I am thinking about starting an online program and the school says I need a laptop. I am curious--does anyone think a netbook is comparable to a laptop? I don't know how much financial aid I will be able to snag; I cannot purchase either without those funds. But I would rather spend the lesser amount if netbooks are as durable (or almost as durable) as a laptop.

I don't understand, why would you need a laptop if you have a home computer?

My younger computer-head brother loves his netbook. He bought it when they first came out, it was a bargain because one pixel in the screen doesn't work (you can't see it at all). Look for a deal if this is the unit you want to purchase.
Ask the school for specific spec on the type of computer they think you'll need then compare that to the netbooks you can find for sale. Like what sort of functions it needs to do, memory etc.

I post from libraries, Coco (if that's what you meant). I am lucky to live in a town with a private university that allows me 8 hours a day of computer time, plus the local public library. I do have a very old laptop that I no longer use plus a newer desktop but I don't want the Internet! I really would be on it all the time (I'm on it too much as it is!) and I just like the idea of going out to use it. I also don't have tv hookup anymore.

Ah, I see. And totally understand! Check out what they say you'll need to do with the unit then and see if you can make a go of it with a netbook. They are a bit cramped to type on but you could use your home computer for assignments and then just transfer the docs to your netbook.

A laptop is best. From what I've heard from my family and friends, the netbooks don't last long. About a year or two. Most of the time, it's the screen that goes, the light display or whatever you call it. Also, they're smaller, so the page doesn't fit the screen, and you have to scroll see the whole page. (Someone told me that, but I'm not sure if that's so or she just didn't know what she was doing) My IBM laptop is 7 years old this February, and still working great; I just had to change the hard drive a couple times. Also, Kim Komando, the Computer Goddess, says don't buy a used computer, buy a 'refurbished' one. Or a new one. If you get a laptop, let me know if you want me to send you the links to about 4 or 5 of the best free downloads to keep it running fast, and virus-free and spyware/adware/malware free, clean it up, etc. I love messing around with that stuff.

Thanks, Kid. Tell me, what is the difference between used and refurbished? I also see that term with cell phones...

My brother has had his for over 3 years and he is a computer junkie so I know he uses it like crazy.
Refurbished means it went back to the factory to have anything that need it attended to. It is nearly as good as new IMO.
I bought my son a used laptop, it's so old it's square! But it came from a dude who fixes them up so it's super, it's as good as mine that's brand new. Only $150 too, a total deal.

Coco--and those old ones are as fast and have wireless capability, too? Because I have a laptop (Dell) that is from 2001. I paid a woman $50 for it (she was going to just give it to me for free!). The DVD drive doesn't work, it has Windows 2000 installed...I would like wireless access for cafes, etc. The amazing thing about it is that it isn't all that heavy (although probably would be compared to other laptops these days) and is quite slim. After a decade, you'd think it would look very obsolete but not really.

Whatever that guy did to it it works just like my new laptop. Gets wireless, I have to block it so my little guy can't get on (not that he would, he just likes lego land or whatever online game site that's called and doesn't understand that it's not part of the computer). I don't think it has a port for a camera sd card but it has usb connections.

A netbook is a low powered laptop without a DVD or cd drive. They use the intel atom processor, that is good enough for browsing the web, doing word processing, or playing a YouTube. You wont be able to do some of the more cpu intensive operations, say like video editing. Some have really small keyboards and screens. But there are some netbooks with larger screens and keyboards.

pretty much what prana said, also, id just talk to whoever handles the online classes, about what the specific minimum system requirements youl need to do this course, buy.com and newegg.com tend to have some really good deals often, but make sure to read the reviews, the good and bad, be4 purchasing something.

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Prana: If I am going to be needing to do word processing, is a netbook sturdy enough? At this point I am thinking about going with a laptop simply for durability's sake.

Curator: I need to occasionally use a webcam for this class. I think it's pretty standard on most models, even netbooks. This is not a tech class so don't you think a new computer would pretty much be sufficient in terms of specs? I don't know what most of that stuff means anyhow!

it depends, some netbooks are really really really low powered, they are meant to be minimalist, be "just enough" to do some rather minor things... also why their battery tends to last longer than with most laptops...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

banana who, a netbook ought to be fast and powerful enough for word processing. As for durability, in terms of dropping the netbook, I don't think its any worse than a laptop.

At newegg there are a bunch of new netbooks for $300 with a 10 inch screen, 250 meg disk, and 1 Gb ram. But for $360, you can get a 12 inch screen, 320 meg disk, and 2 Gb ram. See ASUS Eee PC 1215T-MU10-BK Black AMD Athlon II Neo K125(1.70GHz) 12.1" WXGA 2GB DDR3 Memory 320GB HDD NetBook

Ouch, that's more than I paid for my laptop. It was on sale though...

yeah...thats kind of normal price for netbooks... I'll check around for some sales, but ive not seen any good sales since christmas...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

When they first, first came out my brother bought his (one pixel not functioning so he got a deal) netbook for about $250. $300 seems a lot to me after a couple of years on the market.

the ones selling for that price are probably considerably more powerful than what your brother probably purchased, bare minimum netbooks tend to run around $200 brand new for the bare minimum... depending on where you buy it...still not sure how well they would work for her needs, since I do not know what the class's system requirements would be, which can vary drastically depending on what programs they use to stream their internet classes. im fairly certain anything with 1 GB DDR2 RAM or better should work easily as long as it has everything else she needs for the class as well...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

If all you need it for are the basics and can transfer things to a desk top for more processing, etc, it should be ok to have a fairly simple netbook. Totally depends on the needs for the class.

yup

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I have tried the acer readers and they suck due to jumping around of the cursor, small keypad keys, and even erased stuff I was typing and I couldn't stop it.

Then I tried my son's notebook and it was great. Regular keypad key size, no jumping around of cursor. It's a Levono and he purchased one for me. They are I believe under $400. But look on craigslist or ebay maybe for a used one. It's wifi ready.

Love,
Prism

Never buy used unless its refurbished, or super cheap like $50 and you have a friend that can work on computers..

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I know people love wifi but it's so horrifically bad for us. I am finally getting over a wifi headache from a visit to the library earlier today. Terrible, terrible thing that wifi.

Thanks again for all the imput. Okay, I know I am gonna piss some people off but I checked Malwart (thanks for the name, Coco) and they have Dells LAPTOPS for $399 and free shipping...

they have some good deals at times, but rare, 399 may be a good deal depending on the laptops specs, the only real benefit they usually have is if you have a problem with it really soon (which happens often with malwart computers, my friend teri went through 2 crapping out on her within 30 days) you have the ability to return it easily the store, save ALL of the receipts, paperwork, everything! could get lucky like my mom and get one there that lasts for years. :shrug: ^_^

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Hey banana who, that looks like a nice computer at a good price. Usually with new computers, the anti-virus works for one year, then they start charging you an annual fee. After the one year is over, take a look at using the AVG free virus scanner.

Or if you are really adventurous, install Ubuntu along side of Windows, and run a free operating system that doesn't get viruses.