Reccomend me a netbook

[volt01]

I'm looking for a netbook would like to pay <$300. I plan on using it so that when I'm on campus I will always have a pc on me. I plan on carrying it everywhere. The most intensive program I will use on it would be matlab. I will use it for excel, word, internet browsing, pdf viewing.

Battery performance is semi important. Due to the fact that I could get a seat near an outlet if I needed to, however a 5+ hour battery life would be nice.

Here are some possible options.
ASUS Eee PC 1001P-MU17 300

Refurbished dell mini10 280

Acer Aspire AO532h-2233 300 Benefit of this is I can get a staples coupon that gives me 25 off so 275.

Also do netbooks take the same Memory as laptops. I.e. can I take the 2GB stick out of my broken laptop and put it in this thing?

 

[shurcooL]

Avoid that Dell you listed, it has an older Z-series Atom which is slow like hell.

The other two are based on the new Atom N450, and are thus the best choice. Both look good to me. Personally, I'm a fan of Acer, but I'm not a fan of the keyboard style they've used on that netbook, sadly. :/

 

[volt01]

I could also get a dell mini 10 for 280.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/note...s&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~fasttrack_mini_anav_2~~

It seems like a very similar machine except it has a 3cell battery would I be better off going with the ASUS and paying 20 more for the 6 cell battery. I'm not very fond of dell I've had bad luck with them my inspiron 1501 broke under a year then the refurb brok again right after the warrenty ended. Then my compaq presario broke in the same way motherboard went causing the pc to overheat in under a year then the refurb broke.

Both of these laptops were always on stands on a desk. I didn't put them on a bed or rug. IDK why they both broke in the same way twice. Maybe I'm just hard on laptops. mainly left them both on my desk in a stand.

Edit: Also I have zero experience with ASUS or Acer how are there customer support. One thing about dell. I know if I need to I can get them to replace my pc very easily. This may push me towards the dell even though it isn't as good a deal as the asus.

Edit: This may also be something to consider the hp210hd it has a 720p (Basically paying $50 more for this) screen which would be really nice for extra screen realestate
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ies_name=mini210hd_series&a1=Category&v1=Mini

Is it worth it to upgrade from a 3 cell to a 6 cell battery?

 

[shurcooL]

Is it worth it to upgrade from a 3 cell to a 6 cell battery?

This is almost the #1 most important factor for a netbook!

You said it yourself:

I plan on using it so that when I'm on campus I will always have a pc on me. I plan on carrying it everywhere.

Don't underestimate the importance of battery life! Would you like to carry around a netbook with a dead battery after only 2-3 hours?

Or would you rather have the battery last 8-10?

You say you can get a seat with an outlet, but it's a lot of hassle. It's so much nicer just to have a battery that lasts all day and never worry about the outlet.

Trust me, go with something with at least 5-6+ hours of battery life, and you won't regret it.

P.S. I don't know how tech support for ASUS/Acer is, but I would imagine Dell's is probably better. But I'm not planning on using it myself. So far both my Acer netbooks are going strong (almost 1 year), and I hope they last forever. =P

 

[volt01]

After reading reviews on all the respective laptops I think I'm gonna go with the ASUS. I'm gonna use this as a fun pc as well. Gonna dabble in linux with this one.

I hear good things about netbook optimized linux versions. Does anyone have any experience with this?