Trying to decide between a netbook or laptop

one30eight

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 16, 2004
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My daughters laptop is on its last legs and I am looking to replace it for her birthday. I have about 350 in Best Buy gift cards, so that is where I will be buying from. Here are the two I am looking at.

Asus - Eee PC Netbook / Intel® Atom™ Processor / 10.1" Display / 1GB Memory / 160GB Hard Drive for 259

or

http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=1071 for 349

She currently has a Sony with a 17 inch screen and mostly uses it for internet and watching videos. Portability is really not a concern because she would not be carrying it anywhere.

Just looking for input as I am limited to Best Buy and have 350 that I am spending on this. Thanks.
 
Of the two, the Toshiba is obviously the better choice given the Fusion platform it's based upon. I wouldn't even consider an Atom-based Netbook anymore unless a) it's a dual core and b) it has that Broadcom HD accelerator chip in it, but that's just me I suppose.

Of the two, the Toshiba is most certainly the better overall deal. It's more powerful by a fair margin, bigger screen, more memory, hard drive, etc.

In this particular case, I can't see the Asus Eee even being part of the equation - the Toshiba will give you the maximum "bang for the buck" with those gift cards. I just can't imagine your daughter having a smile on her face going from a 17" screen down to a 10.1", just ain't happening. :D
 
I was kind of concerned that it is a single core (even though the sales associate assured me it was dual). I am not up to date on Fusion and the PCPer article is pretty much all that is out there on this laptop.
 
Yah, it's a single core but, it's more efficient than the Atom according to what I've read the past few weeks (about the Fusion platform). I'll stick with the recommendation as there's just more to that Toshiba than the Asus could ever hope to offer ("big picture" kinda view, there).
 
If portability isn't a concern and she also watches a lot of videos I'd try and fish at her a bit to see what she thinks of netbooks. Just be looking at a best buy ad while reading your morning paper while you guys are sitting for breakfast or something and be like "Oh these little netbooks look cool" Her response would be all you need.

They are very awesome, but in my opinion only for portability. I couldn't imagine using one as my main machine for watching videos. 17" screen to 10" is a big drop.

* also on a side note. What kind of Sony 17" does she have? It may be very decent enough in all that it needs is an SSD and more RAM. If it has a 5400RPM drive, just replacing that with an SSD would be like getting an entirely new machine, as you are aware of course. If it's from the core2duo era, that's plenty good.
 
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Well I told her I would be getting her one or the other and we actually went to BB and looked at the two. She went back and forth between them and said that the smaller screen would be fine.. but I think she would start to miss the bigger screen really quick. It looks like I will be picking up the Toshiba.. thanks for the advice =)
 
I took my niece out (14) to replace her dying toshiba 15" - pretty much the same requirements as you (i though) until she saw a pink eee pc. that was all she wanted.
 
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