Netbook/notebook advice

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d7e7r7

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Hey guys,

My sister in-law is looking for a netbook/notebook.
Budget is R3500
Says she wants at least 250gb hdd and 2gb ram.

Any suggestions?


Thanks
 
d7e7r7 said:
it has 160gb hdd and 1gb ram... did u read my post? thanks for the advice though...
Click to expand...

Yeah I did read your post. My Wind has 2gb RAM and you can upgrade the hard drive to more than 250gig.

I just put an extra gig of RAM in.
 
Pooky said:
Hmmm well you can get a gig ram for around R250 and then you will need a bit of saving for the Hard Drive, but why is the 160gig not sufficient?
Click to expand...

With the MSI Wind can u just add a gig of ram? with my samsung NC10 you need to scrap the 1gig and buy a 2gig....
no idea why its not sufficient? thats just what she asked me for? she's studying fine art so maybe big art files on corel draw and photoshop?
 
d7e7r7 said:
With the MSI Wind can u just add a gig of ram? with my samsung NC10 you need to scrap the 1gig and buy a 2gig....
no idea why its not sufficient? thats just what she asked me for? she's studying fine art so maybe big art files on corel draw and photoshop?
Click to expand...

Yeah you can! There is 1gig that is soldered directly to the Motherboard, that you can't change, and then there is a neat little slot to stick in another stick of Ram.

I'm sure 160gig is sufficient! If not, you can swap it out for a bigger 2.5" drive.

Plus, with the Wind, there is an official BIOS update that allows you to safely overclock the processor by 24%, while not voiding your warranty.
 
Yes, with the MSI Wind U100 you can just add a 1GB stick, or you can add a 2GB and disable the onboard 1GB. You would only do the latter if the onboard memory won't overclock properly.

I just added a 1GB stick to mine, and it overclocked easily and stable to 2GHz. The chipset doesn't support more than 2GB.

1GB would be OK for most things, but I was running CS3 on mine.

You can get reasonably priced 500GB notebook drives that would work in the MSI, but not sure why you would need that.
 
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Acer Aspire one with 250gb hdd but only 1gb meme for R3500.....
 
TBH, for that budget you're not going to get 2gb and 250gb standard.

Think the Wind with an extra RAM stick is probably the best recommendation here.

Although I have to add, using Photoshop and CorelDraw on a netbook will be truly, truly awful - they really aren't designed for such intensive applications, and the tiny screen will really be terrible for it as well.
 
I got an HP Mini 311 for R3300 but it was a demo model, so you won't see a bargain like that again.

But I wanna say, that the 11" screen @ 1366 x 768 is waay better than the usual 1024x600 netbook screen. So definitely try for an 11-12" netbook with a high rez screen if you can. Unfortunately they usually go for over R4k
 
The Gigabyte M1022C Booktop maybe?
http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?target=products&product_id=6082

Intel® Atom™ N270 1.6GHz Processor
1GB DDR2 800MHz Memory (1x 1GB - 1 Slot)
250GB 5400RPM 2.5" SATA HDD
Optional External Optical Drive
10.1" Standard 1024x600 LED Backlit Widescreen
1.3 MegaPixel Webcam
Intel® 945GSE Express Mobile Chipset
Intel GMA 950M Graphics
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g @ 54Mbps Battery Level Check Button
Supports Optional 3.5G Card
Optional M1022 Docking Station: 3x USB 2.0, 1x D-Sub VGA, 1x Headphone Jack White Unit
Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition 32-Bit
1 Year Warranty
R2999

I'm sure you could swap out the 1GB RAM for 2GB with the remaining R500
 
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Photoshop and fine arts on a Netbook screen? Ouch! The screen is the biggest negative on a netbook.
 
d7e7r7 said:
With the MSI Wind can u just add a gig of ram? with my samsung NC10 you need to scrap the 1gig and buy a 2gig....
no idea why its not sufficient? thats just what she asked me for? she's studying fine art so maybe big art files on corel draw and photoshop?
Click to expand...

Oh my... I can just imagine her struggling away with Photoshop on a 10" screen. :D Not to mention that it'll be slooow.

Again, I recommend the HP 615 with a 1 - 2GB RAM upgrade.
 
charlie_82 said:
The Gigabyte M1022C Booktop maybe?
http://www.ikonicit.co.za/index.php?target=products&product_id=6082

I'm sure you could swap out the 1GB RAM for 2GB with the remaining R500
Click to expand...

Looks the same OEM netbook as the other Acer Aspire Ones, Asus 10" EEEPCs, Sahara Netbook etc. that don't have RAM slot access from the bottom, meaning netbook has to be opened, keyboard removed etc. to find the RAM slot... Which voids the warranty. :( MSI Wind sounds great if it has bottom access to RAM.
 
PostmanPot said:
Looks the same OEM netbook as the other Acer Aspire Ones, Asus 10" EEEPCs, Sahara Netbook etc. that don't have RAM slot access from the bottom, meaning netbook has to be opened, keyboard removed etc. to find the RAM slot... Which voids the warranty. :( MSI Wind sounds great if it has bottom access to RAM.
Click to expand...

MSI Wind U100 doesn't have a panel at the bottom, you have to remove the whole underside of the case, but it is a simple task.

The Asus EEE 1000HE (10") is the simplest of the lot, has a little panel covering the memory slot. This also gives access to hard disk.

Some of the other Asus EEE's are, I believe, more difficult. Simplest is to check before you buy.
 
Jola said:
MSI Wind U100 doesn't have a panel at the bottom, you have to remove the whole underside of the case, but it is a simple task.
Click to expand...

Ah right, Pooky had me confused into thinking it had a panel for RAM access.

The Asus EEE 1000HE (10") is the simplest of the lot, has a little panel covering the memory slot. This also gives access to hard disk.

Some of the other Asus EEE's are, I believe, more difficult. Simplest is to check before you buy.
Click to expand...

Nice - can't believe what I call 'the OEM ones' (like original AAOs, some Asus EEEs, Sahara Netbook etc.) don't have RAM access panels? Why don't they want people using more than 1GB? :mad:
 
PostmanPot said:
Ah right, Pooky had me confused into thinking it had a panel for RAM access.



Nice - can't believe what I call 'the OEM ones' (like original AAOs, some Asus EEEs, Sahara Netbook etc.) don't have RAM access panels? Why don't they want people using more than 1GB? :mad:
Click to expand...

IMO the main consideration is design requirements, the newer seashell Asus design is more difficult to get to the memory than the older 1000HE type design (I prefer the older design, I still think that the Asus 1000HE is the best netbook out there).

But Microsoft has also been a factor, I believe that they stated that in order to get a cheap Windows bundle to supply with a netbook (Windows XP, Windows 7 Starter), it needed to be supplied with max 1GB RAM, and max 1024*600 screen resolution. You will see that netbooks that have more memory standard, come with better versions of Windows (eg Home Premium), and cost a lot more.

I managed to get a cheap Asus 1000HE, upgraded it to W7 Home premium, installed a 320GB 7200rpm drive, and upgraded the memory to 2GB.

It's great now, and I can get an emulated 1024*768 when the software requires it (eg Adobe Camera RAW).

Note that I also have a "real" notebook with vooma, but the netbook goes everywhere with me.

Main considerations :
1) The netbook is cheap enough so that if it gets stolen/dropped it is not the end of the world.
2) It is light, which is nice for travel.
3) It has a long battery life.
4) It's fast enough for what I do on the road.
 
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