Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kl04ip]

about to buy the asus 1201n from gmarket. for those who arent familiar, its got: n330 1.6 dual core atom processs
: 2GB ddr2 800 ram
: nvidia ion graphics chip
: 6 cell battery
: 12.1 inch screen 1366x 768

basically im looking for something small and portable that i can do some light gaming on. all the korea laptops i see are so foreign to me im not sure if LG or samsung or anyone has anything that will compare to this for the price point of 659 000.

What are your thoughts, what would you suggest?

[eamo]

Even for light gaming you'll find the ION/Atom combination very limiting. I saw some benchmarks and it really struggles with any newer game even on lowest settings.

I'd say if gaming is one of your requirements, then forget about netbooks altogether.

[Senior]

Atom with nvidia will smoke light gaming. I've seen bench marks where it has done just fine. Eamo has a real hard on for the Atom hate for some reason. You won't get anything light and portable at that price point that doesn't have an atom in it.

[Gaber]

The AMD MV40 dual core is starting to show up in a few netbooks now

[eamo]

[kl04ip]

[eamo]

[hanguker]

eamo, I have to disagree with you on this. If you're not into gaming a netbook has obvious advantages.

2lbs vs 6lbs is a huge difference. My friend tosses hers in a medium-size purse. No extra bag.
11h battery vs 2-4 is an obvious diff. on planes, trains, and bus trips.
For traveling. Really, would you carry a full size notebook to Thailand? I would a netbook it's so small.
Very easy to carry to class for powerpoint presentations with VGA hookup. Fits right into your bookbag.
You can zip it around the house with very little effort if you can't be without the net...and even read in bed.
You can do 720p on a netbook (even without Ion). 1080 would be useless on a 10 inch screen.
I've tried them and they are quite snappy and amazing power for the size.
Whips an itouch's arse and is probably more powerful than my Wii!
n270s as low as 300K online (350 for a nice Asus 1005HA)

I think they're cool and will get cooler with the Ion series. They just gotta keep them small. No thanks 12 inch, might as well buy a thin and light.

[Senior]

The OP didn't specify what type of games he wanted to play. Maybe he just wants to play flash games. Or maybe, if he's like me, he plays old games. Championship Manager 03-04 Theme Hospital, Civilizations, Game Boy emulator. A netbook can smoke this stuff.

Eamo, you are a "power user" or what ever. It seems like you get a kick out of the equipment itself, rather than the equipments implementation in your life. The majority of people who use computers just tool around on the net checking their email and Farmville on facebook. A massive hog with 40gb of RAM, turbo bass and double overhead sunvisors, is wasted on these people.

I've said this a million times, and you can quote me on it.

[eamo]

I get the portability advantage, Hanguker. Sure. If you need that kind of portability.

I think it's because my daily life doesn't require that kind of extreme portability...........maybe that's why I don't get the point of netbooks.

I'm just wary of any gadget that seems to become a fad or fashion. People should take a cold hard look at what they need from their device rather than just buying something a lot of other people are buying.

Plus, there has been a significant backlash from netbook owners who get a bit frustrated when they realize the limitations of the things. A lot of people think they're buying something that will do all their 15'' laptop could do but in a really small and cute form. They don't take into account the sacrifices that have to be made for that extreme portability and long battery life.

But, sure. I'll concede that a netbook can be a worthy purchase for a lot of people. Just not for me.

I'd like one for long flights......but then I have a PMP which will do for that kind of situation.

[Adam Carolla]

I had my main PC's hard drive go bad on me late in 2009. This is the type of emergency that in the past would have had me walking the streets in search of an all-night PC parts vendor, but since I picked up a netbook over the summer this holocaust level disaster was merely an inconvenience.

I actually went a whole month with a netbook as my main PC before I finally got off my ass to go to Yongsan. Clearly, I didn't do much gaming, but I did use my netbook as my media center along with all the stuff one usually uses them for, and it did a great job. What finally made me get my PC up and running was encoding video. I had something or other to encode and the netbook simply wasn't up to the job.

If you're not a gamer, a netbook makes a lot of sense.

[hanguker]

Don't get me wrong eamo. I drool over power computers and I love FPS gaming too (though I'm on a budget).

However, I think netbooks are really cool advances in the miniaturization of pcs. Can they get any smaller and still have an input system comparable to a regular keyboard? I think that is the only bottleneck.

[eamo]

I wonder if the OP would go up to an 11.6'' netbook?

Here's something that has twice the power of all the Atom/ION netbooks but is only 11.6 inches and 3.2lbs (compared to a typical Asus Atom/ION netbook which is 10.1'' and 2.8lbs)

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/acer-aspire-1410.aspx?page=1

Acer Aspire 1410. It's in the same price range......it will give you a far wider selection of games you're able to run........and it can do 1080p out to a large-screen TV.......as well as faster all-round computing.

I think that's all worth the extra 1.5 inches of size and a few ounces of weight.

[Gaber]

Here's a thread detailing people's experience with current gen games. Overall, it's very encouraging. Obviously you can't crank them, but on such a small screen anything is going to look great.
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=81995

[Senior]