Netbooks

Small, lightweight, inexpensive netbooks featuring exceptional battery life started becoming popular in 2007, largely due to ASUS' successful Eee PC line. In order to achieve great longevity while unplugged and low price tags, these netbooks sacrificed processing power. The CPU featured in most netbooks until the recent advent of AMD's Brazos products was Intel's Atom and its derivatives. The new AMD APUs typically offer CPU power on par with or exceeding comparable Atom chips, and far superior graphics performance. That said, even the lowliest single-core Atom is sufficient for basic web browsing and office productivity. I've found inexpensive netbooks make near-perfect 'daily drivers' for campus use. They weigh less than a hardcover textbook, are small enough to be typed on in cramped lecture halls, and they often don't need to be recharged at all during the day.

ASUS' Eee PC 1001P is a standard, mostly unremarkable single-core Intel Atom-based netbook that deserves your consideration for two reasons: it's cheap and its battery lasts a ridiculously long time. Tests here at AnandTech show the 1001P can stay unplugged for nearly 11 hours if idling and over 7.5 hours during heavy web browsing. You can expect it to last well over 8 hours if you're typing notes and occasionally browsing the web. At $260, it's one of the least expensive netbooks.

Since their original NC10, I've been a fan of Samsung's netbooks. I like their keyboards better than the competition's, and they're particularly well-built. The NF310 features a dual-core Atom CPU which can help with multi-tasking, offering a level of performance that's a step up from the single-core Atom netbooks. That said, trying to do anything more than web browsing and basic office productivity can quickly become aggravating. At the time of writing, its pricing on the web isn't particularly competitive, but I've seen it as low as $300, and at that price, it's an excellent product.

As alluded to above, AMD's Brazos APUs that came on the market at the beginning of 2011 changed the netbook landscape. The E-350 APU in particular offers substantially better all-around computing than any Intel Atom. Furthermore, most Intel Atom-based netbooks feature 10.1" screens while most AMD E-350-based netbooks feature 11.6" screens. More display real estate isn't just easier on your eyes—I've found my fingers fatigue slower using the 11.6" netbooks' keyboards. Finally, most E-350 netbooks come with Windows 7 Home Premium installed instead of the Windows 7 Starter Edition that comes installed on most Atom-based netbooks. Windows 7 Starter doesn't let you change your wallpaper, nor does it support multiple monitors. These might not be relevant to your netbook usage, but I'd much rather get more memory and a "real" OS.

Dustin reviewed HP's dm1z here on AnandTech, and as you can see from that review, the dm1z offers great battery life (over 8 hours idling, about 7 hours while browsing the web)—and it can game! Or at least produce playable frame rates on lowered settings on many popular titles like Left 4 Dead 2 and Starcraft 2. Starting at $400, the dm1z is definitely worth the extra hundred or so dollars compared to an Atom-based netbook if you are looking for more than bare minimum adequacy for the most basic tasks.

At almost $500, Lenovo's Thinkpad X120e is more expensive than many more powerful, full-sized laptops. It's more expensive than the dm1z, and in my personal testing, its battery life and performance are (unsurprisingly) very similar to those of the HP E-350-based netbook. However, I bought an X120e because the dm1z's screen is glossy while the X120e's is matte. Considering how much time I spend inside lecture halls and labs, I try to get outside as often as possible—and glossy screens are simply not as easy to see as matte screens in the sun. The keyboard on the X120e is also perhaps the bets "netbook" keyboard around.

If you're looking for something more capable than the above netbooks, or for a larger screen, we take a look at a number of full-sized laptops on the next page.

Monitors Laptops
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  • The0ne - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    I think the recommendations covers too broad the general view of a college student. Many of these aren't even needed as a good 15" or even a 17" will do just fine. If you want to game, that's a whole different area to pursue with even more accessories to consider. It's not as if you are going to lug around all those equipments with you on campus nor have all the time in the world to do everything.

    I also vote for the inclusion of a very good bag to lug around books and your accessories!
  • Fujikoma - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    Given how most students live, I'd recommend a desktop for durability. Most really don't need the extra power and could get by with a laptop, but most aren't careful enough when it comes to long term care. There were three of us in a 12'X12' room (largest on campus) and we shared one desktop (early 90's and two of us couldn't afford one) instead of going to the eng. bldg. With the exception of the music student (Apple fanatic), everyone owned an intel/amd custom build with one atari (800XL) and one commodore (don't remember) thrown in for good measure. Maybe it was because we were all science/eng. majors. The laptop, a friend lent me, didn't help during class. It was much easier taking notes. Of course, playing games during a boring lecture was a bonus, but the laptop really had no value. A laptop really serves a student that goes home regularly and needs to work on their classwork while away. Of course, I don't think graphing calculators should be allowed in any math class prior to differential equations. Same thing with the iPads the local middle school is buying instead of books... it has no place in a school. Call me old fashioned but learning how to solve a problem the hard way with repetition is far better than just entering data and letting a gadget do all the work (our interns (and a few of our engineers) are idiots who have very little comprehension of why things don't work).
    I have a 17" screen on my laptop, because it's as small as I'll go when I visit family out of state and I need to work on graphics stuff. Otherwise, it's my excessively large tower (very old, but easy to keep cool) with a much better and larger monitor.
  • andymcca - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    I just bought a Llano machine for $400 after a $50 rebate. It's an HP G6-1b60us, and while historically I've not been an HP fan, I'm impressed. Granted, its based on an A4-3300M (lower end Llano), but the few games I've tried so far (WoW, Starcraft 2) play great with a mix of "ultra" and medium settings. It might be worth mentioning that there are some Llano machines well under $700.

    I am annoyed at certain retailer, though. We will call it "small center". The sales person was trying to tell me that it might not even launch old games or something. I tried to let him know that integrated no longer means total crap, but I don't think I got through.
  • Taft12 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    Oh, you got through. He was using an upselling tactic that usually works on non-tech-savvy customers.
  • weiran - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    If there are "legions" of Android tablet fans, why aren't they buying them?
  • chedrz - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    I started my time at college with a laptop that was a few years old at the time. It lasted one year before it died. Unfortunately it was pre-Centrino, so it really wasn't very portable. After it bit the dust I switched to a desktop and had no problems typing/working with it. My last year or two I also added a netbook so I did have that portability factor. If you're able to manage file storage well with multiple systems, then I'd highly recommend the desktop/netbook combo route. You don't need a lot of processing power while you're sitting in a lecture hall taking notes/web browsing/scrolling through PowerPoint, and then you have the extra power (if needed) back in your room on your desktop.
  • rageguy34 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    I purchased a 13" macbook pro for my sister to take to college. I live in Texas and she decided to go to college in Minnesota! The main reason I chose the macbook was for the warranty, with the apple care plan she can take it to any apple store and have it repaired since I won't be anywhere near her for support. This way she doesn't have to deal with calling a 1800 number and shipping/receiving her laptop if anything goes wrong.

    I do a ton of RMAs for work and I wouldn't want my sister to have to go through anything like that.
  • f4phantom2500 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    There's a Gateway laptop (model #NV55S04U) on Best Buy's website with an A6 3400M, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD and a 15.6" screen for $479.99. There's also an HP laptop (model #g4-1117dx) with an A4 3300M, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD and a 14" screen for $399.99. Both of these look like solid deals (the Gateway moreso, obviously), for budget laptops with a "good enough" CPU and reasonably capable graphics, all things considered.
  • aliasfox - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    I went to school with (what was then) an ultraportable PowerBook G4 - with the exception of the hard drive, I used four seven years (PITA to replace, btw).

    Definitely an advocate of a laptop for most users.
    - Roommate comes back with a girl, you want to be able to scram without having to wonder if you have all your stuff with you
    - Notes in class
    - Writing papers in the library

    These are all things that are much more functional with a full size keyboard and/or somewhat-faster-than-netbook performance.

    Most important factors, in my opinion:

    - Nice keyboard and external mouse. My PowerBook has a phenomenal keyboard that few laptops match. Thinkpads, MacBooks, and some Dell Latitudes have them, but most consumer level machines don't. This matters a lot when you're trying to write a 20 page research paper in about 12 hours.

    - Portability. Not talking about weight, but sheer size - 15" and 17" laptops are just harder to fit into shoulder bags or smaller backpacks, as well as the tiny desks some classrooms have. Also, when you're flying back home for the holidays, that behemoth won't open on the table in coach.

    - A reasonable graphics card. No, you don't need a 6970m, but a Sandy Bridge level GPU minimum for when your friends want you to try something. I can't tell you how often I saw people playing slideshows of WoW, SimCity, or some other "low end game" on their Intel 950 graphics...

    - External HD - like it or not, college kids will "accumulate" lots of media that will fill up an internal HD. Also good for back up.

    - Video outputs - there are TVs in lounges and projectors in classrooms, hooking up your laptop is a good way to watch movies or give presentations. I could output VGA and S-Video, throwing in DVI/HDMI (and the right cables) would cover almost any base.

    An external monitor would be nice too (especially considering that PowerBook had a relatively dim 12" XGA display that showed relatively little of the color gamut), but that (as well as speakers) should wait until you understand how you're comfortable setting your room up.

    Just my opinion.
  • indianidle - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link

    I had expected see a mention about Tablet PCs. Sure they're bigger, heavier and more expensive compared to iPad/Android tablets, but they also faster, more capable and can actually be used for productive work. Looking at future compatibility, Windows 8 will have a good touch interface and you'd be able to run it comfortably on these systems. I also think you should also add SkyDrive (25GB!) to the list of cloud storage options.

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