Small laptop advice

[EvilAerosolCan]

My birthday is coming up and I'm thinking about getting a laptop. I will mainly be using it for videos, music, e-books, and light web surfing. I won't be gaming on it, that's what my desktop is for. I want something small, and want it to be a convertible tablet (I won't be using the keyboard much, but I still want it to have a keyboard ).

Anyway, I've been considering the Fujitsu U820. Does anyone have any experience with this or the prior model, the U810? The only thing that worries me is the processing power. Is it adequate for what I plan on using it for? Here is a good review on it:

http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1326

I like it, but I'm not sure if I should go with something a little bit bigger to get more processing power. The U820 is basically what I'm looking for, I just don't know if there are any other, better options out there. What do you guys think?

[rabb1t]

The Fujitsu LifeBook U820 is an ultra-mobile convertible notebook with a high resolution 5.6” display. Packing built-in GPS with Garmin navigation software, a passive touch screen, and a 4-cell battery claiming upwards of 7.5 hours of battery life this UMPC can handle almost any situation. In this review we cover all the reasons why spending above $1,000 on a U820 is worth it compared to $400 or $500 on a standard netbook.

Seriously?

I'll read the article, but it sounds like insanity to pay over $1000 for something that's got a 5.6" screen.

...

I can say off the bat that no netbook is going to be "good" for video viewing. They simply don't have the CPU power. They will choke on streaming videos even in the default low res versions on things like Hulu. In the best of cases the tearing will be 'tollerable'. (Even the early reports of the new Nvidia Ion based ones with dual core Atoms and Nvidia 9400 mobile chips still aren't a whole lot better.) While running video off of your harddrive may work better, note that netbooks use a slower harddrive, so there may still be issues. That being said, my Asus 1000HE does ok with DVDs off the external DVD drive. Streaming video, not so much. Even things that pre-load like YouTube and Gametrailers still tear and struggle in places.

The only advantage I see here compared to the average netbook is the smaller size (if you really consider that an advantage) and the fact you can use it as a tablet. That being said I HIGHLY recommend you get your hands on some tablet systems and try them out. I saw a demo system somewhere once, and within about 2 minutes I was frustrated and decided I will never use a tablet unless absolutely forced. Doing doodles was difficult enough, and trying to 'click and drag' was next to impossible to do correctly because it was 'interpreting' my actions incorrectly.

Considering this thing is rated at $1300+ on the site at Amazon, this is complete and absolute insanity for anything but the portability. And I serioulsy question it even then since there are far more popular portable devices designed specifically for that.

The Asus 1000HE and Asus 1008 Seashell would have comparable features at LESS THAN ONE THIRD the price.

And unless you are used to using your iPhone as your main device, that screen size is going to look real small real fast. I've been using my netbook for about 3 months and I've always wished it were just a touch bigger at 12" with 1280x720 res.

If you want to spend a bit more money on a netbook like system I highly recommend you look at the Dell Stuido 14. You have a 14" screen with a default 1280x720 res that can be bumped up to 1600x900, you have regular laptop CPUs, you can bump up the FSB and HD speeds to normal desktop speeds (critical for things like gaming and running video) and even if you maxed it out you'd still be looking at far far less cost than your Fujitsu U820.

If you really want that Fujitsu U820, then get it; you won't be happy with less. But I highly recommend you take a really hard look at the features you are getting for that money, and ask yourself if you really want to have those features at tripple the cost of everything else on the market.

In my opinion, from what you describe, you might be better off buying something like the Asus 1000HE + iPhone. (Or just an iPhone and upgrading your desktop.) I'm not up on iPhone models and prices, but a quich search implies that even going with that (Asus 1000HE + iPhone) you'd be well under 50% of the price of that Fujitsu.

[EvilAerosolCan]

Thanks for the reply. I've been searching around since I posted that, and realized pretty much all the stuff you posted. I've been looking at the HP tx2z. It's not as small, but it's a lot more capable and it's a few hundred dollars less.

[rabb1t]

That's pretty heavy, though it seems decent. Not sure on that GPU though.

(Sorry for not posting earlier, the dumb forums are still marking everything as read after I read just one single post. )

[tibbon]

Dell Micro 9 or the various eeePC's work

You can even get a OLPC XO1 to playback youtube videos.