Need a net-book sized computer for travel blogging

A little out of left field, but you might consider a chrome book. If you don't need to run MS Office or other specialized apps they are very reliable and affordable.

You can certainly do everything you mention with one.

I just went thru this same conundrum myself and decided on a new netbook over the Chromebook. Sent you a PM.

I travel with an Acer Aspire One netbook ($299 at Walmart,Target,Best Buy). It's compact, lightweight, has an almost full-sized keyboard, and has a pretty long battery life. I use it for exactly the same things you mentioned and it works great. I liked that I could upload the photos from my camera each night and post them on fb or email to my family. I especially liked having the keyboard for blogging and journaling. The pros and cons of netbooks vs tablets have been discussed on this board in the past and I know there are a couple of other posters that use this same netbook and like it. If they get the 'search' function working again you could search for prior threads on the subject.

I use the same one as Nancy, an Acer Aspire One. It has now been with me for two trips and has worked flawlessly. I blog, I upload each day's pictures from my camera's SD card, and I check in here from time to time while I am gone. I upload pictures to my blog, post one or two on Facebook, and can edit and organize them as I go, rather than trying to figure out what is what once I'm home. I also use it for paying bills or other "administrative" things, as well as watching movies. Also, I like that it was cheap. :)

Thanks all for your replies. The Acer Aspire One sounds promising--I hope Best Buy is still carrying it!

I have an Aspire as we speak, and I am kicking myself for not getting something with a faster speed. It has an Intel Atom chip, and I notice the difference from the home computer. Yes, bought it at Walmart because it was cheap and I needed an email checker when on the road.

Is getting one with a faster speed an option, or all of the cheap ones slow?

I'm supposing that computer speed is relative (one person's fast may be another person's slow). For me the Aspire I use is only a tad slower than my home computer and speed was not an issue on vacation. It uploaded photos quite fast and had no speed problems using the available wifi for email and blogging. It's possible that for me speed is not an issue for the few things I used it for while another may have found it slow if they're used to super fast speed on their main computer. For what you say you want to use it for I can't imagine that it would be so slow it would frustrate you.

I'm the same way - it doesn't seem slow to me. Perhaps if you want to play video games or something it might seem slow. But for checking email and uploading photos how fast does it need to be? So many of those things are a function of the network connection, anyway, not the speed of the computer.

Alyson,

I've been packing along a Toshiba NB-305 (now discontinued) on trips for the last few years, and it's worked well for E-mail, Blogging, photos, etc. The Atom processor is underpowered for tasks such as photo editing or games, but it's perfectly adequate for the travel applications. It took me a short time to get used to the slightly smaller keyboard (compared to a full-sized Laptop). Many Netbooks have a built-in SD Card Reader, so very easy to transfer photos.

Although Netbook sales have decreased since Tablets started becoming popular, Toshiba still offers Netbooks on their website. Some of the newer models have dual-core processors, so they're probably a bit faster.

Happy travels!

Chromebooks are appealing to me, but since it has no hard drive and everything is app-based, it's not going to be of much use without wifi, and good wifi can be difficult when traveling. Even if a hotel promises they have it, the signal may not work well in your room or whatever. A more traditional netbook will enable you to edit photos, write, format posts, etc without Internet, so I think it makes more sense slightly in that regard.

Tablets are popular but most of the keyboards are not great for serious writing. The chromebook is essentially a tablet with an included keyboard, but reviews say that it's very easy to type on. I like ASUS products in general, I'm typing from one right now.

The Toshiba netbooks are not for sale in North America. That's a European site Ken linked to.

Like many modern notebooks (Macbook Air etc) the Chromebook has a flash-memory "hard drive." Saying they don't have a spinning disk in them is true but misleading.

But they are pretty crippled w/o an internet connection. Then again, you wouldn't be able to do the things Alyson says the wants to do on a Wintel book without internet either.

Sorry about the incorrect link. I must have been tired as I usually don't miss details like that.

Although this is more of a Laptop than a Netbook, THIS Toshiba Laptop would probably be suitable for travel. It has an 11.6" screen and more power than a standard Netbook so should work for most things (although not sure if it has an SD Card Reader). With a 500 GB HD, there's lots of room for photo backup.

Of course, if you're able to increase your budget somewhat you could also have a look at the MacBook Air models.

I'm probably going to get a Chromebook for my travels. It's light and does everything I want except Skype which I get on my smartphone.

For those worried about a weak wifi signal, I found this device:

http://www.satechi.net/index.php/ipad-iphone/chargers/satechi-smart-travel-router

It's a :

travel plug adapter
USB charger
wifi router/repeater

all in one.

I haven't tried it yet but will probably get one in the next few weeks. It's a little bulky but weighs under 6 oz.

Everything Alyson wants to do can be done on a Chromebook. Offline, a user can write a blog post on a notetaking app an then transfer it to their blog once online. I also believe other Chromebook apps for such things as photo editing can be done off line. You can always back up to a USB drive if not connected to the net.

Let's face it, if you lose an under $300 Chromebook, you'll feel bad. But not as bad as losing a $1200 Macbook Air.

So filled with the helpline's advice, I went into Best Buy yesterday to return my broken Asus. I couldn't exchange it for another Asus, because the store doesn't carry it anymore, neither did they have Acer Aspire One. They had several types of Chromebook, but after deliberation, I ended up with a Surface 64 GB, which is a tablet, (I bought a keyboard to go with it.) It was $300 on sale (keyboard costs extra), and it includes the microsoft office package in the price. Thanks again to every one on this board--you are the most helpful people ever! I'll let you all know how the Surface works out for me on my trip next month.

I don't know if you were in a big hurry, but I find that Best Buy has a much larger selection available via their website than they ever do in the store. They ship to the store in a day or two if they don't have it. What I like best about their website is that I can compare several models at one time.

It's true--I had purchased my original ASUS from their website and had it shipped to the store. They stopped carrying it and the ACER online too.

I have a three and a half year old ASUS netbook ,10" (eee size),which travels often and is used at home for hours. It was about $500 from New Egg, and cost so much because my college aged son made sure it had good battery power,good storage and more features than I needed. I have had very good luck with it and recommend it. The same eee was also for sale in France for less, but I like getting the computers early before a trip. I feel the netbooks are sturdier than Ipads or tablets in general, even with protective cases.

I was going to buy a Chromebook but may buy this instead:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F0RDY2O?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00F0RDY2O&linkCode=xm2&tag=ibssupportgroupf

It weighs about the same as a Chromebook, is about the same size, costs just a bit more, but is a full Windows laptop. Battery life isn't great but I can work around that.