Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM)

reedstrm wrote:Not so much. GMA 500 graphics, which is the non-Intel Intel video, so no open-source driver for you!

Haven't found a driver yet for the newer versions, but I think Ubuntu 8.04 will work on this, but don't take my word for it. Read a few articles that said that older versions will work.

Would this be good for an emailing, word processing old lady? (My Granny)

Wish it was a 6 cell, would have got one if it was!

I'm not a "computer guy". I've got a perfectly fine iMac that I do most of my computing on. But I find myself in need of a PC that will run Quicken Home and Business. I don't really want to mess around trying to run in on my Mac so I'm thinking something like this might work. I wouldn't be using it for anything other than my finances (maybe Hulu) although that would include scanning documents for storage. I'm not too concerned about HD since I can always purchase an external drive for filing. I'm most concerned with speed and functionality with Quicken Home and Business 2010. The Intuit site lists the hardware requirements for the program as:

- 400 MHz (Windows XP), 1 GHz (Windows Vista/Windows 7)
Works with 32-bit Windows XP, 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows 7
- 512 MB (Windows XP), 1 GB (Windows Vista/Windows 7)
- Up to 145 MB
- 1024×768 with 16-bit color
- CD-ROM Drive Double speed (4X or higher recommended for multimedia)


Any thoughts?

...older processor, refurbished, week 3 cell battery.

You all do realize that a brand new netbook is only $299.99 in most all stores near by.

although the spec on them are nice remember that you will need a external DVD burner or CD burner or drive because the netbooks don't have one built into it. these type of computers are more for people are for people who just want to surf the internet.

littlejilm wrote:I'm not a "computer guy". I've got a perfectly fine iMac that I do most of my computing on. But I find myself in need of a PC that will run Quicken Home and Business. I don't really want to mess around trying to run in on my Mac so I'm thinking something like this might work. I wouldn't be using it for anything other than my finances (maybe Hulu) although that would include scanning documents for storage. I'm not too concerned about HD since I can always purchase an external drive for filing. I'm most concerned with speed and functionality with Quicken Home and Business 2010. The Intuit site lists the hardware requirements for the program as:

- 400 MHz (Windows XP), 1 GHz (Windows Vista/Windows 7)
Works with 32-bit Windows XP, 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista and Windows 7
- 512 MB (Windows XP), 1 GB (Windows Vista/Windows 7)
- Up to 145 MB
- 1024×768 with 16-bit color
- CD-ROM Drive Double speed (4X or higher recommended for multimedia)


Any thoughts?

Smaller netbooks generally max out at 1024x600 and won't meet that resolution requirement. This one ought to work just fine with an addon DVD drive.

If your iMac is Intel-based, you'd be better off just installing Windows as a dual-boot on it rather than purchasing an entirely new computer.

malkav11 wrote:If your iMac is Intel-based, you'd be better off just installing Windows as a dual-boot on it rather than purchasing an entirely new computer.

Alas, it's a G5 power pc and I'm not ready to ditch it yet.

malkav11 wrote:This one ought to work just fine with an addon DVD drive.

Would the new one on Costco be a better bet or is Vista really a deal breaker?

is this worth the price?

namorama wrote:This netbook uses a different type of Atom. In other words, it'll be even slower than your regular run-of-the-mill netbook. (1.33GHz vs. 1.6GHz)

Just know what you're getting yourself into when you buy this.

Yep, you probably should know what you're getting into: The Z-series CPU is very, very different from the N270 or 230/330. The system TDP on the Z520/US15W chipset is around 4 watts; the N270/945GSE is 11.8, and the 230/330 are closer to 20. This means that with a three cell battery you will get significantly longer run times than with the N270. The core architecture is also very different; the Z-series is, clock-for-clock, higher performance than the N270. I'd expect this 1.33 to be on par with the 1.6 N270.

It also means that if you have the right drivers and software, the US15W system controller hub is capable of decoding HD content - something you'll never accomplish with an N270 without an add-in decoder card like the Broadcom BCM70012 from LogicSupply.com.

Also, the Z-series CPU/chipset combination is much more expensive than the other Atoms, so this actually is a pretty good deal - you can't really compare it directly to an N270-based system in terms of price.

What's with the horrible photoshopped cat on the screen?

Sandy106 wrote:Will this thing run Windows 7?

I'm running windows 7 home premium on my asus 1.6 ghz 1GB ram, 160 GB netbook. It runs really well. This should run windows 7.

jrmontry wrote:You all do realize that a brand new netbook is only $299.99 in most all stores near by.

although the spec on them are nice remember that you will need a external DVD burner or CD burner or drive because the netbooks don't have one built into it. these type of computers are more for people are for people who just want to surf the internet.

Or you could rip the dvd's on your desktop and transfer them to sd to play on your laptop, kinda a pain though.

fenderhutz wrote:STAY FAR AWAY from this Netbook if you do anything Flash based. Most Internet games, video, and applications are flash based and the Intel 500 chipset is a trainwreck for those applications. I bought this exact netbook and returned it twice because I thought it was just a fluke. After researching the issue the INTEL GMA 500 chipset is a horrible joke. It cannot even run Peggle (just an example) without choppy video and Peggle isn't exactly an intensive application.

Be warned.

Definitely valid feedback, though from my perspective flash is a horrible joke. That said, I agree that there is lots of fun stuff out there implemented in flash, and the GMA500's suckitude for that purpose is well-documented.

berniemcken wrote:Would this be good for an emailing, word processing old lady? (My Granny)

I would thinks so. I'm thinking about one for my grandmother.

VIDEOSENSATIONS wrote:why acer did ya put the cheap 1.33 mhz processor
why not the n270 1.6 atom

bad deal sorry

Because they want to sell it w/ XP, and Microsloth won't allow them to if it has a processor over 1.5 GHz AND and screen over 11". So, they found a CPU that could perform on par with a 1.6GHz atom N270, even though it's only clocked at 1.33GHz.

Here's a news flash for you: A 2.4 GHz Core i5 is much faster than a 3 GHz Pentium.

Anyway, this is a good, not great deal on a really sweet netbook.

jreddington wrote:Ah, but the 6 cell will make it heavier without appreciably affecting aerodynamics. Yes, it will still initially accellerate at 32 ft./sec./sec., but terminal velocity will be higher with the 6 cell.

Now if you were in the vaccum of the moon, now both would hit the ground at the same time.

How this is not a quality post is beyond me...awesome!

CorinChellberg wrote:I could be wrong here, but I don't think the 1.33 ghz Atom is going to do a very good job playing back 720p on Hulu or anywhere else for that matter.

Actually, that would be more a function of the graphics chipset than the CPU, and in this case it is the GMA 500, which means flash will suck and everything else will be reasonably good.

donnytong wrote:hmmm... I was way too lazy to read all of the thread and I'm sure somebody already gave their review. Nonetheless, I recently purchased this model netbook from overstock brand new. The version I bought came with 2gb ram, 250 gb hard drive, vista home basic and 3 cell battery. Right out of the box, the netbook is extremely sluggish. After updating all of the microsoft vista updates, disabling some of the programs during start up and setting the battery on high performance, it works much better. Is it as good as a notebook/laptop? NO... not at all. Will it suffice for multi-tasking while surfing the net, running a word doc and excel? Yep. It'll do the job.
Here are a couple of things I've noticed:
1) opening the browser takes a couple of seconds. A little longer than I would like.
2) switching between apps lags.
3) battery life for the 3 cell set at high performance (shortest battery life option), wifi on, web surfing and word doc last a little over 3 hrs.
4) I've experienced 2 times the netbook blacking out. Screen went totally black like it went to sleep mode. I can hear the drive still running. But a simple restart solved the problem.

In my experience, those deficiencies are more attributable to trying to run Vista (bloated, slow, inefficient) on a hardware platform it was never designed for to begin with. I think with XP your experience would have been much better.

I noticed that my post was deleted. I apologies for releasing that top secret information, Woot. My bad. I'll try thinking before I write next time.

junkshow wrote:Definitely valid feedback, though from my perspective flash is a horrible joke. That said, I agree that there is lots of fun stuff out there implemented in flash, and the GMA500's suckitude for that purpose is well-documented.

true dat youngblood

amazinz2006 wrote:three-cell!! would have bought it if it was six-cell

three-cell for 11.6 inch screen?
It is not a good choice.
check my mini laptop
http://www.epathchina.com/7-inch-lcd-and-wifi-80211bg-white-mini-laptop-pcs-p-4941.html

sgenoves wrote:Be careful. I bought this unit with Vista, a few weeks ago. Random screen freezes. India-based tech support was useless. It was returned in 5 days.

That's VISTA, baby!

alwaysinsession wrote:Meh...I was reading this article yesterday and I'm now waiting until January to grab a netbook. The new processor is definitely worth the wait, and this is a great article explaining why. Great website for netbook news, I bookmarked it so I can figure out the latest netbooks. With so many netbooks always coming out it's pretty vital to have a recent source of information.


http://anythingnetbook.com/intel-atom-n450-netbook-cpu-expected-by-january-2010

This isn't necessarily a reason to wait. I read the article you referenced, and all it says is the specs for the new processor will be ready by Jan. 2010. By the time actual products containing these CPU's are available in the retail market, it could be second, maybe third quarter. That's the way it is and always has been with computer technology: something better, faster, and cheaper will always be available just over the horizon, and if you keep waiting for it you'll never buy anything at all.

In the meantime, for someone looking for a decently priced netbook, this is not a bad deal. The only down side I can see to it is the 3-cell battery. I've had a 10.1" Acer D150 series for about 6 months now, and love it. It's not my primary machine ... not powerful enough for that, but I take it on road trips for basic computing needs and email. I run DeLorme Street Atlas on it with a USB GPS receiver, making it the perfect route planning and navigation tool.

New at Costco for $299.99.... Come on woot, you can do better that that!!!

nech wrote:This little thing is a pile of garbage. You'll be wasting your money on this, I know because I know a chick that bought one for her boyfriend and he hates it because it's too small and WAY TOO SLOW to get anything done in without waiting far too long.

BTW I am the largest walking Led Zeppelin encyclopedia alive! You should join me on my Led Zeppelin mailing list at

www dot zoso dot net/zeppelin/fbo dot htm

You can ask anything you want because I know everything there is to know about the mighty zep--in other words I AM THE COOLEST DOOD ALIVE bar none and I know it because I am TrueNech.

Someone needs to set your shoes on fire.

Ummmm... Too many bad reviews.

Acer Aspire One's ROCK.
Acer Aspire One's CAN run Hackintoshes (I've done it FLAWLESSLY)
This CAN play World of Warcraft (and some other games) at a playable speed on low settings.

I had one of these and I sadly got rid of it for a newer laptop since I'm a hardcore computer dude, but boy I used it SO much.

This laptop can run Photoshop CS4 at full speed.
Can run Quicken full speed (someone posted about that earlier)

I highly recommend: 6-cell or 9-cell battery upgrade, and 2GB RAM upgrade. I also recommend installing Windows 7 RTM Build 7600 (google!)

This thing owns. Screw you retards. Haha.

smls25 wrote:Where can you purchase the 9 cell packs? I asked at Staples (where I bought my netbook) and was told they don't carry batteries for them.

Try Ebay, I just got a 9-Cell battery for my Aspire One D250 (10.1" screen)
It cost $42.55 including shipping. So far it works great. I get about 8 1/2 to 9 hours on a single charge if I use settings to maximize the battery but less If I keep the screen bright.

The 11.6" netbook uses a slower processor and a lower power consumption graphics chip. These should run longer on the same amount of power however, I wanted the faster speeds and am not so concerned about battery life.

Seriously though, Staples, and other office supply stores are not going to carry this stuff, if they did they wouldn't have space for the rest of the stuff they sell.

r0xor wrote:The processor is ridiculously slow on these things. I played with one at Costco and was very disappointed. You can't even scroll smoothly a web page with flash video playing on it (i.e. reading comments on youtube).

That's not accurate. The processor is fine.

I have two different netbooks running this exact processor, it's great.

I suspect the store model was all goofed up from people playing with it all day. A few minutes on a store demo model is a lousy place to get an idea of how these perform.

And a review based on your experience, well... it's irrelevant at best.

berniemcken wrote:Would this be good for an emailing, word processing old lady? (My Granny)

This was and is the intended use of netbooks.

It's perfect, especially the larger display.

The smaller displays are difficult to see the fonts, etc.

I'm on one right now. I love it! The battery lasts 2 or 3 hours, but I mostly use it plugged in. If I could figure out how to make the back-up disc it keeps reminding me to make...

Where can i find that background?

littlejilm wrote:Would the new one on Costco be a better bet or is Vista really a deal breaker?

This is undoubtedly too late for you, but Vista is a terrible choice for netbooks. XP or 7 will work much better.

jrmontry wrote:You all do realize that a brand new netbook is only $299.99 in most all stores near by.

although the spec on them are nice remember that you will need a external DVD burner or CD burner or drive because the netbooks don't have one built into it. these type of computers are more for people are for people who just want to surf the internet.

You -may- need an external DVD drive, if you plan to install software that comes on DVD and can't work around it some other way, or want to watch DVDs. But there's an awful lot that can be downloaded and installed over the internet these days. I have almost everything I've any use for on my netbook right now (the last thing being Windows 7, which I am going to put on a USB stick once my RAM upgrade arrives), and didn't have to touch an optical drive for any of it.

I really hope someone can clear up some information for me. When woot says "we'll ship in 5 business days", does that mean the package will leave the warehouse or wherever in 5 days, or it will be at my house in 5 days?I've asked three people around me and got a completely unrelated answer each time..

Twan013 wrote:I really hope someone can clear up some information for me. When woot says "we'll ship in 5 business days", does that mean the package will leave the warehouse or wherever in 5 days, or it will be at my house in 5 days?I've asked three people around me and got a completely unrelated answer each time..

Leaves their warehouse within 5 BUSINESS days; gets to you at some later date...faster if shipped FedEx, not so fast if shipped SmartPost.

ILGal wrote:Leaves their warehouse within 5 BUSINESS days; gets to you at some later date...faster if shipped FedEx, not so fast if shipped SmartPost.

I guess I'm getting mine later.. I never saw an option for fedex/overnight like they do the shirts.. patience is a virtue I guess.. but OK, thanks for clearing that up for me

Check it out:TolMOl I bought it from here and I am very happy with it.

Check it out:TolMOl I bought it from here and I am very happy with it.