RHFtech Help Desk (and more)

I received the following questions in an email this morning:

I need to buy two new computers – a desktop and a portable.  I’m considering a netbook for the portable.

Do you recommend waiting until new computers ship with Windows 7?  Does it make sense to buy a netbook with Windows XP?  The Asus machines with XP claim up to 10 hours battery life which is certainly appealing.  What are your thoughts on the new Mac OS?

Here is my response:

• Do you recommend waiting until new computers ship with Windows 7?

Yes. October 22 is close. Waiting is advised.

• Does it make sense to buy a netbook with Windows XP?

No. October 22 is close. Waiting is advised.

• I’m considering a netbook for the portable…

Good choice. They are lightweight, conveniently small but relatively full-featured. Please note that they do not have optical drives (DVD/CD). This is not a problem for me but can be a handicap for others.

One key feature to check out is the processor.  I recommend getting one using an Intel Atom CPU N280 (or better) running at 1.66GHz. Many netbooks use the N270 (1.6GHz) or the Z520 (1.33GHz) to save money. These are slower chips that degrade the computing experience at the savings of a few dollars.

Note that netbook screens are typically 1024×600 resolution, which is a bit short on the vertical. I recommend running these with the Taskbar set to Auto-hide when not needed, to compensate.

I have three ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbooks sitting next to me here in the office. Two are running Windows 7, the other is running the version of XP Home it came with. One is mine, the others are a client’s. Real battery life is between 6-8 hours of use, depending upon what you are doing. Watching video will run them down faster. Surfing the web or typing a Word document will not.

I tested the newest one two days ago by playing streaming audio until the battery quit. I got about 6.5 hours of constant audio. The battery hasn’t been fully conditioned yet so I expect slightly better times in actual use. If you close the netbook when not actually in use, thereby putting them into standby, they will last a whole day and then some since standby uses very little juice.

Most netbooks can be upgraded from the 1GB of RAM to 2GB. I recommend doing this.
Before committing I suggest you go to a local retailer—Best Buy, Staples, Walmart, etc.—and try typing on the netbook keyboards. Netbook keyboards are not full-sized and some people have issues with the smaller keys.

• What are your thoughts on the new Mac OS?

I suggest you read my blog post from last Thursday, Snow Leopard, snow job or honest upgrade, for an extended answer but…

I wrote to a Mac-oriented colleague yesterday, "IMO, Windows 7 leapfrogs Leopard/Snow Leopard in easy-of-use and usability. I think that Apple is now playing catch-up in the desktop/laptop OS world."

He wrote back, "…on this missive I can’t disagree with a single thing you’ve written. Which, of course, leaves me sorely disappointed!."

If you go Mac you will have a transitional period, a week or two, until you familiarize yourself with the differences. You will also need to invest in new software since Macs do not natively run PC applications.

This past week UPS delivered both machines, first the Eee PC and then two days later the Kindle 2. Both are extremely well designed.

The 1000HE has been stellar in its initial paces. It is a netbook, weighs a bit over 3 lbs, and has a very usable keyboard and screen. The default operating system is Windows XP Home. I have temporarily replaced this with Windows 7 Ultimate beta build 7000. I am both pleased and surprised by how well the combination of the 1000HE and W7 perform, beyond my expectations. I had some trouble getting W7 to install working drivers for the built-in Bluetooth capability. Perseverance won the day and now every hardware device works under W7. I was also surprised that W7’s Aero interface works on this lightweight a machine with a low-end video chip. Battery life is between 6 and 9 hours depending upon what applications are in use. As you would expect, playing audio runs the battery down faster than surfing the web.

 I now intend to take this machine, as configured, with me when I leave the office, replacing my MacBook Pro. BTW, the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE cost $374 at Amazon.com

The Kindle 2 is also a surprise. I did not like the original Kindle and returned it to Amazon within a week or two (see Amazon’s Kindle a device I wanted to love). It was more like a proto-type than a usable reader. The Kindle 2 changes my opinion. It is a well-designed, functional text reader and audio device. The wireless integration with Amazon.com makes this device like having a bookstore in your hand. Surprisingly, it works very well with Audible books, unlike my BlackBerry. Its text-to-speech feature is also a winner.

The form factor is a big improvement over the original Kindle. The screen is easy to read. The buttons are well laid out and quickly become “intuitive”, by which I mean you remember which button to push without thinking about it.

If you buy the Kindle for yourself, it arrives setup for you with your Amazon.com account. This means you can instantly shop the Amazon Kindle bookstore and spend money. It is money well spent. If it you receive it as a gift, and it makes a nice gift, the donee needs to go through setup.

A Kindle 2 negative is that the rechargeable battery is not user replaceable. When it needs to be changed the device must be sent back to Amazon.

[Update: 2009-03-14] Battery life is poor if the wireless is turned on and there is no quick way I know of to turn on/off the wireless. I have to click the Menu button, navigate to the Turn Wireless On/Off menu item, press the joy stick and then click the Menu button again. This is poor design. A keyboard shortcut would be welcomed.

This note was composed on the 1000HE.

The PC/netbook is small, light weight and quite usable. It has Windows XP Home installed by default.

Setup is straightforward, like setting up any typical XP machine.

The hard drive (~150GB) was divided into 4 partitions

• C drive about 85GB
• D drive about 60GB
• Hidden partitions of about 5GB and something less than 40MB.

Will be upgrading the 1GB memory to 2GB tomorrow but the machine is quite perky as configured.

The keyboard is surprising good, especially compared to older Eee models. I have no trouble typing other than my normal keyboard problems brought about by typing on 5 to 10 different keyboards a day.

I installed:

• Avast Home free anti-virus
• Windows Defender
• Windows XP updates
• Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and updates
• Firefox (Adblock Plus, Foxmarks, Delicious Bookmarks, Toolbar Buttons, Textarea Cache, and IE Tab)
• Dropbox
• Windows Live Mesh
• Windows Live Sync
• Logmein
• Acronis True Image Home 11
• Acronis Disk Director Suite 10

I cleaned up and accessorized the All Programs menus

Deleted the D drive partition and re-sized the C drive to ~145GB.

Successfully tested attaching a DVD player via a USB connection (do not know if I can boot from it – will test this tomorrow) [Edit - yes it does boot from the USB connected DVD]
The screen is great except that the native resolution is 1024×600 so it has a wide screen that is a bit short (1.71 vs a standard 1.6 widescreen ratio) Office 2007 applications with their excessively large Ribbons look awful. This screen highlights the foolishness of the Ribbon.

Still have to test the SD card reader, camera, microphone, battery life and then the fun begins—

I will test Vista and Windows 7 and I am toying with testing a Hackintosh installation.

I have to broadcast the Weston Board of Education meeting tonight and plan on taking this little netbook with me to see how it does away from home and only on the battery.