[bodhi]

Hey all,

My girlfriend and I are heading round the world early next year and I wanted to buy a small laptop to take with me. All companies seem to be jumping on the bandwagon now and a lot of Linux etc. I just don't know much about these and thought some of you peeps might have come across/used them.

What I ideally need it to do is:

- Browse the internet (send emails home, transfer money via online banking etc etc)
- Be able to stick my SD card in and download photos onto the hard drive
- Be able to plug my external WD drive into USB so I can backup photos or watch movies from the hard drive
- Not sure if these machines tend to come with DVD players or not, that would be a bonus.
- Another things I just thought of (hence the edit), if any of these come with webcams that would be good. I use MSN so I can keep in touch and webcams and MSN would be great so my parents can see i'm find! :-)

Just really need something to browse internet and download photos to etc.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted!? :-)

Bodhi

[Ian]

There are loads of the mini Asus Eee PC's about now (for example : http://www.aria.co.uk/Products?searc...=price_desc&p=), and most of them come with build in SD readers, webcams and wireless cards.

They aren't very powerful, so don't expect to do much other than internet/email. On the plus side, the battery seems to last for a good length of time as long as you have it configured properly - so that could be important if you are using it on the go.

Might be worth a trip in to PC World / Dixons to see an Eee PC in action so you can get a real feel for it They are tiny little things and aren't anywhere near as expensive as some laptops

[bodhi]

Cheers Ian,

Was just on Amazon and I was looking at the Acer Aspire One. Either with Linux or XP. What's the difference between that one and the EEe Pc?

[Abarbarian]

If your gioing for a Asus EEE then get one with a linux distro.

http://www.zdnetasia.com/reviews/har...330543p,00.htm

http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebo...nux-Edition/p3

Bizarrely, we've also come to rather like the voice activation application installed on Linux. When running it you press F10 and then launch programs, or even websites, simply by saying its name. Another useful addition is the YOStore online storage, which enables you to store up to 20GB of data online - useful if you're using the Eee as a second laptop, as many will.

Overall, though XP remains an interesting option for the "power user", many should and will find what's already on offer just perfect. Obviously the Linux OS is faster than XP, particularly at boot-up and shutdown, but the simplicity of it all is also very appealing and with the extra storage you get from sticking with Linux, this is definitely the version we'd recommend - you can always install XP yourself after all.

I wonder if you can get a light weight solar charger for these aswell ?

[bodhi]

I do like the sound of linux as it's quite and 'virus free' etc. And I know XP is a bit resource hungry on small things like this. However, the 120Gb hard drive on the Acer Aspire One is great, and the fact I can have 1.5gb of RAM is a good thing too as it means i can browse internet, download photos and even do my CV etc once i've installed MS Office etc.

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of the Acer Aspire One and any opinions.

Bodhi