wilkes

Yes, several of them in a tech preview at the office. All sucked horribly, I'll stick to my Thinkpads. The current netbooks on display now in stores are last years models in Hong Kong/Japan/TW/etc - check Ebay in Hong Kong to see what we'll be able to buy locally next year...unfortunately a lot of it will never be released here.

You can still pick up a brand new netbook for $100 there - running windows CE 5.0 core! My GPS has the same OS :/

For *MY* mom? A netbook would be perfect however.

pk, I stand corrected. I'm glad there was no wager. Clearly I would have lost. How the **** did I miss the existence of this?

Whether the tradeoff in size and weight is worthwhile is a side issue. Clearly it exists. My apologies!

I've only checked out the Asus model online. Have you actually seen or used one?

Erm, Asus has an Eee PC/netbook that has an internal DVD burner.
Model 1004DN, and Kohjinsha has their SX3_X06MA with an internal burner. It's also touchscreen, and flips/rotates around like a tablet, but yes it's a netbook. Interesting thing with Kohjinsha, they also have a dual screen netbook coming out soon - dual 10.1 screens!

I'd still recommend a normal laptop as these two models are around $900 each, special order through Staples.

Never say never. I can look again for the other models, but I personally held 6 or 7 different tech preview models in my hand that had internal DVD burners that are available for sale in the US. With the exception of the Asus above (which was meant for TW but is being sold here unadvertised), none of them are 'mainstream' PC makers such as Dell or Gateway.

pk said that "plenty of netbooks have a dvd or cd burner". Actually none do. NOT A SINGLE ONE!

A netbook is a mini-notebook with a screen under 12 inches, and a low-power processor such as an Intel Atom, AMD Neo, or one fo the Via CPUs.

If it has a higher-end processor, and/or a larger screen than 12 inches, it's not a "netbook".

There is no room for an optical drive in a device with a screen that small, so NONE...NOT A SINGLE ONE has one. External USB drives are sometimes included in a package deal, but NONE come with an internal one. If I'm wrong, please name the make and model.

Netbooks make great second computers, and toys for geeks, but if you want to do anything processor-intensive like editing photos, or even ripping your cds to mp3, a netbook will strike anyone having used a "real" computer as unbelievably slow. And this from a netbook FAN! I love my Asus EEEPC!

As much as I hate to say Walmart, check this out - Available tomorrow for $298 at 8am! For the price, i'd pick this over a netbook unless I was concerned about weight. It's not dual core, the celeron cpu is a little weak, but for $300, it'll eat a netbook.

http://www.walmart.com/cata...


HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC:
15.6" diagonal BrightView widescreen display
Presents 1366 x 768 resolution (WXGA)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (shared) with up to 1309MB of total available graphics memory
Intel Celeron Processor 900
Provides 2.2GHz speed, an 800MB frontside bus, and 1MB L2 cache
3GB of DDR2 system memory
Furnishes enough memory for today's demanding applications and can be expanded to 4GB
250GB SATA hard drive, 7200 rpm
Stores up to 71,000 photos, or up to 62,000 songs, or up to 30 hours of HD video, and more
LightScribe SuperMulti DVD optical drive with double-layer support
Plays and creates CDs and DVDs with support for 11 different formats
LightScribe technology etches custom labels right onto LightScribe-ready discs
Wireless Wi-Fi and wired Ethernet
Connect to a broadband modem (cable or DSL) wirelessly or using the wired 10/100 Ethernet port
Also wirelessly connects to a Wi-Fi signal/hotspot with 802.11b/g wireless LAN
Built-in 56k modem for dial-up connections

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC Specifications
HP Imprint finish in black and silver
Three USB 2.0 ports
VGA video output
Microphone and headphone ports
6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Altec Lansing audio

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC Software
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit edition. To learn more about the features of Windows 7, Click here.
Microsoft Works 9
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Edition, 60-day trial version
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2009, trial version including 60 days of complimentary live updates
HP Software: HP Help & Support, HP Advisor, HP DVD Play, and HP Set Up
CyberLink DVD Suite
Muvee Reveal
Adobe Acrobat Reader
HP Games Powered by Wild Tangent

HP 15.6" Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC Support and Warranty
1-year limited hardware warranty with toll-free support>
30-day free limited software support with 1-year (from date of purchase) free limited software support with product registration

NO netbook has a dvd/cd burner. They're too small.Including the optical drive would bump the size up to the Laptop category.

But you can get a good burner for 60 dollars. Of course, if you spend 300 for a netbook, and 60 to a hundred for a burner, you're in a laptop price range.

I have a netbook...the original netbook...the Asus EEEPC 701g. It's about as powerful as a desktop computer from a decade ago. Plenty powerful enough to surf the 'net, watch a video or (with an external drive) a dvd. Sound quality is just fine for listening to music. In theory it can do anything a laptop or desktop can do. It just does it MUCH MORE SLOWLY!

Netbooks are great SECOND computers. I wouldn't have one as a primary! I use mine for "belly computing". It sits by my side of the bed. I can look up things quickly on Google, check my e-mail, watch a streaming Netflix movie, or most any TV show from a site like NinjaVideo
http://www.ninjavideo.net

Handy, but NOT a full-power computer!

www.tigerdirect.com

www.newegg.com

Two great sources for really good deals on laptops. I have ordered from both and they put customer service first. I especially like tiger direct. I am using a Gateway that does everything you mentioned, price was around $500.

The netbooks that I looked at did not have a DVD burner or CD burner. I guess some might still come with them.

Either way, you are better off getting your child a laptop. It will provide much more for the child as far as being used as a tool for school, writing reports, projects, taking photos / music and burning to CD, etc.

Personally, I think Netbooks are overpriced w/ limited capabilities.

Plenty of netbooks have DVD and CD burners in them, but when you get into that price range, you are already over the price of a cheap laptop that includes a burner.

There are many more models than the $199 netbooks you see advertised. They just advertise the really inexpensive ones.

Netbooks do not include DVD burners. I am not sure if they even have a reader. They are simple machines basically used to access the Internet.

You def. want to get her a laptop.

I don't think she will be satisfied with a netbook.

Just my opinion.

Netbook is usually less powerful, smaller screen, less battery time, and limited connection/expansion options. But they are lighter, generally cheaper.

She would probably be happier with a cheapy laptop with a fresh install of XP or Vista, than a netbook, if she's 15, and you think it might need to last her at least into the beginning of college, I would opt for the laptop personally.

As a secondary machine, a netbook would be just fine, but be certain it has USB ports, preferably a PCCard (old pcmcia slot), a TV-OUT jack/function of some sort, and a battery that will last long enough to play a movie. Actually, make sure a laptop has these features too!

Netbooks are for email and surfing.

Don't expect anything more than that and you'll be fine.

what's the difference between a laptop and a netbook? was wanting to get my daughter one for her 15th bday and want one that can read, write and copy dvd. music and etc but don't want to spend over $450.00 any ideas or will i have to dig deeper in the pocketbook...