MacBook or NetBook?

[sohum]

Yeah, if you have a desktop it doesn't make too much sense to get an ultra-powerful machine (and the more power you have, the less battery life you're going to get out of it). Going with a lower powered processor (such as Core 2 Duo) is going to buy you hours in battery life compared to the mobile i7 or i5.

Desktop-replacement laptops are good if they're your only computer. But if you're looking for a portable machine that you can take to class and still interact with internet media, you don't need a very powerful machine.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

I was just looking at Acer's TimelineX 4820T, and am almost decided on buying it. It has a Core i3, 4 Gigs of RAM, and one variant comes with some AMD Radeon card. The killer feature is the battery life. Although Acer reports 8 hours of battery life, reviewers have easily got about 4-6 hours of battery life, some people reporting 7 hours of battery life! That is amazing, even 5 hours is.

And the AMD Radeon card can apparently be switched with the i3 / i5's integrated GPU, with a single click of a button, to save all that battery life when you don't need too much power! Best part is, its pretty cheap as well!

 

[Simbazz]

Thinking of getting a MacBook myself, hopefully the Pro version.

Kshitiz, I beg of you, don't touch Acer, they're a terrible company, I've had endless trouble with them!

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Oh! I've owned one Acer and it was splendid for me, which is why I was going for another. Trouble is, I've just bought the shiny new Galaxy S and therefore I'm on a budget for a laptop, and this model is the only one having good battery life.

 

[Simbazz]

Did you have any heat troubles? I've got an acer where the fan is at the back and its the worse piece of design ever, it gets hotter than the face of the sun!!!

 

[Chewie]

I've heard Acers aren't very good as well. MacBooks are rated at up to 10 hours of battery life

 

[sohum]

MBPs do not give 10 hours of battery life. The 10 hour figure is how long it would theoretically take to drain the battery at minimum usage. You can Google MBP battery life to find real results (most reviews claim around 5 hours).

By that token my Vaio would give me 12 hours of battery life with the 12-cell and 8-hours with the 8-cell. In reality I get about 9 hours with my 12-cell (while actually using the computer to do intensive work like compiling and linking a 2.5 million-line codebase) and around 5 hours with the 8-cell. The purchase did include both batteries, though.

 

[Chewie]

I did end up buying the macbook and so far I've found it lasts around 8-9 hours, using wifi the whole time, as well as either working on a word document and/or powerpoint.

With that you could just take both batteries around with you and you'd get quite a decent battery life.

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

I've heard Acers aren't very good as well. MacBooks are rated at up to 10 hours of battery life

The one I had didn't have any heat trouble, though I guess it can happen with any model. The 4820T model I'm looking at has received good reviews everywhere!