Netbook Roundup: Affordable, Light and Long-lasting

[DigitalDD]

You know I like the old HP business notebook series with the Centrino chipsets. 12.1" screen, external optical drive, good battery life without the external optical drive attached or the wireless turned on. these new super sub-notebooks though are interesting.

[CoffeeShark]

Tweaktown has a good update on the Wind, at least for pics.

[joe]

Not a big fan of these, for me they are too small to do any real work, too big to carry around everywhere. Between my phone and my T61 I'm good pretty much whatever I'm doing.

I've thought about that some, and at first I thought these were more "toybooks" than anything else, but I've really turned around on them and see the value in the sub-notebook class.

Currently my only computer is a 14" notebook, it's a good mix of portability and power, and it fits my needs for the time being, but I do miss the uber-powerful desktop for some things, and I plan to build a new computer later in the fall/winter. One of these sub-notebooks, with bluetooth and my 3G phone would be a great way to still be connected when I'm away from the desktop.

[MajorMalfunction]

Here's a new player in the sub-notebook arena: VIA Openbook. However, no news on pricing or availability yet.

[CoffeeShark]

I saw that, Major, but it was introduced by Via as a design reference, not an actual model in production or even slated for production. I will include it when a hardware manufacturer releases specs and possible pricing for the entire unit.

[CoffeeShark]

changed title of thread based on Joe's good suggestion

[CoffeeShark]

I'd think for college, to tote from class to class, they'd be about perfect... and for a non-gamer, if they have a DVD drive, nice to take on a flight.

remember, Apple has already established through the MBA that the DVD drive is not necessary as a built-in on a portable machine. That's what they tell me, anyway.

I'm sitting on that dual-core Atom news, trying to find out if it will be backwards compatible with the current Intel chipset that MSI and the other Atom machines will have. Would be a nice upgrade in the future.

[Wallpaper]

Im interested in these things because, for college atleast, I dont want to be able to do much on it besides homework, because I would get distracted. And with the money I would save by getting one of the sub notebooks, I would be able to upgrade the desktop

remember, Apple has already established through the MBA that the DVD drive is not necessary as a built-in on a portable machine. That's what they tell me, anyway.

Meh. Its not sucking much power unless Im using it, and Id rather not have to load any DVD I want to watch onto the HDD

[CoffeeShark]

I prefer an optical drive in my laptop, too. You would think they could easily design a hardware switch (as with wireless) to turn off the optical drive completely. Since they cost roughly 20 bucks, it wouldn't add much expense, and a slot-load drive wouldn't add that much weight.

[joe]

I think in the sub-notebook area, it's as much an issue of space, as it is of weight, in regards to the optical drives anyway...