[clug] Looking for a netbook

[Chris Smart]

2009/8/11 Ian McLeod <ianmcleod75 at gmail.com>:
> We're looking for a netbook - for once in my life my wish actually
> complements the main goal - to save money - i.e. have Linux.  My wife is,
> naturally, happy with that idea.  It's for the both of us to float around he
> house for net use or whatever, and for travel.
>

I wasn't going to give my 2 cents on this matter, but there are a few
things that I can convey after using an EeePC myself.

1) If you're going for a light portable machine that will last for a
long time, then get something with a 6 cell battery. 3 cell batteries
are rubbish. Also, get an Atom netbook, not a celeron (i.e. the early
EeePCs).
2) The EeePC has good support in the Linux community, but most
netbooks are the same internally, so don't worry too much about a
specific brand or model.
3) The resolutions are low, which can be annoying if you're used to
them being a lot larger. Some newer netbooks are coming with higher
resolutions, but you pay more.
4) Steer well well well clear of anything with the Poulsbo graphics
chipset ("http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzE1Mw").
5) Most come with Windows, as has already been discussed. Can't do
much about that, but most distros have a custom version for netbooks
now, so Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, whatever, should work well.

-c