Netbooks

What can I expect from a netbook. We are thinking about gettinng another laptop/netbook at Christmas but just wondering how much use a netbook would be.
For instance, can we watch things like BBC I player, can we load loads of I Tunes music, can we play games from discs IE Rollacoaster Tycoon or will it need an external dvd drive to go with it. My pc knowledge is very very limited so any info is more than I have atm.

no net book will run any games .... we have a samsun nc10 and a toshiba thing 10inch screen one nether can run games well apart from the first game EG square blocks.i player is not a problem but itunes is a no go realy because of the limited disk space they come with unles you stick a 500gb drive in there but lap top dives are pricey.

i dont now of any netbook under 12inch (under = netbook) that has a dvd/cd drive so you have to get a external one

plus 8inch are not usable at all to small to hard to read rubish battery

now laptops 12inch up any thing should do all of what u want just get one with 2gb of ram minimum, 2ghz prosesor minimum (single core, dual core is better) and 250gb hdd min for music and apps and with a dvd rw drive, built in wireless that would do all of what you want

I find it really hard to believe that a netbook won't run ancient stuff like Rollercoaster Tycoon or Fallout. Hell, PC Gamer has a 'games to play on your netbook' section.

I have an Asus EeePC901 and I think it's great. But, at the time I was insistent on the Linux version (mainly for the fast boot time) and now find that I will probably install XP Pro on it as I would like to be able to install applications more easily. Mine copes easily enough with basic applications but I would not attempt to run anything intensive (ie. modern games) on it. Also, the small screen (9" on mine) makes gaming rather pointless.

Mine has got a brilliant battery life but this is in the minority. In short: If it doesn't have a good battery life, integrated 3G and a cheap price then there is little point getting a netbook over a normal laptop other than the smaller form factor.

Why do you want a netbook if you want to do laptop stuff on it? Just get a laptop!

[TEC]

Originally Posted by metalangel

I find it really hard to believe that a netbook won't run ancient stuff .....

Some of the newer ones will but suspect they may struggle a bit and on a 10" screen, would consider a small laptop over a netbook

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Warthog

Why do you want a netbook if you want to do laptop stuff on it?

Cos its Tony and he's cheap...

[ophic]

you can get netbooks with 160GB drives and SD card readers. There are plenty of laptops out there that won't run the latest games as they don't have the graphics power. In fact most office spec desktops won't either.

It does beg the question - what defines a netbook as opposed to a small laptop? Some netbooks use the Intel Atom processor and get lots of battery life, but some don't.

attoms are ok but not for coppying files and stuf as they take ages :/

and my laptop vostro 1000 (15") wont play any games at all so it not just netbooks that carnt play games

[jamesterror]

I have a netbook, if you want to game, buy an Inspiron sort of laptop, a bit bigger and you get the media & better multi-tasking facility.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home...=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

I bought a netbook as I go uni from 9 - 6 on Wednesdays + Friday's, and is easy to just pop out during frees and do work on, laptops are a bit more heavier, and take more space up, whereas a netbook is just for word processing, internet, excel, then iplayer.

Its just transportability, gaming is a no on a netbook though.