I wonder h:confused:w much RAM is in the machine owned by the OP. I've found many of these machines can benefit immensely from replacing the 1gb of RAM included with the 2gb maimum amount of RAM that the machine will accept. The $10-$15 cost of doing so is usually well worth it, and far less expensive than the cost of some solutions being proffered here.

Replacing the 1GB RAM to 2GB was the first thing I did with my old Asus PC1000HA netbook. While there is the theoretical improvement in speed, I didn't notice any noticeable improvement. As for the OP, I don't think that's going to produce the speed bump he's looking for.

I have been using a Portege R835 for the past month and I am very satisfied; although quite light (not as much as the Z830, though), it incorporates a DVD drive that a more expensive Vaio Z series would not have, an Intel Core I5 processor as well as USB/HDMI/replicator ports; the battery life is above 5 hours for moderately disk intensive operation (video editing). ^

Just in case anyone is curious, there are some really good Windows tips in this thread over at the eee user forums:

http://forum.eeeuser.com/index.php?/...ndows-edition/

Granted, it's almost four years old and speaks to XP, but I've found most of the information can also be applied to Win7 in one way or another.

I concur with the HP DM1Z. Mine has full Win 7, upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 500GB HD.

I've been using an Acer 1830T (TimelineX) which is halfway between netbook and laptop. Stock it is less than 3lb, comes with an Intel Dual Core i5 CULV 64 bit processor, 4GB RAM and a 500GB HD.

I replaced the HD with a Ocz SSD (in my case, a 256GB one). Basically, it's pretty much similar to the Ultrabook standard and I couldn't be happier. It boots in 15 seconds or so and is very fast for my purposes (Word, browsing, Excel, PowerPoint...) and the battery life is very good. Also, no HD = quiet. All in for a little less that $1K (it could be less with a smaller SSD).

I have been using a top of the line netbook Acer Aspire One AO722-0473. It comes standard with an AMD C60 processor with integrated ATI graphics, 2GB of RAM (easily upgradable to 4GB), and Windows 7 Home Premium. Target has these currently for $330 (I snagged two of these when they were on sale Black Friday presale for $198). For everyday tasks, I couldn't be happier.

I'll give a shout to the Lenovo X130e. You can now get it with either an AMD or Intel i3 processor. The intel being a better processor, but the AMD having a more powerful graphics chip.

The keyboard is fantastic to type on for an 11.6 inch. Build quality is very good too compared to most netbooks. You've got features such as a spill-resistant keyboard and HD shock protection.

Although they've marketed it at students, it's a very capable business tool. I have the model before and it's been a great travelling companion. Especially as most standard travel insurance won't cover the full cost of expensive laptops.

The only real issue I see is that a Macbook Air can be had for a few hundred dollars more - although one with the lowest spec, but still quite a machine.

While this is probably end-of-life pricing ($399), right now the X120e is a much better deal -- they only have the faster E-350 (1.6ghz) equipped models, which are much faster than the base AMD model (E-300, 1.3ghz) X130e ($509), and have very few capabilities missing. We've been very happy with the couple we got at work.

With the AMD X130e, the $40 upgrade to the E-450 CPU should probably be considered mandatory, although at $549

The turbo-less i3-2367M in the X130e is nothing to write home about performance-wise, and the $600+ price range gives a lot of options, on a machine that isn't really all that much more than a 12.5" business subnotebook (which will be much faster if equipped with an i5, and depending on the deal, may priced only marginally higher.) I wouldn't rule it out, but it's much less attractive than the X120e was at sub-$500 pricing let alone at $399.

This is still very early in the models' lifecycle, though, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some further decreases in a few months. Lenovo also sells refurbs (google on "Lenovo Outlet") and in a few months that could be a good cost-saving option.

asus the original
 

ASUS Eee PC Flare 1025C

If extreme battery life is your thing, or you're a really casual and patient user this is an interesting machine.

For MOST people, It's still going to be painfully slow (like any other Atom-based machine.)

I did it and it made a huge difference. almost made the netbook acceptable for real non-graphics work.

Of course, nowadays I'm trying to work out how I wil be able to afford one of the new 1.5GHz phones that are about to come out. That means that my next phone will have a faster processor than my last computer. Scary. I guess we can all see where that's going in terms of future form factor for phones and notebooks / netbooks.

"1.5ghz" is not always created equal. A 1.5ghz Atom chip, as used in a netbook, or a 1.5ghz ARM[*] processor is very significantly slower than a regular 1.5ghz laptop or desktop processor[**], both of the former being optimized for low power consumption.

[* I'm not sure how Atom and ARM compare; comparative benchmarks are more difficult because of software and platform differences unrelated . ]
[** for values of "regular" going back to the first dual core laptops in early 2006; a late-2011 vintage 1.6ghz Atom N2600 with two cores is about 2/3 the usable speed of an early-2006 vintage 1.66ghz (with two cores) "Core Duo T2300" and a newer 1.6ghz laptop with non-netbook processor would be faster still. Clock for clock, Atom is pretty similar to how Pentium 4 was for those who remember them.]

I got the Asus X101 netbook. Runs the MeeGo OS. Very light and thin, even by netbook standards. Uses Chrome for the browser. For word processing you can either use OpenOffice or Google Docs. Only has 8 GB of installed flash as the "hard drive". But for basic stuff you don't need more. Also has a microSD slot though if you want more storage and also has USB ports for external HDDs or memory sticks. Only $200. But I also upgraded to 2GB of memory since its so cheap these days...I think that cost about $15.

I recent purchased an Asus PE1015 with the Intel atom N450 chip. 1G RAM and 300G HD. Bought it for a little over $100 at cowboom (they sell returns) and it was rated a 9 so when it came, it was flawless. This is 2-year old technology.

I'm impressed with this machine. After adding a couple of media codecs and overclocking the cpu, it's not that bad. I can run 720P video, bootup is fast, Chrome is fast, and Open Office works (albeit slow startup). I can connect to internet using my 3G+ aircard or wifi N.

I'd say good enough for its purpose - portable computing when I'm out and about town waiting e.g. waiting for kids, appointments etc.