Hej,

I know netbooks are a bit of a dying trend - but I am looking for something really mobile (long battery life) and fairly cheap (rules out ultrabooks) that is somewhat rugged and comes with a keyboard (i.e. no tablet): I am likely to spend a lot of time using it for writing texts as it's primary use.

The rugged aspect is a semi-important one; it doesn't need to be super tough, but I do travel often and that frequently includes being out in the mountains / staying in tents or bicycling (not too rough terrain) - I'd want something I can throw in the bag and not worry too much about. I don't want / need the premium of a tough book. Chromebooks are out (not just 'cause I'd rather stay away from chrome OS, but also 'cause I need something that works offline!).

I'd quite like the thought of exchanging whatever stock hard drive is in there with an SSD (less mechanical parts and even less power consumption) - but seem to remember having read that most netbook manufacturer's aren't to keen, guarantee wise, on having people exchanging parts?

I might want to do a bit of very basic photo editing, too - nothing major and taxing but the chance to adjust a few .raw files settings and then convert them over to .jpg.

Generally I liked the look of the Samsung NC110, from what I've read / seen / heard when I researched netbooks a few years ago - but I am absolutely out of the loop, and there seem to be several versions of the NC110 floating around, too.

Any thoughts, tips, suggestions?

Thank you!

Just get a small laptop. The bottom end of the range compares very favorably with the out of favour netbooks (lets be honest this is where tablets fit in now)

The only one I can vouch for is the Toshiba NB550d, which is very good, but I'm not sure whether you can get hold of them any more.

Shying away from laptops due to the low-power consumption aspect I need. When I say travel I mean off road, and often with limited chances to recharge batteries for a few days. But then - as I said - am out of the loop and laptops may have caught up a little? Thanks for that - seems to still be out there and having a look :).

I got a Samsung N145 Plus JP04, which I bought about 18 months ago. My criteria were:

- small size
- long battery life (specs say up to 9 hours, but that's really under ideal conditions, as usual for these numbers)
- "regular" keyboard (I don't feel comfortable with chiclet keys)
- hassle-free Windows compatibility (it has Win7 Starter)
- affordable price

So far, I'm very happy with it. With regard to robustness - it survived a fall from about 1.2m height onto a hard floor (I grabbed my laptop bag in a haste and had forgotten that I hadn't closed the zipper yet). The case had sprung open by 2mm at the corner that bore the brunt of the impact, but I could shut the gap with a bit of pressure, and everything clicked into place again. I had no problems whatsoever.

Personally, I don't understand why this type of computer is apparently falling out of favor. It is _exactly_ what I want, and more.

Note: This type of netbook was sold with only 1 GB of memory due to licensing limitations enforced by Microsoft. I bought a memory replacement stick with 2 GB, I'd recommend that. 1 GB is a bit small.

Edit:
If you want _really_ long battery life, and a decent keyboard, at very small size, and don't need a colored screen or WIndows compatibility, then you could check out a machine that I had for about 10 years: The Psion 5 mx pro. It's long out of production, but some shops still sell them.

The Psion is incredibly efficient. It runs for 20 hours on 2 regular AA batteries, and when they run out, you simply replace them while the backup Lithium battery makes sure that you don't lose anything. It can read and write compact flash cards of up to 8 GB. Unfortunately it does need some maintenance every 6-12 months (depending on usage), but it's a great little machine.

Thank you :). Mhm. Reading up - and ye - those (and similar ones) do seem like they might fit the bill. So thank you, as well.

AMD has some great chips for notebooks in the $400-$600 with capable integrated graphics. Not the power of a quad core Intel, but unless you're doing intensive computing tasks it should be good enough.

In that price range AMD is really the only option. The only Intel laptops I've seen new under a grand had Atom processors in them.

BTW, steer clear of the Atom line of processors, they're pretty much worthless comparatively speaking.

Truth on Atom.

I'm always trying to root for AMD. I think they make great options for budget laptops, and their performance stuff is getting better.

I don't understand why people keep bashing the Atom processor. It does _exactly_ what I want - decent performance at low power, for cheap. The AMD CPUs simply add more performance (which I don't need in my netbook) for shorter battery life (which, to me, is infinitely more important), and cost more.

The OP has stated that he is looking for something that's cheap, has a long battery life, and will mainly be used for typing texts. That is exactly the usage scenario where, to my knowledge, the Atom has its strengths.

I completely agree with this. I've been using an Acer Aspire Happy for around three years now, and for what I need it for it's ideal - writing texts, internet browsing and the occasional GOG or two if the mood takes me. Battery life, in real world usage, lasts me well over four hours, longer if I turn off wifi etc. It's also highly portable and solid as a brick - it's fallen on the floor so many times now I've lost count, but not even a mark on the case yet. For the purposes stated there's no need to avoid Atom. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Make sure it has an SSD then, this is probably the biggest thing you can do to extend battery life.

It would still be nice if they manage to make them just a tad faster. They just barely can't do a number of things which seems to create an element of frustration with just about every reviewer of them I've ever come across, and its a position they have been stalled in for years. Add that they fail to be financially attractive in the power/price curve and the only people left to sell them to are people that care exclusively about battery life and need to type.

I love the idea of the Atom netbook but the whole thing is hard to understand. One worth having cost almost as much as an entry level laptop with far more power, and for less you can buy a NOOK tablet which actually can do all those things people wish the Atom could. Keyboards are nice and so is having windows, but its hard to believe there are many people willing do the netbook dance just for a keyboard and to say they saved 75$ by not buying a laptop.

Because I've used both an Atom and a similarly powered AMD offering and the Atom struggles under even the most modest load. The sluggishness compared with a similarly clocked AMD chip is obvious. What's more, the laptops I was comparing had that Atom based system costing a lot more than the similar AMD system.

Overpriced, underpowered with batter life not any better, I think that's a pretty damn good reason to talk smack about Atom.