was that the Motherboard will need to be replaced (at a cost that is surprisingly close to the price of a new Netbook, and thus not worth doing) - needless to say that I have removed the HDD and have "practiced" dropping it many times since then.

Would I get another one? No, probably not - I'd probably look more into the capabilities of an iPad (with some sort of dongle to load photos), or (shhh, don't tell anyone!) a Macbook. For now I am going to make do with my iPhone and a refresh of the OS and some hardware in my desktop PC.

Don't know if that helps any.

Iain.
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The more I know, the more I know I don't know ...

Some may play well, but I've personally tried several with single core and they gave a pixelated video that was mediocre. Also, they were extremely underpowered, but were sufficient for e-mail or light web surfing, course it might be that I'm used to a machine that was able to multi-task.
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Gary

Connect a laptop to bigscreen TV using a HDMI cable, wireless keyboard/mouse:

--Slower CPUs and integrated video chips can all cause problems, though.

We've found after testing a bunch of nettops and slower desktops that as long as you have 4GB of RAM and a 2.0GHz or faster CPU, you should be good for most kinds of online video in terms of smooth frame rates. A decent discrete graphics card can make up for less RAM or a slower CPUs in some cases. There may be a cutoff somewhere where that's not the case, but then we haven't seen PCs with super slow Atom or other CPUs that also support discrete graphics cards, so the point is kind of moot. Image quality is another story, but most modern graphics chips are good enough for respectable 1080p HD video.
Gary

Thanks for this.

I've decided if I get a netbook, I'll go with the dual core. But the price for the one I'm looking at, along with 1 gig upgrade in RAM, is $402. Then many suggest an upgrade from Windows 7 starter edition. Getting pretty close to the price of an entry level notebook. It may be more prudent to get a notebook with a larger screen, DVD drive and better web cam for my granddaughter.

I wish these decisions were easier; or that I had enough money to get both.

I'm going start hitting the pavement next week to see what I find in local stores.

--
gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb

My Canon s90 BLOG: http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-logs/canon-s90/canon-s90-first-impressions/

Consider a Refurbished notebook, they're fixed/repaired/tested to higher standards than new machines and usually carry the same warranty.

Circuitcity.com has a mess of them, look for a sale!

Dell Outlet store has plenty, all sizes,etc:

http://www.dell.com/content/segmenter.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfo

I've bought 2 Gateway refurbs from Circuitcity and 2 desktops from Dell outlet store...

They work just fine...

btw, there will be "blackfriday" type deals for the rest of the year...you'll find something for less...
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Gary

I second jdoo's recommendations. You might also want to consider the $49 upgrade to the full version of Windows 7.
Dave Jolley