Hi Good old Soviet here,

I am seeing many small notebook PC's now and am thinking that I may be buying one soon. Acer is making these and other companies are doing this also, but some of these use Linux operating systems here, and so I am wondering if it is possible to format hard disc and load on the Windows XP or the Vista? Some of these machines are now £175 english pounds, which is not so much to pay.

I am seeming to remember that I have seen warnings when reading about this somewhere that it cannot be the replacement operating system, for some reason, but does any Briskolian know if this is correct, and that it would be the problem some how?

Thank you, and I would like the advice here if you have knowledge of this.

Regards for you

Soviet:rolleyes:

seen them in staples for about 140 quid with linux on them.

Cant see why you couldnt but the cheaper ones only have 2-4GB and that wont run Windows as far as I know.

I have the 120GB version that comes with Windows XP already on it, brilliant machine, ideal for VAG COM.

I have also noticed that a few of these small laptops use linux, perhaps it is not so memory greedy like XP or Vista. If the ram is only 512 mb it migt be slow on the micrsoft products. I've not use linux, but some people say it's OK.

Was thinking about one of these myself, posted a similiar topic earlier.

Any websites around with that price smstext? Although also want the XP version.

Whats this Open office like?

I have an old XP DVD disc with other stuff on it, but the unit doesn't have a DVD drive to run it, and also dunno if it would fully up-date

I might look at also putting photoshop on at some stage, would it work with its spec?

I see they come with 3cell battery which lasts about 3hrs, the 6cell 6 hr equivalent might be a better buy but can't see it.

Linux makes the unit slightly cheaper, too.

As long as one is perfectly satisfied with the original configuration, doesn't encounter problems with network connections, doesn't care too much about program updates and cosmetic tweaking most things run just as good under Linux. In principle you should be able to take an Acer out of the box, plug it in and start browsing, e-mailing and writing. But as soon as you want to make changes you'll find that Linux has it's own learning curve :P

But most of those small netbooks come with either Linux or Windows, I think, so it's up to you to choose.

The size of the keyboard can be awkward to begin with. Could be worth to visit a Dixon's store or similar and try different brands.

OpenOffice is a good (and free) alternative to Microsoft Office and almost 100 percent compatible. Some tasks are a bit tricky to learn since they are not done in exactly the same way as in MS programs (e.g. more elaborated document styles - haven't mastered them yet in OO, I prefer to do them in MSWord). For basic word processing there are interesting "lightweight"varieties available, e.g. Abiword.

1GB is the recommended RAM size for Photoshop.

Edited 15 December, 200817 yr by swedishskoda

The Acer Aspire One with the 120Gb HD and Linux preinstalled is a little gem and lovely to use. The battery life could be longer but there is an optional 6 cell pack, and there are plenty of ongoing updates and fixes. The keyboard is a great size too, far easier to use than the one on the smaller Eee PCs. 512Mb RAM is definitely enough for the standard install, but go for the 1Gb model if you want to switch to XP later - you can add the extra 512Mb yourself but you'll have to completely gut the machine to get to the top of the motherboard.

Has anyone successfuly got a chopped XP to run on the base model 4GB / 512Mb EEEpc's ?

Samsung NC10 is where its at!

Bought my dad one for Christmas... lovely bit of kit and under £300 too.

Samsung NC10 is where its at!

Already purchased the Acer. Nice battery life on the Samsung though.

Hi Good old Soviet here,

Thank you to all for the help here, as I am learning things now that I was not considering before.

This is what is making Briskoda the best site, as everyone has the good knowledge and shares this also.

Thank you again. and Regards for the season for you all.:thumbup::thumbup:

Edited 16 December, 200817 yr by soviet
sp

Samsung NC10 is where its at!

Bought my dad one for Christmas... lovely bit of kit and under £300 too.

A friend of mine got a black one when they came out a few weeks ago for £299 but they seem to have gone up to £323 ish since... at PC World anyway where she bought hers from.

the 4gb eeePc doesn't have a dard disc drive, it uses flash memmory

Hi Good old Soviet here,

I am seeing many small notebook PC's now and am thinking that I may be buying one soon. Acer is making these and other companies are doing this also, but some of these use Linux operating systems here, and so I am wondering if it is possible to format hard disc and load on the Windows XP or the Vista? Some of these machines are now £175 english pounds, which is not so much to pay.

I am seeming to remember that I have seen warnings when reading about this somewhere that it cannot be the replacement operating system, for some reason, but does any Briskolian know if this is correct, and that it would be the problem some how?

Thank you, and I would like the advice here if you have knowledge of this.

Regards for you

Soviet:rolleyes:

If you have the bootable version of windows XP then simply insert the disc and re-boot the machine...follow the instructions to re-format the primary partition and then I would advise the creation of two partitions. C and D. Where C is used for the operating system and D is used for your data storage. The reasoning behind this is that if the operating system goes down spectacularly, and you need to re-install then you can simply do this on the C drive without risking your data. Although you should have a good data backup system in place....use an external hard drive or DVD's.

I have done this without much trouble, several times.

Personally I would stick with Windows XP as it is much more reliable than Vista if you can. Once installed, setup your internet connection and download all the latest drivers from the Acer website.

Cheers

Waster

A friend of mine got a black one when they came out a few weeks ago for £299 but they seem to have gone up to £323 ish since... at PC World anyway where she bought hers from.

I paid £292 but got a bit of cashback from Quidco too.

It does seem to have gone up in price though. :(

Having had good experience of Dell laptops I'm curious about the Mini 9 Inspiron (right now £243 with Linux/£273 with XP at Dell UK). Hasn't turned up in Sweden yet so I'll wait till I can type ÅÄÖ as I'm used to

If you have the bootable version of windows XP then simply insert the disc and re-boot the machine...

The small laptops we are discussing don't have DVD drives in them You would need an external DVD drive, then you can boot from a Windows disk and install. Luckily external DVD drives are now coming down to £50 or less.

Bought an Advent netbook from PC World for my son before he went of on his travels. Cracking wee machine will 10 in screen and xP, £279 I think.

just bought a samsung nc10 -it is great

300 quid with ebay paying 15% (xmas offer from them) knocked 45 quid off - result!!

i want to use it to remote desktop into my other pcs in the house but xp home doesn't have remote desktop function, soooo i tried the method below and it works a treat

Install and Enable Remote Desktop in Windows XP Home Edition My Digital Life

I recently got myself an Asus EEE 900a.

It came with an 8gb SSD and a 2gb SD card.

It originally had Xandros linux on it, which is pants so i am now running eeebuntu which is a lot nicer to look at and use.

The 900a has a bit of a slow ssd but in linux it is plenty fast enough. I did try windoze XP on it but it was a bit slow. I may try it again at some stage and do a bit of tweaking as i have just ordered a 2gb memory module to replace the 1gb it has as standard.

Ideally i would love to be able to run OSX on it as then you get a macbook for a fraction of the cost of a proper one lol.

I use open office on it and it works fine for my needs. I have had the same document in open office then put it onto my mac in MS office and it works fine.

For surfing the net and a few basic tasks it is fine.

I use the HD DVD add on from my xbox360 as an external DVD for it if i need to run anything from disk.

I got it from toys r us a couple of months ago for £199.

To answer the original question there are two thing you need to consider if you want to install Windows on one of these machines:

1) Is there enough RAM? 1GB is the sensible minimum.

2) Does it have a flash drive? If so then you'll want to use a version of XP cooked up by the vendor. The default configurations of things like disk cache and vmem are set up for speed, not taking into account the fact that a flash disk wears out after a (comparatively) low number of writes.

2) Does it have a flash drive? If so then you'll want to use a version of XP cooked up by the vendor. The default configurations of things like disk cache and vmem are set up for speed, not taking into account the fact that a flash disk wears out after a (comparatively) low number of writes.

From what i have learnt since owning mine. The "concern" over the number of writes to the ssd is really not worth worrying about as it will probably still outlast the life of the laptop.

There are also better installs of Wndows that can be used and have all the rubbish that you don't need stripped out and are optimised for the netbook.

I would suggest visiting this forum:-

EeeUser.com ASUS Eee PC 701, 900, 901, 1000 Blog Forum Wiki Community

HTH

a 2gb stick of ram is only 17 quid from crucial and easy to fit to the nc10

Recently ordered one of these for my EEE PC

Play.com (UK) : Kingston KVR667D2S5/2G ValueRAM / 2GB / 667MHz / PC5300 DDR2 / 200pin SODIMM / Laptop Memory : Computing - Free Delivery

I've been toying with getting one of these netbooks, my home pc uses linux,

however, when quizzing staff in currys, pcworld & the various phone shops ....

there seems to be no official recognition of linux by mobile internet dongles.

Anyone on here got round this in a not too techie way.

It would be a shame to have to buy a windows machine.

cheers ... Darren