What is better for a college student, netbook or tablet?

Josh5890

Josh5890

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My laptop is about to die for good and I'm looking at replacing it within the next few months. I need my new device mainly for school related stuff as well as occasional surfing. All I'm looking for is wi-fi, a usb port or two for printing, and use of microsoft office so that I can use it for typing up school docs and transferring to and from the device. I don't have a smartphone and I don't care about all the bells and whistles like apps. What would work best for me, a netbook or tablet?

My limit is $450 but hopefully I can do good for under $400.
 
hopefully this topic gets some traffic, I'm in the market for a new laptop for my wife. She'll mainly be browsing different medical journals, and using word. Not much more than what Josh is doing with his for school.
 
[quote name='Josh5890']My laptop is about to die for good and I'm looking at replacing it within the next few months. I need my new device mainly for school related stuff as well as occasional surfing. All I'm looking for is wi-fi, a usb port or two for printing, and use of microsoft office so that I can use it for typing up school docs and transferring to and from the device. I don't have a smartphone and I don't care about all the bells and whistles like apps. What would work best for me, a netbook or tablet?

My limit is $450 but hopefully I can do good for under $400.[/QUOTE]

I'd say a cheap laptop in the $400 range.

What kind of classes? If it's heavy in reading, maybe a laptop and a cheap e-reader?
 
[quote name='elessar123']I'd say a cheap laptop in the $400 range.

What kind of classes? If it's heavy in reading, maybe a laptop and a cheap e-reader?[/QUOTE]

I'm going for business management so I'll be using office aplicaltions (word, excel, powerpoint)
 
You don't necessarily have to go Netbook in that price range unless you are looking for that 10-11" form factor. Walmart has plenty of laptops around $300-$350.
 
[quote name='Habbler']You don't necessarily have to go Netbook in that price range unless you are looking for that 10-11" form factor. Walmart has plenty of laptops around $300-$350.[/QUOTE]

The form factor is one of my big driving points. The less I have to lug around the better.
 
[quote name='Josh5890']I'm going for business management so I'll be using office aplicaltions (word, excel, powerpoint)[/QUOTE]

Yea, definitely a laptop. Netbooks are pointless. Barely cheaper, if at all, and are hard to see/use cause of the form factor.

Edit: I used a 14" laptop for school. It's still not massive. Not as convenient as a netbook, but I never had to strain to read the screen. Fits easily in a backpack still.
 
Go for the netbook. It is just a cheap laptop, but it still is a laptop. Has all of the same capabilities. Be warned though, it won't last very long. They're cheap for a reason.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']Go for the netbook. It is just a cheap laptop, but it still is a laptop. Has all of the same capabilities. Be warned though, it won't last very long. They're cheap for a reason.[/QUOTE]

Why, did you have a bad experience or something. I'd like to get 3 years at least out of it.
 
I've had my Hannspree Netbook for a little over two years now. I added an extra gig of RAM to it and installed Windows 7 on it. Haven't had a problem with it really. I like the portability of the netbook as well as the battery life. I get about 5~6 hours on mine with WiFi on and lowest brightness.

There are plenty of netbooks that come with full-sized keyboards and the screen is really not that bad to read on. Most come with nice and crisp LED screens. A downside of netbooks though are they're not too good with video processing. I've been using GMABooster on mine though and that has helped significantly. Also, if you need a disc drive that is another thing you'll have to consider lugging around unless you RIP discs at home and slap them on a thumb drive/harddrive.

Get the netbook!
 
Small laptop. I love my iPad, but it's no substitute for a laptop.

That said, I do have a handful of students taking notes on their iPads in my classes this semester. So it is doable if you can type fast on the onscreen keyboard, or use a keyboard case.

But I'd only consider that route if you had a desktop or laptop at home for heavier work like writing wrong papers.

Tablets are going to get more play in higher ed though. There's talk at my university of eventually giving every incoming student an iPad in a few years and moving to iPad textbooks, iPad classroom activities etc.
 
I can't speak for the benefits of a tablet as I have not used one for school, but I have been using a Samsung NC10 netbook since 2008 for all my computing needs. I added an extra gig of RAM (swapped the stick it came with for a lager one) but otherwise have been using the netbook as it was 4 years ago. I have Windows XP on mine. The battery life and size were the main reasons I chose this netbook. With wifi on, sound off, and screen set to 4 out of 8 bars I could get a full day of classes (roughly 6 hours) without a low battery notification. I use OpenOffice on mine as I do not have the MS suite, and I was typically reading comics or surfing the web while taking notes or between classes.
 
If you wont be doing a lot of typing in class, go with a netbook. When you take it home, you can use a full size keyboard and mouse, which I'd recommend.

A few years ago, I got a refurb 7" acer netbook for $199, and I used it as my main PC for a while, when I was only interested in basic web browsing and word processing and other similar uses. You could probably get a 10" for around $300.

With that said, you can get a much more functional laptop for under $400, but it'll be a few pounds heavier. Most 15" laptops are around 5-6 lbs, and a 10" netbook would probably be around 2-3lbs.
 
Well, I have a desktop at home for use. I'm looking at using my device for note taking and working on projects on the go when I get time.

I've been looking at the Asus transformer. It looks pretty sleek with the keyboard.

Also, should I wait until Window 8 comes out?
 
[quote name='Josh5890']Why, did you have a bad experience or something. I'd like to get 3 years at least out of it.[/QUOTE]

Not me personally. I have a 13" Macbook, and it's powerful, yet small enough that it's comparable to a netbook. But I have worked on 5+ netbooks for friends. They're just made very cheaply. The screen hinge is usually the first thing to go. Then they all start to acquire other problems like switches/buttons not working, mouse not working, etc. You should be able to get 3 years though. Take care of it and 3 years shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Also, don't bother with Windows 8. Chances are that 90% of netbooks will continue to have WIndows 7 until late 2013 anyway. (Just like most netbooks had XP up until about 2 years ago.)
 
Definitely check out amazon. If you were looking for a standard 15.6 inch laptop, $400 would be fine. You could even get one for about $350.

From Amazon Warehouse Deals, I nabbed an Asus laptop, normally $500ish, for $297. They don't have much to choose from right now, but check out this link. They always have a handful of netbooks, and usually, Warehouse Deals or Amazon in general is the cheapest you'll find them.

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1332896...095011,n:2418194011&bbn=3545095011&sort=price

If you're not sure how Warehouse Deals work, the majority of the items are brand new with just some packaging damage or repackaging. Some are returns, but anything I've ever gotten from the Warehouse has been seemingly brand new. A lot of stuff was still sealed.
 
I've had a Toshiba netbook for 1.5 years now and it's still going strong. I added an extra gig of RAM which did help noticeably. I use Office applications on it regularly for both work and personal use and haven't had any problems (Office 2007). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a notebook. Also, my last 3 laptops (well 2 laptops and the netbook) have been Toshibas. And I've never had a problem with them.
 
[quote name='RAMSTORIA']I've had a Toshiba netbook for 1.5 years now and it's still going strong. I added an extra gig of RAM which did help noticeably. I use Office applications on it regularly for both work and personal use and haven't had any problems (Office 2007). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a notebook. Also, my last 3 laptops (well 2 laptops and the netbook) have been Toshibas. And I've never had a problem with them.[/QUOTE]

Just one comment. The biggest problem Toshibas used to have was that they overheat easily. Just check reviews etc. and make sure.
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i14Z-1424BK-14-Inch-Diamond/dp/B006LX2IWS

Would this be a decent laptop for browsing articles/using windows office? Or could I find something cheaper (and reliable). I don't really know the "good" brands for laptops anymore.[/QUOTE]

The most reliable brands are Asus and Toshiba. I almost always recommend Asus because it comes with one year of accidental damage coverage with the manufacture warranty.

Dell and Acer are about middle of the road for reliability, and HP is one of the worst.

Here's a comparable Asus to the Dell you linked: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-A53E-ES3...f=sr_1_15?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1332964496&sr=1-15
 
[quote name='elessar123']Just one comment. The biggest problem Toshibas used to have was that they overheat easily. Just check reviews etc. and make sure.[/QUOTE]

My first Toshiba (bought around 2003/4) was a desktop replacement, it was a beast for it's time. And it did over heat from time to time towards the end (which I didn't find surprising given the hardware inside), so I had to make sure that I kept the bottom ventilated. But it wasn't common. My two since then never had any overheating problems.
 
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