laptop or notebook?

[steve_spackman]

the pros and cons of both a laptop and a notebook?

any advice would be great....

[J4MIE]

A couple of months back I bought an Acer Aspire One, small netbook thing, but I love it, it isn't the fastest computer ever but is small and easy to carry around with me. It does everything I need it to do and can even use photoshop on it to edit photos when I am at an event, so very useful indeed. I got one with a higher spec but was on sale at a lower price so just went for it.

It really depends what you will be using it for?

[christophulus]

Depends what you want to use it for. Speed or portability?

I've got an Eee PC netbook, 9" screen and 12gb hard drive. Exactly what I need, very portable (take it into uni everyday no problem) but useless for anything more than internet browsing and basic applications. I'd recommend getting one with a 10"+ screen and a larger hard drive though.

Most bigger laptops aren't really that portable, they're heavier than you'd expect. I don't own one though so I'll leave that to someone else.

[tmx]

Am I mistaken or isn't notebook and laptop the samething? Unless you mean netbook.

There are niche brands of netbook that come with better spec, but cost more and they generally imported. Personally I wouldn't get a netbook unless it has a dualcore processor and a decent integrated gpu that can play 1080p videos smoothly. There aren't plenty of them with those specs currently though and usually with those specs they end up costing as much as a laptop. However, it makes no sense to get a weak netbook and have it outdated in a year, unless value for your money is no object.

Also if you are going to use netbook, they generally don't come with disc drives. You should familiarize yourself with disc images (iso) and know how to create (ImgBurn) and mount them (Daemon Tools).

[MrJan]

A couple of months back I bought an Acer Aspire One, small netbook thing, but I love it, it isn't the fastest computer ever but is small and easy to carry around with me. It does everything I need it to do and can even use photoshop on it to edit photos when I am at an event, so very useful indeed. I got one with a higher spec but was on sale at a lower price so just went for it.

That's what I've got. I don't know the spec but really love using it. I pretty much use it only for the internet and keep music/photos on my PC but the main reason I like it is because I can easily hold it on my lap. MOst laptops are actually a bit unweildy but the Acer is easy to handle but not fiddly. Also I spent the extra cash to get the larger battery which is supposed to have 7 hours maximum life. In reality it probably struggles to get 6 but that is still impressive from a portable computer.

[wedge]

Netbooks are slow - usually 1gig memory. Great if you want to surf the web and emails.

If you're going to use a load of apps then you're better off with a proper laptop/notebook

[Valve Bounce]

I would dearly love to have a top of the line Apple laptop; wish I could afford one. :(

[J4MIE]

That's what I've got. I don't know the spec but really love using it. I pretty much use it only for the internet and keep music/photos on my PC but the main reason I like it is because I can easily hold it on my lap. MOst laptops are actually a bit unweildy but the Acer is easy to handle but not fiddly. Also I spent the extra cash to get the larger battery which is supposed to have 7 hours maximum life. In reality it probably struggles to get 6 but that is still impressive from a portable computer.

Mine is the one with 250Gb hard drive and 2Gb Ram. Not sure about my battery, think it is 5200mah but will struggle do last for more than 2 hours of normal use. Really want to buy a second battery to carry around with me particularly when travelling but they are really expensive :s Some on ebay for £30 though so may get one before going to Australia in March.

[Valve Bounce]

Mine is the one with 250Gb hard drive and 2Gb Ram. Not sure about my battery, think it is 5200mah but will struggle do last for more than 2 hours of normal use. Really want to buy a second battery to carry around with me particularly when travelling but they are really expensive :s Some on ebay for £30 though so may get one before going to Australia in March.

Going to Albert Park?

[J4MIE]

No, stupidly I booked to come home the weekend before :( But I booked the flights way back before the calendar was announced and was a guess at best so never mind. Just going to Adelaide to visit my brother.

[Langdale Forest]

I don't really see the point in havig a notebook, but laptops are brilliant.

[MrJan]

I don't really see the point in havig a notebook, but laptops are brilliant.

Netbook is far more portable than a laptop, much easier to use if you travel a lot.

[Camelopard]

I have a laptop and use it when travelling around Oz, I also use it at work with a mobile broadband card to access sites that are banned on my work pc, things like home email, yahoo, epay, utube, live rallying stuff when on nightshift, etc and watching the occassional dvd.

It's good for this, battery life isn't an issue as I use AC. It's heavy, big and is very obvious.

I've just bought a eeepc (xp home) which will do everything I need when travelling. Battery life is meant to be 7+ hours, although I haven't tested it yet. It also has a dedicated SD slot which suits the cards in my camera.

It is light and the ac adapter is very small, the only draw back so far is that I may need more than 3 usb connections. I will try and put more memory in it. i also carry an external hard drive for back up and extra storage.

Also it is considerably cheaper than what my laptop was and I won't fret too much if I have it stolen or leave it on a bus!

[Valve Bounce]

No, stupidly I booked to come home the weekend before :( But I booked the flights way back before the calendar was announced and was a guess at best so never mind. Just going to Adelaide to visit my brother.

At least you will be able to visit some of the finest wineries in the world. I love anything from the Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra, and McLaren Vale. But, sorry you'll miss Albert Park. :(

[Rudy Tamasz]

Once I pretty much screwed up by backbone carrying a full sized laptop with me for the whole day. I got a 10" HP since then and am very happy with it. Very portable, does all I need. It is not the fastest gun, though, and it takes time to get vused to a small keyboard, but it is very praactical all in all.

[Mark]

Of course there is a difference between a netbook, which are quite low powered, but you can also get proper laptops, which are just small!

[Dave B]

16 posts in and nobody's said an iPad :p

[christophulus]

I've just bought a eeepc (xp home) which will do everything I need when travelling. Battery life is meant to be 7+ hours, although I haven't tested it yet. It also has a dedicated SD slot which suits the cards in my camera.

It'll only get 7 hours if you turn the wireless off and leave it on low power mode. In "real-world" use it's good for about 4 hours.

[Pille]

I have a Lenovo S10 netbook and like it a lot. It's small and light and does everything I want (including some photo editing when needed - have PS Elements loaded). It's no powerhouse and I do most of my stuff on a desktop, but for traveling it's brilliant.

Also - when I want some bedtime reading, it's the perfect book - always fresh material and no extra lighting needed ;)