Help with choosing a netbook?

B

Briemmara

New Member
Hi :)

Ive read a few of the threads on here and you all seem like smart pc savvy people so maybe I can throw a few questions at you to back up my complete lack of computing knowledge.

Im looking at getting a netbook for my daughter. She is only 8 years old so it doesnt need to be anything fancy. Basically its only going to be used for doing her homework, writting out stories, googling Hannah Montana and playing online games like www.moshimonsters.com...oh and using facebook when I borrow it

So my main concerns are; Is the atom processor going to be able to accomodate things like the above?
Ive heard screen resolution is less than a pc so is that going to affect websites/games and things like using flash player games or java based online applications?
Am I going to be able to put an anti-virus software on the netbook? (the one Im looking at doesnt come with it and the guy said something but he was talking too fast)
Is there anything Im going to be losing going from my full size grown up HP laptop to a smaller netbook?

These are the 2 Im looking at, they look exactly the same to me but the samsung is the one that caught my eye in the store and the 2nd asus is what a friend recommended to me but he only plays with mac computers

http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/porta...products/details?storeId=42&productId=6013383

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=100_120&sort=2a&page=1&products_id=43868

Thanks in advance.
 
I have an asus netbook, I enjoy it. However it is not by any means my main box. Pros to getting a netbook... battery life will be a lot longer than a full sized laptop probably double.
Weight is very low and it is small and easy to carry around...

Cons is...its small, keyboard is a little small its 95% of a normal size keyboard (minus the 10key) It isnt too bad though.

Not a speed demon, nor is it supposed to be these little guys were made with mobility in mind IMO kind of what the laptop should have been but got so popular people use them as their main pc now so they had to beef them up. Screen size is small it doesnt hurt to look at or anything esp for an 8 year old, your websites will show up fine as long as its set to scale which most are.

you could always get a cheap dock and hook it up to a monitor keyboard and mouse and basically have a normal computer when your doing some non mobile computing.

basically this computer was made for the internet and office documents... you could most likely play the webgames on it almost any new computer game wont work on it or it would be extremely slow and unplayable

and yes you can get AV on it for free, there is so many free AV's out there now there is no reason to buy one anymore if your a home user. I use Microsoft's Security Essentials on mine and it runs great it is so tiny and fast and yet does a fine job, wont slow your netbook down at all.

I hope this helps feel free to post some follow up questions.
 
Thanks so much guys.
so tick for mobility, shes 8 so something smaller/lighter would be easier for her to carry around, and I want a laptop style so that she can work on it in her room when shes playing games or writting but if shes on the internet i want her out in the loungeroom where I can keep an eye on her.
and tick for website and online games and AV

How does the atom 270/280 1.6GHz processor compare to the pentium IV 600MHz? Thats what her maths/spelling tutor games require.

I hate having to buy these things, I just dont understand any of it and I want to just pick the blue one (daughters fav colour) and be done with it. So thankful there are peope like yourselves who are able to decipher it all out for me.
 
A P4 never went as low as 600MHz. The slowest one was 1.3GHz. Regardless, I'm sure the Atom processors could run that software. The Atom's a pretty weak processor when compared to current CPUs, but it's probably comparable to some of the late PIII's early P4's.
 
yeah the cpu wont blow you away, but if the program calls for 600mhz it should have no problem.

O yeah important little tid bit... there is no cdrom drive... end of the world no... you can get a usb external cdrom or you can create ISO images of the cds with another computer and just copy them to your netbook and use a program like power iso to play the virtual cds... thats what i do. But the external cd option might better suit you unless the program requires the CD to be in at all times... then it might be more convenient to go the other route

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817366021&cm_re=usb_cd-_-17-366-021-_-Product
 
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thanks guys. i did notice there was no cd drive which I guess helps keep it so small and simple but weve already got an external drive so thats no bother.
 
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