Netbook for under $400?

evti

evti

New Member
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to what a good netbook would be to get for under $400. I would use it for taking notes in class, so I don't need a powerhouse, but I want bang for my buck. It also crossed my mind to get an iPad or something, and just get a keyboard for it and use that for note taking. What would be a good idea in people's opinions?
 
Aren't they all under $400 now?

Just go around and choose one that looks and feels nice to you. Almost all of them have identical hardware in them, anyways.

Don't get an iPad, that's a hell of a lot of money to drop down for note taking (and honestly it wouldn't be as good as a netbook for that purpose). You should be able to buy a more than capable netbook for like $250
 
Eee PC's are good. Also have a look at the Lenovo and Samsung netbooks.
 
Well, would a tablet work? My main priority is battery life since I have 3 hour classes and my current netbook isn't cutting it. It was supposed to have at least 3 hours battery life when I got it, now it's down to barely 1.5 hours. I am not sure how tablets compare in terms of battery life, but I know that depends on a lot of things
 
evti said:
Well, would a tablet work? My main priority is battery life since I have 3 hour classes and my current netbook isn't cutting it. It was supposed to have at least 3 hours battery life when I got it, now it's down to barely 1.5 hours. I am not sure how tablets compare in terms of battery life, but I know that depends on a lot of things
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My tablet gets about 8 hours. I know Asus used to make a netbook that got 13 hours but I cannot find them now. It was the ASUS Eee PC 1015PD.
 
The Acer Aspire One AOA150 isn't even made anymore so you must be talking about a used one. We have 4 of those in our family (kids carry them in their backpack for school), they're all 4+ years old and still running strong.

evti said:
Well, would a tablet work? My main priority is battery life since I have 3 hour classes and my current netbook isn't cutting it. It was supposed to have at least 3 hours battery life when I got it, now it's down to barely 1.5 hours. I am not sure how tablets compare in terms of battery life, but I know that depends on a lot of things
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If you currently have a netbook that works well except for the battery, why don't you buy a new battery for it? You could even buy a higher capacity battery then it originally came with. Check eBay for batteries.

I personally have the Acer Aspire One A0722 which is available on Amazon for $344. It runs Win 7 64-bit with 4G of RAM and is more powerful than many low end laptops. I use it when I travel in my RV.

We also have a couple of the ASUS eeePCs and I don't care for the keyboard on them, they seem flimsy in comparison to the Acers.
 
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strollin said:
If you currently have a netbook that works well except for the battery, why don't you buy a new battery for it?
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I wanted to upgrade a bit more since the wireless on it kind of blows as well. The track pad is also doing something weird as well, and since I have the money, I might as well upgrade.
 
evti said:
Yes, that is definitely something I was looking at, and am very close to getting since it seems to meet all of my needs. I've also seen a lot of good reviews for it.
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If you have to pay for a new OS then the price will be too high compared to other netbooks you could buy.
 
I ended up getting an Acer AO725-0691 for $280. It's an 11inch netbook, with 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive. I needed a new one severely yesterday because the spacebar stopped working on my old one. I went out and bought this one, and it was on sale, normally $300. So not bad. Plus the battery will definitely last long enough for classes, plus more.
 
That's similar to the Acer I have. I think you made a good choice, comes with Win HP 64-bit whereas most netbooks come with 32-bit. Also comes with 2G RAM and is probably upgradeable to 4G (mine is) while most netbooks max out at 2G. The GPU is better than most netbooks as well.

Decent price too. I think you'll be happy.
 
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The best way to shop (not necessarily buy) for RAM is via the Crucial memory site: Crucial.com

They have a scanner that will scan your system and tell you exactly what RAM you can install and will offer to sell it to you.

That RAM you linked to at Newegg should work for your netbook but you might want to run the Crucial scanner first.
 
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