Request advice on buying notebook

For travel I use either my Dell Mini 10 or the Dell Inspiron. The Mini is very light with only a 3 hour battery a the Inspiron is rather heavy.

There are many minis out there with a longer battery life. The important this is having larger keys as the Dell Mini has.

Instead of a notebook, a smaller (and cheaper) netbook may be what you're looking for. They typically have a 10 inch screen, and run the full version of Windows. Here's Dell's offerings:

http://www.dell.com/home/laptops#subcats=laptop-inspiron-mini&navla=&a=&page=1

If all that you want to do is check email and make reservations (I assume that means surfing the web), almost anything, even the lowly iPad, will probably do. However, if you want to do serious work (expenses with a speadsheet, journaling with Word) I would suggest a netbook. I even maintain my website while in Europe with my netbook.

In that case, I suspect that almost any netbook on the market will do. My wife and I have 2, each for around $350, one an ACER (Aspire One), the other an ASUS (EEE). Both have worked marvelously. I don't think the brand makes that much difference unless someone knows of a brand with consistent problems. The main thing is get a real keyboard, a cover the folds down to protect the display, multiple USB ports, and a multi-card reader for camera cards.

I looked at a Toshiba the other day with an 11 hour battery. @ Sam's Club - it also had a 250G harddrive - I guess that would hold a LOT of pictures? It was about $360.

I am typing from my Gateway netbook. If you want longer battery life be sure to get the 6 cell. I am glad I spent a few extra buck for the bigger battery.

Check out Dell's Outlet site. They usually have great offers. You can search and filter to find what your looking for. Right now they have a Mini 10, 250G HD, wireless card and Windows 7 for $299US.

I bought mine at the outlet about 6 months ago...works great!

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/notebooks/inspiron-1012/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-1012&s=dfh&cs=22

Dell has a sale online that ends on June 24. I am also looking to get a netbook. I am considering the Dell Inspiron mini 10 netbook, starting price 289, you can "build" your own and select add-ons you require. I might choose the Inspiron 11z , which has a simple or limited version of word (not sure what that means exactly) , I think the mini 10 only runs works.

Here are my standard suggestions:

(Note that all assume that you really don't want to lug around a heavy laptop.)

If typing email replies and/or having the closest thing to your desktop experience are your main concerns, get a netbook. Tradeoff: Weight. Plus: You can upload pictures easier to this than to some of the alternatives. Second Plus: This may be the least expensive choice.

If weight is more of an issue and you don't plan to do much typing or other computer use, get a slate or tablet computer. The iPad is the hottest example out there at the moment, but there are other options. Tradeoff: Not exactly the same as the desktop experience and typing on the on screen keyboard can be a pain for text of any length. The iPad has more limitations than most of the alternatives but it is the prettiest and best designed. Plus: Best device to use for watching videos (except Flash if you have an iPad) and easier on the eyes than a netbook or phone.

If portability is the main issue, get a smartphone, such as an iPhone. I personally have a Google Android phone and think it has fewer limitations than an iPhone but still has lots and lots of useful apps available. You can use wifi on these phones to connect to the Internet, check email, and make reservations. If your phone is unlocked (and a GSM version with the right frequencies), you can use a local prepaid SIM card and probably get data access for a reasonable rate. Tradeoff: Most difficult to use for web pages that aren't designed for the small screen. Requires more patience and willingness to put up with something that is less than a desktop experience. Plus: It works as a phone.

Jack,

I'd also highly recommend the Toshiba NB-305. I've been using one on my current trip to Europe and it has worked well. It's compact, light and has a long life battery that provides 8-10 hours of battery life. The speakers are a bit weak but I think that's common with a lot of Netbooks.

Whichever model you choose, make sure it has a 250GB hard drive, at least a 10" display (some newer models have a 12" screen) and the larger capacity battery. One point to note is that most Netbooks don't have a DVD drive, so applications have to be loaded off the net.

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone who gave advice.My computer skills are limted and I appreciate all the advice.If anyone has anything else to add please do so.The reason I want to get a travel computer is I recently spent 23 days in Scotland,Wales and England and while wifi was available almost every where computers in the places we stayed were not.thanaks again jack

Ken, I don't recall and unable to find the link for a headset I want to buy for my Mini Dell....to use with Skype.

I have a hard copy with the link. Can't find it now. Just google for headsets.

Ken. A 250 GB HD? I have the op sys and some software on the HD. That's all. Most of everything I use is on a 4 GB flash drive which I can move from my desktop when I am at home planning the trip and the Netbook when I am traveling.

Love my Tosh NB305! Can't wait to bring it on our trip in Septembe. Adjust the speaker settings and it sounds great!

I've had great experience with ASUS brand EEE PC netbooks. My current one is a 1000HE, which has a 10 inch screen and a decent sized keyboard, a big enough hard drive to hold lots of photos, etc. It weighs I think 3.2 pounds and has a robust battery life (6 hours or more). I carry it around town and on the road; it's gone to London twice.

What the netbooks don't have, and neither do many slim-line "ultralight" notebooks: internal CD/DVD drives. But I haven't missed that at all. I have an external DVD drive here at home that I can hook up to the netbook on those rare occasions I need one, and I haven't needed one when traveling.

Notebooks and netbooks are kind of merging. Netbooks getting a little bigger and notebooks being pared down. I've looked at this new notebook from Toshiba, it's got a more powerful and robust chip and more RAM capacity than my netbook - but is only a couple of ounces heavier and very reasonably priced. It could really replace my aging notebook and the netbook: Toshiba Satellite T215D-S1150 TruBrite 11.6-Inch Laptop