Netbook PC's for use on motorcycle travel

[Alex]

Originally Posted by aloh

However, I have decided that in the near future i will have a tiny 10" to use for when im on the go. That 10" one will fit just about anywhere.

<Thread hijack.>

I'm looking for a tiny netbook as well. Let me know if you end up picking one up and whether you're happy with it. I have a Dell X1300 now for travel, which has a 12" screen, < 1" thick and 3 lbs, but the new netbooks are miniscule compared to that.

</Thread hijack over...>

[aloh]

Originally Posted by Alex

<Thread hijack.>

I'm looking for a tiny netbook as well. Let me know if you end up picking one up and whether you're happy with it. I have a Dell X1300 now for travel, which has a 12" screen, < 1" thick and 3 lbs, but the new netbooks are miniscule compared to that.

</Thread hijack over...>

I've pretty much decided on getting an Asus EEE PC1000HA. (http://www.amazon.com/1000H-10-Inch-...2823748&sr=8-1)

My friend has this one, and I really liked it. Also, its pretty damn affordable if you check out the price. The HA model does not have wireless N or bluetooth like the H model, but it is a fair bit cheaper. The only thing you should know about this 10" is that the keyboard is small, so it might take some getting used to. They also offer this EEE with linux and other hard drive options if you browse around.

[Alex]

Netbook discussion to new thread, as I do want to continue it...

[Alex]

From the reviews I've seen, the new Lenovo S10's and the Samsung NC10's are nicer than the older Asus models. Better battery life, keyboard, options, and equivalent pricing. But I've got no firsthand experience with any of them, just reviews.

[aloh]

That S10 looks pretty nice! I havent heard about it before. Now the search begins for a winner...

[Alex]

Alex -

Did you ever pick one of these up?

[aloh]

why yes i did. I have been using an ASUS PC1000HE since March and am loving every bit of it. It can last for about SEVEN hours on a single charge (thats including constant internet use). Lightweight, portable, long battery life, excellent value, and more than adequate performance are just a few of its high points.

[Alex]

Did you need any additional accessories to make it useful for you? (extra ram, dvd drive, etc). Or can you just have it hook up to your network and use a CD/DVD drive of another PC for software installs, things like that.

[Apex]

I'm screwed since I run on a Mac. I'd have to do serious research before I got a PC and wiped it to put OSX on it.

[camaroz1985]

I have the 1000HA. I was kind of angry that the 1000HE came out as mine was being shipped (and the price of the HA was lowered ), but decided to keep it, as there isn't much difference, though I would like to try the new keyboard.

I'm very happy with it. I have not upgraded RAM or anything, as I don't plan on using it for things that are too intensive. For installs I usually just copy the files from a disk to a USB drive and run it from there. I bought it mostly for tuning my car and downloading data from my data logger between sessions at the track.

It is nice having such a small laptop for the mobility, but it is also nice to have the desktop with bigger screen for day to day use. The small size makes it nice to take to the garage though in case there is anything I need to look up while out there.

[aloh]

Originally Posted by Alex

Did you need any additional accessories to make it useful for you? (extra ram, dvd drive, etc). Or can you just have it hook up to your network and use a CD/DVD drive of another PC for software installs, things like that.

Nope! I use it exactly how it came. Upgrading the ram could be a possibility, but I havent noticed the need for it yet. An optical CD/DVD drive is not really necessary. Any of the software I need are readily available on the internet. Come on, when was the last time you absolutely NEEDED to use a cd?

If you have smaller hands, the keyboard might feel a bit cramped.

Originally Posted by camaroz1985

I have the 1000HA. I was kind of angry that the 1000HE came out as mine was being shipped (and the price of the HA was lowered ), but decided to keep it, as there isn't much difference, though I would like to try the new keyboard.

I'm very happy with it. I have not upgraded RAM or anything, as I don't plan on using it for things that are too intensive. For installs I usually just copy the files from a disk to a USB drive and run it from there. I bought it mostly for tuning my car and downloading data from my data logger between sessions at the track.

It is nice having such a small laptop for the mobility, but it is also nice to have the desktop with bigger screen for day to day use. The small size makes it nice to take to the garage though in case there is anything I need to look up while out there.

Exaclty how i use mine! It may not be the best to have it will be the ONLY computer, but it is doable.

Yeah...ASUS seems to make new iterations of the PC1000 every 4-6 months. I lucked out when i got an email form Amazon telling me the HE was released.

[cwb48]

I just ordered a Asus 1000HE from B&H Photo for $389, but an hour after they shipped mine they put a $10 instant rebate on it!

Chris

[Alex]

Originally Posted by aloh

Nope! I use it exactly how it came. Upgrading the ram could be a possibility, but I havent noticed the need for it yet. An optical CD/DVD drive is not really necessary. Any of the software I need are readily available on the internet. Come on, when was the last time you absolutely NEEDED to use a cd?

You're probably right in almost all cases. I use my tiny laptop for updating my GPS when I'm doing the long-distance rally thing, and for that I need a few programs on the machine. Garmin Mapsource likes to be initially installed from CD, and it has weird licensing restrictions. Can probably get it to work by having it pretend it's on a CD, but haven't had to try it yet...

[Lars]

I bought an Asus EeePC 1000HA a few months back and have enjoyed having it around while traveling. I've been running Ubuntu instead of Windows XP, and its runs great. I haven't needed a CD drive as long as I had a decent internet connection.

My only issue with it is the keyboard size, as its very difficult to type on.

[capt_bugaloo]

I have an Acer Aspire One. It has a 9-inch screen and weighs 2.2 pounds. It cost me $299 with Windows XP and a 16 GB SSD drive.

I fit it into a small cushioned case, and pack it in my motorcycle tailbag, along with the minuscule AC adaptor and a small Logitech mini-mouse. Total weight is 3 pounds.

Some people find the 9" screen too small, but I'm okay with it. I travel with the Acer every day to work. It's great!

[CC Cowboy]

Great thread. I'm in the market for a mini to take with me on my ride up north this summer.

[sharky nrk]

i got my wife a acer aspire one and threw a gig ram stick in it, it does what its supposed to but damn it is almost too slow for me to work on (I guess I am spoiled by powerful comps). For her it is great though. All she uses it for is email, browsing, ect. For her, ease of use, mobility, and simplicity are more important than multi-tasking the crap out of it - which is precisely how mine gets used lol

[Techno250]

I'm waiting for Apple to come out with the giant 10-inch iPhone tablet thingy. Maybe we'll know if the rumors are true in a couple of months.

[Sailariel]

Alex, Have you ever heard of Pocketmail? We sailors use it a lot. It is a tiny computer that sends text via an acoustic modem (works on telephones-including cell phones.) Chech it out at Pocketmail.com. Perfect for sailors, Rv people and motorcyclists. Real cheap too.

[Alex]

I hadn't heard of that before Alex, looks neat! For email only, I've got a blackberry that works pretty much anywhere in the world that there's cell service. Wouldn't do much good in the middle of the sea, but I'm not a sailor. The reason I am interested in a netbook (and sometimes carry a small laptop now), is that I would like to do things more complicated than email. Uploading pictures to the web, keeping up on forums, interfacing with the GPS, full internet access, etc.

[aloh]

Originally Posted by Techno250

I'm waiting for Apple to come out with the giant 10-inch iPhone tablet thingy. Maybe we'll know if the rumors are true in a couple of months.

somehow i htink it'll be astronomically expensive and overpriced like their Air.

[Alex]

It's still more than I'd want to pay, but you can get the 1st-gen Mac Air's now for $999 brand new, here's a link to the closeout page at MacMall.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by Alex

Did you need any additional accessories to make it useful for you? (extra ram, dvd drive, etc). Or can you just have it hook up to your network and use a CD/DVD drive of another PC for software installs, things like that.

Only the Apple MacBook Air (and other EFI-BIOS Macs?) properly support network drives. Anything else is just a virtual optical drive accessing a shared ISO or drive over the network.

Last fall I got an Acer Aspire One with the intention of taking it everywhere in my tankbag (magnets won't hurt an SSD). This was back when 8.9" netbooks were the largest. I upgraded it to 1.5GB DDR2 (the max it will accept) and I fit it into a 9" DVD player zippered neoprene sleeve (Circuit City "Verge" brand) along with the slim LG USB powered external DVD burner. There's room for more in that sleeve, so I'd like to get something like this

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/02/c...ater-sense-of/

or this

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/06/n...to-almost-any/

Too bad I already bought the LG.

Anyway, the 8GB SSD on the AAO is abysmal. It is so slow that it actually CAUSES certain apps to crash. Even when they are working fine, there are still unexplained freezes and hiccups plaguing every click which can't be explained by the slow CPU alone. Hell, even completely optimized with all uneeded processes closed (including Windows Explorer shell!), Hulu is choppy and hard to watch.

If it isn't obvious, I installed XP over the Linux distro that came on the device. If I hadn't done so, I would have destroyed it in a fit of rage over the flaky WiFi chip. Any time it went to sleep in Linux it would disable the internal wireless adapter with no way to restore it. It did it in Windows too, sometimes in the middle of browsing, but at least I had a work-around: If "repairing" the network connection didn't work ("Connection Failed!" then dialog exits... possibly before you could even read it), then disable the adapter in the Device Manager. When you re-enable it, it will probably disappear and will not reappear with repeated presses of the "Scan for New Hardware" button. Put the laptop to sleep and wake it back up again, then hit "Scan for new Hardware" and it should appear and work again. Every now and then it will appear with a mark and require a restart, but this fixed it the vast majority of the time. I dug and dug until I found some unofficial drivers on the Internet and it seems much less common now, but it was happening several times a day. FWIW, it may not be worth dealing with: It isn't Mac OSX compatible and I really want to turn this thing into a Hackintosh. That means that I will be replacing it.

I often carry a 120GB USB powered WD Passport drive in my pocket, but I find myself holding my magnetic tank bag right on top of it WAY too often. It probably won't last long! If I can find a cheap SSD that performs more like a HDD or high-performance HDD-replacement SSD, I may switch, but it seems like it would make more sense to get a better netbook. The Asus N10 (not an Eee PC) seems interesting with its discrete graphics, as does the Lenovo S10 with it's Thinkpad-style and ExpressCard slot. Something else nVidia Ion-based might get my interest. Heck, I attempted to test-fit a Mac Book Air in my bag and I'd consider a used one if it fit (it didn't)... same discrete graphics on the second-gen ones and flawlessly supports dual-booting along with network disc support (though I don't have a companion Mac to support this feature). Perhaps the REAL solution is to get a bigger tank bag?

I recently read about "GMA Booster" or something that can change the speed of the integrated Intel graphic that most netbooks are stuck with. I pretty much abandoned even my old games when I saw that many Quake III engine games perform poorly (granted, my tests were the pretty-intensive "Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force" and "Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory"). Quake III Arena ran decently I guess, but not Quake Live (the updated, free version).

Netbook keyboard options are really starting to tick me off though. There is absolutely no reason what-so-ever to have the right-shift key be half as short as the left-shift key. It seems taht all but HP and Acer do this to make room for the arrow keys when: HELLO! There's a big unused area to the right of the touch pad! Juct move it down ONE ROW and you don't have to even TOUCH the shift key. Why does the keyboard need to be a perfect rectangle?! Acer doesn't seem to think that it needs to be.

[cwb48]

Got my Asus 1000HE today at noon, installed the 2GB ram dimm that I bought with it, installed the battery and fired it up. I had some yard work to get done, so I let it charge and got to work. When I was done in the yard (hot!), I started uninstalling the junk I didn't need and installing the stuff I did. It recognized my wireless right away, and after running the network wizard I was on my home network. I installed MS Office, antivirus, Power DVD (the WinDVD that came with it was useless), Paintshop Pro and Winzip from the hard drive on my desktop, wireless at 54Mbps.

Anyway, this thing has been running on batteries since 3:30, and it's now almost 8, and it's telling me that I've got almost 4 hours left! I was able to use the 1GB ram stick that I took out of it (only one slot) to upgrade my Lenovo R61i to 2GB (2 ram slots). It's an amazing little machine, and I really like the smart pad, except for a sticky left click, which you hardly need with this thing, it's almost perfect. 160GB hard drive, 2GB ram (now), bluetooth, webcam and mics, 3 USB 2.0 ports, card reader, wireless 802.11/n- what more could you ask for at less than $400.

I would recommend this machine to anyone in the market for a netbook.

Chris

[Apex]

You know you all want this!!! lol

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Sailariel]

Originally Posted by Alex

I hadn't heard of that before Alex, looks neat! For email only, I've got a blackberry that works pretty much anywhere in the world that there's cell service. Wouldn't do much good in the middle of the sea, but I'm not a sailor. The reason I am interested in a netbook (and sometimes carry a small laptop now), is that I would like to do things more complicated than email. Uploading pictures to the web, keeping up on forums, interfacing with the GPS, full internet access, etc.

Pocketmail does more than text messages. In effect it will handle pictures and attachments. When we travelled, we would stop at a library and have full use of a computer.

[wyckedflesh]

A buddy of mine has an HP with a 10" screen. He runs it with ECMSpy to do datalogging on his Fuel Injected bikes.

I am looking at getting an 8" screen Asus from another friend to do the same with the CB750 to work with the Microsquirt system. She bought hers to have at work so she could just shift it to her purse when needed. She doesn't work there anymore and has free access to the net at her new job.

[CZroe]

I'm looking for an nVidia Optimus-equipped, 10.1"-to-12" subnotebook/netboook with at least a 720p screen, preferably with a CULV (Ultra Low Voltage) CPU of some kind instead of Atom.

SSD options are so expensive that I prefer to upgrade myself in the future when it becomes cheaper, but the powerful magnets in my tank bag do concern me.

The Alienware M11x comes close except that it has switchable graphics instead of Optimus. The built-in battery irks me though. I'd MUCH prefer to augment it with a GIANT modular battery because the only reason I'm "goin' small" is for my tank bag. I have a big honkin' 9-cell battery on my current 8.9" netbook.

Link to original page on YouTube.

I don't mind the bulk at all.

[Greg_E]

Back from the dead....


Take a look at Fujitsu u820 or 1630 laptop/tablets not tony many choices smaller than the u820. After converting my u810 to a compact flash card for the drive I can get around 6 hours on the standard battery with the wifi going. It will run OpenSolaris if you want to go with a non-MS system, Open Office, mplayer, ect. to get you working.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by Greg_E

Back from the dead....


Take a look at Fujitsu u820 or 1630 laptop/tablets not tony many choices smaller than the u820. After converting my u810 to a compact flash card for the drive I can get around 6 hours on the standard battery with the wifi going. It will run OpenSolaris if you want to go with a non-MS system, Open Office, mplayer, ect. to get you working.

Yeah, I ran Linpus and Ubuntu Netbook Remix and even dabled in OSX on my current one before finding out that XP was actually tolerable on the insanely slow 8GB SSD with a special file system driver (FlashPoint/FlashFire caches writes into system RAM). That solved a lot of my issues (Flash in Linux not being able to use the integrated and working webcam to upload YouTube videos and integrated WiFi being incompatible with OSX, for example).

The reason I want to upgrade is because I'm still a huge PC gamer DESPITE primarily computing on my netbook. That means it's time for a discrete GPU, but the 9-cell battery and Atom platforms have spoiled me with 9-hour battery life, so nVidia Optimus is the way to go there (discrete GPU that automatically switches on only when needed and plays well with integrated Intel graphics). Unfortunately, nVidia says that there are no plans to support ANY other OS than Win7 with Optimus, which is strange considering that they are Apple's partner and currently have switchable graphics in Macs (Optimus automatic GPU switching is the next logical step).

Edit: I made a stupid assumption. It looks like you weren't specifically suggesting them to me, but to the thread. Even so, the Fujitsu LifeBook P1630 (aparantly there is a different Fujitsu AMILO A 1630 also) looks very interresting. It has the right processor options and, even though the screen is the same size as my current netbook (8.9"), it is 768p instead of 600 or 576p like most 8.9" netbooks. If only that were an option on most 8.9" netbooks, I know I'd take it! The thing is, there's no reason for me to stick with an 8.9" if a 12" fits in my tank bag and I may as well wait for more nVidia Optimus netbooks so that I have even more incentive to upgrade. That Fujitsu u820 has a 5.6" screen.

[Greg_E]

I think Fujitsu might have what you are looking for, but might cost you a cool $2000.

The u810/u820 is nice because I can carry it everywhere, and it does most of what I want since I do not game.

[CZroe]

OK, if it fits in my tank bag, I think I've decided on the Alienware m11x even if it doesn't have Optimus. The switchable graphics are probably better than dealing with Flash ads and YouTube videos kicking in the discrete graphics automatically with Optimus when you don't want it to. The measurements indicate that it will be a tight fit. So tight, in fact, that I will have to try it first.

Is there anyone in San Diego willing to let me test-fit theirs in my tankbag? I promise that I won't drive off.

Oh! And I upgraded my Acer Aspite one netbook with a 20GB 1.8" Hitachi HTC426020G5CE00 HDD today. $12 gave me two and a half times the storage capacity (ignoring my 16GB class 6 SDHC card) and made a WORLD of difference performance-wise. Before making the switch I uninstalled FlashFire and, once again, the 8GB Intel SSD was unbearably slow. I used Clonezilla to clone to an external USB-connected 15GB HDD and then cloned back to the new drive. It didn't fit as easily as the one shown in TnkGrl's video (she only had to remove a screw post) because my flipped ZIF cable I bought wasn't long enough. I had to cut into the empty cavity that sometimes houses the optional 3G module, but it still fit well. I have a coule extra ZIF cables if anyone needs them.

Thankfully, Acer put in a secondary semi-permanant SD card slot so that means I went from 8GB originally to 36GB total (my My Documents folders are redirected to the SDHC card). I sw a deal on a 32GB class 6 card recently that I passed up. IIRC, it was $20. I probably should have gotten it and formatted it with NTFS (if possible) or UDF or something capable of supporting >4GB files considering that I am leaving the boot drive on FAT32 for performance reasons.

[Boywonder]

I'm using an Asus Eee PC 1005HA with Windows 7 and 250 GB hard drive. I also upgraded to 2 GB RAM. I use it mainly for email, surfing the net, and saving/uploading my pictures and videos when I travel. It's really portable and the battery is supposed to last 8+ hours but I've yet to use it that long. I love it and would recommend it.

I would recommend not using Internet Explorer as it was really slow. I'm running Google Chrome which is a lot faster and, in my opinion, a better browser anyways.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by Boywonder

I'm using an Asus Eee PC 1005HA with Windows 7 and 250 GB hard drive. I also upgraded to 2 GB RAM. I use it mainly for email, surfing the net, and saving/uploading my pictures and videos when I travel. It's really portable and the battery is supposed to last 8+ hours but I've yet to use it that long. I love it and would recommend it.

I would recommend not using Internet Explorer as it was really slow. I'm running Google Chrome which is a lot faster and, in my opinion, a better browser anyways.

Chrome may be faster at rendreing, but when opening a new tab freezes your system for nearly a minute (literally; even if the Start menu is responding you can't even launch Solitaire until the drive access light goes off), you don't have many options. IE seemed to be the eassiest on the pathetically slow 8GB Intel SSD that was never even meant to run XP (the XP models had a slightly faster Samsung SSD). Even so, I preferred Portable Firefox on a USB drive (kept my netbook's installation a bit cleaner), though I often used IE anyway (USB dongles are prone to being snapped off). Firefox was barely any better than Chrome when it came to drive access, but at least the portable version wasn't accessing my SSD, thus, not triggering the freezes every time something is written.

FlashFire, a utility that improves slow SSD performance by caching writes into system memory helped a lot. I could actually use Chrome and Firefox installed natively! The only problem was that Hulu and other Flash services more intensive than, say, YouTube, were noticably slower on Chrome and Firefox (more screen tearing for sure). This is likely Flash's fault. That said, my usage scenarios will change now that I have a real HDD installed.

Unfortunately, my system allows a maximum of 1.5GB RAM due to 512MB being soldered-in leaving only one expansion slot for a 1024MB module. I've been at the maximum 1.5GB since about 3 hours of pulling it out of the box. Windows XP is light enough anyway that I've only needed the page file/virtual memory once and that was likely due to a memory leak or something (bunch of browser tabs open but nothing too intensive).

[demp]

Originally Posted by Alex

You're probably right in almost all cases. I use my tiny laptop for updating my GPS when I'm doing the long-distance rally thing, and for that I need a few programs on the machine. Garmin Mapsource likes to be initially installed from CD, and it has weird licensing restrictions. Can probably get it to work by having it pretend it's on a CD, but haven't had to try it yet...

copy the disk with something like Nero to an .iso file (on another machine) and then use daemon tools to emulate it on the netbook

[zeroth]

I got my sister the HP 110-1020NR netbook for xmas and she really likes it. All she does is surf the web, work on her resume, etc. She likes the 6-7hr battery life and the small size convenience. She doesn't have any problems with the keyboard, although I find it a tiny bit cramped. I imagine I'd get used to it after a few days of using it.

[CZroe]

Got that Alienware M11x a couple weeks ago and now my tankbag is ripping apart. I was researching bags for it and I started wondering if I could wear a thin, sling-style bag or messenger bag under my roomy motorcycle jacket. Most messenger bags look too big, but all the advertisements show people wearing them on bikes ("bike messengers"). Would one be OK on a motorcycle when worn externally like a bicycle messenger? I just keep imagining it dangling through turns and either getting roughed up or causing an accident.

I still want to fit it in a future tank bag but something like the "hidden messenger" from Timbuk2 would fit in the tank bag with it and allow me to make room when I need the tank bag for other things. A non-motorcycle backpack is extremely hard to get on with my other gear, so their "hidden backpack" doesn't appeal to me as much. Since researching, Timbuk2 banner ads show up in nearly every website I visit! Even this one...

[250Rocket]

I can't wait for google chrome OS to come out.

If your not already using the Chrome web browser and or don't know about the OS look into it, it's amazing. 7 second boot time, which they're trying to reduce to about 4 by release, best part, it's free.

[Greg_E]

I'll try Chrome OS for PC when it arrives, for now I like OpenSolaris as a good free alternative. Nice and fast in booting (less than half the time of Windows on my test laptop) and fast in operation.

Is there an official beta of Chrome somewhere that I can grab it?

[250Rocket]

Originally Posted by Greg_E

I'll try Chrome OS for PC when it arrives, for now I like OpenSolaris as a good free alternative. Nice and fast in booting (less than half the time of Windows on my test laptop) and fast in operation.

Is there an official beta of Chrome somewhere that I can grab it?

Possibly, i know there 2 things though. 1 is Chrome web browser available for PC, Mac and linux i believe, the OS will operated like the browser but with more features.

Anyways i'm still waiting for Google Voice trial to come to Canada so chances are if it is available, it's not available to me.