jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

openoffice.org is you need something fully featured, including spreadsheets, vector drawing, etc.

abiword.com if you just want to write.

Both are *FREE*.

Both are installed by downloading them from the above websites. And both will fit in the memory on this laptop just fine (and your Dell probably too).

Both can be setup to read and write to Microsoft's .doc format, so that you can share with Microsoft Word users.

jtresham wrote:I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

To answer the other aspect of your question, if you must have a DVD drive, then:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827230001

It's $30, it plugs in via USB, and you can use it to re-install Windows, if you ever have to.

Dump Windows 7 and load up Linux. You'll be glad you did. Canonical plans to have Multi-touch software in it's next version of Ubunto so you'll be good there too.

a75952 wrote:a 32 gb ssd might be a little small, BUT you can just remove that hard drive and stick in a 1tb hard drive right?

Maybe given the form factor, it is probably 1.8" which means 160GB unless there was a really recent bump in capacity.

There is a "disk expansion" so you could add a 32GB SDHC (Maybe SDXC? I would use a class 10 but it is likely to still be on the slow side)

They just came out with 1TB 2.5" hard drives, though for either of the above I might go with a larger SSD (Crucial seems to have a nice fast one).

Is there a way to project a power point presentation onto a screen from this netbook?

MichaelSF wrote:These what are now called "hybrid" tablets are the best way to go. You get the netbook with common PC functions, or you get a tablet.

This is remarkably close to my 2005 IBM X41 tablet. So this is nothing new. But the X41 was $2000! (It has a 12.1" display and is better quality, but I much rather buy this.)

Matter of fact I'd get this if it was not so similar. If any of you are inclined, you can get off-lease X-41 tablets on eBay for $180 to $250!!

They run Windows XP, have 60GB hard disk (upgradeable), 512MB RAM (upgradeable), fingerprint security reader, etc. Check em out. And notice how they look close to this Woot in terms of functionality.

http://tinyurl.com/IBMTabletEbay

IMHO the IBM gives you the prestige of the IBM/Thinkpad name, quality build and form factor and it's not something you would be ashamed to put on a conference room table.

But then again, for about $100 more this is 2010 tech, which makes this a tough choice over the X41.

I used to use one of those for work. It's an excellent tablet. I could get 6-7 hrs with the 8 cell battery. The only downside is they go close to 4lb. I especially like the RJ-11 modem port so you can still plug in a phone line and use dial-up where wifi isn't
available. It's slow but it's preferable to beating your head against the wall when you need to send in a report.

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

It has a disk drive - it is "SSD" which means it will be faster than a conventional hard drive. You can also add an SDHC (maybe SDXC) for more capacity, and expand it to 2GB.

I have no idea which Dell netbook, its specs, or the version of what you ar trying to run, but I've used netbooks with no problem, they are a bit slower (the bigger laptops are better, but you really need one of the latest $1k desktops if you want speed).

There should be enough memory with Win7, and perhaps you can find Word2003 and add the 2007 compatibility. Or try OpenOffice (or its recent fork), AbiWord or something which isn't the usual MS bloatware which I find slow even on a gaming rig. Or maybe google docs. Also limit it to ONE open app - don't try watching video or have the browser open or anything else (you may have to uninstall trialware or some utilities) when doing Word.

That said, this might not be the system for you. If you need a portable desktop - performance but low battery life - this won't work well. But if you only need to run one thing at a time and the portability will be a big plus it is likely to work.

thomasz wrote:Maybe given the form factor, it is probably 1.8" which means 160GB unless there was a really recent bump in capacity.

There is a "disk expansion" so you could add a 32GB SDHC (Maybe SDXC? I would use a class 10 but it is likely to still be on the slow side)

They just came out with 1TB 2.5" hard drives, though for either of the above I might go with a larger SSD (Crucial seems to have a nice fast one).

This doesn't use a SATA connector SSD drive. See my previous post.

hak426 wrote:OH BOY. You get to hurry up and wait. Atom processors are junk. Originally designed for digital picture frames and MIDs, they are slow and painful for all but casual web browsing and word processing.

NOT!!! I'm doing digital audio and video editing on a netbook with that processor! I also watch movies online from Netflix. (Using Adobe Audition and Pinnacle Studio)

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. ...

The biggest problem I have with the smaller (9") netbooks is the keyboard has to shrink to the point where I can't touch-type on it. This is being sent from an earlier woot Asus netbook that has a keyboard my hands can type with. I liked the earlier 9" and I could type somewhat but I wouldn't get anything that small because I typically do keyboard intensive things, but if your hands are smaller or maybe it is just getting used to it, it might be a good thing.

rwven wrote:Dump Windows 7 and load up Linux. You'll be glad you did. Canonical plans to have Multi-touch software in it's next version of Ubunto so you'll be good there too.

I found Windows 7 Starter to be just fine, thanks. I'ved used Ubuntu, but there are certain Windows progs a need to use.

quantamm wrote:openoffice.org is you need something fully featured, including spreadsheets, vector drawing, etc.

abiword.com if you just want to write.

Both are *FREE*.

Both are installed by downloading them from the above websites. And both will fit in the memory on this laptop just fine (and your Dell probably too).

Both can be setup to read and write to

Microsoft's .doc format, so that you can share with Microsoft Word users.

If you can use RTF files, the free Rough Draft is very good for writers as well, and free.

One on the way. You cant beat the price. Look on bestbuy, amazon, buy.com. couldnt hit it with a tennis racket.

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

It is not impossible, and not that tough to run MS Word on this system. Just use, or find a friend with an external CD/DVD, and go through a USB port. But it should work out fine.

OK Gang....here is what I want to do with this thing...

I want to download pdf files, annotate them (underline, add notes, etc) and save the result in a searchable database. Yep, I'm in school.

Any idea if this thing will do these tasks for me?

rwven wrote:Dump Windows 7 and load up Linux. You'll be glad you did. Canonical plans to have Multi-touch software in it's next version of Ubunto so you'll be good there too.

You linuxwanks kill me.
There is a BIG difference between "HAS" and "PLANS TO HAVE."

Windows 7 SUPPORTS multitouch. Ubuntu DOES NOT.
If I had extra cash this month I would be on it.

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

Run OpenOffice. It uses like 1/3 the resources of Microsoft Office and it's free to download.

Otherwise, if you don't have an external CD ROM, you can copy the contents of your setup CD to a network share or an USB drive and install it that way.

Seriously thinking about this one. My iPad died a horrible death a couple of weeks ago and I've been looking for a wintel based "replacement". Lack of 3g/4g might kill the deal though. A big plus to the iPad was $25/mo unlimited (changed now to 2 gig) 3g built in.

Anyone know what 3g/4g dongles and data rates run these days?

SSD-equipped ASUS netbooks boot-up in a few seconds but have near-instant standby and wakeup.

I'm not aware if this model even has a fan, so there's that as well - silent running.

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

For the last time, it HAS a hard drive. It's a solid-state hard drive, which means it's smaller than a regular one (32Gb), but also more energy-efficient, silent, will survive being dropped, and the bearings will never die (nor, most likely, will any other part of it until you're too old to care).

It's also dramatically faster to read (which gives you extremely fast boot times) and slower to write (which you will probably rarely notice) than a mechanical hard drive. If you really want to, you could replace it with a regular notebook hard drive for $100 or so, but it would be so much slower, you'd probably hate it. With such a fast drive, it will run faster than you might otherwise think given the processor.

This thing has 1Gb of RAM. Don't know how much your Dell has. 1Gb is plenty to run OpenOffice Write*; maybe not enough to run the latest MicroFlaccid bloatware.

*OpenOffice.org provides a free office suite with an excellent word processor (like Word), a good spreadsheet (like Excel), and a passable presentation program (like Powerpoint). It can read and write .DOC, .XLS, and .PPT files (respectively), so no-one need know you're using it. It works very much like MS Office 2003, and many people (including Yours Truly) prefer it to MS Office, even when they have a paid-for copy of it. Don't spend all the money you save at Woot! on bloated, hard-to-use software.

@ jtresham - You would need an external CD drive to install Word or Office. Or download OpenOffice. Space is limited so get a good SD card for storage.

Not enough power for Video Skype, I've also found that even using just the audio pegs the CPU on the Atom machines.

thomasz wrote:Maybe given the form factor, it is probably 1.8" which means 160GB unless there was a really recent bump in capacity.

There is a "disk expansion" so you could add a 32GB SDHC (Maybe SDXC? I would use a class 10 but it is likely to still be on the slow side)

They just came out with 1TB 2.5" hard drives, though for either of the above I might go with a larger SSD (Crucial seems to have a nice fast one).

Most of these if they have an SSD they are built for them. There is no space for a standard IDE.

I've been looking at this model for some time now. The only thing that keeps me from buying it is the 800mhz speed when in tablet mode. Also can anyone comment on palm check & writing recognition?

Hey, for all you folks feeling progressive by dropping the name of OpenOffice as an alternative suite, be even cooler by mentioning LibreOffice - http://www.documentfoundation.org/ :-p

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is a tablet device with a shoe horned OS. It will not work how you plan it to, you will have to work around it to get the best use from it. It will be unwieldy to use on a daily basis and will push you back to using it in laptop form factor every chance it can.

On top of that, it does not have an outstanding battery life, particularly while playing movies but does have a ridiculously large power brick to tote around. It's uncomfortably thick to hold one handed, it basically requires the stylus in most cases. It's not much more powerful than that "other" tablet, it's not going to be a workhorse like you think.

People want to bash the limitations on the iPad, they don't want to look at the reality of the situation by really looking at what they get with these types of tablets.

This isn't a bad machine by any stretch, but I've used Tablet PCs (on more powerful notebooks than this) and always thought the tablet portion was a waste. I bought a netbook last year, an HP and it was a beautiful machine, but it quickly took a back seat to my iPad once I got that up and running.

Remember, you are getting a budget tablet here. You are making a sacrifice.

1GB of RAM doesn't seem like it'll hack it with Windows 7... my desktop could only run Win7 with 4GB of RAM and a gfx upgrade

I have the Acer Netbook (from woot) running the Intel Atom processor and I only use it for Netflix and Hulu. Hooked it up to my 40" via the VGA connector and never had a problem.

vista7 wrote:Twice as thick as an iPad but definitely more features...it supports flash too! Much more versatile than the iPad

Do you know if you could load photoshop on it?

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

Sure, but I would recommend upgrading it to 2GB. That's the sweet spot for netbooks. I use my netbook while traveling and around the house. It is otterific. The screen on this one is a tad small, but it's acting like a tablet, so the size makes sense.

Does anyone know if you can add software like Photoshop?

Will this thing run Photoshop CS3? I would love to use this as a portable version of my Cintiq Tablet screen. Anyone know if the stylus is sensitive enough to draw with?

Let me share a RECENT experience with ASUS. A year ago, I bought a New 1005HA netbook with 10.5hr battery life. At a few days before the one year point, the battery died (had fewer than 25 cycles on it). I called ASUS to get replaced under warranty. ASUS only warranties batteries for SIX months. If I wanted to buy one they are $180 + s/h + tax and are OUT OF STOCK. Battery not offered by third party at this mAh rating. So, my one yr old netbook sits in a closet.

Before you buy this tablet, check out the prices and availability of batteries/chargers for it. Are you happy with what you find?

vincentvega wrote:hmmm, this or a new ipod touch...

Thats a no brainer, go with this. Not as many apps. but much more features, and cheaper

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

Just download OpenOffice from the web. No need to install from disk.

momtr wrote:Does anyone know if you can add software like Photoshop?

Yes you can:>

I totally want one of these but im broke until saturday. Put it on saturday woot PLEASE PLEASE.

Can you write directly on the screen. Such as to take notes in class or at work. I think it would be worth it if it could help me get organized!

jtresham wrote:I want a small PC for writing when I'm traveling. I need a word processing program like Microsoft Word. Is there enough memory to load that on this thing? How do you do it without a disk drive?

I bought a little dell netbook, but there isn't enough memory to run a word processing program and it is sloooow.

Would this thing be any better?

Just download OpenOffice. I have it on my netbook and it runs great. Go to http://www.openoffice.org and download it.

rwven wrote:Dump Windows 7 and load up Linux. You'll be glad you did. Canonical plans to have Multi-touch software in it's next version of Ubunto so you'll be good there too.

It'll take more than mult-touch to make this tablet perform acceptably with Ubuntu. Linux support for GMA500 is horrible. The drivers are unstable, buggy, and complicated to install.