Ever searched for reviews and recommendations for products and services and just been overwhelmed by the ton of information? Here we’ve cut through all that for those of you who want to know the things which are well recommended, and good value for money, or want to know where reviews and recommendations can be found, without wading through pages of test results, or technical data.
We scour the web and print for reviews and recommendations for a wide range of products and services – so you don’t have to! It’s like what we would do if we were buying something for ourselves… Where possible, we try and sum up the best of the best in very short, easy to read, summaries.
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We’ve reviewed the experts’ recommendations and users’ comments on a wide range of netbooks, and here we recommend 4 highly rated ones.
Firstly, what are netbooks? Like the meaning of “responsible” (as in “who really is responsible for the deep economic mire we find ourselves in – greedy bankers or incompetent ministers?”) everybody seems to have a different point of view.
For the non-techy they are small, very portable laptops which are more likely to be used for basic wordprocessing, emailing, surfing the net, and watching and listening to video, pictures and songs on the move. Later models are now able to play more sophisticated games, and even do some video editing, though this is still best left for a more powerful laptop or desktop. They are at the smaller end of the screen sizes, up to 11 inches (measured diagonally), though there are no hard and fast rules.
Don’t get confused with notebooks – notebooks a bit bigger, and less portable, lying between the netbook and the laptop; nor are they “tablets” – the most famous of which is the newly launched iPad. Tablets have no keyboard and are principally for playing media and surfing the web, not more serious multi-tasking.
The important thing is that netbooks are designed to be very portable laptops – though a recent survey of US owners found that 60% never took them out of the house! Most have inbuilt wifi to connect to wireless internet wherever you are, or have the capability to link to the internet via a 3G link (like a phone).
Why would you want one? Apart from establishing your IT revolution credentials on the 7.36 from Tring, it could perfectly adequately satisfy your general computing needs whilst on the move. Battery life of the more modern netbooks is between 6 and 8 hours.
However, the basic fact is that you trade off convenience for power – ie what the thing will do for you. For example, they are unlikely to do lots of tasks at the same time, or even a single, power hungry application such as video editing. Also, one of the key things to bear in mind is the size of the screen – its small size may mean that it’s easy to slip into a large pocket or bag, but as a result it may be less easy to see what’s on it. Nevetheless, you just have to read a few user reviews to see how popular they are, and how they fulfill most users’ computing needs.
The other thing you are unlikely to find in a netbook is an inbuilt CD/DVD player – though a reasonable solution is to buy a seperate player (or “drive”) for around £30. Check out one here.
So what netbooks do the experts recommend? We’ve scanned the web to find their recommendations, and have found suggested best buys listed by Cnet, PC Advisor, Netbook Review, Budget Netbooks, TechRadar, Stuff.tv, Pocket Lint, Trusted Reviews, and we’ve also reviewed user comments in Revoo, Review Centre and Amazon. We’ve aggregated the rankings, and come up with our own definitive list of best buy netbooks – ones we would happily buy ourselves.
One thing to bear in mind is that manufacturers are developing their products all the time – new versions are being released regularly. This means that reviews and recommendations may be out of date after a short while. However, where a notebook has been around a while, and there is an updated version, we’ve mentioned it as worth checking out.
We’ve looked at the budget end of the notebook spectrum – under £260. You can spend more – over £400 – and you will generally get a more powerful machine, with more features. However, we think, for general use, you can buy an excellent notebook for under £300.
We’ve included links to Amazon – they’re not always the cheapest, but they give a lot of information about the product and detailed user reviews all in one place, and in our experience deliver good value for money. The opinions site Ciao! gives Amazon 4.5/5 averaged over 730 user reviews.
Here are the 4 top recommended netbooks in priority order, best first. To get more detail and the price, click on the name of the netbook. To see a particular review, click on the source (eg Cnet). :
In terms of user reviews, it gets 4.5/5 (11 reviews) at the Review Centre, and 5/5 (22 reviews) at Amazon
Unfortunately, this notebook is getting a bit old now (though still available and still getting excellent reviews), so you may also wish to consider a newer netbook from the same stable, such as the Samsung N120 (click name for detail)(TechRadar gave it 4.5/5 ) or the Samsung N130 (click name for detail) (TechRadar gave it 3/5 and 52 users gave it an average of 4.5/5 at Amazon). They all seem great notebooks!
This netbook is highly recommended by Netbook Review (2nd out of 5), and is considered “Good Value” by Budget Net Books. It gets an average of 4/5 in 7 reviews at Amazon
It supercedes the highly acclaimed Asus 1000 HE. A good alternative, though more expensive, is the Asus Eee PC 1008HA (click name for detail), which is ranked 9/10 by Trusted Reviews, and 5/5 by Stuff.tv, and rated 4.5/5 on average by 12 customer reviews at Amazon
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Whilst this notebook is getting a little long in the tooth (relatively!), and has been updated during 2009, it is still rated very highly by the experts and users. Budget Netbooks said it was “easy to use”, PC Advisor gave it 4.5/5, as did TechRadar. Stuff.tv rated it slightly lower at 4/5, but still recommended it. 33 customer reviews at Amazon rated it 4 /5 on average.
You might equally consider the Acer Aspire One Pro 531, (click name for detail) which is rated 4/5 by Stuff.tv, and gets rated 5/5 by 1 customer at Amazon.
The Nexus One, IPhone’s new rival, is due to be launched in the UK in the next few weeks, and there have been more reviews about this contender for the super-phone crown than contentious expense claims by MP’s. So, has it been recommended by the experts? This article summarises some key reviewers’ views to help prospective purchasers make up their minds.
Overall, you may not be surprised to hear, the jury appears to be still out. Firstly, though, a summary of the pros and cons set against the IPhone:
Pros: cheaper, much quicker processor, no irritating delays in loading software, higher resolution screen, background noise cancelling technology in the microphone, more user friendly software, speech activation and email dictation, better camera with flash, and ability to “geotag” photos with the location.
Cons: poorer battery life, touch sensitive buttons fiddly to use, currently much fewer apps available.
Bobbie Johnson of the Guardian, here, concludes “This debut model falls short of the smooth and totally intuitive design that Apple came up with.”
Alex Pell of the Times states “So is it time to put your iPhone on ebay and invest in a new Nexus? Not just yet, Impressive as it is, there are flaws.”
John Naughton, of the Observer, here, whilst very impressed, says “Whatever else the Google phone is, an “iPhone killer” it ain’t.”
PC Advisor, here, concludes: “Google Android 2.1 represents a step forward for Google’s already impressive operating system, and the Google Nexus One seems like the ideal handset to show off the new OS’s skills. But early adopters have reported teething troubles, so it may be worth waiting a few months before upgrading to the Nexus One.”
TechRadar, here, goes for the Nexus – “If we’re looking at this scientifically, the Google Nexus One is the clear winner. Better specs, larger screen, newer phone –it sounds pretty good. But you try arguing with the sales of the iPhone so far, or ask yourself which phone your Mum would prefer – it’s Apple’s baby every time, thanks to it being so darn simple to use. But for us, the winner here is the Nexus One – it’s got an open source OS, has better hardware and more freedom for customisation.”
The Recommended Directory concludes that, despite the criticisms, the Nexus One is definitely worth considering if you haven’t already got a super-phone, but it may be best to wait a little while. Until then, the Apple iPhone retains its super-phone crown.
Why? Firstly, the Nexus is currently only available direct from Google – it is expected that the major networks will begin offering it shortly.
Secondly, we understand Google have had a lot of complaints – mainly about whether it supports the 3G network, and some software glitches – but there appears to be many difficulties experienced over who is dealing with the complaints – Google or HTC (the manufacturer). All this will take a little while to iron out, and in the meantime it could be like getting your new train set fixed up, only to find the Fat Controller has gone on holiday..
Check this article here for Sean Newsom’s recommendations for recommendations on the best places to go this season: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/winter_sports/article6960985.ece
Updated here :http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/winter_sports/article6981326.ece
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