Aspire one plus or cnm

[Whitey]

Hi,

I'm looking for a netbook I think. At home I've already got a desktop running xp and the Mrs has a fairly high spec laptop running vista that we both use.
Now when our time off coincides it's a (light hearted) battle to snag the laptop for web browsing etc. Mainly due to the obvious convenience of being able to sit on the comfy sofa and while away the time on forums and the like.

So I figure a natty little netbook would fit my requirements of a second laptop style machine on a sensible budget.
I have narrowed my choices based on budget to either the cnm machine or the Aspire one.
My local maplins has the cnm in stock for £139
My local pcworld has an ex-display aspire one plus (linux version, 120g Hdd etc) for £219

I will be using which ever one I get for basic web browsing (mainly forums, ebay and facebook) and email. I'll probably have some very very simple spreadsheet stuff, pdf docs and the odd ebook. Keeping some music on it would be a bonus but not by any means essential.
Ideally being a linux virgin it will also be an opportunity for a little bit of a voyage of discovery programming & os wise. I've already got some odd's and sods lying around such as a usb mouse, usb keyboard and a 'spare' external usb hard drive.

Browsing on here seems to suggest that a large (250ish gb?) external hdd can be connected to the cnm if formatted for fat32
So based on my requirements I reakon the cnm should do the job (albeit not as well as the aspire but saving me £80 for other toys. which is always a good thing!)

Is my logic flawed? have I missed anything? I understand the cnm is compromised by it's processor and memory limitations but I'm not looking to put a shuttle in orbit, my requirements seem fairly basic!

[UberBigBarney]

The processor is painfully slow at times, I'm running a Onet at the moment so I cant comment on the version of linux which is on that model. when it comes to facebook your best bet is to run the mobile one, its simpler and one hell of a lot faster. I can see the cnm being a problem on ebay if you plan to snipe things at the last minute.
Its not the greatest laptop in the world but I'm quite attached to mine.

forgot to mention, the spreadsheet package is generally ok, skyword lacks a spellcheck but i think there is a patch out for it. the guys on here are ace for their workarounds for day to day problems.

[Leven2e]

If you don't expect too much,it's ok.However quite slow,and the ability to customize (or anything) is very limited.Yes,you can connect external drives too.There is a very basic media player.
But the battery last long,very lightweight.It is almost impossible to run it on other OS,and not worth it either,I guess it would be even slower. There are some games available,you can install most of the Firefox (2) add-ons.It has a very old flash.No java.You can insert SD or SDHC cards to use as drive.Is it possible to play internet radios too with the MediaPlayerConnectivity firefox addon.
You can buy it (black one )from elonex's website for £119 (+£10 delivery)
http://shop.elonex.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=191

[tonyk]

CNM / Elonex One advantages:
+ Cheap
+ Very lightweight
+ Very small
+ The keyboard and screen, although small, are actually quite decent quality.
+ Very low power consumption, so it's great for leaving on for internet radio and such like.
+ Very quiet to use - no loud fans kicking in when it gets hot.
+ Nice friendly forum
CNM / Elonex One disadvantages:
- Although it boots quick, it's painfully slow at times and can only run three applications at once due to memory restrictions.
- Very restricted web browser in terms of Java & Flash, and some web sites either cannot be displayed or run very very slow (ebay for example).
- If you type quite fast I find the computer can't keep up with your typing. Most noticable in the Word Processor
- Most have a dodgy power button - you can turn the machines on by pressing the case in a certain place. Also some of us have noted our machines fail to boot properly on first attempt and need to be restarted a few times.
- The CNM and Elonex One uses an uncommon processor which means you cannot presently install other versions of Linux (apart from one currently in alpha development) unless it has been recompiled for the MIPS processor. Same applies for ANY Linux apps - if you can't find it on one of these sites you either have to recompile it yourself (if you have the source code and you know how to do it) or go without.

I have an Aspire One and an Elonex One at home. It does depend on what you want to use your netbook for but if it's primarily web browsing you will definitely have a far better experience purchasing an 8Gb Aspire One for around £175 (Amazon, Currys etc). The Aspire One however is bigger, heavier and even noisier, so it does depend on what's important to you.

[Mnet]

Hi,

I tried the £175.00 Acer Aspire One in Tesco recently and was impressed - it is a bigger machine though.
 
I see that Maplin claim their CNM Minibook was originally £219.99 - it would have been daylight robbery at that price and I've only ever seen it on general sale from them at a maximum of £169.99.

We've also got a couple of Eee Pc 4G computers in the family - my one runs XP instead of the original Linux OS (due to the fact that I need to run some Windows apps for my job) and my wife has one running the original Linux OS (bought for her because she couldn't get on with the Minibook (mainly due to the web browsing and video playback issues)).

They are a little bit bigger and heavier than the Minibook, but seeing they cost less than £150.00, they do offer a lot more - even with the original Linux OS, you get Skype, Firefox and Openoffice (and it plays all the Java and Flash content perfectly). It also has a webcam, external monitor connection and easy memory upgrade option. I've also seen a Ubuntu distribution for the Eee PC.

I'm not sure what the current Eee Pc product line up is, but it's well worth a look.

Having said that, the CNM boots up quickly, is very easy to use and has a much better battery life than the Eee PC, and tends to be the one I grab as I go out of the door in the morning.

Hope this helps.

[Whitey]

Hi,

thanks for the feedback.

I predominantly want to do web browsing and the whole web experience is what it's all about.
Sounds like much as I'm taken with the cnm it's just going to be too slow and frustrating which is a real
shame because I really like the size and the price.
If it was £40 quid cheaper I might just go for it anyway and suffer the limitations but there is too little
difference in the price and the aspire has a considerably better spec.

thanks for the unbiased reviews.

[tonyk]

I've just done a quick search on Play.com and they are selling a slightly lower spec model Eee (700) for £159. However if you can stretch to £175 for the Aspire One it's probably worth the extra for the nicer keyboard and bigger screen.

Good luck in your purchase. It'd be great if you come back here and tell us how you get on with your netbook, whatever you choose.

[Lochban]

Think ill throw my penneth in on this one we have 4 netbooks of various maufacture im using the oldest one of the bunch an aspire one a110 that ive modded with a hard disk and 1.5gig ram upgrade for almost 99% of what i do its aspire one i nab though i confess i also pic up the One-T as my ebook reader most days if your wanting a full time netbook i hily recomend the aspire one .

[matt987106]

whilst i like the cnm

the acer aspire is far far better

[jimux]

The CnM book comes with Abiword which does have a spell checker and freestanding dictionary function.  I use a 250Gb external USB drive on mine and it picks up both FAT and ext3 partitions as the USB streams the data and does not care about the disk format.
The box is a good portable work horse, but if I was choosing again I think I would go for something which has more scope for internal upgrade.  Also don't forget that although the processor is rated at 400Mhz it is run at 320Mhz.  The official reason is to extend battery life, but I suspect that overheating may be a problem at 400Mhz.

[Freddie43]

Whitey

Sorry to come in on this a bit late in the day

I carry my CnM round all the time - it is so small and light AND when out and about it works brilliantly with my Vodafone dongle (which has no expiry).

My Aspire One is larger, heavier and DOES NOT work with my Vodfone dongle 

- search earlier posts and you will see what I mean