General Question

zookeeny's avatar

Can a notebook computer replace a laptop?

Asked by zookeeny (875 points ) January 28th, 2010

I am looking for a small light, neat but robust laptop I can take around with me to write anywhere I am. Is there one which could replace my home laptop?

I am deciding whether to completly replace my laptop with a notebook.

Or Im wondering whether to use my (rather heavy and chunky old) laptop at home for my internet access and maybe photo storage and then getting a notebook for everyday use. Ideally I would – if I could, just replace my laptop with a notebook rather then have 2.

Would a notebook computer ‘be enough’ or should I hold onto my old (retro :) laptop for home use?

Also any good review sites where the language is simple and straight forward and doesnt assume you have got all the computer techno lingo as a second language!!


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14 Answers

Shield_of_Achilles's avatar

Ok, so. Laptop and notebook, are the same style of computer.

Do you mean NETbook?

as in…

NETbook on left NOTEbook on right.

HTDC's avatar

Yeah I think you mean Netbook.

Shield_of_Achilles's avatar

@zookeeny If so. Me and you are going to have a very long talk. You have SO many options and I am more than willing to go over all of them with you. I just need a few more details.

zookeeny's avatar

Im gradually building up a business. I also write. I dont want anything bulky and annoying and heavy but I dont want to buy one with not enough storage so that its slow and stresses me out :) I basically want a very simple smooth running laptop/NETbook/NOTEbook that can eventually access the internet when I can afford it!! (Im still on dial up….. I know!!!) Is that useful info? I cant afford anything that is flaky I tend to hold onto things for as long as I can before I replace so one that wont date too much. I am ready to offer my current laptop to a museum as a relic of history. Thanks :)

Shield_of_Achilles's avatar

Give me a price range

lilikoi's avatar

I thought laptop was portable computer while notebook was the one where you can turn the screen around and write with a “pen”.

From the info you’ve provided, I’m not sure what you’re asking. You’re wondering whether you can replace your laptop with a notebook, then you say you want a laptop/netbook/notebook. First it sounds like you are distinguishing between the two, then they are one and the same. Huh?

What kind of business are you doing? If it is just writing and browsing the internet, you don’t need much RAM or hard drive capacity as word documents are very lean. I am currently traveling with my Asus Eee and love that it is so lightweight, portable, compact yet comes with a full keyboard (except no # pad) and that the hard drive is solid state (no moving parts) so that if I drop it, nothing breaks! There are other brands that have imitated this design. Oh, the other thing I like about this one is that they offer it with Linux OS; I like to support the open source movement.

I have a much larger, more standard size HP laptop but don’t use it anymore. It is much heavier, bulkier, and their addiction to glossy screens is annoying because they are so reflective.

I use a regular PC at home because I like the full keyboard with number pad and giant screens they are selling for cheap these days.

FireMadeFlesh's avatar

@lilikoi Do you mean a tablet? That is where you can rotate the screen and write on it etc.

@zookeeny If you want the performance of a laptop and the portability of a netbook, I would recommend looking at a 13.3 inch laptop as a good compromise. Toshiba has some great ones at the moment, like the U500.

PandoraBoxx's avatar

I know a number of people who carry netbooks all the time for exactly the reason you describe. With some, they carry netbooks to meetings, take notes and then transfer them to their other computer. Or they use the netbook to access the Web, when they are out and about. In one case, they fly a lot, and carrying the laptop was cumbersome with everything else they carry, so they went to accessing the Internet on their phone. The screen size on the makes reading a lot of material difficult, so a netbook was the perfect compromise.

lilikoi's avatar

@FireMadeFlesh Ohhhh, yes, you’re right. I guess a notebook and laptop are the same thing then? I like your suggestion.

I guess it depends what is needed and preferred in terms of specs. Some people don’t like the small screen of the netbooks. I think if it was your only computer, it wouldn’t work, but with a regular PC at home I think it would be an excellent choice for web and word processing. There are also very thin and pretty light full size notebooks these days. I would get a thin, light one with a large screen if it was going to be my only computer. Pretty much any meeting these criteria currently on the market will have specs suitable for web and word; it’s more about finding a price point you can live with. For extra hard drive capacity you can always get an external hard drive.

FireMadeFlesh's avatar

@lilikoi I have a netbook and a desktop computer. My netbook, an Asus Eee 1000H, is what I use for portability and typing up notes at uni. My desktop is an old Acer, which I use for mild gaming, and basically everything while I’m at home since it runs dual screens and has sizeable hard drives. I like having both, but for people who want only one computer I think a small but fully capable laptop is the way to go.

mrentropy's avatar

Go to a store and make sure you can type on a netbook, too. When my step-daughter asks me to do something on hers I find it nearly impossible to type without making a bunch of mistakes.

Me and my big ham-hands.

sweetteaindahouse's avatar

A notebook as always been the classic standard. Being able to have a piece of paper whenever you need it is always a plus. I would definitely go with a notebook.

YARNLADY's avatar

I agree with @mrentropy about going to the computer store. Visit several of them, tell the clerk what you need. Have them demonstrate the use of several ones. Don’t buy the first one you see – go to at least three different stores.

superjuicebox's avatar

A notebook and a laptop are actually different guys, thou frequently thought to be the same, and a notebook is not the kind of computer that flips around, that is called a tablet :]. A notebook computer is a portable computer made to do work on, have mobility, but not really to do anything that requires a lot of power, say gaming for instance. A laptop is usually much larger than a notebook and much more powerful. The laptop is less easily portable than the notebook. I think that with the development with the netbook,tablets,the ipad, and the hp slate though, laptops will become obsolete and notebooks will replace them. Hardware is always getting smaller. The laptop will probably become the notebook and the notebook (for just portability) has become the netbook.

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