Xp Vs Win 7 Os For Netbook

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Once I have an OS on the netbook and have that hooked up to the net, isn't it just a simple matter of hitting the upgrade button?

If I left Win 7 without SP1, would that be such an issue? I assume there'd be a few security holes addressed in the patch.

Scrap the old image and download the new. Save yourself the hassle of installing SP1 via Windows Updates.

[CrankyCarrot]

@Jiu - the new image you're talking about - that's the one you put the link for up earlier, right? The 2.3gb file? It's coming in at around 150-200kbps ... so looks like it'll take a couple of hours ...according to the file manager 4 hours.

[CrankyCarrot]

Wait - just saw your more recent post.

THIS is the one I should get, right?

Windows 7 Home Premium x86 SP1

That's the whole thing?

[Supernova]

Keep in mind, you'll still need to install Service Pack 1... Good luck with that. It's a shame 'digital river' don't host Windows 7 with SP1 integrated images.

Actually they do. My mistake.

Windows 7 Home Premium x86 SP1

Great, there's even Ultimate SP1 which they didn't have previously.

[Supernova]

Wait - just saw your more recent post.

THIS is the one I should get, right?

Windows 7 Home Premium x86 SP1

That's the whole thing?

Yep.

Delete the other one, and download this one instead.

[CharlieH]

I have the same netbook running windows 7 which I installed using a samsung stand alone drive I got at the same time I bought the netbook for 1200 baht.

Everything runs perfectly smooth, quick & efficient and I am very happy with all of it.

[CrankyCarrot]

I bought this Samsung model after a lot of Googling up reviews and info on all the similar netbooks available - Eee's, Aspire One's etc etc, Just when I'd find one netbook that sounded good, I'd come across a couple of other reviews saying the battery life was bad, or the processor was too slow or something.

The Samsung NF208 was the only one that seemed to have uniformly positive reviews. The only gripe the writer's seemed to have was that it wasn't available in the US, just Indonesia ...and apparently Thailand.

CharlieH, is yours with the 550 CPU or the 570? - I was told mine being a 570 was the reason it was 2000 baht more than the otherwise identical model. I paid 11,499 for this one. A little more than I was planning to spend, but after all the time I put into picking it out I figured I might as well not worry so much about a couple extra 1000 baht.

How's the battery life?

[CrankyCarrot]

@SNova - thanks. Grabbing the 2nd file you posted the link to. It's sped up to a blistering 300kbps now!

[CrankyCarrot]

One other thing I was curious about - the Thai guy in the shop pointed out that I could get an Aspire One for 1000 baht less that basically had the same specs.

I looked at the labels and it looked like he was right - same Atom 570 CPU, same 2gb of RAM. But I remembered reading a negative review of the Aspire One somewhere and thought it better to be safe than sorry.

Besides the spacing of the keys (greater on the Samsung) and the brand name, is there any other difference between two models like that, performance-wise, given they appear to be built from identical components?

[Jiu-Jitsu]

@SNova - thanks. Grabbing the 2nd file you posted the link to. It's sped up to a blistering 300kbps now!

That is my link. I'm only slightly put out that you have accredited to someone else.

[CrankyCarrot]

@JJ - Ka tote, I got a bit mixed up with you, spoonman and snova on here. Of course all the help is much appreciated.

And, as I am a rewarding kind of guy, I'm only too happy to mail you the copy of 'PC Tools Spyware Doctor with Anti-virus 2010' that came sticky taped to the front of the pizza box they served me the netbook in. I'm pretty sure I will never have cause to actually install it.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

@JJ - Ka tote, I got a bit mixed up with you, spoonman and snova on here. Of course all the help is much appreciated.

And, as I am a rewarding kind of guy, I'm only too happy to mail you the copy of 'PC Tools Spyware Doctor with Anti-virus 2010' that came sticky taped to the front of the pizza box they served me the netbook in. I'm pretty sure I will never have cause to actually install it.

That's somewhat of a backhanded compliment.

[melsnet]

Have had a Samsung NF208 with 2gb RAM with dual core Atom processor and Windows 7 for 4 months.

So far has run smooth and fast, on par with my previous laptop with Windows XP.

Get Windows7 installed

[CharlieH]

I bought this Samsung model after a lot of Googling up reviews and info on all the similar netbooks available - Eee's, Aspire One's etc etc, Just when I'd find one netbook that sounded good, I'd come across a couple of other reviews saying the battery life was bad, or the processor was too slow or something.

The Samsung NF208 was the only one that seemed to have uniformly positive reviews. The only gripe the writer's seemed to have was that it wasn't available in the US, just Indonesia ...and apparently Thailand.

CharlieH, is yours with the 550 CPU or the 570? - I was told mine being a 570 was the reason it was 2000 baht more than the otherwise identical model. I paid 11,499 for this one. A little more than I was planning to spend, but after all the time I put into picking it out I figured I might as well not worry so much about a couple extra 1000 baht.

How's the battery life?

Mines the 570 I paid 12k for mine with the external drive,The battery life is excellent, I have gone 10 hrs with intermittant use and 6 hours with full on use.

Nothing really heavy just the usual word/browsing/email etc. Watched two movies back to back whilst travelling and had no prblems.

I think its a great machine, like you I spent along time prior to purchase trawling reviews etc and it seemed to be the most balanced machine overall with decent battery life. I'm pleased with how it performs and feel sure you will be too.

[CrankyCarrot]

@CharlieH - that's all I want to use it for too. Was never expecting to get Crysis 2 running on it or anything. Maybe Angry Birds... iPad 2, eat your digital heart out.

Have just finished installing Win 7, thanks to Jiu Jitsu's link. Didn't even need to buy a new USB stick. Now I guess I have to put on another pot of coffee and install the myriad drivers and apps I'll be wanting to get the unit up to speed.

[CrankyCarrot]

@Charlieh & Melsnet - I've installed Win 7 (which presumably I'll get 30 days to activate, though I've not seen any warnings yet), but I'm wondering how best to bring it up to speed in other areas. Out of the box, you can't pump the res up beyond 800x600 (or thereabouts) and video runs like a slideshow. Also, the brightness shortcut keys (fn + down/up), and others like them, aren't working at all.

Presumably I have to update/install the drivers and/or firmware.

Googling, I came across this site:

http://www.netbookfiles.com/c/874/samsung-nf208-drivers/

...which lists a bunch of things separately. Do I just download everything individually or is there an easier way to update everything in bulk?

[Supernova]

Get the drivers directly from Samsung

There doesn't seem to be an all-in-one installer, so you're gonna have to install the drivers individually.

[CrankyCarrot]

Man, why do they do it that way? (ie no all-in-ones)

I imagine once I install some of those drivers I'll be able to use the 'fn' keys. Not being able to dim the brightness or kill the touch-pad is annoying as all get out.

[BB1950]

Man, why do they do it that way? (ie no all-in-ones)

I imagine once I install some of those drivers I'll be able to use the 'fn' keys. Not being able to dim the brightness or kill the touch-pad is annoying as all get out.

Because the drivers come from the hardware manufacturers. It's also easier to update drivers because they aren't released at the same time.

I suspect you will need to install a utility program to gain use of the specialized function keys.

[CrankyCarrot]

Aha

[Heng]

There are quite a few people arguing about whether Win 7 creates issues with 'some' new notebook batteries. Google 'windows 7 notebook battery.'

I'm on XP sp3 and Mac OS for my computers, but several of my friends with varying brands from Samsung to Dell to Acer have had similar complaints. Plenty of techie friends say that there is no issue too though, so do your own due diligence....

[CrankyCarrot]

I've installed Win 7 from the previous link. Where can I check how long I've got until they force me to buy a new license?

Also, I still can't enable wifi despite having installed the drivers for it ...oh well. Just have to persevere.

[BB1950]

I've installed Win 7 from the previous link. Where can I check how long I've got until they force me to buy a new license?

Also, I still can't enable wifi despite having installed the drivers for it ...oh well. Just have to persevere.

Usually 3 days. If you go to Control Panel > System it should tell you the remaining days.

[Supernova]

You have 30 days to activate. However, you can extend the trial period up to 120 days by resetting the timer.

Open an elevated Command Prompt, type:

slmgr -rearm

[Supernova]

I still can't enable wifi despite having installed the drivers for it

On the Samsung site, there are two sets of wireless drivers - ATHEROS and BROADCOM. You either have one or the other, not both. If you don't know which wireless controller you have, find the device id and post it here.

Alternatively, you can also install both sets of drivers. Windows will automatically select the set that matches your hardware.

[CrankyCarrot]

When I installed the Athereos drivers, it told me the device was unplugged or couldn't be found. <deleted>? I don't recall ripping the wireless N chip out of my netbook at any point. I'm guessing I need to install something else first to get it to recognise the component/chip.

That link to the Samsung drivers posted before is great in that it takes me straight to the relevant page, but when Google translates it from Thai to English things get a bit confusing.

I don't know what the deal is, but when I search for the exact model number through the English/Australian version of Samsungs "support" site, ('Samsung NF208' or 'N208') it gives me something like 1000+ totally irrelevant results leading to info on cameras and all sorts - even when I'm in the 'notebooks' secetion. There is no specific NETbook section on Samsung's site.

Right now I'm hating Samsung, but loving you guys, so don't bail on me yet!

[CrankyCarrot]

Also, there seems to be a bunch of cr@p in those driver listings, as there usually is, that I would never want to install as it just takes up space and clogs up memory without providing any kind of benefit I'd ever want.

Would I really want to install the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" drivers? I have barely any idea what they do, but based on the name it sounds a lot like "clog ware"

[BB1950]

Well, that sounds like you have the BROADCOM wireless device.

What you are experiencing is what I really hate about Samsung. They make unique products to a each locality and you can't get any information from other Samsung sites about it.

You netbook is Thai specific and unfortunately the Samsung (Thailand) site is only in Thai.

The other thing that I hate about Samsung is they are famous for bloatware with little or no documentation!

Samsung products are inexpensive, but you pay one way or another.

Good luck!

[Supernova]

Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers aren't needed unless you're running a RAID configuration.

[CrankyCarrot]

RAID ... RAID...

That's a flyspray product where I come from.

I ran that device manager test like you suggested, SNova, and it turns out I do have Broadcom. So I uninstalled the Athereos drivers and downloaded the two drivers that seemed related to Broadcom (top and bottom on the list) and am currently about to install them

B1950 is right about cruddy Samsung support. I guess they're not too worried about the small demographic of customers who are tech-hungry falangs living in Thailand.

The NF208 is apparently widely sold in Indonesia too btw. Seems like a good unit, and I guess in my financial situation I'd rather save a few thousand baht and figure things out for myself/plague savvy forum-types for assistance

You can mostly figure out which drivers are which from the Google Chrome English translation of what's on the Thai page SNova linked to. They just come out with goofy driver names like "Welcome to the Chip" - which should probably read "Chipset drivers".

Actually, "Welcome to the Chip" does have a friendly ring to it...