Discussion about
What OS do you use and how is performance?
I'm making a decision between this, the Dell Mini 10, and the HP Mini 1000. I'd like to get a feel for what OS people are choosing to run and how it's working for them. Help me out.
I'm actually using the 1000HE, but as the specs are nearly identical among netbooks I'll chime in here.
I used XP for a few days when I first got mine, but quickly replaced it entirely (as in wiping the entire drive) with the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Performance is close enough to the same that I didn't notice any slowdowns, and boot time is much quicker than XP. I also used Ubuntu 9.04 (not the netbook remix) for a couple weeks but Windows 7 actually seemed (slightly) faster.
Right now I'm still using Windows 7, although I'm using the Windows Classic theme to speed things up even more. Rest assured that Aero performs quite well.
Whichever OS you chose to use, they really should run about the same on those three devices. I would reccomend the ASUS over the HP or Dell though, since the Mini 1000 has some problems with disk speed (notoriously slow SSD or 5400 RPM HDD) and I believe the 1005HA benchmarks better than the Dell.
(No matter what model or OS you go with, you want to get a 2GB stick of RAM to replace the normal 512MB or 1GB that comes with your netbook, it makes a world of difference in any case)
I used XP for a few days when I first got mine, but quickly replaced it entirely (as in wiping the entire drive) with the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Performance is close enough to the same that I didn't notice any slowdowns, and boot time is much quicker than XP. I also used Ubuntu 9.04 (not the netbook remix) for a couple weeks but Windows 7 actually seemed (slightly) faster.
Right now I'm still using Windows 7, although I'm using the Windows Classic theme to speed things up even more. Rest assured that Aero performs quite well.
Whichever OS you chose to use, they really should run about the same on those three devices. I would reccomend the ASUS over the HP or Dell though, since the Mini 1000 has some problems with disk speed (notoriously slow SSD or 5400 RPM HDD) and I believe the 1005HA benchmarks better than the Dell.
(No matter what model or OS you go with, you want to get a 2GB stick of RAM to replace the normal 512MB or 1GB that comes with your netbook, it makes a world of difference in any case)
Same here.. add another notch to the Windows 7 camp.
I had a 1000HEB from best buy but the lack of bluetooth and other "nerfed" specs made me take it back.. since then I picked up the 1000HA. I ran windwos 7 on both machines, both machines ran it flawlessly (they the HE did develop some wifi issues after a few days.. i think it was hardware specific tho.. not sure because i took it back anyway).
Windows 7 runs really nice.
I had a 1000HEB from best buy but the lack of bluetooth and other "nerfed" specs made me take it back.. since then I picked up the 1000HA. I ran windwos 7 on both machines, both machines ran it flawlessly (they the HE did develop some wifi issues after a few days.. i think it was hardware specific tho.. not sure because i took it back anyway).
Windows 7 runs really nice.
You should get a real Laptop/Desktop Replacement.
Netbooks are nice but not Fast. They have decent storage but not Huge. However the price isn't just reasonable it's cheap.
If you already have a desktop computer or powerful laptop get a 1005HA. If you are in the market for 1 computer to do everything for you spend $800-1000 on a powerful 15" Dell (17" aren't really portable).
Netbooks are nice but not Fast. They have decent storage but not Huge. However the price isn't just reasonable it's cheap.
If you already have a desktop computer or powerful laptop get a 1005HA. If you are in the market for 1 computer to do everything for you spend $800-1000 on a powerful 15" Dell (17" aren't really portable).
i tried putting in multitouch in Moblin, but after following some instructions from ubuntu-snippets.blogspot.com/2009/03/multi-touch-f... I crashed Moblin (would boot, but after pressing any key or mouse movement, terminal-like symbols would start appearing on the screen. it became useless) I know this was for Ubuntu, but I figured since both use X11 it should be the same. I've tried the same thing in Ubuntu and Linux Mint, and I haven't had any luck. I still think multitouch is possible, I'm just a Linux newbie and I haven't figured it out enough or spent enough time with it to understand what's going on.
Multitouch in XP isn't even really enabled either (except for zoom, but I don't use that often). I followed the instructions here (forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=608634). Basically, here they are:
1) download newer touchpad drivers @ forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/15103-synaptics-dr...
2) uninstall old drivers (add/remove programs-> synaptic ), reboot, install new driver, reboot.
3) download this driver setting file (drop.io/syntp_sgs). Rename it to be .inf instead of .txt (may not apply). Right-click it and hit install.
4) You're golden. For more settings, right click the synaptics icon in the bottom right
As for performance-- I've installed all the OSes below and here are my thoughts.
Linux Mint performance--
Not so great. It has compiz enabled as default, so I turned it off and Gnome compositing on, and it's still not that great. I love Linux Mint but it's definitely not as snappy as XP.
Ubuntu NBR performance--
It's great. This is obviously optimized for netbooks, whereas Linux Mint is not, but there are still some visual bugs and annoyances (opening windows taller than 600px. Installation process can have a window wider than 1024px and therefore can't see the buttons to push to continue.) Linux Mint seems to act better about these things, but it's still sluggish.
Moblin performance--
It's the snappiest of them all. I'm just waiting for this distro to become much more mature. I can't use it regularly. I'd recommend installing it and checking up on it every once in a while.
XP performance--
Great. No problems.
Jolicloud performance--
This looks a lot like Ubuntu NBR right now with an added Social Cloud (My Jolicloud) app on top, which heavily relies on Firefox Prism. It's a good performer too, but I think any flash and prism action starts feeling slow. I can watch hulu fine on XP, but under Ubuntu NBR or Jolicloud, it ain't happenin. This goes for pretty much all linux distros.
for linux WIRED and WIRELESS driver solutions, go to drop.io/a9wj9qi
hope that helps
-----
check out my blog @ bernheisel.com
Multitouch in XP isn't even really enabled either (except for zoom, but I don't use that often). I followed the instructions here (forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=608634). Basically, here they are:
1) download newer touchpad drivers @ forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/15103-synaptics-dr...
2) uninstall old drivers (add/remove programs-> synaptic ), reboot, install new driver, reboot.
3) download this driver setting file (drop.io/syntp_sgs). Rename it to be .inf instead of .txt (may not apply). Right-click it and hit install.
4) You're golden. For more settings, right click the synaptics icon in the bottom right
As for performance-- I've installed all the OSes below and here are my thoughts.
Linux Mint performance--
Not so great. It has compiz enabled as default, so I turned it off and Gnome compositing on, and it's still not that great. I love Linux Mint but it's definitely not as snappy as XP.
Ubuntu NBR performance--
It's great. This is obviously optimized for netbooks, whereas Linux Mint is not, but there are still some visual bugs and annoyances (opening windows taller than 600px. Installation process can have a window wider than 1024px and therefore can't see the buttons to push to continue.) Linux Mint seems to act better about these things, but it's still sluggish.
Moblin performance--
It's the snappiest of them all. I'm just waiting for this distro to become much more mature. I can't use it regularly. I'd recommend installing it and checking up on it every once in a while.
XP performance--
Great. No problems.
Jolicloud performance--
This looks a lot like Ubuntu NBR right now with an added Social Cloud (My Jolicloud) app on top, which heavily relies on Firefox Prism. It's a good performer too, but I think any flash and prism action starts feeling slow. I can watch hulu fine on XP, but under Ubuntu NBR or Jolicloud, it ain't happenin. This goes for pretty much all linux distros.
for linux WIRED and WIRELESS driver solutions, go to drop.io/a9wj9qi
hope that helps
-----
check out my blog @ bernheisel.com
First, I would say to skip both those computers and get the Asus eee 1005HA or the 1000HE. They are both incredible machines and if the Dell 10 is anything like the Latitude 2100 then it will be a dog compared with the 2 Asus ones.
I have had both Asus's and loved the HE (but I killed it on a freeway so I got the 1005HA as a replacement and it is incredible). The extra speed of these processors may not seem like they will make a difference but they actually do.
And for the $ you cant beat them. Asus also offers a 2 year extended warranty (you have to go on line for it) that covers some types of damage.
They also run OSX nicely (discuss.gdgt.com/asus/eee/pc/1005ha/tips/osx-on-10...).
Happy hunting
I have had both Asus's and loved the HE (but I killed it on a freeway so I got the 1005HA as a replacement and it is incredible). The extra speed of these processors may not seem like they will make a difference but they actually do.
And for the $ you cant beat them. Asus also offers a 2 year extended warranty (you have to go on line for it) that covers some types of damage.
They also run OSX nicely (discuss.gdgt.com/asus/eee/pc/1005ha/tips/osx-on-10...).
Happy hunting
I loaded Windows 7 ultimate (RTM) on my new 1005HA about a week ago and it is working very well. Performance seems about the same as with XP and the machine runs the aero interface very well. The installation was fairly easy as described in a few good articles on the web. I used a 4GB USB drive formatted using the HP format tool to be an active partition. Drivers for XP worked fine. Just run the installations using the XP compatibility mode.
Network performance on this thing is OFF THE FRICKIN' CHAIN. The 802.11n network adapter really screams on my network. Netflix movies load in about 7 seconds from the the "play" click.
Since I got this, three people in my office have seen it and ordered one. The thing sells itself. Just be sure to keep a 4GB-8GB USB drive around to load software from
Network performance on this thing is OFF THE FRICKIN' CHAIN. The 802.11n network adapter really screams on my network. Netflix movies load in about 7 seconds from the the "play" click.
Since I got this, three people in my office have seen it and ordered one. The thing sells itself. Just be sure to keep a 4GB-8GB USB drive around to load software from
I've been tri booting Win7, OS X 10.5 and GoodOS since the day I got it and everything runs spectacular. Windows 7 is snappy and fast, with the only thing holding it back is the 1 GB of ram and the graphics card. I run a program valled GMABooster when i'm running video and the overclocking makes the videos run pretty smoothly at least. In OS X, I followed maceee.blogspot.com/2009/08/installing-mac-osx-on-... and everything runs well. People have said they got sleep and the battery meter working, but I haven't yet. I'm gonna try installing snow leopard tonight, but you'll also have to upgrade the wifi card if you want wifi in OS X. I bought a Dell 1510 off ebay for $30. GoodOS runs well, it's basically just Ubuntu with integrated Google desktop. I'm really waiting for Chrome OS :)
I was looking deep into putting OSX on my 1005HA. But people kept saying that you'd need a new wifi card which i'm too lazy to put in. So i stuck with dual booting Win7 and Vista for a while. But eventually reformatted and now i'm only using Win7. Never looked back. Dont really think i'm gonna do Chrome OS either. The concept of having everything saved on the internet that might be personal to me is kinda sketchy.
