I'm going to uni this september (UK) and I'm trying to find a cheap laptop that isn't too heavy and too big.. I've been looking at netbooks as well, but I can't seem to find any good netbooks? So I'm confused about which type to get..

Thanks.

oh last thing, is there anything bad about buying refurbished laptops?

Netbook have low cpu power, so aim for a core 2 laptop.

if price is an issue, then dell and hp have inexpensive laptop. or maybe even acer.

if this is your primary computer you don't want a netbook, just grab a cheap dell

Netbooks: Basic Use.

- Good for lectures/Practical classes for note taking purposes
- Bad for prolong work that requires researching and heavy use of Word.

Notebooks: Basic/Advance Use.

Better than netbooks so all of above even if it's just 13 inch.


If you have a desktop at home or plan to work on projects on university provided desktops then go for a netbook for trivial things in university (waste of money IMO).

ASUS EEE PC 1000HA (599 AUD)

If you plan to do everything on it then notebook. (ASUS once again...just because i like them lol)...

If you want to save the extra hundreds then netbook is the way to go. The good about the netbook is the amount of hours it gives you with the newer 6 cell batterys. About 5-9hours now with WIFI. You will never have to lug your adapter/charger to class ever again! Unless you plan to stay in class for more than 10 hours a day haha...

As the person noted above. If your a heavy user for a computer then a laptop. If you were to use it for just surfing, note taking or words for the essays. Then netbook.

I have both a netbook and a laptop, i am more of a netbook user as netbooks can do all the things a laptop can do but lack the power to do more intense things faster and cannot play any newer games.

Your best bet is a well designed netbook as you can use word, internet, and nearly all netbooks have atleast 5+ hours battery life. Netbooks are extremely cheap too

Netbook is better. Its much more lighter and small. Unless you plan to play games or watch movies while in uni; netbook is the way to go.

buy both!

stay away from refurbished, they are faulty that has been fixed, but its a mixed bag. Some refurbs are good to go, some are rubbish.

You'll be much better off getting a small (13-14") notebook than a netbook. A netbook is usable for university but it's actually more inconvienent because of its small size. The netbook is basically only good for browsing the net and travel. Using office on a netbook is already aggravating. If you're looking at computer science or electrical engineering then stay the hell away from a netbook.

Depends what netbook as the ASUS range books have nearly a full size keyboard, screen is good size, 2.6Ghz processor (single core), 2GB ram etc. Fine for everything, the intial load time up may take a few seconds extra but it works fine.

When i was at uni i had a p4 CPU 1.6ghz or something and the atom processors are faster so you cannot say engineering or cs students need a laptop as netbooks work perfectly.

It has nothing to do with the laptop performance. The biggest factor is the screensize. Coding on a netbook is painful just because of the limited screen space. Throw an IDE on there and there's barely any room to display anything.

It just my opinon though. I may have spoiled myself. I have to have a dual moniter environment to work now lol.

i find no problem coding on a netbook. You can get netbooks with 12" + size, anything bigger than 13" for a laptop is too large to carry around.

Are you watching a movie or something in the background as a 10" netbook has a res of 1024 x 768 which is more than enough.

@Alex

Is this 2.6 ghz/2 Gb ram a netbook or notebook? I have doubts you refer this to the ASUS netbook range seeing that ATOM Z5xx series only max to stock 2 ghz.


@Recca

Yea, i'd say you've spoiled yourself.

Do you work as a programmer because i don't see much using a single screen anymore, seeing that companies still keep older LCD's and we dual with them if we want to (and everyone loves dual lol...)

yup. i am a developer. I just can't go back to a single scren anymore lol. My engineering department made dual 19's the standard a couple of years ago. Everyone gets dual monitors or one giant 27'

@Alex
If you're just using simpler editors like emacs, textpad, vi(god i hate vi) it'd be fine. Anything like eclipse though takes more effort to use. If you code on a netbook i think you'd be gaurenteed to have good coding style though lol.

i'm in the same dilemma as well..my basic specs for a laptop is at least 16 inches of screen..initially wanted min 17 inches but realised the priced is not within my budget...so i thought of settling for dell's xps16... but then lunging it around ain't too convienient so i was wondering whether i shud save up on modifications of the xps and getting a netbook with the price difference for when i'm on the move..out of my room..

still very undecided now...

if you're looking for stylish netbooks, you can check out the lenovo S series.

or if you're willing to spend more on something really flashy, you can check out the sony P series. Sony also has a new W series netbook coming out that is around $500 USD.

Seriously the standard size of laptop for a uni student is 13 inch. It's convenient for you to lug around campus as its small and light. The screen size is nice enough for your to see what your typing in words for your assignments and be able to window words with music/movie playing beside it.

So if your really stuck on the question of which one to choose. I would go for laptop. You will be away from home living in campus dorms and a netbook wont be enough to support your daily surfing and homework all at the same time.

That's my suggestion.

Laptop would be recommend for Uni. Netbook is good for travelling / use around cafe.

i think a laptop is better for uni. lol i just bought the sony vaio cs and its great.

My colleague asked me the same question cos he wanted to buy a computer for his nephew in India.

My advice to him was to get a laptop. Netbooks are only good for 2 or 3rd home PC. You'll still need something more solid like a laptop or desktop to get your work done quickly and effectively.

Note though, if you have limited budget, you are most likely looking at making a purchase that will last you at least through the 3-4yrs of uni life. As such, opt for a laptop even if it cost you a little bit more. Its even more expensive havign to change you netbook to a laptop 1 year down the road.

What course you studying?

If you are doing something like engineering you will probably need to use CAD, so unless you have a PC in the house I would get a laptop rather than a netbook.

If you're an arts major a net book, if you're an engineering or business major, laptop.

It depends on how you want to use it of course. If you only use it at school to make some notes and some homework: pick a netbook. It's light weight, easy to carry and can go on for hours with a single charge.

If you want to use it as you primary pc, then you should get a laptop with more horsepower.

You definitely need a laptop to get through college. A netbook isn't going to cut it. Net books are really just for internet surfing, e-mails and such. They're the real mobile way to go. But they have limited performance and a small hard drive so you won't be able to enjoy a bunch of movies and music and pictures. A Netbook is kinda just an accessory.

Netbook is not the way to go if this going to be your primary computer. Netbook are good for check you email and surfing the web and that is about it. I recommend going for a cheap laptop, dual core with a 13-4 inch screen.

Netbook isn't good enough nowadays. Even opening certain flash applications would have problem. Get a laptop.

if it is just of uni purposes n using basic softwares like MS word just get a netbook, coz its way cheap and lighter.

i would recommend samsung's N120-12GW, which is 10.1inch has similar specs to all other netbook, but the battery life is long!! up to 6hrs!! just basically charge it once and go to uni, no need to bring ur AC adapters (well unless u need it for longer hrs) but yeh the design is really nice (comes in white only tho but it looks pretty sexy).

whats the difference between notebooks and laptops?

One is made of paper.. There's no difference. Sometimes people use the two terms interchangeably, but they're referring to the same thing.

Netbooks are only good for the basics like word processing, other office products, general software use and web. If you want to use photoshop or play games then the netbook would struggle!

I say get a laptop. Your can get small lightweight laptops too, but obviously not as small as a netbook. Laptops have more power.