Mother christmas shopping

katwalk

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My mom currently uses an 8 year old dell desktop and it's just so incredibly outdated I feel bad for her. She would really love a netbook. I have 300$ to spend on all of her gifts and I would like to buy her more than only the netbook. Chances are she'll have issues with the touchpad anyway so it at least needs to be netbook + mouse.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280426428628&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
I am considering this opinions?

Oh, and due to my stupid state I can't order of sites that tax because that turns for example the 219$ dell vostro A90 into a 250$ laptop.
 
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does her dell desktop have a usb mouse right now? if it does, i'd say just spend the $300 on the netbook and have her use her old mouse.
 
That has one a Celeron processor. You should look for a netbook with a Atom processor. EEE 901 for example.

Altough in my opinion the EEE's have rather poor keyboard, atleast the 8.9" models. Maybe in general look for a bit bigger model, like the 10" or 11" models. The price difference shouldn't be too big, but the slightly bigger screen and keyboard are nicer to use, especially for less computer savvy person.
 
Does it have to be a netbook, or is she ok with having a desktop? For similar money you can get something much more useful.

If you look hard enough you can get full size laptops for that price too. Netbooks are just hard to use as a main computer.

That eBay one looks like a good deal, though. Sure it's an old model but it should do well enough, considering that most at that price have half the RAM, linux, and a 4 GB SSD.

EDIT: Personally I'd go for the second one, but the first is still acceptable on a tight budget.
 
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is the atom REALLY worth like 100$ more?
lets try a new brand
http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-WIND-Netboo...ZViewItemQQptZUS_Netbooks?hash=item518dd72687
y/n?
That one has Atom.
I have no first hand experience with that one, but should be fine.

thevictor390 is right though. You should maybe look for regular laptops in your price range. They are much better performance and usability wise. Netbooks are primarily designed to be carried around and they are good at that, but not so good with everything else.
 
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Well, she want the cute bitty things so maybe a 13" < laptop but no more than that.

Performance doesn't really matter because a netbook would be a step up from her current desktop.
 
Well, she want the cute bitty things so maybe a 13" < laptop but no more than that.
Non-netbooks under 13" are very expensive.

But do keep in mind that netbooks are not like regular laptops in the performance and usability areas. And maybe make sure your mom knows this too, so that she won't expect miracles from the small thing.
 
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Yeah, 15" is about the cheapest size.

Come to think of it, you could just plug in a keyboard, mouse, and monitor for use at home....
 
^ and she has a monitor and keyboard on the old thing (granted you can't see shit on that screen because it's one of the old boxy ones but anyway)
It would be nice to have something she can carry around with her since she never has enough time to sit down at the computer in the uncomfortable chair and use it.
 
In that case I suppose a netbook would work for her.
 
I would head to Best Buy and try out a 9"-10" just to make sure she is comfortable with the screen and keyboard size.
 
Acer Aspire One + tinymouse

should be around 300 weird S thingies
 
already bought the MSI
Everyone I know with Acer computer have them break quickly.
 
^that seems to be true for laptops, but I've only heard good things about their netbooks
 
Sony, Acer or Asus Netbooks are all pretty solid.

Avoid the Intel Celeron variants, go after the N260/N270 models. 2gb ram is also pretty handy if you are planning on running Vista/Win7 on the netbook.
 
I'm quite impressed with the build quality of my Acer netbook, and my Acer monitor is good. Laptops are a bit iffy though.
 
Sony, Acer or Asus Netbooks are all pretty solid.

Avoid the Intel Celeron variants, go after the N260/N270 models. 2gb ram is also pretty handy if you are planning on running Vista/Win7 on the netbook.

Don't you mean N270/N280? And 2GB is needed for Vista, but I still wouldn't recommend it on a netbook.

N280 + 2GB RAM + WinXP FTMFW
 
Don't even think about wasting your limited cash on extra RAM Kat, mother will not need it.

Hell, I have only 1GB on mine and it's plenty. Well, you can't really multitask too much but within reason it's fine, doubt anybody would even have that many things open on a tiny, low-res screen.
 
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