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Yan
Gerbil XP
Topic Author
Posts: 349
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 9:37 pm
Location: Ottawa

What replacement for my netbook?

Sat May 04, 2019 9:18 pm

I bought an Acer Aspire 522 because of Tech Report's favourable review. I like that it's small and light, but of course an AMD C-50 processor can't handle modern software.

I'm looking for something the same size (10,1"), or slightly larger (under 13"), light, and with a reasonable hard drive. This seems to be the hardest requirement: all I can find at this size are Chromebooks with, at most, an eMMC of 128 GB . I'd like at least 256 GB.

I definitely want a laptop, not a tablet. A "convertible" is acceptable.

I'm in Canada, and originally I was thinking of spending CAD 500, but it's pretty obvious I won't find anything at that price. I'd like something under CAD 1000 (USD 750).

Can someone put me on the right track?
 
NovusBogus
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1408
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:37 am

Re: What replacement for my netbook?

Sun May 05, 2019 8:10 pm

What you want to be looking at are 12.5 inch enterprise grade subnotebooks like the Latitude 5290 and Thiknkpad X280, or their predecessors if you want to take a chance with an off-lease refurb for a big discount (which is usually safe, since these models are almost exclusively bought by big companies). Expensive, but very durable and they've got real CPUs for doing real work. My backup lappy is an Elitebook 2560p that I pulled out of the waste bin about a year ago and upgraded with more RAM and SSD. Works great for a ~$100 investment, and can even play low-overhead games like Rimworld.

True netbooks were cool but they're well and truly dead at this point. Dell/HP/Lenovo offer 11 inch "education latptops" which are in some ways a netbook successor, and they're certainly much cheaper than the corporate stuff, but like the netbooks they replace they're stuck with weak Atom class processors and (usually) soldered-on storage modules.
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: What replacement for my netbook?

Mon May 06, 2019 12:27 am

IMO for your target size and price, the Dell E7240 is one of the best bang-for-buck options in the used/refurb market. Ultrabook form factor, can be had well-equipped for around $170 on eBay, and then you need to budget a license that covers your favorite version of Office. Its one weakness is a rather poor quality TN screen, but if you're up for a little DIY, there's a $40 IPS panel that's a drop-in replacement (already did it to mine).
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