HP Mini-note $367 at Amazon
I just got an email from Amazon and one of the specials caught my eye. They have the low-end HP Mini-note netbook on sale for $367. It shows as in-stock with immediate shipment and this is a great deal.
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Having owned the original EEEpc I would not want another net-book with a small SD and Linux. While there is much to like about Linux, it just is too limited. And I really dont like the small SSDs. I got an Acer Aspire One with XP, 1GB RAM and a 120 GB HDD for $350. that HP is just too limited.
My dad picked up a 6 cell MSI Wind for $479 on newegg last night. It’s going to be perfect for a guy that’s on the run all day. He types with two fingers but he had to have one after seeing me tether my Wind to my Dash. He’s excited to be able to check ebay and his finances while being away from home.
I ordered a one of those indestructible 8 gb flash drives for him as well. Since he’s not the most tech savvy and I live 8 hrs away, I’m going to create a ghost image for him on it. So if he ever has any problems all he needs to do is ghost his drive (which will be scripted for him) back to where I had it.
Cody, you are one smart cookie. :)
I would have to recommend getting an XP unit with hard drive/6-cell battery – the entry model linux is just too limited.
I first considered getting one and upgrading, but it would have been next to impossible. The HDD controller on the mininote is actually PATA, but the sata hard drives connect with a fancy ribbon interface cable. This ribbon cable in the entry model has a pata drive connector for the basic SSD, so sata drives wouldn’t work.
The entry model lacks the driveguard technology to protect hard drives, and comes only with a 3-cell battery. The 6-cell battery not only runs longer but will help with cooling as it raises the bottom.
Finally, the 1.0GHz cpu speed is just too slow for even windows xp. You need the 1.6GHz cpu to get decent multimedia performance.