Just recently, well mainly in the mid part of 2008, netbook computing became really popular. So I decided to get one after having my eye on them for a while. Since its my 6th computer I didn’t want to spend too much, but thats okay because they’re considerably cheap anyway.
My machine is an Advent 4213. The specs are 1GB RAM, 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 160GB HDD running Windows XP. I have quite a few programs on here (I say here because I’m writing this entry on it) such as Firefox, Office 07, Windows Live Messenger, Adobe Photoshop 7, Avast, Google Earth, Zattoo, Skype, YouCam and more. I have installed San Andreas and SA:MP but its a nightmare to get going. GTA VC refuses to even start even after installing. I have tested this machine running Ubuntu 8.10 booted from my 16GB USB drive, which works very well too. I paid extra for Windows so do not plan on removing it (and putting Windows back on seems impossible without an external DVD drive, so far I’ve coped with mounting ISOs over my network). The webcam, bluetooth and wireless are all very good and I’m adjusting to the keyboard well.
One of the biggest advantages about this machine is that it has a built in SIM card holder, this means that you can connect to the internet via 3G without having to use a dongle. I’m on Orange with my HTC Touch Diamond however chose to test it out with an old Virgin Mobile SIM I have lying around from my old phone. The supplied software detected it and correctly identified it as T-Mobile UK and connected me to their network. If I had credit I could actually hit ‘Connect’ and browse the web. Thats not all the software is useful for either, you can send and recieve SMS messages with it! That’s cool, text messaging on my laptop!
Next up, battery life. I’ve managed to get about 3hrs 10mins out of the battery, which compaired to my 30mins on my now 4 year old full-size Fujitsu Siemens laptop is pretty good. When I got it, I was too excited to wait till I got home so I opened it up there and then in the car and was pleasantly suprised to find Advent had charged the battery fully! That was kind of them.
Overall it’s an insanely good machine, I didn’t pay an awful lot for it either to be fair, for how fast it is and its built in features (especially SIM card holder, a huge bonus) and generally good looking casing, I’d highly recommend the Advent 4213.
UPDATE:
Here’s a picture of two Advent 4213 netbooks. Mine is the one on the left, the one on the right is a friend’s who went out and brought the same one after she used mine. I’m installing some software on it, hence the USB drives.