Ultra Portable Pcs: Asus, Acer, Msi

[pitrevie]

Hi pitrevie , sorry can't answer you question, I would also like to know . also any chance you can let us know what you find

and the prices .? I am also looking at ....

MSI Wind U100

Eee PC 1000 H

Eee PC S101

Lenovo S10

Samsung NC10

cheers

TL

I will post the reply late Saturday but bear in mind that it closes Sunday at 8 p.m. Doubtful that the Samsung will be there.

Thanks, Any info on what you see will be appreciated

TL

You might find this link useful enough there to understand the specs and prices

http://www.manager.co.th/CyberBiz/ViewNews...D=9510000134880

[Robski]

I have an Advent 4211/MSI Wind running XP 80GB drive 2GB memory (!gb fitted by me). Excellent little machine.

Yep me too, brilliant machine. The only drawback I've found is that the screen size 1024x600 won't allow me to run my favorite video editing programme and it does clip the bottom off another program I use, but I still have the widescreen laptop at home run those programmes anyway, otherwise it's ideal and very robust.

[Sarathi]

So has anyone seen the Samsung NC10 around in Thailand yet? Will it be here in the next few weeks (for Crimbo) ?

[ThaiLife]

So has anyone seen the Samsung NC10 around in Thailand yet? Will it be here in the next few weeks (for Crimbo) ?

Yes the Samsung S10 does look a nice machine , but ive got a feeling as we don't see many Samsung notebooks in Thailand

we may not ever see the NC10 here at all, its going to be a shame as its getting many good reviews and comments . I have noticed on other computing forums some guy's are thinking of importing the NC 10 from the UK and the USA to Thailand , but this then brings up the problem of any warranty , and future service / repairs issue. A guy in my soi is getting his family to bring one with them from Germany when they come to Thailand for Christmas, He seem's to think its worth the risk of not having any warranty at all , which I am not too sure on especially what would you do in the future if you need to have the unit repaired and require parts . So lets keep our fingers crossed , and that I am wrong and we do see the NC10 for sale here at some time .

Samsung NC10 ★★★★☆

This 10-inch netbook trumps the field with its spacious keyboard and more than 6 hours of battery life.

Full Review .... http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/sa...c10.aspx?page=1

TL

[Phil Conners]

Considering how slow warranty repairs are done in Thailand I think warranty is the least of the problems.

I have a 1 year old LG flat screen with an external powersupply which failed. The shop where I bought it in Tukcom Pattaya had to send everything back to Bangkok and now two months later it still hasn't been fixed. Warranties are useless here!

If I knew someone coming in from US who could bring me an NC10 I would be delighted and take the offer immediately!

Edited November 14, 2008 by Phil Conners

[Veazer]

I was considering the NC10 but went for the Asus 1000H because of the larger user base and i've had good luck with asus stuff in the past.

It just arrived today and i'm overall quite impressed.

A quick overview, pros and cons mixed:

• Nice build quality, feels solid.
  
• solid keyboard, but poor markings on the keys. The ink/paint/whatever used for the key letters is just a little lighter than the keys themselves. I don't get why they did that . In fact, the secondary functions (aka the Fn keys) are much more prominent and visible). the position of the right shift key is dumb, but i can deal or move it later. this has been discussed in the forums.
  
• Matte screen is bright but overly matte. It's so non-glossy it's like looking though a bit of gauze or a dusty screen. I really prefer glossy screens (acer aspire one i had was better) but i can deal with this. Screen had poor gamma (overly bright) at first but upgrading to the latest firmware fixed this. a 10.2" screen is much nicer to look at than a 8.9" screen
  
• Ram was easy to upgrade, just open the back hatch and drop it in. Upgrading ram on the acer aspire one is an exhaustive process. The asus also has easy access to upgrade the HD and minipci-e. supports a full 2gb stick of ram.
  
• built in 802.11n and bluetooth. built-in bluetooth frees up one usb port.
  
• HD is reasonably fast, but the aspire one was faster (62 MB/s vs 78 MB/s read speeds, approx). Asus currently has a problem where the HD speed is inversely proportional to clock speed. as you underclock the processor the HD speeds go up. i'm hopeful that Asus will get this straightened out in the future.
  
• 12V input... this is handy for me because i use external batteries, cars jacks, etc. Most laptops use higher voltages.
  
• 6600MAh stock battery, the biggest stock battery i've seen on a netbook.
  
• Very nice trackpad. Much better than the Acer's little trackspad, and the buttons are in the right spot.
  
• Speakers are decent for small machine. Again, much better than the Acer.
  
• Only 1 SD slot. I liked the dual SD slots on the Acer. I could keep a truecrypt drive with docs and portable apps and still read cards from my camera.
  

[ThaiLife]

Considering how slow warranty repairs are done in Thailand I think warranty is the least of the problems.

I have a 1 year old LG flat screen with an external powersupply which failed. The shop where I bought it in Tukcom Pattaya had to send everything back to Bangkok and now two months later it still hasn't been fixed. Warranties are useless here!

If I knew someone coming in from US who could bring me an NC10 I would be delighted and take the offer immediately!

Hi Phil , Spot on with the warranty remark , I suppose at the cost involved it may be worth taking a risk, the ideal thing would be if you can get a friend who is coming out here to buy it in their own country first, and try it out ( dead pixels etc ) then bring it with them , its some thing I may think about .

TL

[ThaiLife]

I was considering the NC10 but went for the Asus 1000H because of the larger user base and i've had good luck with asus stuff in the past.

It just arrived today and i'm overall quite impressed.

A quick overview, pros and cons mixed:

• Nice build quality, feels solid.
  
• solid keyboard, but poor markings on the keys. The ink/paint/whatever used for the key letters is just a little lighter than the keys themselves. I don't get why they did that . In fact, the secondary functions (aka the Fn keys) are much more prominent and visible). the position of the right shift key is dumb, but i can deal or move it later. this has been discussed in the forums.
  
• Matte screen is bright but overly matte. It's so non-glossy it's like looking though a bit of gauze or a dusty screen. I really prefer glossy screens (acer aspire one i had was better) but i can deal with this. Screen had poor gamma (overly bright) at first but upgrading to the latest firmware fixed this. a 10.2" screen is much nicer to look at than a 8.9" screen
  
• Ram was easy to upgrade, just open the back hatch and drop it in. Upgrading ram on the acer aspire one is an exhaustive process. The asus also has easy access to upgrade the HD and minipci-e. supports a full 2gb stick of ram.
  
• built in 802.11n and bluetooth. built-in bluetooth frees up one usb port.
  
• HD is reasonably fast, but the aspire one was faster (62 MB/s vs 78 MB/s read speeds, approx). Asus currently has a problem where the HD speed is inversely proportional to clock speed. as you underclock the processor the HD speeds go up. i'm hopeful that Asus will get this straightened out in the future.
  
• 12V input... this is handy for me because i use external batteries, cars jacks, etc. Most laptops use higher voltages.
  
• 6600MAh stock battery, the biggest stock battery i've seen on a netbook.
  
• Very nice trackpad. Much better than the Acer's little trackspad, and the buttons are in the right spot.
  
• Speakers are decent for small machine. Again, much better than the Acer.
  
• Only 1 SD slot. I liked the dual SD slots on the Acer. I could keep a truecrypt drive with docs and portable apps and still read cards from my camera.
  

Thanks for the report, Ive a few questions I would like to ask you on the 1000 H

TL

[Sarathi]

Thailife - what reason do you have for thinking the Samsung won't be coming to Thailand?

Since it is in Singapore, I can't see any reason it won't be coming to Thailand, and before Christmas would be most sensible.

I looked at the MSI (Axioo) and was not that impressed. The matching Asus was identiacal, but had a 6 cell battery, and I'll go with that one.

The new HP was nice, but only a 4 cell battery.

Samsung is the one to wait for I think, and it has that anti-bacterial keyboard - how could you pass up that?

[Phil Conners]

I'm tempted both by the NC10 and the MSI Wind, with the Samsung a bit ahead, but if there isn't some signs soon that it's going to be available here somehow I'll probably go with the MSI Wind instead. All the comparisons rate it way ahead of all the competitors and there are a couple of places in Bangkok that has it, for example this place. The MSI Wind also has a quite cool following, for example this cool community site.

Edited November 14, 2008 by Phil Conners

[Sarathi]

I picked the msi (Axioo badge in Thailand) via the reviews, but the comparable Asus was better. They had the exact same size and look. Keyboards identical, but the msi had only the 3 cell battery vs Asus 6 cell. You can buy a 9 cell battery for the msi, but it is an extra 170US$ and mail order. Also the msi hard drive is slower than the Asus. To be fair all the makes are so similar it is hard to choose - but I DEFINITELY think it is worth getting a 6 cell battery version. The HP, the nicest of them all, is 4 Cell, and most of the others come with 3 cells.

If the Samsung does not appear soon, I will get the Asus.

[Phil Conners]

The place I linked to in my previous post lists the MSI Wind (not rebranded) with a 6 cell battery for 17,499 + VAT.

[ThaiLife]

Thailife - what reason do you have for thinking the Samsung won't be coming to Thailand?

Since it is in Singapore, I can't see any reason it won't be coming to Thailand, and before Christmas would be most sensible.

I looked at the MSI (Axioo) and was not that impressed. The matching Asus was identiacal, but had a 6 cell battery, and I'll go with that one.

The new HP was nice, but only a 4 cell battery.

Samsung is the one to wait for I think, and it has that anti-bacterial keyboard - how could you pass up that?

Hi ..

May be my comment (we may not ever see ) was a little harsh , Ive been looking for some solid and up to date direct links to Samsung Notebooks and Thailand , with out much success , the only comment I can find at the moment is this old one ..

For the lesser-informed readers, the notebook arm of Samsung Electronics has already branched into 11 countries outside of Korea with Singapore being the third and latest country in the Southeast Asian region other than Malaysia and Thailand.

Ive had a look at the Singapore Samsung web site ... http://www.samsung.com/sg/index.html

but no sign of any notebooks there , if any one knows of a direct link to the Samsung NC 10 , Singapore , Thailand

then the drinks are on me , heres hoping

TL

[Veazer]

The HP, the nicest of them all, is 4 Cell, and most of the others come with 3 cells.

I totally loved the HP. It had a great case design, the best keyboard of any netbook by a longshot and a glossy screen that i loved.

Unfortunately, what kills the HP, and the Asus S101, is the ridiculous 1.8" hard drive. Why put a <deleted> ipod drive in a laptop? the netbooks with 2.5" drives can handle 500gb of storage, fast storage, with todays technology. 1.8" drives max at around 120-160gb, and they're much slower than the 2.5" drives. Yes, i know 240gb drives are being made but show me a seller.

BTW, all the HP's i saw were 3-cell.

[Phil Conners]

... if any one knows of a direct link to the Samsung NC 10 , Singapore , Thailand

then the drinks are on me , heres hoping

TL

There is a link to the NC10 in Singapore somewhere earlier in this thread.

Edited November 14, 2008 by Phil Conners

[ThaiLife]

... if any one knows of a direct link to the Samsung NC 10 , Singapore , Thailand

then the drinks are on me , heres hoping

TL

There is a link to the NC10 in Singapore somewhere earlier in this thread.

http://www.expansys.com.sg

Hi Phil, I think this may be the web site you mean, I'm only guessing but it looks as if they may be shipping the Samsung from the UK , to re sell in Singapore , What I would love to se is a direct link between the Samsung NC 10 and Thailand

[Phil Conners]

If you're thinking about the UK keyboard and UK type plug - I think that's normal in S'pore. After all it used to be an English colony...

[Sarathi]

Can't say that I really collated information - but the new HP netbooks that I checked, had 4 cell batteries, presuming the salesmen were right. Its a new machine so they mihgt well be wrong. There seems to be a ragne of HP's so there probably are some 3 cell versions too. Some of the HPs also had 512 MB of RAM if I recall correctly. They are certainly the nicest of the lot. Funnily I saw one of the HP mini-note 2133 on sale for 22 000 baht. These older machines have 3 cells.

The MSI was supposed to have 6 cells, but came supplied with only 3 citing factory shortages (month old info) . But there's a real mess of specs and info in this market right now.

My criteria are 10 inch screen. Real hard drive 80GB or over. 1GB RAM, and 6 battery.

[Tywais]

My criteria are 10 inch screen. Real hard drive 80GB or over. 1GB RAM, and 6 battery.

I posted previously that I purchased mine (MSI Wind) a few days ago on-line with 6 cells, 1GB RAM and 160GB Hard drive for a little over 18k. It was at Shop4thai.com, lists at 17,499 + VAT.

[ThaiLife]

If you are looking for a Netbook , have a look here ..........

http://www.umpcportal.com/products/

click show all , grab your self a stiff drink , now tell me which one you fancy

TL

[Richb2004v2]

I've had my Asus 901 for almost two months now and I am very, very pleased with it. It is a perfect size, has a good battery life and decent spec. Since I got it a few other brands have hit the shelves, but I can't recommend the 901 enough. Just thought I would update the thread.

[ThaiLife]

I've had my Asus 901 for almost two months now and I am very, very pleased with it. It is a perfect size, has a good battery life and decent spec. Since I got it a few other brands have hit the shelves, but I can't recommend the 901 enough. Just thought I would update the thread.

Thanks for the up date , its good to hear how things are going after the initial first few weeks , The choice of netbooks for any one looking to buy seem's to be growing on a daily basis , one point that I wondered about is from seeing larger notebooks side by side the ones that have a glossy screen rather then a matt finish look to me to display a bit sharper and fuller color picture . May be its a personal viewing thing , it would be nice to see a netbook with a glossy screen .

TL

[LivinLOS]

Sorry if this has been covered..

Is the Samsung NC10 here to buy now ?? I will pick up a netbook in the next few days for the GF and of the ones I have hands on looked at thats the Acer one so far.. Would like the BT and bigger screen of the NC10 also think some of the acers I have seen were low battery options..

Cant wait weeks, has to be in my hands by middle of next week.. Birthday deadline

[ThaiLife]

From what I can tell , the NC 10 is not going to be here by the middle of next week, and may be it will never be officially on sale here in Thailand , only time will tell.

[ozsamurai]

commart is now on in QSirikit and all the mini's are there. I went down yesterday and did some recon.

Acer one 120GB model w/windows came out on top for me, despite a smaller 8.9" screen. the specs for 15,500 are pretty good. What set it apart was a 6 cell battery, 3 USB ports not 2, 5in1 card reader not 3in1, expandable RAM to 2GB (just). The down side is the speakers being on the bottom of the unit damages sound quality, couldn't even hear it inside the show really, and a glossy case, fingerprint hel_l! but at least you get a choice of 4 colours. If you are planning to buy one there, go to the main Acer stand, bargain to 15,500 and get extras thrown in, they wouldn't budge below the price though.

The rest of the comparable 120Gb HP, Mini, ASUS all had similar spec if not identical, but were 19,990 and up plus VAT, 5000 baht for an extra inch of screen....less USB ports, some bigger keyboards ...... hmmmm It finishes on the 16th, so I can wait.... next year maybe

Oz

[pitrevie]

Hi pitrevie , sorry can't answer you question, I would also like to know . also any chance you can let us know what you find

and the prices .? I am also looking at ....

MSI Wind U100

Eee PC 1000 H

Eee PC S101

Lenovo S10

Samsung NC10

cheers

TL

The item I was looking for the Asus EEC 1000H was priced the same as I could obtain it elsewhere. 17K9 plus vat and with the Linux OS.

The MSI Wind was 16K5 with an illegal copy of Windows, the Lenova S10 17K9 and the Acer A150 23K4 but all these prices were excluding vat.

The Samsung stall were not even aware of the NC10 and I havent seen it anywhere else.

I read on a Thai forum that the only difference was that you went away with a few freebies, in one case a pair of speakers in the shape of pigs, not sure what some religions would make of that.

[ThaiLife]

Hi pitrevie , sorry can't answer you question, I would also like to know . also any chance you can let us know what you find

and the prices .? I am also looking at ....

MSI Wind U100

Eee PC 1000 H

Eee PC S101

Lenovo S10

Samsung NC10

cheers

TL

The item I was looking for the Asus EEC 1000H was priced the same as I could obtain it elsewhere. 17K9 plus vat and with the Linux OS.

The MSI Wind was 16K5 with an illegal copy of Windows, the Lenova S10 17K9 and the Acer A150 23K4 but all these prices were excluding vat.

The Samsung stall were not even aware of the NC10 and I havent seen it anywhere else.

I read on a Thai forum that the only difference was that you went away with a few freebies, in one case a pair of speakers in the shape of pigs, not sure what some religions would make of that.

Thanks for that, if the Samsung stall don't know , what chance have the rest of us got , its a shame really as the NC10 does look a nice machine.

TL

[LivinLOS]

commart is now on in QSirikit and all the mini's are there. I went down yesterday and did some recon.

Acer one 120GB model w/windows came out on top for me, despite a smaller 8.9" screen. the specs for 15,500 are pretty good. What set it apart was a 6 cell battery, 3 USB ports not 2, 5in1 card reader not 3in1, expandable RAM to 2GB (just). The down side is the speakers being on the bottom of the unit damages sound quality, couldn't even hear it inside the show really, and a glossy case, fingerprint hel_l! but at least you get a choice of 4 colours. If you are planning to buy one there, go to the main Acer stand, bargain to 15,500 and get extras thrown in, they wouldn't budge below the price though.

The rest of the comparable 120Gb HP, Mini, ASUS all had similar spec if not identical, but were 19,990 and up plus VAT, 5000 baht for an extra inch of screen....less USB ports, some bigger keyboards ...... hmmmm It finishes on the 16th, so I can wait.... next year maybe

Oz

I came to exactly the same conclusion yesterday and after walking away for one last fact check will be buying one today.

Almost slipped and took the linux 160gb one.. Then spotted the bigger battery on the XP one, that alone makes the price difference workable (the difference between 120 GB and 160GB seems irrelevant on a little machine like this) and a legit XP is just gravy as this is going to be for the GF and its one less hassle dealing with WGA or other issues for her limited PC experience. Me I wanted to tinker with a linux one and would probably go ubuntu for myself but she needs to stay with things as familiar as she can. Now if I can just steer her away from the pink one !!

If the linux 160gb had a big batt or if any of them had bluetooth built in I would have walked away with one on impluse.

Were any of the extras they were throwing in worth having ??

[pitrevie]

commart is now on in QSirikit and all the mini's are there. I went down yesterday and did some recon.

Acer one 120GB model w/windows came out on top for me, despite a smaller 8.9" screen. the specs for 15,500 are pretty good. What set it apart was a 6 cell battery, 3 USB ports not 2, 5in1 card reader not 3in1, expandable RAM to 2GB (just). The down side is the speakers being on the bottom of the unit damages sound quality, couldn't even hear it inside the show really, and a glossy case, fingerprint hel_l! but at least you get a choice of 4 colours. If you are planning to buy one there, go to the main Acer stand, bargain to 15,500 and get extras thrown in, they wouldn't budge below the price though.

The rest of the comparable 120Gb HP, Mini, ASUS all had similar spec if not identical, but were 19,990 and up plus VAT, 5000 baht for an extra inch of screen....less USB ports, some bigger keyboards ...... hmmmm It finishes on the 16th, so I can wait.... next year maybe

Oz

I came to exactly the same conclusion yesterday and after walking away for one last fact check will be buying one today.

Almost slipped and took the linux 160gb one.. Then spotted the bigger battery on the XP one, that alone makes the price difference workable (the difference between 120 GB and 160GB seems irrelevant on a little machine like this) and a legit XP is just gravy as this is going to be for the GF and its one less hassle dealing with WGA or other issues for her limited PC experience. Me I wanted to tinker with a linux one and would probably go ubuntu for myself but she needs to stay with things as familiar as she can. Now if I can just steer her away from the pink one !!

If the linux 160gb had a big batt or if any of them had bluetooth built in I would have walked away with one on impluse.

Were any of the extras they were throwing in worth having ??

I had a pack of 4 pens shaped like hands, a bottle of water and I think that was the extent of the freebies, mostly just throwaways you would get at any exhibition, not even a decent mouse mat this time.

[vagabond48]

Although, I have a dell laptop latitude. I am considering getting a much smaller and lighter asus 901 to take with me when I travel outside of Thailand.

Can someone shed some light, why the unit comes with 12g when loaded with xp or 20g when loaded with linux?

With xp, do you get a smaller flash drive?

Thanks

Edited November 16, 2008 by vagabond48