Acer 150 Netbook...

[Beto]

I just looked at Amazon and the 6 cell battery runs about US $ 60 and the 9 cell about 70

[SamplerDoc]

Those Acers are a great deal now.
Seems prices dropped big time in the past 1 year plus.

Just be careful if your planning on a VAT refund. There are a few rules and needed paperwork so do not get caught without or you are out the cash

[Eazy_Sleazy]

How's the average WIFI in most hotels in Pattaya with a decent laptop. What hotels have good WIFI? or, are most hotels, plug-n-play with a LAN cable? What's the best way to get internet in the hotel room to avoid the internet cafes?

[tommy]

Stogie is that Acer in the second photo available in any other colours ? And is the photo taken in Seacon square ?

Thats a damn good price.

[huanzhen]

the price in france for this computer, 3 cells is 299 euros max so around 14 000 baths, with a real guarantee and service...keep in mind that this model will be change by a new model soon..so it could be easy to get a discount with last stock

this computer was at 1399 malaysian ringgit in kuala lumpur in march 09.;cheaper than bangkok...so compare..malaysia has actualy with the exchange rate better price than bangkok on many hardware.

[Lefty]

(Stogie @ Mar. 30 2009,00:16) I have one. Exactly the same specs, too!

They are the same price over here. (Get the one with the 6 cell battery.)

The 'Netbook' computers are great for 'on the move' computing but are sluggish compared to a full sized laptop or desk top computer.

Was this what you watch football on by just attaching an external monitor?
Would that be good specs for a laptop to bring with me, and then buy a large monitor there to use for football and such?

[rxpharm]

Lefty, netbooks are not the best for watching streaming video. A full size laptop would do a better job.

Netbooks are fine for light work, e-mail, internet browing, word processing. Watching streaming video requires a bit more horsepower for good results.

[bangkoksins]

No. The future is SSDs (Solid State Drives) they are faster, quieter, and cannot break as easily.

I would recommend the Dell mini 9. Currently maxes out at 16 GB HD but you can buy a 32 GB SDHC.

It is an amazing bit of kit and as big as a hardback (that's a book I am talking about).

Best buy on the planet imho. In Thailand it is just over 18K or was.

[rxpharm]

It's the CPU and video processor that does the major work for streaming video. The netbooks have less graphics processing capability and CPU power than the full size laptops for now.

SSD are for data storage and retrieval and don't have much impact on video processing, but I agree they will be the future for netbooks, laptops and other portable computing devices.

[Lefty]

(rxpharm @ Apr. 30 2009,16:24) Lefty, netbooks are not the best for watching streaming video. A full size laptop would do a better job.

Netbooks are fine for light work, e-mail, internet browing, word processing. Watching streaming video requires a bit more horsepower for good results.

Thanks for that info. I would like to bring a laptop with me that I can use to watch live NFL Football once the season starts.
I've never had a Mac. I was thinking maybe I'd like to try one. Was wondering if that would be a good laptop to get and would I be able to get up to speed readily after just using PC Desktops for the most part in the past. I've very limited experience on any laptop.
What kind of horsepower would be best? I guess also the ISP will play a part in it too? I think we can save the games so then can replay them without streaming

[rxpharm]

Lefty, sorry, I am not experienced with Macs - but there are a few who are - hopefully they will answer that.

If you decide to go with a Windows Vista based laptop look for the following: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 1.8 GHz or faster, minimum 2 GB of RAM (more is better), 120 GB HD (bigger is better), DVD Burner, Wireless B/G (N is newer and good if you can get it but not essential), NVIDIA or ATI video processor with dedicated video memory (not shared with the CPU) is best, but shared is not so bad if it's NVIDIA or ATI. Dedicated video memory means more efficient and faster graphics processing. Network port, and it is a good idea for it to have an HDMI (High Definition Media Interface) port - this will allow you to play back on an HD TV if you want.

Ok I think I covered most of it, but other guys can pipe in if I missed something.

[Torurot]

Wait a month and get it with Windows 7 installed

[ezflip]

(rxpharm @ Apr. 30 2009,19:24) Lefty, netbooks are not the best for watching streaming video. A full size laptop would do a better job.

Rx - I beg to differ. I have no problems at all with streaming videos directly fed from the internet using my ASUS eeePC. Of course, I rarelly watch them in 'full frame'. I do watch ripped DVD directly from my hard drive and/or SD card without any noticable lag in video, and this in full frame.

Lefty - I use both MAC and PC everyday and I have no problem switching from one to the other. Warning- If you are the type to like keyboard shortcuts - you will expand your curse vocabulary quickly as they are not the same from PC to MAC. Otherwise, you will quickly adapt.

Hope this helps in anyway possible.

[Stogie]

(Torurot @ May 01 2009,15:13)  Wait a month and get it with Windows 7 installed

Do it today! The release is available to testers now and for everyone FREE from Microsoft from the 5th of this month.

It runs OK on a 'netbook', but as with XP it's a little sluggish. Don't even think about using the Aero interfave!

Beats the bejeezus out of that CRAPPY Vista shite.

You can download Windows 7 - it's less than 2.5 gigs...

[Lefty]

Thanks for your input guys, especially RX and ezflip. It all helps when it comes to deciding.