Looking for a Netbook Powerhouse

[chrisbrown]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a powerful netbook? I'm looking for (relatively, of course) a big screen and keyboard with a decent cpu and graphics. Battery life/environmental concerns not an issue.

[rdrake]

methodoxx @ Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:17 pm wrote:

...for a powerful netbook?.

I'm not sure any exist. All I've seen are Atom powered.

If you want decent graphics, try to find one based on Nvidia's ION.

[andrew.]

If you want a big screen and keyboard with decent CPU and GPU, why not just get a regular laptop? They sell decent 13-14" ones now.

[Dan]

I am a bit confused as to how it would be a netbook if it had a big screen and keyboard. The main idea behind netbooks as i understand them is that they provide a cheap lightweight (in terms of specs) and minimalistic platform for basic tasks such as surfing the web, word processing, etc.

It may help if you define what you mean by a powerful cpu and gpu, as well as what your idea of a big screen is.

If you are looking for a powerful laptop there are many of those, up to about the same specs as desktop. However you will pay for it in both cost, weight, size and battery life.

[chrisbrown]

Let me rephrase my question: in the scope of netbooks, can anyone recommend one that favours any of {screen size, keyboard size, processing power} over battery life. Essentially I'm looking for opposite of a "green" netbook.

[Euphoracle]

Something with ion or you can be sane and get a regular 13" notebook like a macbook or something.

[andrew.]

From what it sounds like, I think you would be better off with a 13" MacBook or MB Pro. It's powerful, small, and has a decent battery life.

[chrisbrown]

Sorry, I forgot to mention the reason i want a netbook is the price, I'm limited to about $500.

[Euphoracle]

You can't get a powerful portable computer for $500.

[rdrake]

Looks like the best you're going to be able to do is the ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1201N. It can do 1080p video and apparently has a battery life of over 5 hours. Couple of bucks over your budget, but whatever.

[wtd]

You want a powerful laptop that's cheap?

You can likely find something more powerful than a netbook in your budget. You can likely find something, but quality will be lacking.

[[Gandalf]]

Are you sure you wouldn't be better off waiting till you have a few hundred more dollars and buying something you will be truly satisfied with?

[chrisbrown]

Thanks for the suggestions. After thinking about it, I realize all I want it for is to remote into my home pc (which I spent way too much money on) so I will probably end up going for the cheapest thing I can find.

@wtd: Thanks, but I would rather carve notes into my hand than use an HP laptop.

[btiffin]

Visit a few refurb shops. I scored (not super nice, but good enough is good enough) a sub $200 Aspire. I had to ask and wait before a GNU/Linux based machine was refurbished.

And really, good enough is good enough. It's not a main machine, but, along with a USB stick, gets work done.

Cheers

[Euphoracle]

Or dropbox. Dropbox is awesome. I use it to sync my notes/projects between computers.

https://www.dropbox.com/