Mini Computers

Missa

Missa

En-Route
Joined
Apr 3, 2005
Messages
3,353
Location
Hughesville, PA
Display Name
Display name:
AsGoodAsCake
Ok, at the last few fly-ins I was very intruged by all the mini computers other people had. I have a laptop but nothing near as light weight and packable as those were. I was told for about $400 I too could have one and I've been wanting one ever since. So I'm in the market and I'd like to get it before Osh. I want something that will allow me to get on the internet to check weather/internet e-mail/POA, enought memory to store extra pictures and maybe some music. Being able to put word/office on it would be gravey but not necessary.

Any Suggestions?

Missa
 
missa i've got an old gateway laptop that i bought for pretty much the same purpose you are looking for. i needed a web browser for down time between flights or classes, etc. i bought mine from a friend for like 200 bucks, its about a foot square, and inch or so thick, weighs maybe 2 or 3 lbs. It has a docking station with a cd drive and whatever. one just sold on ebay for 127.50. I need to find a new keyboard for mine.

FWIW mine is the Gateway 200stm.

I think there are lots of new stuff out there for pretty cheap that does the same thing, netbooks or something like that.
 
Missa are you talking about netwooks as well?

Those are small computers that are mostly for Internet access and have built in wide area wireless coverage such as 1xEV-D0, UMTS, or WiMAX in addition to the Wi-Fi LAN. Those are a good idea if you are mostly looking for Internet access for WX flight planning, PoA, etc. and do not need a high performance platform for massive editing of documents and such.
 
Keep your eyes on Woot.com. They sell them there all the time for like $299. They come with Linux preinstalled usually, but its not hard to instal Windows (or to learn to use a decent OS :D)
 
yep - you can install Mac OS X on the Dell mini
 
I have an Acer Aspire One - and love it.
It's just so dang portable.

Picked it up last summer. It had the highest resolution available (for the size) and best battery life (with big battery), combined with the right feature-set for the right price (at the time).
I did end up going for a standard hard drive with Windows, over a solid-state with Linux (what I really wanted).... because I knew I'd need Windows for certain work tasks sometimes (and the point of the purchase was to enable me to telecommute while traveling).

I haven't kept up with the latest developments...so, no current recommendations.
 
I bought an Asus netbook (EeePC) this past spring. Upon which I am typing right now. Very nice. WinXP installed along with OpenOffice. It was around $400. 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB of memory (expandable to 2), and very power efficient (I've done 6 hours between charges). I got it specifically for traveling - it is light.

Recommended

Woot.com had an Acer One w/windows yesterday for about $300. That's throw-away cost.

My research narrowed my choice down to the Asus or the Acer. I took the Asus because it both a wired and wireless (wifi) network capability, plus USB ports for an aircard/peripherals.
 
Got both my kids the HP netbooks earlier this year. Fairly quick, & reliable & $295 each. Got an external drive for the daughter so she can get all her textbooks on CD in the fall. (She's in AP everything, and that's about 25lbs of books to tote every day) They work great for basic stuff, and my kids think I'm just neat as heck, even with the heavy set of rules we laid down.
If this 4 year old Gateway I'm using ever gives up I might get one too.
 
smigaldi said:
Missa are you talking about netwooks as well?

Those are small computers that are mostly for Internet access and have built in wide area wireless coverage such as 1xEV-D0, UMTS, or WiMAX in addition to the Wi-Fi LAN. Those are a good idea if you are mostly looking for Internet access for WX flight planning, PoA, etc. and do not need a high performance platform for massive editing of documents and such.
Click to expand...

My main computer works just fine for that, I just want something to travel with.
 
I've been kind of partial to the HP laptops lately. Here is a almost $500 configuration for one I'm proposing to our partnership to keep in the plane.

The barebones one with Linux is slightly less than $300, Win XP slightly more than $300.

Joe
 
imQ said:
Got both my kids the HP netbooks earlier this year. Fairly quick, & reliable & $295 each. Got an external drive for the daughter so she can get all her textbooks on CD in the fall. (She's in AP everything, and that's about 25lbs of books to tote every day) They work great for basic stuff, and my kids think I'm just neat as heck, even with the heavy set of rules we laid down.
If this 4 year old Gateway I'm using ever gives up I might get one too.
Click to expand...
$300 seems to be about the price point, and that's with a 160GB hard drive, 10" screen, and 1GB of RAM. I'd probably put the textbooks either on the hard drive or on a USB thumb drive, but having a CD/DVD player is helpful. That's something (almost?) all the netbooks lack in order to extend battery life and minimize weight.
 
tonycondon said:
vontresc said:
and here I though this was a tread about PDPs and VAXes :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_computer
Click to expand...
there's nothing mini about that at all
Click to expand...
Compared to a mainframe, there most certainly is...

...and on the subject of netbooks, I've got an Asus EeePC 900A. I've given it a second gig of RAM, a 32 GB solid state disk, and the fluxflux-eee Linux distribution. It works pretty well - and I even run Hercules, my mainframe emulator, on it.
 
I started a thread about them here.

Ended up getting the HP Netbook. It's slow, but it does what I need.
 
I have an AcerOne given to me last Christmas. Works great for light work and traveling to connect to email, web mail servers, and browse some boards. Intermal WiFi. I just picked up a VirginMobile 3G USB Broadband card for cheap and $20/month to month service. I can turn the service on and off.

Verizon and others are starting to market them with built in broadband access, selling them cheap with a 2yr service contract for about $50 per month for 250MB data service. The service contract pays for the computer.. just like those free cell phones.

You can do better with buying the computer on your own and get month to month broadband access from Cricket or VirginMobile.
 
I'll chime in for the eeePC as well. My husband got me one for my birthday (instead of a gun this time, imagine that :D) and I love it. I have a Dell Laptop that I can do all my graphic stuff on, but this little guy is so much easier to travel with. I have it hooked up right now to my S. African aircard and it works like a charm out here in the middle of nowhere. I carry way too much stuff with me on trips anyhow, so the light weight and portability were really important to me. I did get a little USB optical mouse to go with it because my husband just hates the touch pads.
 
gprellwitz said:
$300 seems to be about the price point, and that's with a 160GB hard drive, 10" screen, and 1GB of RAM. I'd probably put the textbooks either on the hard drive or on a USB thumb drive, but having a CD/DVD player is helpful. That's something (almost?) all the netbooks lack in order to extend battery life and minimize weight.
Click to expand...

The schools provide textbooks on cd on request. I'd rather go for the thumb drive myself. The daughter is delighted with the idea not developing a premature sway back.
 
I have an Acer Aspire One, high-capacity battery and 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home. Most excellent for travel and for doing seminars.

I use an AT&T aircard for 'Net access when I am out of wifi, and bought an external DVD/CD-RW for when I nee dthat. Which, as it turns out, is almost never.

Very happy with it. You should be able to get into this or equivalent (some mentioned above) for under $300.00.
 
wsuffa said:
I bought an Asus netbook (EeePC) this past spring. Upon which I am typing right now. Very nice. WinXP installed along with OpenOffice. It was around $400. 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB of memory (expandable to 2), and very power efficient (I've done 6 hours between charges). I got it specifically for traveling - it is light.
Click to expand...

We have an Eee as well, the 9", got it on Amazon last xmas for $320. Excellent computer for the price.
 
smigaldi said:
You might want to look at these too

http://www.oqo.com/products/index.html
Click to expand...

Clicking anything that would allow you to purchase gives you this:

Code: 
Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /store/ on this server.

(i.e., click on Features, then on "Improved Battery Life" in the top picture.)

Nice. I bet they are selling lots of them. :rolleyes: Can you find a "where to buy" link? Anything to actually allow you to configure and purchase one?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top