OT -- Netbook vs Laptop; Need Advice

[DroidElf]

Hi all! I know most of you are more tech savvy than myself. I'm looking ahead and am going to probably need to replace my sons' laptops this Christmas. I'm thinking of going "Netbook" for convenience for them, meaning size. What are everyone's thoughts? Pros/Cons. Any particular brand I should consider? And again I'm looking for HS boys so I don't want to spend a fortune on them. I appreciate the input.

[Ads]

[dickgtax]

I was thinking about getting one for myself, but found a full sized 15.5 inch screen HP for about the same price with Windows 7 Pro 64bit.
Get him a full size notebook, sturdy, better operating system, sound, picture, memory, hard drive, etc. Especially for kids, they need something rugged.

[animal67]

Hi all! I know most of you are more tech savvy than myself. I'm looking ahead and am going to probably need to replace my sons' laptops this Christmas. I'm thinking of going "Netbook" for convenience for them, meaning size. What are everyone's thoughts? Pros/Cons. Any particular brand I should consider? And again I'm looking for HS boys so I don't want to spend a fortune on them. I appreciate the input.

I have a 12 year old son and knowing how much they use computers in school now I would go with a laptop. Im getting him one for xmas too and will probably just pick one up off Craigslist. I think 13-14" screen is a good size and still be pretty lightweight.

[mjs31]

I currently have a high powered laptop with a 17" High Def screen and powered up processor since it was a gaming machine (even though I don't game). Running Win 7 64. I have had it for a little over a year and there is not much it cannot do. I tend to travel somewhat at my job for training (giving and receiving). It is great when I get there, but a pain for traveling. I currently have the Ipad (thanks John) and am actually going to sell my laptop. Yes, the pad will not do everything that my laptop does, but it will do most of what I need and is so easy to travel with.

So...I recommend looking hard at what you need it for and if it will need to be carried around. Netbooks are not as powerful as full blow laptops, but they are much more portable. It may not seem like much when you pick the larger laptop up in the store, but lugging it around through airports is a different story.

[Buffewo]

I have a 17" Dell laptop that is just too heavy to travel with so.....I just bought an HP Mini 311. I did a lot of research and went with this one because I could actually customize it. I did not like the Windows Starter so I upgraded to Windows 7 Premium. I upgraded to 3 gigs of Ram also. I had one more install for my 2007 Office Premium (one of my sons who is a sys admin created a virtual drive on my Netbook to add it). So it was a bit pricier than what I wanted but it is great for my business travel. No Netbooks come with a DVD drive so I think I would consider a laptop for my student. Might be a bit sturdier as well. Hope this helps. But the HP is sweet.