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  1. #1
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    Do you have a Netbook (or extremely cheap laptop?) Come in come in...

    So I'm in the market for an extremely cheap netbook. My netbook CPU experience has been limited back to 2011 where I brought a Netbook with an AMD e-450 chip. This chip cannot run 1080p videos off Youtube reliably (to a TV, rather than the laptop's screen), nor can it stream off Vice smoothly, despite me super tweaking the laptop. It also has problems running 1080p video files, depending on the Bitrate I guess (YIFY videos are usually fine but they're super low size. Some HQ anime aren't and lag/stutter)

    So, I want to check, if anyone has a netbook and has no problems running 1080p videos outputted to a TV in general. What CPU is it?

    Main use (for myself only primarily):

    Using as a streaming device (Twitch/Youtube/maybe Netfix)/local video playback

    Secondary (and the actual purpose):

    Install iTunes, manage people's iPads
    Lending the laptop to family (under my remote supervision) for video playback
    Online Administration for family (online banking, bills, etc under my remote supervision)


    So yeh. Space isn't an issue, I'll very much likely get one with 320/500gb space. However, another thing of interest came to me is that more and more of these little netbooks come with 32gb SSDs. I was wondering if they are fast? I know the limitation is the lack of space but a SD slot can leviate that a little. But if they can make up for the deficiency of a Netbook CPU I'll probably gladly exchange large storage for it.

    EDIT: I'm considering the Intel Compute Stick but it might be too complex to setup as I cannot just hand it over to someone with no PC skills: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html
    (also a lack of mouse/keyboard to add to the confusion)

    examples I am looking at (UK retailers):

    http://www.johnlewis.com/asus-eeeboo...4?colour=Black
    http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-stream-1...Horizon%20Blue
    http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-s20-...black/p1773830

    The 2 32gb SSD netbooks use Intel Atom, the Lenovo uses Celeron. To my knowledge a Celeron > Atom; but the Atoms above are 4 cores whereas the Celeron is only 2. Not dug up benchmarks yet.

    EDIT2: Is SD card read/write speeds neutered on these things? I've never found them particularly fast, but it's been a while since I shoved a SD card in anything. Might be an issue trying to backup a 16gb iPad on those things...

  2. #2
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    Never had a netbook and probably never will buy one, just read lots about them.
    Don't get fooled by the Celeron label on the Lenovo one. All Celerons and even Pentiums that start with N or J are basically just rebranded Baytrail-Atoms...
    Those tiny SSDs might suggest more speed than HDDs, but most of them are not attached through SATA (which would require a decent controller and give more or less good speed) but instead through eMMC, it's similar to the protocols SD cards use and is similar in (low) speed.
    Netbooks have become a bit more bearable over the last years, but they're still too slow for most stuff besides surfing and low-perf-apps. Video playback should have become better since (AFAIK) the newer Atoms have hardware decoders for H264 and some other video codecs, so 1080p-playback should work. If you've ever seen a RasPi media center you probably know what hardware decoders can achieve even with low-perf processors.
    SD card performance, dunno. It always depends in the card, the card reader and how it's attached to the system. But since most affordable SD cards only have write speeds of somewhere between 5 and 20MByte/s...

  3. #3
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    Oh, didn't know about the eMMC using a similar protocol as SD. Hahaha, wow nearly fooled by marketing. Thanks for the heads up.

    Good call on the RasPi call... I entirely forgot about that thing and its low CPU's capabilities as a media centre. In that case I have some hope for the Intels ... afterall, they can't be that bad right? especially that the intel stick's cpu (Z3735F, designed to compete with the RasPi) is basically a quad core atom, just more expensive. I'll look into that a bit more.

    In the CPU's case I'm not too fussed, I don't expect it to be fast but under my expertise I believe I can make it work quick (in a similar vein as a car mechanic handling a crappy car) for iTunes management (Which to be fair the 2011 netbook can do, but that's about to kneel over). I'm just half concerned about video playback lol

  4. #4
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    I've been doing most of what you mention with my galaxy s3 and a chromecast, combined with my local network. The s3 controls the chromecast dongle, sending it anything app supported, screen mirroring, or with the localcast app (and in conjunction with xbmc/kodi on the phone with a tiny mod, this is especially awesome). Obviously no itunes but any video supported by the chromecast could be put on the tv. Though my chromecast is on the other side of the house and 1080p tends to not stream well enough for the distance, so I just stick with 720p and never notice a difference anyway on the tv (32", can probably notice it more with bigger screens).

    Just about any modern system will do what you want. The thing holding back most of the older netbooks was shitty hardware and poor decoding support. The old raspberry pi B had a good hardware decoder, letting its weak as hell hardware actually decode certain 1080p streams but you'd better not be doing anything else at the same time heh. Intel's compute stick is pretty neat for its size and power usage, but it isn't the only thing in that space. My questions would be: does it have to be a laptop? Does it have to have itunes? Who will be using it the most? What will it be used for the most?

  5. #5
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    What do you plan to do for the OS? Your first link is only 8.1 (32-bit) while the other two are 64-bit. When I looked at them, they all had Windows 7 Start-Up which could only run a max of two or three programs at a single time, but you could pay for full Windows 7, for $200, which basically made them the price of a cheap laptop.

  6. #6
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    Win7 Starter is long gone, and since Microsoft changed its policy concerning OS pricing, they probably run with "8.1 with bing". Only difference to a "normal" 8.1 is that the default search engine in IE is set to bing and the companies using it to build a device are not allowed to change it. For that they get the OS veeeery cheap (rumors say something around 20$) and can deliver cheap devices with a not restricted OS.

  7. #7
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    Haha I didn't even notice the links I linked has 32/64bit Windows 8. In this instance, I simply don't care what bit it is. The 2 missions for this upcoming netbook is simple. I know it'll handle iTunes, but I wondered about video playback. However...

    @Orinthia: Good call on the RasPi ... I forgot about that, and given how that tiny thing can play 1080p then I assume Intel's Compute Stick's CPU can do the same, as it's blatantly created to be its rival. Which means any CPU on that level (I'll look it up) should be able to play HQ video. Which leads to ...

    The Chromecast I'm aware of, but none of our TVs are compatible ... not smart enough, haha

    It's good that Win7 Starter has been banished. Back then it looked attractive when Netbooks were still rather new (I still remember seeing one guy bring one of the first ever ones in and we were all dreaming up possibilities). Then the horror get realised.

    I'm now currently eyeing up the Lenovo one (yes I've heard about the spyware crap and honestly I think people are making a massive fuss. I'll eliminate it on sight lol). The reason is.... that touchscreen.
    Getting the potential users of this laptop (even with remote assistance) to click on something is potentially too difficult... but, telling them to "poke the green button on the screen" to accept my skype calls or whatever seems significantly easier than trying to get them to find the mouse cursor haha.

    Still shopping around though, but at that retailer I get discount, in case any UK people view the thread and wonder why the hell I am buying from there haha

  8. #8
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    Anything with an hdmi input can use a chromecast. Regular monitor, dvr, 720/768p, 1080p, etc dumb tvs, doesn't matter; just needs power and hdmi input (exactly the same needs as intel's compute stick). Smart tvs usually have something similar built in already and won't need a chromecast to get its screensharing and such, though it does a bit more than that. Your needs are different enough that it wouldn't help much though.

    32/64bits won't matter since those machines won't have more than 2gb of ram. Win8.1 can run fine with 1gb, but will suffer as you have more stuff open at once. For total novices, a touchscreen might help. You may also want to stick some remote software on it, like teamviewer or something to let you quickly get into it from afar.

    You might also look into refurbed machines. Can sometimes find pretty recent and strong laptops for cheap, especially the business types, at outlet sites (dell/hp/lenovo/etc outlets, check their websites).

  9. #9
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    @Niya: Lol I thought Bay-trail was a word for "trailer trash" (i.e. junk) but it's actually a name for the family of CPUs! (which is still trash but ...)

    @orinthia: yup I got teamviewer all up and roaring to go, just need to hook it up to my account. For refurbished machines, I did look around and although deals are plentiful, I rather go with a "retail" experience in this instance as I'm not the primary user and I don't wish to over-spend time potentially fixing something that's broke. Throwing it back at the shop no questions asked seems much more better use of my time for now.

    edit: ^ i meant the above from an eBay perspective. I'm semi crawling through the top UK retailer refurb bits currently

  10. #10
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    I usually look at dell's outlet store. Though any modern business machine (from hp, lenovo, ibm, etc) will handle everything you or others might use it for. Even off-lease desktops could be something to look into since those usually have smaller formfactors. Warranties are probably shorter though unless you buy extra. Something like this: http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/I...fh1&l=en&s=dfh There's loads of options there. edit: and if anything, it might give you an idea of the prices you could be looking at.

    Intel's bay-trail series atom cpus are pretty decent for their light power usage. AMD's offerings in the same low power range are similar as well (E-series), but hardly anything actually uses them. You may also look into Intel's i3 or AMD's A4/A6, as they're occasionally found in smaller machines.