Are Netbooks worth it?

[rubbsdecvik]

With the way my Thinkpad T43's battery life meter shrinks faster than
an ice cube in the Sahara, I've been looking for options on how to get
more time on my computer for taking notes in class (for those who
don't know me, I'm a Grad Student at Kent).

I could get another battery for about $100, but that would be about
half of what I paid for the machine itself. (It was a leased laptop, I
was the leasee, and I bought it out after the lease was up). On top
of that, I'm not sure how much extra time that really will give me.

I've been looking at Netbooks or Ultra Mobile PC's (UMPC), because
they are lighter and use SSD hard drives, and usually have battery
life ratings of 3 or more hours.

The ones I've been looking at are the Dell Mini 9:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?cs=19&s=dhs&ref=homepg

The Acer Aspire One:
http://www.acer.com/aspireone/

And the eee PC 901:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220371

They are all around the same price give or take a few. The problem is
that I hear the keyboard is very small. I've never really been around
one, so I don't know what it would be like.

I know that they are not meant to replace a regular desktop, or even
laptop. I just need something to bring to school to take notes, and
occasionally other office type tasks.

My question is whether or not anyone here has or used an UMPC. Did
you like it? Did you hate it? Would you have other suggestions? Or
is getting the new battery and lugging around the larger laptop.the
better idea?

[AdmFubar]

Take a trip to Microcenter in Mayfield Heights, the have some umpc's there. you can try them a bit to see if there is any problem with typing.
it sounds like you will be using the keyboard exstensively, you really need to try one out to get an idea of how the keyboard fits you.

--
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[Alan Phillips]

I have a Thinkpad x30 (3 lbs) and an Eee PC 701 (~2 lbs). Both devices
have about the same battery life -- the Eee PC 701 does have a small
keyboard. I believe the model you are interested in has a larger
keyboard than the 701.

When I want to do any "real work" I almost always use my Thinkpad over
the Eee PC. The only exception is for travel. The Eee PC wins out when
I need to carry it on an airplane.

You might want to look at AlphaSmart products too. They are available
on Ebay if you want to pickup a used model. I have the AlphaSmart 3000
which gets about 200 hours of battery life on AA batteries. It would
be the perfect writing tool for school, if your primary need is note
taking. The newer model (neo) has a better keyboard than the earlier
models.

If the AlphaSmart doesn't work for you, consider trading in your
Thinkpad for one of the x-series models. They are a few pounds
lighter, and many of the models allow multiple battery configurations
for 8 to 10 hours of battery life.

Alan

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 3:37 PM, rubbsdecvik
<Patrick.R...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> With the way my Thinkpad T43's battery life
>