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Netbook Rankings Updated – Contains Over 75 Models

Fantastic Netbooks — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:50:35 +0000

The Acer 533 netbook uses the newer Atom N455 processor - no performance inscrease but the ability to use faster DDR3 memory

Our first update to the Netbook Rankings of 2011 brings the total number of netbooks included to over 75 models. Let’s have a look at which netbooks are worth considering.

Individual reviews of netbooks by technology journalists and well respected publications still vary massively and so it is important to get the full picture of how good a netbook really is.

An example of this is the Acer Aspire One 533 netbook, released in the 2nd half of last year and added to our netbook rankings today. The average score for the 533 was 73.4% gained from 7 reviews, the highest of which was 84% from Notebookcheck and the lowest was just 50% awarded by PC Pro. That’s a difference of 34% and if you read the PC Pro review you would probably not consider the Acer 533 but reading the Notebookcheck review you might.

Our netbook rankings help to keep everything in perspective, one reviewer may not like a netbook but another reviewer might think it is great, over the course of 5 or 8 reviews you can determine which netbooks are consistently getting the best scores.

Continue reading: Netbook Rankings Updated – Contains Over 75 Models

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Samsung N350 vs Samsung NF210 Comparison

Fantastic Netbooks — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:45:53 +0000

The Samsung NF210 netbook uses a dual-core Atom N550 processor and is just in time for Christmas

Samsung have released another 2 netbooks in the UK just in time for Christmas – the lightweight N350 and the fully featured NF210. Both netbooks feature the brand new dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor, but which is best?

The specification of each netbook is uncannily similar with the same processor, RAM, hard drive, operating system, screen, wireless and ports. However, there are some differences in size, weight and battery life.

The N350 is the smaller of the two and comes with a 3 cell battery, which Samsung say will give around 6.5 hours of life, pretty impressive for a 3 cell battery. The added bonus with a smaller battery is that the N350 only weighs 1.03Kg.

The NF210 on the other hand has a more plentiful energy source in a 6 cell battery, which makes the NF210 slightly heavier at 1.25Kg. This larger battery is claimed to last over 10 hours and so the choice between the N350 or the NF210 could come down to whether you prefer a lightweight machine or one with more battery power.

Continue reading: Samsung N350 vs Samsung NF210 Comparison

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Top 10 Netbooks For Going Back To School

Fantastic Netbooks — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:58:10 +0000

Rounding up the top 10 netbooks for students heading back to school or off to University – we’re looking for lightweight and stylish netbooks whilst making sure they have great battery life and are made from strong stuff – does such a netbook exist?

I know it feels like the summer holidays have only just started and there is a long time before school starts again in September. You don’t want to think about it but you need a netbook to help you with your school work when the new term starts. Or perhaps you are heading off to college or university in a month or two and need a portable computer for writing essays, reports and conducting research.

So if you are thinking about a new netbook to start the new school year in September then I hope this roundup of the best 10 netbooks will be as welcome as an A+ mark in your first test.

I reckon that the main features to look out for when choosing a netbook for a student at school, college or university are the following:

Good battery life – having a decent battery life is essential if the netbook is going to be used throughout the day, not always where there is a power supply close to hand.
Lightweight – nobody wants to carry a heavy laptop around with them all day. Having a lightweight netbook will ease the burden and have you skipping between lectures, lessons or lunch.
Good value for money, i.e. cheap – whoever is paying for the netbook will appreciate it if you get a lot of netbook for your (their) money.
Good design – nobody wants a netbook that looks like a brick or an old Amstrad from the 1980s.
Comfortable keyboard – if the netbook is going to be used properly to write essays, reports, conduct research and prepare for exams then having a comfortable keyboard to type on is pretty important.
Screen – we’re not so concerned about having a screen that looks good when playing DVDs whereas something you can view when outside or under bright fluorescent lights means that matte screens rather than glossy screens would probably be better.
Build quality – it is fair to say that a netbook carried around a school or college is possibly going to get knocked about a bit. This means a flimsy netbook will not be much good so we are looking for one with some sturdiness and good build quality.

So now we have an idea of what we are looking for, let’s have a look at the top 10 netbooks.

Continue reading: Top 10 Netbooks For Going Back To School

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Netbook Offers – Friday, 4th June 2010

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:05:13 +0000

Netbook deals updated weekly - this week includes Samsung N210 with free accessories and software bundle worth £89

Throughout May there have been many great netbook offers and deals from cheap netbooks, big discounts, free netbooks with mobile broadband and even netbook and satnav bundles giving you great value and all available on our Netbook Deals page, updated weekly.

We started the month with an Asus 1005PE down to £269.00 and £100 off the Sony W Series netbook from PC World, which you can still get at only £299.99 inc. VAT. The PC World website says that deal ran out of 5th May but you can still grab it now.

The Samsung N220, a top 3 netbook in our netbook rankings, was reduced by Amazon UK down to £288.90 and you can still get it at that price. The Samsung N220 is pretty much the most popular netbook right now.

Then came another set of big reductions with £70 off a Dell Mini 1011 netbook from PC World and a massive £150 off the Acer Aspire One 751H from Amazon UK.

We rounded the month off with £40 off a HP Mini 210 at only £229 and the Samsung N150 down to £249.99 at PC World. Finally, the brand new Acer Aspire One 532H is just £259.95 at John Lewis, which is not only a good price but you also get free delivery and a free 2 year guarantee.

June has started off no different, straightaway we are presenting some great deals, including a Samsung N210 netbook with free netbook case and software bundle worth £89 from Amazon UK, a refurbished Dell Mini 9 (one of our top 10 ever netbooks) for just £179.97 and another top 10 netbook in the form of the Samsung N120, a Grade A1 (as new) netbook from Laptops Direct for only £229.97 inc. VAT when it is normally around £285. Go to Netbook Deals to find out more.

So have a look at our Netbook Deals page, updated weekly and sign up to our weekly netbook deals e-newsletter, which will be delivered to your inbox each week. If you are worried about the safety of your email address then please don’t, we will not sell or pass your email address onto anyone else.

If you have any feedback on our Netbook Deals section then please let us know in the comments, it would be great to hear from you.

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Netbook Offers – Friday, 5th March 2010

Over 50 netbooks now in our netbooks rankings

Fantastic Netbooks — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:08:52 +0000

The Acer Aspire One 532H is a solid update to the popular 531H netbook model and is now ranked in our updated netbook rankings

A recent update to our netbook rankings section has seen the number of netbooks rated jump over 50 to a total of 56 individual netbook models including brand new netbooks such as the Acer Aspire One 532H and Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3.

Divided into overall rankings, lightest netbook rankings and netbooks with the longest battery life – having over 50 netbooks rated and ranked means it has now become a lot easier to see which are considered to be the best netbooks.

Our netbook rankings are the clearest way to see which netbook is best. We take into account the leading industry reviews from top magazines and review sites around the world including Laptopmag, PC Advisor, PC Pro, Computer Shopper and CNet, amongst others. We add up the scores gained and divide by the number of reviewers to gain our overall rating for each netbook.

This time around we have added a succession of 2010 netbooks and one in particular has had an immediate impact, gaining the highest score seen for some time. The full list of netbooks added include the following:

Continue reading: Over 50 netbooks now in our netbooks rankings

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Top 10 Netbook Cases

Fantastic Netbooks — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:51:38 +0000

We thought it was about time that we had a look at the best cases and bags on the market to carry your netbook around in. Ranging from sleeves to protect your netbook to carry bags and cases with shoulder straps, this top 10 should help you find something suitable for your netbook.

Back in November we featured the Swissgear range of netbook and laptop cases, and in particular the Swissgear Sherpa Netbook case as being a high quality choice.

But now, we are featuring the top 10 cases, bags and sleeves on the market for netbooks at the moment.

1. Belkin Neoprene Sleeve for Netbooks up to 10.2-Inch

A high-grade neoprene fabric protects your netbook and a unique asymmetrical zipper provides easy access to the top or side of the netbook. Fits netbooks and laptops of up to 26cm X 18cm X 3.5cm making it perfect for netbooks up to 10.2 inches in size.

Belkin Neoprene Sleeve for 10.2 inch netbooks

Buy Now – £7.23 inc. VAT

2. Trust 10 Inch Compact And Light Weight Netbook Carry Bag

This well made carry bag from Trust offers a compact and lightweight method of carrying your netbook of up to 10 inches in size. With padded interior, high-strength fabric for heavy duty use, dual metal zippers, a carry handle and an adjustable shoulder strap this netbook bag is the perfect choice.

Trust 10 inch compact netbook carry bag

Buy Now – £9.88 inc. VAT

3. LUPO Black Netbook Neoprene Pouch Case Sleeve

Plush-lined black netbook sleeve made from high-grade neoprene fabric to keep your netbook secure and protected from scratching. The internal measurements are 264mm x 197mm x 40mm making this netbook sleeve perfect for netbooks of up to 10.2 inches in size.

Lupo Netbook Sleeve

Buy Now – £4.99 inc. VAT

4. Belkin Neoprene Sleeve for Netbooks up to 12.1-Inch

A high-grade neoprene fabric protects your netbook and a unique asymmetrical zipper provides easy access to the top or side of the netbook. Fits netbooks and laptops of up to 31cm X 24cm X 4cm making it perfect for netbooks up to 12.1 inches in size.

Belkin Neoprene Sleeve for 12.1 inch netbooks

Buy Now – £8.01 inc. VAT

5. Belkin Neoprene Sleeve for Netbooks up to 10.2-Inch Chocolate/Tourmaline

Belkin Neoprene Sleeve in Chocolate

Buy Now – £8.33 inc. VAT

6. iTech Premium Durable Water-Resistant Neoprene Sleeve

High quality black water resistant neoprene fabric protects your netbook of up to 10.2 inches in size. Anti-shock cushion fabric and anti-scratch inner lining and comes with a full lifetime warranty.

iTech Premium Durable Water Resistant Neoprene Carry Case

Buy Now – £6.99 inc. VAT

7. LUPO Netbook Carry Case/Bag

Ideal protection for your netbook in the form of this nylon carry case, which is for netbooks of up to 10.2 inches in size. External size is 28.5 x 21.7 x 5.2cm and internal measurements are 264mm x 197mm x 40mm.

Lupo Netbook Carry Case/Bag

Buy Now – £6.99 inc. VAT

8. Belkin Neoprene Messenger Bag for Netbooks up to 12.1 Inches

Perfect for larger netbooks of up to 12.1 inches in size. 100% polyester fabric both, inside and out, for durability and quality, fits netbooks of 31cm X 24cm X 4cm.

Belkin Neoprene Messenger Bag for Netbooks up to 12.1 inches

Buy Now – £14.39 inc. VAT

9. GAGS Acer Aspire One 11.6 inch Netbook Reversible Neoprene Sleeve

The waterproof sleeve will protect your netbook from dirt and scratches whilst offering a stylish way to carry it around with you. The sleeve is designed so that your netbook slides in the pouch and the lid simply folds over and is reversible so that you have a choice of two colours to change to whenever you like.

GAGS Acer Aspire One 11.6 inch Netbook Reversible Neoprene Sleeve

Buy Now – £6.99 inc. VAT

10. Belkin Quilted Case For Netbooks Up To 12.1 Inches

Not only is it stylish, this carrying case protects your mini laptop from light wear and tear. Enjoy carrying your mini laptop anywhere you go. Perfect for net-books up to 12.1 inches. Fits netbooks up to 31 x 24 x 4cm. Removable strap allows you to use it as a sleeve or a carrying case.

Belkin Quilted Case For Netbooks Up To 12.1 Inches

Buy Now – £11.39 inc. VAT

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Swissgear Laptop Cases

Netbook Offers – Friday, 7th May 2010

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 08 May 2010 11:40:31 +0000

This great Sony Vaio VPMC11M1E/B netbook has a huge £100 off in our netbook deals

Our Netbook Deals has been updated this week with another 4 great offers on top netbooks.

There is a huge reduction of £100 on a Sony Vaio W-Series netbook so if you have always wanted a Sony Vaio but find them a bit too expensive then this may be your chance to grab a bargain. The Sony Vaio VPCM11M1E/B has an Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Starter and a 250Gb hard drive. Go to Netbook Deals.

One of the best netbooks around at the moment, the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, also has 7% off and so can be picked up for a good price right now. The Asus 1005PE also has an N450 processor, Windows & Starter and a 250Gb hard drive but packs a whopping 11 hour battery life. Go to Netbook Deals.

Don’t want to pay for a netbook? Well then, you can get a free Dell 1011 netbook with Windows 7 Starter, Atom N450 processor, 160Gb hard drive and is in a lovely red colour. This netbook is free with Vodafone mobile broadband for just £25 per month. Go to Netbook Deals.

Also take a look at the latest voucher codes for further reductions including 3% off all orders at PC World, 10% of all hard drives and 10% of all printers. Go to the netbook deals to pick up the codes.

You can also sign up to our weekly netbook deals e-newsletter, which will be delivered to your inbox each week. If you are worried about the safety of our email address then please don’t, we will not sell or pass your email address onto anyone else.

If you have any feedback on our Netbook Deals section then please let us know in the comments, it would be great to hear from you.

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Netbook Offers – Friday, 2nd April 2010

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:56:45 +0000

Introducing our new and improved Netbook Deals layout, keeping you abreast of the best netbook offers and cheap deals each week.

Each week the netbook deals section is updated with the best netbook offers and prices from major online and offline retailers such as Amazon UK, PC World, Laptops Direct and John Lewis.

This week the layout has been improved so you can see the offer details much more easily including any voucher codes that are available at the current time. See whether you like the new Netbook Deals layout.

This week there are some great netbooks on offer but you will need to click through to our Netbook Deals section to find out what cheap netbooks you can get your hands on.

If you have any feedback on our Netbook Deals section then please let us know in the comments, it would be great to hear from you.

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Netbook Offers – Friday, 5th March 2010

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:17:03 +0000

The Samsung N110 netbook scores highly in our netbook rankings

The best netbook offers and deals are updated in our Netbook Deals section each and every Friday to give you amazing discounts and simply great netbooks for great (and cheap) prices.

This week is no exception, we have pulled out some brilliant netbooks from top UK merchants such as Amazon UK, PC World and Laptops Direct but we also often feature John Lewis, Oyyy, Insight and, for those in the US, Geeks.com.

We have the normal variety this Friday, a mixture of brand new models at great prices such as the HP Mini 210 with Intel Atom N450 processor, 250Gb hard drive, Windows 7 Starter and 1Gb RAM, and older classics for absolute rock bottom amounts of money such as the Asus Eee PC 904HD.

But what we also have is a great deal from Laptops Direct.

They are offering a bundle offer on the Samsung N110 netbook, which is presently sitting at number 11 in our all-time netbook rankings with an average score of 81.4% from 7 reviews. Out of 45 netbooks that is a very high score and means that the N110 was one of the best netbooks of 2009.

We also carried out a roundup of reviews on the N110 in May last year and found that its stand out good points were its battery life (over 7 hours), its keyboard (93% of full size), the touchpad (larger than the NC10′s touchpad), design and performance (above average performance). Reviewers were divided on the screen in that the N110 has a bright glossy screen and whether the speakers were good or not. There were only a couple of bad points – the first being that there is no draft N wireless and the second being the cost.

Well, let’s explain what this offer is all about and then you can decide whether the cost is still too high.

The Samsung N110 netbook is being offered with a FREE Garmin 265W Sat Nav system, which on its own is worth £180. Now, we obviously don’t cover sat navs on this website so a few details about the Garmin 265W are just below the ad break:

- 4.3 Screen
- 4 hour battery
- Photo Navigation: Yes
- Bluetooth Calling: Yes
- 3D Map View: Yes
- Voice Prompts: Yes
- Memory: Internal and Micro SD Slot
- Maps: BaseMap, Preloaded & Updateable

I went and grabbed this TechRadar review of the 265W Sat Nav system, we feature a lot of their netbook reviews in our roundups, and they were pretty happy with the Garmin giving it 4 stars out of 5. Their good points were that it was easy to use, simple to setup, had a good interface and it was easy to switch between 2D and 3D. In fact, TechRadar’s only point against the Garmin was that it was expensive.

The cost of this bundle – the Samsung N110 and Garmin 265W Sat Nav system – is an amazing £349.97 inc. VAT, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a great offer and you can buy now. That is a huge saving, the N110 is normally £350 on its own and you are getting the Garmin Sat Nav thrown in for free!

But it doesn’t stop there because, for a limited time only, Laptops Direct are offering a voucher code, which gets you a further £20 off if you purchase this bundle before 19th March 2010.

Make a note of this voucher code – AWLDSAT – head on over to Laptops Direct and purchase your Samsung N110 with free Garmin 265W Sat Nav today, saving loads of money and getting a great netbook and fantastic sat nav.

If you would like to receive netbook offers like these emailed to you each week then just submit your email address below and we’ll email them over to you.

We won’t give your email address to anybody else, you will only get 1 email per week and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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Netbook News Roundup – 20th February 2010

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:40:20 +0000

Reintroducing the netbook news from last year but with a different 2010-type slant on it. I thought it would be interesting to look at the most dugg articles from the last 30 days and pick up on the stories and announcements that got people digging.

This month the netbook news was almost completely dominated by the launch of the Apple iPad. During the launch presentation by Steve Jobs netbooks got a bit of a raw deal and a number of publications jumped to their defence, which generated lots of discussion.

1. 27th January - 10 Things Netbooks still do better than an iPad

1857 Diggs – CNet identify 10 areas where they believe that netbooks are better than the iPad including video chat, running flash, storage and typing on your lap although they do acknowledge that the iPad is more portable.

2. 27th January – Where Netbooks Still Beat The Apple iPad

593 Diggs – Computerworld provide us with a comparison of netbooks vs the iPad by way of a rundown of the major functions and which one wins. Each main area is covered such as Design, Screen, Web Surfing and Price with the conclusion reached that netbooks win on most of those areas. There are a few areas where it could be argued either way but otherwise it is fairly convincing that netbooks are better, and who are we to argue?

3. 27th January – Google And The iPad

397 Diggs – A commentry article by Quentin Hardy discussing how Google may not be that impressed with the iPad launch, as it has plans to bring out a netbook or tablet of its own, which will most likely be compared to the iPad even though its price point would be expected to be a lot lower. The 2 companies may be facing off against each other in a number of areas including Google’s Nexus One vs the iPhone and more besides.

4. 9th February – KDE Software Compilation 4.4.0 Introduces new innovations

377 Diggs – KDE release the latest version of their software compilation, which includes social networking and online collaboration features plus a new netbook-oriented interface. Lots of bug fixes and new feature requests have been dealt with.

5. 15th February – MeeGo: A New Linux OS to Fight iPhone, iPad and More

361 Diggs – The announcement that Nokia and Intel are forming MeeGo, a combination of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin operatings systems, which are both Linux-based. Apparently this is not going to replace Symbian but developers will be able to deploy their apps to MeeGo and other platforms, including Symbian. MeeGo is due to arrive during the second quarter of 2010.

6. 15th February – Acer Announces Aspire One 532g, With NVIDIA Optimus Tech and Next-Gen NVIDIA Ion

324 Diggs – Hot Hardware covering the announcement from Acer that the 532G will use Nvidia’s Ion 2 for some serious graphics power but will switch to the integrated graphics when it is not required using Nvidia’s Optimus technology. Other than that the 532G is a pine-trail type netbook with an Atom N450, 2Gb RAM, 320Gb hard disk, 10 inch screen and battery life of up to 10 hours. Available in 3 colours, no pricing details as yet.

7. 2nd February – 42 Reasons Why Netbooks Are Better Than the Apple iPad

199 Diggs – PC Mag have managed to put 42 reasons together on why netbooks are better than the iPad so they are going for it in a big way. We start with the predictable ones such as netbooks are cheaper, netbooks have flash, netbooks can multitask and move onto reasons such as the Dell Mini 10v has a TV tuner and netbooks with NVidia Ion have support for blu-ray drives.

I’m not knocking the article at all, I think it is great that there are 42 reasons why netbooks are better than the iPad, I just think that trying to come up with so many reasons may seem that PC Mag is a little worried. Granted, CNet and Computerworld have done something very similar and, once the iPad is launched, a lot of Apple lovers will buy it because it is made by Apple, looks nice and has a big touchscreen.

These people have been buying Apple products for years, they bought the iPhone before it had 3G, they bought the MacBook Air even though it only had 1 USB port. I just don’t think that they will really care that there are 42 reasons why netbooks are better. For what it is worth, I think that netbooks are better and are far more useful pieces of equipment than they are sometimes given credit for.

8. 9th February – Nvidia Optimus: What You Need to Know

177 Diggs – Another PC Mag article, this one looking at Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which is all about switchable graphics, going from integrated graphics to discrete graphics depending on the task. This approach has been around for a while but nobody really uses it according to Nvidia. Their Optimus technology makes this switching seamless and PC Mag go on to explain how it works, whether it does work and their conclusion. Of course, we’ve also just seen that Acer are using Nvidia’s Optimus technology in their forthcoming 532G.

9. 1st February – Google’s tablet UI concept demo

174 Diggs – This time a video, posted on Youtube and lasting for 42 seconds, showing a demo of Google’s tablet user interface. I couldn’t really see what was going on that clearly as it was just a concept but it has been viewed over 200,000 times so is obviously pretty popular.

10. 20th January – Deloitte’s TMT report highlights rise of the tablet PC

163 Diggs – Just sneaking into this first roundup of the most popular stories from the last 30 days is this article from GeekWithLaptop investigating a report from Deloitte, which states that ‘NetTabs will be purchased by tens of millions of people in 2010′. It tooks me a while to realise that they were talking about tablets, were of course eluding to the iPad expecting to sell well (although not guaranteed) and other manufacturers also releasing tablets. So this is the year of the tablet, but do we really have to call them NetTabs?

That rounds up the most popular netbook news stories from the past 30 days and I hope you found them interesting.

Let me know what you think of the revised netbook news format and the content, any feedback is always gratefully received.

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