Advice needed for a new Laptop

[MJ26]

So any help appreciated. Im going to get new small laptop eeepc but what I should now?
I've checked many used new old but im not sure what is reasonable to look for. Price around 200-500.

[Ainkor]

There have been quite a few threads about laptops and such but not many covering the low end that I recall so I'll throw in a bit of advice

As with any computing device, it really depends what you are going to use it for.

If it's for basic general use, there are some newish netbooks coming out with and updated atom processor and new chipset which makes them a bit faster than the old ones.

If you are looking for something a little different that is a pretty unique device, here is what I use for a laptop when I need one and it allows me to mess around with windows 8

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details

It is really a netbook, but with quite a bit more graphics horsepower. Along with that, it is a removable touchscreen windows tablet. Windows 8 is looking like it will be a fantastic mobile computing platform and with this device, you can see how it works. Best of all? It's less than $500.



I don't think I would touch any other device right now until new windows 8 tablets start coming out in about 5 months.

[lxskllr]

Windows 8 tablets will always be Windows 8 tablets. You can never install a different O/S. For that reason I'll never own a Windows 8 tablet :^D

That unit above looks pretty nifty. I don't follow hardware as much anymore, and especially not mobile hardware. I'm not sold on tablets. In fact, I think they're junk, and just consumption toys. If you had some small use for a tablet, I'd get a $300-$400 netbook, and a $100 tablet. A $100 tablet is junk, but they all are AFAIC. You'd have a beater you could jump on the web with, and read Ebooks and stuff. If it gets dropped/broken/stolen, who cares? It's a $100 tablet.

[Ainkor]

Windows 8 tablets will always be Windows 8 tablets. You can never install a different O/S. For that reason I'll never own a Windows 8 tablet :^D

That unit above looks pretty nifty. I don't follow hardware as much anymore, and especially not mobile hardware. I'm not sold on tablets. In fact, I think they're junk, and just consumption toys. If you had some small use for a tablet, I'd get a $300-$400 netbook, and a $100 tablet. A $100 tablet is junk, but they all are AFAIC. You'd have a beater you could jump on the web with, and read Ebooks and stuff. If it gets dropped/broken/stolen, who cares? It's a $100 tablet.

I don't know if I would say that they will always be a windows 8 tablet. On the x86 side, it's just a BIOS issue since windows 8 will use its version of EFI. On the ARM side, that will quite possibly be true due to locked boot loaders. Other than the HP Touchpad, there hasn't been another tablet that can fully run a completely different operating system released to the public.

I don't view that as a downside even saying that. Having used an iPad (extensively), Android (quite a bit, I support them at work) and my windows 8 tablet, I have to say that windows 8 craps all over both of those for business. Also that one I showed has a nice removable keyboard that makes it just as usable as any other netbook out there

Tablet nirvana to me? Windows 8 ARM tablet, 8-10 inches, 1280x720 resolution or higher, 64gb internal memory, SD card slot (micro would work too), built in 4G LTE, 8megapixel rear camera, HD front facing camera, 10 hours of browsing use and less than 1 pound and I'm set. That would cover 99% of what I use a computer for at work and I would never look back.

Give me a dock with a keyboard and a mouse when I am in the office or at home and I'm gold. iPad's are great, but only because they are the best currently. ICS has potential but they all fall dramatically when it comes to viewing and using office documents. The current apps for both platforms are seriously limited, alter formatting most of the time and output crappy looking documents - especially for spreadsheets.

Don't mean to highjack the thread, but when I buy a device, I am always looking at what will be at least a little future proof. That and I dig new software and such

[lxskllr]

ICS has potential but they all fall dramatically when it comes to viewing and using office documents. The current apps for both platforms are seriously limited, alter formatting most of the time and output crappy looking documents - especially for spreadsheets.

That's my big issue with them. There's too little power, and configurability. If I'm paying $500+ for a computer, I expect it to be limited only by it's power, and not it's architecture, or ecosystem. I have little use for something that kind of does stuff. It should be all or nothing at that price range. For $500 I can have a netbook that'll eat the Ipad and Android for lunch. It might not be as sexy, but I can't compute with sexy. Sexy doesn't make things happen.

My Eee is still running pretty well. It has some keyboard issues, but I can't complain. It's 4 years old now, and I paid $200 for it. That, and my crappy $70 Android tablet do everything I need. The battery life of the tablet is phenomenal. It has a 500mhz MIPS processor, and it just keeps going and going. The touch screen is crappy, and the app selection is reduced, but it's a $70 tablet that runs all day. Between the 2 devices, I can take on the world for under $300 :^)