Bespoke Netbooks?

[Magistrate]

Is there anywhere that could build me a high spec Netbook, with my exact requirements on it?

I need a small one, and am fed up with the 'Atom' chip's slowness for movies/etc.

[andrewrob]

Not bespoke but it has a dual-core chip and was tested by gadget show running hi definition videos simultaneously. £350

http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/computing/laptops/asus-...

ETA The £350 might be a bit wrong, was on a review but they all seem to be around £500.

Edited by andrewrob on Monday 25th October 14:42

[sjg]

Some of the newer ones have meatier graphics (nVidia ION, etc) which are more than capable of doing 1080p movie playback. The dual-core Atom processors are starting to come through too.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_73301.html

[ZesPak]

So you actually want a mini laptop instead of a netbook?
Dell for example lets you spec "mini-laptops".

[Magistrate]

I went onto the Dell site. Really good stuff! Trouble is the price!

They want £505 just for the SSD drive! Total price for the netbook was £2400 by the time I'd finished!

Yikes! Anyone any other ideas?

[mikeh501]

Apple?

The trouble with your question is that the vast vast majority of laptop manufacturers use the same hardware so there's only so much customisation your going to get.

[Magistrate]

Yeah, I did think about a Macbook, but I've decided to stay PC route

[cmackay81]

Magistrate said:

I went onto the Dell site. Really good stuff! Trouble is the price!

They want £505 just for the SSD drive! Total price for the netbook was £2400 by the time I'd finished!

Yikes! Anyone any other ideas?

what inch screen are you looking for?

also the higher spec you go for, the less battery life it will have, especially if you have gone for a smaller laptop. 1 hour will be maxpossible

[Magistrate]

cmackay81 said:

what inch screen are you looking for?

also the higher spec you go for, the less battery life it will have, especially if you have gone for a smaller laptop. 1 hour will be maxpossible

Screen size up to 13" really. Needs to be light and easily carried.

Thought I'd get more life than an hour though!

Edited by Magistrate on Monday 25th October 21:38

[cmackay81]

Magistrate said:

cmackay81 said:

what inch screen are you looking for?

also the higher spec you go for, the less battery life it will have, especially if you have gone for a smaller laptop. 1 hour will be maxpossible

Screen size up to 12" really. Needs to be light and easily carried.

Thought I'd get more life than an hour though!

was just thinking about mine, got an i7core with an ATI5870 Gfx Card in a Kobalt 17" and it lasts about 1 hour unplugged.

Though I hate Dell/Alienware with a vengeance, there is the M11x
also expensive the sony X series are raelly light and the battery will last on these, not so powerful though
otherwise try samsung, they generally have some good quality netbooks. there was the n510, but not sure what their latest one is

[sjg]

Dell Adamo is certainly less than £2400 - the £999 model is 13" WLED screen, 1.4Ghz core 2 duo, 2GB, 128GB SSD, 5 hour battery life, 1.8kg. Or the new Macbook Air is pretty good value in that ultraportable market really.

Inspiron M101z is worth a look at the budget end - http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/360457/dell... - plenty of power for 1080p video and general computing tasks, 11.6" screen, 6+ hours battery life, 1.5kg.

These things are always a trade-off of size/weight, battery life and power. The typical 10" Atom-powered ones get such good battery life because the low-power CPU and integrated graphics will only use 8-9W, so a comparatively small battery can last a long time. Better CPUs need more power, generate more heat, so need bigger enclosures and that either eats into battery space or the thing has to get bigger. Same goes for proper graphics chipsets.

[anonymous-user]

latest samsung smaller laptop is the SF310

Core i5 13.3 screen - c£780-800

you could get a lower powered refurbed macbook air for similar price - not sure how good it would be for HD playback though

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 25th October 22:02

[Magistrate]

Thanks guys!

Has anyone any experience of the Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz? I've found a netbook on ebay with this in. Only 12" screen and 4gb Ram.

Will this be up to the job of video editing/etc?

[cmackay81]

Magistrate said:

Thanks guys!

Has anyone any experience of the Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz? I've found a netbook on ebay with this in. Only 12" screen and 4gb Ram.

Will this be up to the job of video editing/etc?

what's the graphics card on it?

[Magistrate]

cmackay81 said:

what's the graphics card on it?

It says only 'Intel's integrated Mobile 965' due to size of the machine (it even has a DVD RW in a 12" Netbook!

[cmackay81]

Magistrate said:

cmackay81 said:

what's the graphics card on it?

It says only 'Intel's integrated Mobile 965' due to size of the machine (it even has a DVD RW in a 12" Netbook!

hmmm, i'd prob say not then.

all depends on how much you want to spend, but i'd always suggest getting one with a dedicated graphics card. but be warned, though it will greatly improve the performance and capabilities, it will increase price and decrease battery life significantly

[johnfm]

What's wrong with a Mac exactly?

[cmackay81]

johnfm said:

What's wrong with a Mac exactly?

honestly, whilst i love macs, for the money you can get a lot better performance elsewhere.

What he needs is a netbook with a dedicated Graphics card, not integrated

And FFS, the last thing these forums need is another mac/pc debate.

[johnfm]

true ( I am not an advocate of either PC or mac BTW).

But he seems to be describing a mac book pro - yet he mentiosn £2400 for the netbook spec he specified.

[Blue Meanie]

cmackay81 said:

What he needs is a netbook with a dedicated Graphics card, not integrated

And FFS, the last thing these forums need is another mac/pc debate.

The new air has an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics card lobbed on it. And who was turning it into a debate? The guys had a request, and folks are trying to help.