Sunday, June 9, 2013

New Netbook on order!

I ordered a netbook last night to make due while my computer is ill. 

I had hoped to be able to change the fan out myself, but on my computer, you have to pretty much disassemble it to get to the fan. When I watched the tutorial on youtube, I chickened out as you had to take out the keyboard, then take off the monitor, etc. I'm not savvy enough, nor brave enough to actually kill my computer! So I'll take it to my tecchie friends when I can. But they live 80 miles from me & have busy weekends, so we'll see when that can be accomplished. 

In the meantime, I went to the store to check into getting a tablet. The more I looked, the more I realized I needed something that could do more for me. Then I looked at Chromebooks. I almost made an impulse buy! Then I decided to wait. On the way home, I actually turned around again to go buy it! Then I talked myself out of it. My common sense part of my mind said, go home & google. Do your homework. See what would work best for you. Check out the mini computers, aka, netbooks. So I bought gas instead & went home. 

My entire day yesterday involved googling, researching, learning everything I possibly could about netbooks. I've been wanting something small to take in my friends house in the evenings & such anyhow. I really wanted a tablet for that, until I learned about them & realized again, that they would not be what I'm looking for. After watching many youtube vids on comparisions & such on the netbooks, I chose the Acer Aspire One AO756 Netbook.  

I think it will be a great addition to my tecchie needs! And much more portable than my current 17" screened laptop that I'm always afraid I'll drop trying to carry it around, or my friends dogs will knock it over & kill it. I also ordered the coverage plan on the Acer in case my friends dogs do knock it down. I hope they don't though! I'm pretty careful, but things still happen. I've heard too often about screens cracking. The plan was well worth the cost of it.

I ordered it in red. Ahhh, another big decision! As you know, our lives depend on what color we choose if given the opportunity!!! The blue was really pretty too! 

Compared to the Chromebook, it was a much better choice. The Chromebook comes with 2gigs of memory, but only a 16GB hard drive. You can't do much on it. Although it has ports for exterior items, none of them would do well with that kind of HD space. 

The Acer Netbook I ordered comes with an 11.6"screen, 2 gigs of memory, very easy to upgrade. A 320GB hard drive, so I can also use my external hard drive to it to transfer things over to. I don't plan on using it heavy duty like a real computer. I have a real computer, it just needs to go to the hospital.  I will probably put more memory in it to make it faster. I mostly wanted it so I could keep up with blogger! And my email & RV folks I follow on youtube. I'm stoked! But have to wait about a week for it to come in......will I survive?? ;-) 

                   **all images borrowed from google images**





And a big perk. The entire bottom panel of this little computer comes off! So memory is easy to change, the fan is easy to clean and if one wanted to add a bigger hard drive, it can be done easier too! I think this little computer is a good move in the right direction & will give my big laptop (computer that is, not my real lap) a much needed break! 

So soon, I'll be able to catch up again. I've missed ya'll!!!!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

20 comments:

  1. I got a Gateway netbook last summer and, while it is perfect in size, weight and general portability and was quite inexpensive, it is extremely SLOW. ~~ sigh ~~ I'm going to hold out for a tablet of some sort in the (hopefully not too distant future). I'm reluctant to take my Lenovo laptop outside, carry around a bunch, because I use it for work and it has our "stuff" on it. Don't want to risk dropping it, etc. I like the iPads, but want a tablet with a USB port. Hope you like your new netbook!

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    1. I'm with you. It's one of the reason's I stopped taking my laptop in the house. One of their cats knocked it down one day. Fortunatley, no harm done, but it wasn't worth the risk. Can you add more memory to the Gateway? That might be all you need to speed it up some.
      Go to youtube, put in your model & see if anyone has done things to speed theirs up.

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  2. Congratulations on wading your way through the nightmare called computer buying. I went through the same thing in the spring and it seems the more you research the more muddled things become until finally you just give up and make a choice. Hope your choice was a good one.

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    1. Yep, I could have gone on & on through netbook after netbook. The more I looked at the other alternatives, the more I realized what I needed. Now I have to hurry up & wait! I'm anxious to see how well it loads Blogger.

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  3. You probably made a good choice. Chromebook is Android like many tablets and assumes you will do all things on the net and in the cloud. I got an Android tablet and it is currently sporadically going crazy opening and closing programs rapidly so I'm not happy with it. It worked well for blogging and internet browsing. It often cannot run videos. I like the news-magazine programs. I like the portability a lot. For more serious work, the Office programs are seriously lacking, especially spreadsheets. For all that stuff that is good on a smartphone, the tablet is better because of the bigger screen. As a laptop replacement, not so much. I was thinking of getting a netbook but got the tablet instead. They are fairly underpowered but might be just the thing.

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    1. Sorry Mary. The more I looked at the tablets, the more I realized one would not work for me. Especially in the price range I was looking at. Thank you for your experiences. Too bad it can't do more for you.

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  4. We ended up with a HP laptop...took some time and the adjustment of Windows 8 UGH....guess it keeps our brains busy and fresh for new technol0gy. got to have it...even if we'd rather be in the woods! Good luck...sure want you to stay connected!!!

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    1. I've heard you can set it to a previous version, like win7. Which I have no experience with since my laptop is a Vista. I have a desk top that's in storage too, it's XP. Thank you - I definitely want to stay connected with ya'll!

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  5. Wise choice...aren't you proud of yourself for waiting and doing all that research?

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    1. Yep! In a few days, I might be responding from a new shiny contraption....or maybe moaning about it! Ha. we'll see!

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  6. After I commented about changing my own fan I realized it was on an old tower and the fan was right there. OOPs my bad.
    Acer's I have heard are really good computers. When I needed a new laptop I had hoped to buy one. But up here in the Mountains you don't have a lot of choices and it was getting close to the new school year so everything was sold out. I bought a Toshiba and I really like it.
    I like the red cool.

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    1. Thanks for commenting Jo. The Acer will be easy to access the fan at least! My friend has a Toshiba & really likes it.

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    2. My giant laptop is a Toshiba. It is a very good computer but it runs hot. Sometimes so hot that it crashes. I have to clean out the vents regularly and run a fan on it. I think it is the Intel i7 processors that are so hot. Intel is starting to put out a new processor that runs cooler. I think it isn't Toshiba so much as the hot processor. I have an old Acer laptop too. Still runs great.

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    3. I tried to boot my laptop up yesterday, it instantly got hot so I had to shut it back down. Was hoping to start saving stuff off of it just in case. I hope it doesn't crash, I really like that computer!
      The netbook is cool, but definitely can't replace the laptop.
      I'll let you know what I find out when my friend works on mine as per the overheating.

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  7. Congratulations, it's a beauty, esp love the color! I have to say I have never regretted purchasing the Chromebook though I realize it's not for everyone due to it's limited use but for reading emails and surfing,it's just right.
    found you through wgs.
    love your rig.

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    1. THanks girl! I joined your blog too :-) It was soooo pretty when I opened it, isn't that why we buy them? For their beauty?? ha!

      I keep maxing the netbook out on youtube...oopseys.

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  8. Your new netbook looks styling! I'm sure the Acer Aspire One will be great and is super portable. I recently had two computers go out on me and I also bought an Acer Aspire but full size laptop. The value is great and so far the laptop is working very well. I bought it from MicroCenter in Houston.

    Your site looks good, I have many posts to read. Enjoy your new laptop.

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    1. Hi Troy & welcome! I follow you on youtube under ReignBeauHounds. I have some vids stored in my laptop that I've never gotten around to editing. Now that it's sick, I want to get to them. Typical huh?
      Thanks on the MicroCenter, I'll check them out. I need to upgrade the memory on the netbook.

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    2. Ah Ok, I recognize your YouTube name. As far as getting the files off your old drive, I worked as a computer consultant for many years and I often used a SATA/IDE to USB adapter cable to transfer files from old computers and laptops that wouldn't boot up. Basically, you would need to get the hard drive out, attach the cable to the hard drive then attach the other end to a USB port on your other/working computer. Then uses Windows Explorer (file system) to transfer the files. Not too difficult.

      Microcenter is OK on prices but my best connection in Houston and online has been www.directron.com. You can order online, have items shipped or go pick them up. I always ordered a bunch of parts then just went and picked it all up. Good prices.

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