# Netbook recommendation [SOLVED]

## HeXiLeD

Recently i have been looking at netbooks to buy but while i have some acceptable idea about laptops; netbooks is a new field for me.

For example i have no idea what brands out there are better or worse quality.

Today while asking for details around stores; as usual they dont really know what they are selling like for example telling me that netbooks dont come with a 9 cell battery. 

So based on your personal experience i would like to hear from you. This netbook is to run linux of course.

I was looking into some models and brands and in particular HP. For example; laptops i would go with LeNovo and specific models and custom hardware but with netbooks, things seem a bit limited.

So i looked into the HP Pavilion Mini 210-1095 laptop among other ones but i liked how this one looked.

http://www.laptopdrivers.net/specs/hp_pavilion_mini_210-1095_laptop_specs.htm

However i am more interested in hardware specs and linux support of course.

- Most important is wireless support. I would like to have b/g/n if possible. 

- Battery if a 9 cell is available for a good model by default then it is a plus otherwise  i just buy an extra. (optional)

- Video card ? do any of them come with nvidia or intel is the deal for netbooks (no ati please)

- Blue-tooth is good to have. Its a plus. I need this netbook for a lots of wireless work. 

- Since they come with built in web cam and i remember that the first models did not have much linux support; how are things these days ?

Main work for this laptop is wireless. So i need excellent linux wireless support.

Finally what brand out there is more compatible with linux and durable on the long run in terms of product quality ?

(mods please don't merge this topic)

----------

## Tariella

I own an Asus eeepc 1005ha on which I installed linux mint (not gentoo because of the compiling times) and it is working out of the box without any problems. 

Sound, video (intel gma), wireless network, the webcam and power management don't need any extra configuration.  Even two finger scrolling can be activated.

Buetooth is not included but maybe there are many different eeepc models, so maybe one with bluetooth exists.

I've been using it for over a year now, mostly for taking notes in university lectures and surfing the internet and I'm very happy with it.

----------

## HeXiLeD

After some search i found some more usefull info.

Best Value - Hannspree Hannsbook 10.1-inch

Best Battery Life - ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-P 10.1-inch

Best Keyboard - Toshiba mini NB305-N410 10.1-inch

Best Screen/Graphics - Acer Aspire One 521 10.1-inch

Best for Business Travelers - HP Mini 5102 10.1-inch

According to: http://compreviews.about.com/od/netbooks/tp/netbooks.htm

For those looking for 9 cell netbooks check:

Toshiba Mini NB305-N410WH Netbook - Atom N450 1.66 GHz - 10.10" - Battery life: 11.08 Hour (6 cell)

However when it comes to battery life; Asus seems to rule the netbook world even with a 6 cell battery. I am now looking into the asus netbooks for my final choice.

Some models include:

Asus Eee PC 1005PE-PU17 Netbook - Atom N450 1.66 GHz - 10.10"

Battery Life: 14 Hour 

Networking: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1

Asus 10.1" Netbook featuring Intel Atom Processor N450 (1018P-HBK801)

Battery Life: 8 Hours 16 Minutes (4 cell)

Networking:  Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g/n Ethernet Port 10/100 Mbps (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1)

This is at the moment my current choice:

ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-MU17-BK Netbook - Intel Atom N455

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6494467&CatId=4949

http://soliloquyforthefallen.net/blog/2010/10/16/asus-eee-pc-1015ped-mu17-bk-part-1/

http://www.notebookbeb.com/asus-eee-pc-1015ped-mu17-wt-10-1-inch-netbook-white/

Network: WLAN 802.11b/g/n @2.4GHz BluetoothV3.0 + HS* | Lan 10/100/1000

Webcam: 0.3M Pixels

Battery : 6 cell Li-ion 

SO-DIMM 1GB DDR3 (Maximum 2GB) 

Battery life:

Models with USB2.0: 13hrs(6cells, 63W/h, ), 11.5 hrs(6cells, 56W/h) 10hrs(6cells, 48W/h) , 4.5hrs(3cells, 23W/h) battery life*

I have narrowed my netbook choices to the asus planet. As for graphics card, Intel seems to be the graphics card for netbooks. 

My only problem now is find hardware detailed specifications about netbooks. Does anyone know any info about the ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-MU17 ?

Tariella some questions:

- Could you post the lspci -v of your Asus eeepc 1005ha  ?

- How is your overall performance with it ?

- What WM do you use and how if your battery life ?

- How your you rate your netbook from on to 10 ?

Another gentoo topic about which netbook to buy

----------

## Tariella

Here is my lspci -v: http://pastebin.com/4yTpM5zM

The overall performance is fine. 

Battery runtime was originally 9 hrs, now after a year of intensive daily use it is about 7 hrs.

I'm using linux mint lxde version (so no kde or gnome here) and I have compiz enabled and it works great. 

My rating for this device is 10, but I can't compare it to other netbooks since this is my first and only one.

----------

## SlashBeast

Avoid asus 1215n due horrible wifi drivers (broadcom-sta), not working nvidia ion2 card etc...

asus 1201n with ion1 as far as I know works flawless.

----------

## HeXiLeD

Thanks Tariella

I still haven't been able to find the hardware technical specifications of the ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-MU17 anywhere but from the windows drivers packages they might be like yours 

```
Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)

Kernel driver in use: atl1c

Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

Kernel driver in use: ath9k

```

The windows driver packages contain:

Webcam

jmicron 31x usb  video cam driver

realtek pc camera (azure driver ?)

Wireless

broadcom

ralink

atheros

Wired

atheros 8131 & 8121

Possible linux driver: 

AR81Family Linux Driver http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx

AR81Family-linux-v1.0.0.10.tar.gz - atl1e.ko )

Today i will be going to some stores to look for this netbook

----------

## HeXiLeD

I decided to buy the Asus Eee PC 1015PED-MU17 intel centrino2 seashell. (418.851 USD / 321.423 EUR / 35,036.08 JPY).

It comes with windows 7 starter that takes forever to setup on first run and was wiped on the second boot time. If i have to install windows there it will windows 2003. windows 7 in with this hardware is not worth. Plus its it's ... windows.

I have been setting it up and having quite a lot of problems with it that are explained here

Here goes some hardware info:

lspci:

```
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation N10 Family DMI Bridge

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation NM10 Family LPC Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8132 Fast Ethernet (rev c0)

02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
```

lsusb

```
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 13d3:5702 IMC Networks 

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 058f:6366 Alcor Micro Corp. 

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
```

For a more complete list of hardware and setup extensive list details check this

This topic is SOLVED for me. Thanks for the attention. I will be posting performance details later.

----------

