The Refurbished Laptops Guide » Notebooks

Choosing a Netbook Computer

GuestPoster — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:47:15 +0000

These days computers are getting so powerful that many people are opting for laptop or netbook computers as their primary or even only computer. Mid-level laptops have just as much computing power as desktop models of just a few years ago, and even the smaller netbooks are plenty powerful enough for most computing tasks. If light weight and portability are your primary requirements for a computer, and a built-in DVD drive is not essential for you, it may be time to consider getting a netbook model.

Prices for netbooks range from about $200 to about $500, and a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean better quality. The main things to look for in a netbook are how comfortable the keyboard is for you, and the screen size and brightness. A good keyboard is critical because netbook keyboards are not full size and can feel cramped. Screen brightness and size matter more than with a laptop because the smallest sizes will be too small for many people. Get a model with a 10 inch screen and check how bright and clear the display looks.

There are many brands to choose from. The best way to choose is by reading multiple reviews by both experts and users. One of the top brands is MSI. Among the MSI netbook brands, the Wind U120 model is a favorite because it comes close to a laptop in terms of power and comfort and the battery lasts a long time. The keyboard is almost full size, and the 10 inch screen is nice and clear. It is a bit pricey at around $400, but you can find other MSi netbook models on sale for as little as $250.

Remember that because netbooks are so small, ergonomics is more important than with other computers. If at all possible get your hands on a demo model at a store before buying one – make sure your typing won’t feel cramped. Then make your actual purchase online, where you can always get the best price.

Shopping:

USB2.0 Slim Portable External Rewriteable 24x CD and 8x DVD +/- RW Drive, Read/write DVD Burner for MSI Wind U100 U120 U123 VR220 EX300 seires Laptops USB2.0

Wind U160 L1600 MS-N051 L1300 L1350 Replacement AC Adapter Power Adapter for LG X120 X200 MSI Wind U100 U100X Series Netbook

MSI U135-204US 10-Inch Black Netbook - 3 Hour Battery Life

Indamixx Portable Studio Netbook Edition Model 2

Laptop Netbook AC Wall-Home Charger Adapter for MSI Wind U120 Laptop (Laptop NOT Included)

The Mini Notebook Computer – An Innovation

GuestPoster — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:53:35 +0000

Since the release of the first models of these mini notebook computers in the late 2007, many now consider buying these devices over their bigger counterpart. They are easy to use, effortless to carry, and does not need too much power which means longer battery life.

Teens love using these when talking to friends and writing on their blogs. People with dynamic lifestyle benefit a lot with its versatility and toughness. They also slashed out the heavy but hardly used hardware like optical drives and stick with the bare essentials.

The notebook has a complete set of ports, the ones that are commonly used. Since flash drives can store as much information as a CD or DVD even give overwriting capabilities, they are the better choice for many laptop users. Notebooks can also store a day’s work then transferred to a desktop or a bigger Laptop before the day ends.

The designs are sleek and they come with different colors that are glossy and very modern. Viewing a mini notebook computer in a shop or a mall, you are definitely going to be drawn to its stylish looks. The keyboard comes in different forms as well. You can opt for standard keypads that are very much like the ones on a laptop or you can pick a smoother and softer buttons.

The uniqueness of this product is also evident by its capability to be enhanced by it developers. The competition of companies to obtain the title of creating the best notebook in the market can be seen with their products.

With all the special features and wide choice of specifications, the mini notebook computer is certainly one of the most innovative devices of the decade. We can only hope that they bring out better, more powerful models that can truly be an indispensable part of our everyday life.

Shopping:

Dell Inspiron iM1012-687OBK Mini 1012 10.1-Inch Obsidian Black Netbook - Up to 8 Hours 8 Minutes of Battery Life

Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Female Adapter Cable for Apple Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac, Macbook Air, Mac Mini Laptop

HP USB Mini Speakers

HP Mini 210-1030NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 9.75 Hours of Battery Life

HP NF869AA Mini Notebook Sleeve

Finding Great Netbook Deals Is Easy

GuestPoster — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:54:08 +0000

Netbook deals are easy to come by, especially considering they are fairly inexpensive at it is. But just because they are inexpensive does not meant that a good deal is not worth looking for. Manufacturers are catering to students with this niche; students who are often on a tight budget. Because of this, you can find deals almost year round on netbooks.

As with any other type of computer, or electronic for that matter, you need to know what you need under the hood before you can start looking. One computer might be faster than the next, but might offer too little memory for your needs. Keeping this in mind, it is definitely NOT all about price. What you need comes first, then you look for what fits your budget. A cheap netbook is useless if it doesn’t serve you needs.

Now that you know what you need, it is time to start looking online. Many online retailers offer discounts that brick and mortar companies can only dream of. Make sure, though, that these are reputable companies; you know the ones.

You can also find great coupons online. Whether it is a coupon for an online purchase or for a brick and mortar company, this is a great way to get an additional discount on your purchase. Just because you do not see a coupon for this week, does not mean there will not be one for next week, be patient.

Now that you are aware of online deals, it is time to hit your local brick and mortar stores for netbook deals. Before heading out, you might want to keep an eye on weekly ads. This gives you plenty of ammo for your shopping expedition. Check many different stores for deals, not just your common national chains.

Basically, it all comes down to knowing what you want and what you are willing to pay. Finding netbook deals is not a difficult task, although it may take some research and time. It is; however, worth this time. Think about a netbook being $300, but because you spent some time looking, you can get your hands on one for $150.

Shopping:

Laptop Notebook Cooler Pad w/ 3 Fans

10" Inch Pink Semi-Rigid EVA Netbook Laptop Case for Fujitsu, Samsung, Dell, Acer, ASUS Eee PC, Gateway, HP, Sony, Compaq

5 Year Warranty Compatible Ac Adapter for Acer Aspire One 1 Mini Netbook D150-1462 D150-1577 D150-1587 D150-1606 D150-1647 D150-1669 D150-1739 D150-1860 D150-1920 D250-1014 D250-1016 D250-1025 D250-1026 D250-1042 D250-1064 Power Cord Power Supply 30 Watt

HP Mini 210-1084NR 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - 9.75 Hours of Battery Life

5 Year Warranty Compatible Ac Adapter for Acer Aspire One 1 Mini Netbook D250-1070 D250-1085 D250-1105 D250-1114 D250-1116 D250-1124 D250-1132 D250-1146 D250-1151 D250-1163 D250-1165 D250-1185 D250-1190 D250-1196 D250-1197 Power Cord Power Supply 30 Watt

How To Choose A Mini Notebook Computer

GuestPoster — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:39:44 +0000

There are lots of factors that come into play whenever buying any new laptop or computer. Mostly the same applies even when selecting a mini notebook computer (or netbook as they are sometimes called).

Brand
When it comes to computers brand does matter. The thing to be cautious of though is that price does not always mean it’s a better unit. Brands like Sony Vaio, Ferrari and Lamborghini are simply more expensive because they have that brand logo on the laptop. I recommend going with Dell, Toshiba or Asus. LG can also be good and Acer can too although sometimes Acer mini notebook computers can be a little flimsy and temperamental.

Specifications
I won’t go into too much detail on the specifications as they simply change to frequently. I will give you some points to check for though:

Make sure the specifications are at least ‘recommended’ level for the operating system.
Check that it has plenty of USB ports and even a memory card slot, mini notebook computers do not tend to have a DVD slot.
Type a few lines out on the keyboard and make sure that you like the feel of it.

Screen size
If you don’t like small screens than you may want to choose a regular sized laptop with a 13″, 15.4″ or 17″ screen. Most mini notebook computers come with a 10.1″ screen but can vary from 7″ to 11″. This is fine for checking emails, watching DVDs or just browsing the web. However, I wouldn’t do any long term work on the netbook as you can develop bad posture from hunching over the screen.

Note: Screen size are always measured diagonally from opposite corners.

That’s the deal on mini notebook computers. Whenever purchasing any electronic products always remember the key points are brand, specifications and size.

This article is courtesy of Tech By Tile

Shopping:

PWR+ Extra Portable Slim External 2.0 USB CD/RW CDRW CD±RW CD-ROM CDR CD/R CD Drive Writer/Burner for HP Mini ; MSI Wind ; Apple Mac Netbook Laptop Notebook (Tray Load) and More

Kroo NH21GZK1 Double-Zipper Sleeve with Pocket Net Book PC (Black)

HP Mini 210-1084NR 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - 9.75 Hours of Battery Life

HP Mini 210-1010NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 4.25 Hours of Battery Life

Toshiba Mini NB305-N410BL 10.1-Inch Royal Blue Netbook - 11 Hours of Battery Life

Reviewing more pink notebooks for you

Brent — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:10:20 +0000

You might remember back a few days when we talked about pink notebooks the first time. That post was called “Pink laptops are in” if you didn’t catch it before. In that post we talked about some of the better pink notebooks that you can buy at the moment, which happened to include the very famous Eee PC (seems to keep coming up on this site, doesn’t it?) along with the Dell D600 Latitude. Both of those are offered in this very popular color, and are a great deal if you’re looking for something basic.

But what about something with a little power behind it? You know exactly what I’m talking about: A notebook that really flies. Something like Alienware but without the bulky desktop setup. Something you can play all of your games with a great frame rate and not have to worry about it. And above all, you want that laptop to have some style. Where can you find such a thing?

Actually, there are a few of these laptops laying around. We talked about the very popular (and new) Dell Studio laptops that hit the market a few months back. These computers are actually offered in a wide variety of colors, not just limited to the pink you’ve been looking for. There are some pretty neat designs that’ll really let you show yourself as a unique and interesting person. These aren’t pink mini notebooks either; these are actually full size systems that really have some strong processing power (those netbook notebooks are only so good). How much exactly? Well, we’ll tell you.

These Studio notebooks are offered from anywhere between 1.6-2.2 GHz of processing power, and have up to 3 GB of RAM already included (which, I’m sure, allows for more). This is already a strong machine, but how good is it? Well, these Studios were actually meant for graphic design to start out with, so they actually work wonderfully (or so we’re told) for gaming. We haven’t actually gotten a chance to set our hands on one of these little bad boys, but go ahead and have a look if you get a chance to do it. These come with 250 GB hard drives, so you might want to step up if you have a whole heck of a lot of data on it. That shouldn’t be a problem, however. It takes the standard 2.5″ drives that you’ve gotten used to.

Overall, I don’t think you can go wrong with one of these. They start with 14″ screens and go up from there. The largest pink notebook you can buy is in 17″, but I have to wonder if they’ll come out with more later on.

Shopping:

CaseCrown Durable Double Memory Foam Thin Case for Dell Studio 17-inch Notebook (Alligator Hot Pink)

13.3 Inch Notebook Purple-Pink Carry Bag for Dell Studio XPS 1340 SX-13-163B 1340 Dell Vostro 1320 + Wristband

CaseCrown Durable Double Memory Foam Thin Case for HP Pavilion DV7-1270US 17.0-Inch Laptop (Alligator Hot Pink)

Pink Sparse Tranquility 15.4 inch Laptop Padded Compartment Shoulder Messenger Bag for K-Cliffs Lifestyle

Pink 7" Mini Netbook Laptop Notebook Wifi 2gb Hd Ce

Purchasing a mini notebook

Brent — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:44:08 +0000

There are quite a few mini notebook styles available on the market if you want to look hard enough for them. However, not everyone has the time to sit down and read page after page on the internet about which system is best, which is the lowest cost, and which ones are the most popular and offer the best bang for your buck. Have no fear. Today I’m going to tell you exactly which of these mini notebooks you should really be looking at if you really want more from your laptop experience. If you’re a regular reader, than you also probably read my last post on this topic here: 7″ laptop reviews. That’s a great place to start, but today we’re going to expand on that topic a bit.

Buying the best mini notebook on the market starts with research. You need to start by searching for “mini notebook reviews” (or comparisons, whichever) to get an idea of what’s actually out there on the market. However, chances are that if you’re here, you did exactly that. Welcome! Let’s not beat around the bush anymore, though. Let’s talk about some of the more popular brands on the market.

HP offers a great selection. The HP Mini Notebook comes in two flavors: The Mini 1101 and the Mini 5101. Both have pluses and minuses, but we’ll leave that selection up to you depending on what you need it for. The Mini 1101 comes with Windows XP and FreeDOS pre-loaded on the system, and has the new Intel Atom processor on-board (at the time of this writing HP didn’t publish just how much processing power this actually has…that might take a bit more research). For a mini it’s also quite the RAM giant: It’s got 2GB of RAM, which is very respectable for something its size. The Eee PC wishes it could have that! The 5101 has all of that, but has a faster RAM bus speed, an HD LED screen, and actually has SUSE Linux on a dual-boot (or so we think) along with Windows XP. No Vista! That should be worth it right there. The downside: Both of these minis actually have 10.1″ screens, so it’s not quite a true mini notebook PC like the Eee. Hey, that rhymes.

Dell also has a respectable selection of mini notebooks (in their terms, called “netbooks”). Their minis start at a very low $279, which actually blows the Eee out of the water by a large percentage. These are also powered by the Intel Atom processor and can either be purchased with Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux (go Linux!). However, these are also 10.1″ screens, which means they’re not quite as portable as the really small ASUS offering. They are cheap, but they also come with 1GB RAM instead of the 2GB in the HP.

So there you have it everyone: A head to head comparison of two of the better mini notebooks on the market. Enjoy!

Shopping:

HP Mini 210-1010NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 4.25 Hours of Battery Life

HP Mini 210-1099SE 10.1-Inch Vivienne Tam Edition Netbook - 4.25 Hours of Battery Life

Extended Capacity Laptop Battery for Dell Inspiron Mini 9, Inspiron 910 laptop, umpc 8.9" Series replace for W953G series (Black, 8cells, 4800mAh)

HP NF869AA Mini Notebook Sleeve

40W Laptop Notebook AC Adapter Charger Power Supply for Acer Aspire One series and Dell Inspiron Mini 9 10 12 series Laptops [19V 1.58A 40W]