Windows 7 Netbooks

[Ian]

I've been thinking about getting a new netbook for quite some time, but I decided to hold of for the new wave that will no doubt follow the launch of Windows 7.

My criteria would be something very portable (so no larger than a 10" screen) and reasonably powerful (enough to happily multitask through several applications at speed).

It's mainly so I can take a little netbook away with me when I'm on holiday or visiting people, should the need arise to get some work done or fix a server. Most of the time it will be packed away and only used when needed, that's why being small is a huge advantage.

Is anyone aware of any new netbooks that will be launching around Q3 this year which may be worth considering?

 

[Thrax]

I'm still using an MSI Wind U100, and I love it. My friend got the next worthy model, the U123, and he loves that too. In fact there are probably around 15 people on Icrontic that all have Winds loaded with Windows 7, and people just think they're great.

That said, I think the only big development in the netbook space is NVIDIA's Ion, but netbooks based on the architecture have been tremendously rare, and there's still no word over its Windows 7 compatibility.

 

[Ian]

Thanks, that looks like a real bargain too - only around £250 in the UK. It has a 10.2" LCD too which is perfectly sized.

 

[Kougar]

I'm drawn to the Samsung NC20, but it's more of an ultraportable than a netbook. 12.1" 1280x800 screen, 1.5GHz Nano, five hours of battery life during movie playback, normal keyboard... that doesn't fit your needs, but do keep in mind you won't be doing heavy multitasking on an Atom powered netbook for very long either.

Since Thrax mentions it the new Wind U123 is supposed to be good, here's an article on it. I do like those battery life times.

Intel's next platform for Atom (Pine Trail) supposedly is delayed from Q4 to Q1 of next year, so there won't be any major new netbook launches for the rest of this year that probably aren't already out there in some model or another.

 

[Ian]

The NC20 is one I've been looking at for a while, it's just the size that puts me off - as it's similar to my Dell X1 which is just a little too big to be tucked away inside luggage. It's a shame as the NC20 looks gorgeous

Waiting for the new Atom Pine Trail is probably a little too far away for me, so I'm hoping that there is a 10" ION based netbook coming out soon (I've only seen 12" so far).

If I'm being too picky and can't end up finding an ION that matches, then I may just go for one of the MSI Wind series

 

[Kougar]

I liked the NC20 especially because of the screen... I can't stand the screens resolutions found on smaller models. 1024x600 is just crazy and you'll be scrolling to use everything!

The Ion 2 stuff would be killer, again that uses the more powerful Nano instead of an Atom. But if regular Ion netbooks are this rare I'm not sure they'll be any Ion 2 designs until way to late into the game for them to catch on.

Here's two more interesting and rather differently built netbooks, you might give this a read: http://techreport.com/articles.x/17249

 

[Ian]

Those two netbooks look very tasty indeed, especially for under $400. Especially the LT3103, as that fulfils all the requirements I need apart from the screen.

I've just drawn out the size of the 12" models and it's almost exactly the same size as my current Dell X1, which I'm trying to shrink down. I just need something I can tuck away in my hand luggage when travelling so that I can get on the net easily (even if there are some limitations in screensize). Most of the time my iPhone does as the browser is pretty good and there is a RDP implementation which lets me connect to remote PCs should something go wrong.

I have a feeling I'm asking too much to get a netbook that meets my ideal specs, so I'm going to have to compromise on power and get a little 10" (maybe even 9" if they don't have silly bezels all the way round the screen). That way it's so small I don't need to find space for it, but it will do everything required of it as a last resort (as I don't think working on a tiny screen would be fun).