On 3/21/2012 10:26 AM, Steve Jacobson wrote:
Chip, bob, and others,The only thing I can figure is that there is an undefined variable in the use of netbooks and I truly wish I knew what it was. I have had experience with two netbooks and both were unsatisfactory and were similar to what you described in your first note. I am going to try to turn one of them into a computer used specifically for streaming and I am encouraged that Bob finds that use a good one. Still, I know experienced computer users who feel very much as Bob does and who disagree with me. With a Windows XP computer and with a Windows 7 32-bit starter edition computer, I found response when tabbing around dialogs to be slow enough that it was sometimes hard to know if the speech I heard was for the current control or for the previous one. Interruptability was sometimes slow enough that I had to wait to be sure speech caught up. The opening of the download dialog in IE 8 was often extremely slow, slow enough that I wondered if perhaps I didn't activate the link. Other activities on the netbook such as scans and downloading of Windows Updates impacted performance substantially causing moving the cursor around in a document to become sluggish. Certain activities caused speech to be suspended for a short time. At first I thought speech was lost but discovered it would usually come back. I was told by someone that what I was experiencing had to be Window-Eyes because JFW works fine. When I tried the JFW demo, I found that JFW might have responded a little better, but it was only marginally better. In some cases, I have found that some of what I mention above does happen to others but they just assume it is normal. I've played with sound card settings and turned off sound card enhancements and that didn't help all that much. I made sure to bring both netbooks up to maximum memory. Still, there are some who seem to have very good luck with netbooks and seem not to have found the frustrations I have encountered. Therefore, what I would say is that if one buys a netbook and isn't happy with it right away, it probably makes sense to bring it back and look for something else. I did not find that the keyboards were a particular problem, though. Also, I am not aware of any particular problem with Windows 7 Starter. At one point, I upgraded a netbook from Windows 7 starter to Windows 7 home, thinking I might be able to fine tune settings more. I didn't notice that my Netbook worked any worse, but I couldn't get it to work any better, either. I found the lack of a CD drive to be of no importance. I either transferred data with an external hard drive or I have used a jump drive. To install something like Office, I copied the install CD's to a folder by first copying them to a USB drive and that worked fine. I thought I had to have a CD Drive and bought a USB drive and it works fine, but I've hardly used it. I found an HP computer for around $450 that looks like a slightly oversized netbook that has a 64-bit processor and I think 4GB of ram. It does not have a CD drive either and a small 11-inch screen so it is very much like a netbook in size and battery life. So far, I am much happier with that computer, although I was disappointed that there was no imbedded numeric keypad. The laptop layout doesn't work too badly, though. There are things I am frustrated with there, too. For example, I was told that it is a good idea to create a recovery CD right away, but the software to do that didn't work and there are many similar complaints on forums. HP is also taking the approach that your function keys should perform local functions as is normally done by pressing the FN key. One has to press the FN key with function keys to have them processed by the software one is using. You can change this behavior fairly easily, though, by going into the BIOS setup, but of course you can't do that with a screen reader. Still, I am happier than I was with my netbook, but I think my netbook will work well as a music player and source for streaming on my stereo system. Still, I could have done that with an I Pod. Best regards, Steve Jacobson On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:44:21 -0400, Chip Orange wrote:Thanks Bob for bringing me up-to-date on netbooks; if you don't mind, how much does that level of netbook cost? How about the keyboard, would you be able to type an email response without too much trouble?Thanks.Chip-----Original Message----- From: bob jutzi [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 6:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: recommendations for netbook, or laptop Depends on your needs. I mainly listen to streaming audio, audiobooks, MP3 files, update Quicken, Email and web surf so a dual core netbook is extremely responsive for my daily use. I have a newer Asus 1015PX with 2gb memory, 1mb cache, and 1.6Ghz processor and this thing is almost as responsive as my 2ghz Pentium Dual core desktop with the same memory and cache. I have a small USB DVD drive I can connect to my netbook if needed. On 3/21/2012 6:26 AM, Chip Orange wrote:Yes you can use external keyboards, but then why buy such apc with akeyboard you can't stand? Your point about netbooks is just what I was trying to convey; they are very very slow at everything, and the only thing torecommend themI suppose is that they are the absolutely cheapest way to get a pc. Chip-------------------------------------------------------------- ----------*From:* Baracco, Andrew W [mailto:[email protected]] *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2012 5:33 PM *To:* [email protected] *Subject:* RE: recomandations for netbook, or laptop One can always plug in a USB full size keyboard if youdon't likethe laptop keyboard. Lately I have been using my Asusnetbook as myprimary computer because it is the only working PC Ihave at home,and have concluded that a netbook is a good secondary or mobile machine, but not up to everyday use. For one thing, Inotice thatprograms and web pages load slower, even though I have 2 GB RAM. Andy *From:*Chip Orange [mailto:[email protected]] *Sent:* Tuesday, March 20, 2012 1:03 PM *To:* 'Sunshine' *Cc:* [email protected] *Subject:* RE: recomandations for netbook, or laptop Hi Sunshine, You could buy an external USB optical drive, and connect it to a netbook as needed. The primary difference though, in my opinion, and it'simportant tounderstand this, is that netbooks run considerably slower than laptops, and this has caused a lot of complaints amongmy friendswho have purchased a netbook, thinking it's just a smaller and cheaper laptop, and then they can't stand it's slow speed. They often come with a limited version of Windows 7 as well,and a reallysmall and hard to use keyboard. I would not recommend a netbook; I'd either buy alow-priced laptop(which is usually the 15 inch screen ones weighing in around 5 pounds, and often can be found under $400), or I'dspend the moneyas someone has already recommended, and buy the ultra small/light-weight laptops which are usually 12 inch screens weighing in under 3 pounds (these too may have akeyboard too smallto be used comfortably). I like Dell and Lenovo as brands. There are somelaptops availablewith a numeric keypad if you don't think you can get used to the fn-key combinations used to simulate the numeric keypadkeys. If youcustom order one, I'd recommend asking for the 32-bitwindows, andthe extra-large 9-cell battery (which sticks out theback slightly,but not noticeably in my opinion, and gives you anextra 1.5 hoursof time usually). hth, Chip------------------------------------------------------------------------ *From:*Sunshine [mailto:[email protected]] *Sent:* Friday, March 16, 2012 11:38 PM *To:* GWMicro List *Subject:* recomandations for netbook, or laptop i am looking for a netbook, or laptop, does anyone have any recomandations for these? would like the netbook, or laptop to have a dvd/cd burnner drive, and internal hard drive windows xp orwindows 7 32 bit ifat posible, and if not 64 bit will be good as well. thanks in advance No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com> Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2114/4882 - Release Date: 03/20/12If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply wouldbenefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it.GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscriptionat http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2114/4884 - Release Date: 03/21/12
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