New laptop? - considering a Acer 1825PT

[G]

Since being made redundant and thus losing the use of the Macbook Pro I had, I'm tempted by a new laptop, as my nc4000 is getting rather long in the tooth with even web pages often using up a fair bit of resource these days.
While I quite liked the Apple's specs, I disliked the lack of mouse buttons and operating system - never mind the price, which definitely puts me off!

I've considered various netbooks and liked the Dell mini 9 leant to me for travelling and it'd be nice to have something of my own for such duties.
As situations have changed, I'd like something that's a bit more meaty now; nothing amazingly complex, but being able to play at least 720p video and power another monitor, as well being able to reasonably run a webserver and a few 'power' apps.
Also always liked the idea of a tablet for book reading - but no way I'd go for the sanity towel - want a lot more functionality for that price!
Since having a Psion 5 many years ago, also liked the idea of touch screen on a laptop, so the Acer 1825PT seems to make sense.

Any other suggestions?
Not sure if I'll get annoyed with the small size for regular use - though of course can easily a normal keyboard and bigger screen on etc.
Not worried by games.

[el_oso]

it is not particularly powerful for the price. touch screen does seem like a bit a gimmick to be perfectly honest.
may struggle with high bit rate 720p stuff.
integrated graphics have performed poorly in the past.

can't really suggest anything else though i am afraid. not really into laptops with touch screen capabilities.
____________________
Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[chris-red]

I have a dell mini 10, It can play HD content and has a 1.6ghz, processor, the only downside is my one only has 1gb on RAM (not upgradable) but newer ones have 2. I just checked the dell website and they don't seem sell them anymore the ones they do only have a 1ghz processor.

You may be able to pick one up on ebay. I love mine. It can play some games it handles Max Payne and Half Life. Has 1366 x 768 resolution on a 10" screen. I use mine for watching video and surfing mainly it flies along with Windows 7 I love it.
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[G]

Ta for the thoughts.

The touch screen isn't a massive thing, but it's more the easy 'ebook' ability, which kinda then requires it.
I thought the price wasn't too bad for the size? Ie, this has the same processor and only 2gb of Ram for a little bit less: https://www.ebuyer.com/product/180760 - but not the fancy screen stuff. Cheapest 13" they have is £530 and about £630 for a 15".
But then of course we're talking a low-power usage processor, where for less money you get a faster one that's a bit more hungry.

I've looked in to ebook readers a fair bit before and come to the conclusion they're not worth the cost. When on holiday with the mini-9 I did use it for reading them, but would have preferred it to be flat.

The integrated graphics on this one have got fairly poor reviews and I'm presuming can't be updated. Anyone used similar spec on other systems? The cheap dell (£250 new at the time a couple of years ago) with the same resolution screen managed 720p ok with a celeron, but I never tried it hooked up to a 1080p capable monitor.

I'm not actually just trying to talk myself in this, honest - I may have already done that I suspect . But still be good to be convinced it's not a good choice if it's not!
It may well boil down to whether I'll be ok with a 'do it all' lap top, or if it'll be too many compromises for too many things.

Oh and if you could actually (not too expensively) get a higher resolution screen than 1366*768, I'd probably be more seriously considering a 15", but as you can't, it doesn't seem to offer me a massive amount over a smaller one.

[panrider_uk]

There's a review of it Here

I don't think it'll make a good e-book reader as it has a reflective glossy screen.

Mark
____________________
Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[G]

Cheers, have read a few reviews but not that one; nice to see it mentions that it plays back HD video smoothly.

I don't like glossy screens, but it seems on anything bar e-ink, they're going to be here to see for the moment at least .
From playing with / reading about specific e-book readers I've decided the benefits don't really justify the draw backs, so what ever I got would have to be glossy probably - but generally the times it would bother me, it wouldn't be a problem.

Looking at that site, Asus also has a tablet style netbook out - but what initially drew me to the Acer was the non-tablet version that had a decent spec compared to netbooks with a good battery life in a fairly portable package with 720p - while the Asus is more pure netbook.

[panrider_uk]

I'm very pleased with my Sony reader (the PRS300). Cheapish and only does books - no touch screen, music etc.


Mark
____________________
Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[G]

[Silver]

One thing to consider is that, historically, Acer's support has been poor (if that's a concern).

[G]

[el_oso]

big problem with laptops is that if you need something that can replace your desktop then battery life is going to be poor.
something with a decent battery life is poor in performance.

if you like the idea of a tablet pc have a look at the new archos 10.1. archos just realeased specs for it yesterday and it due to be out in late-september/october i believe. andoid based with quite a hefty set of features. reaonable price point at under £300 aswell. which is i think great value for money when compared to alternatives out there like the ipad.

my advice would be figure out what you want from a laptop first. at first i thought i wanted a laptop that could almost replace my desktop. downside is battery life is pretty poor. kind of wish i had got a desktop and a cheap netbook with a billion hours battery life. at least that way i would have been able to keep an electronic copy of all my lecture notes as my laptop would not have died during a three/four hour lecture like my current laptop
____________________
Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[G]

It's definitely want a laptop I want, with tablet stuff a bonus.

As stock the processor in my desktop is listed as slower than the one in this 11.6" Acer and the laptop has twice the Ram. Ok, mine is overclocked and there's of course going to be a bit more to it than that, but I think it'll be pretty similar.

Acer do actually do some quite reasonable spec ones in their 'timeline' range (which all have over 8 hours possible usage) - I presume performance is significantly toned down when on batteries, but nice to have the options. Ie I7 processors and switchable ATI graphics cards will probably be overall better than my current desktop.
If they just came in a bit higher resolution screen, would definitely be tempted, but it seems a bit of a waste to have more inches but the same number of pixels.

Unfortunately I really want to get one before I know what I will want from one - which will probably be after a few months of using it . I was actually generally against laptops until I had used a work one for a while.

As this 11.6" isn't much bigger than a netbook (is about 650g heavier though), I'm thinking it would make sense to go for that as I definitely do want a netbook at some time - while not sure if I do want a desktop replacement or not.

I quite liked the 13.3" novatech I got my mum for Christmas, but again suspect it'll be hard to tell and that's getting a bit too big for netbook/travelling use.

[el_oso]

have a look at some of the samsung and asus models. frequently get good reviews. samsung is usually pretty cheap, asus usually a bit more expensive but get something that seems to have a bit more consideration in design. i can't remember the model numbers of the top of my head unfortunately. have a look on their website. i'm sure you will find what you are looking for (or not what you are looking for and stick with the acer)
____________________
Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[G]

After a lot of agonising, research and changing my mind,
ended up getting the 1825PT and I'm pretty happy with it.
The screen is big enough for my needs and think I would ideally want more resolution with more inches.
Definitely liking the 'tablet' functionality for reading pdf ebooks - which I don't think any of the dedicated ebook readers manage very well. In it's horizontal position it fits an A4 page in a just about usable fashion - with smaller novels etc easily fine and can make them double-page in landscape in some cases.
Performance is certainly good enough - as mentioned, spec should be around my current desktop!
The touch screen seems to work well and you get used to the 'gestures' fairly quickly.
Only bug-bear so far is that it's a bit too quick to flip rotation in tablet mode - meaning you can knock it slightly or move your hands a little and it'll go black for a sec as it rotates, then again as it rotates back again.

Overall, certainly recommend it so far.


Cheers for the thoughts, all .

[G]

After a lot of agonising, research and changing my mind,
ended up getting the 1825PT and I'm pretty happy with it.
The screen is big enough for my needs and think I would ideally want more resolution with more inches.
Definitely liking the 'tablet' functionality for reading pdf ebooks - which I don't think any of the dedicated ebook readers manage very well. In it's horizontal position it fits an A4 page in a just about usable fashion - with smaller novels etc easily fine and can make them double-page in landscape in some cases.
Performance is certainly good enough - as mentioned, spec should be around my current desktop!
The touch screen seems to work well and you get used to the 'gestures' fairly quickly.
A few little things - it's a bit too quick to flip rotation in tablet mode - meaning you can knock it slightly or move your hands a little and it'll go black for a sec as it rotates, then again as it rotates back again. Oh and that you have to remember to clean the screen when it's not turned on!
It hasn't quite quite as solid feel as might like, but I still think it's a very good mixture of features and performance for the price; while I'd like an expensive light weight metal case, I wouldn't be paying for one.
I would like some keyboard illumination, as I had in my previous macbook pros - though the newer generation one wasn't great, with a lot of light bleeding at the edges.


Overall, certainly recommend it so far.


Cheers for the thoughts, all .