After some 18 months I get my netbook

[Suff]

Back when I was 50 the kids wanted to get me an ipad. I said don't bother as I'll just sell it on ebay and buy a netbook. So they decided to get a netbook for which, of course, they had to ask me what I wanted.

I wanted a specific netbook but Asus only sold it in the US. Which was annoying. In the end I decided to go for a Lenovo S206. It's not quite as good but it's good enough. I also get a faster processor for the wait.

So it's here, I'm setting it up and it's really as good as I wanted it to be. All, perhaps, except for the battery life. 5.5 hours they say. Well I haven't managed more than 3 hours yet, but then again I stopped believing in fairy stories a long time ago.

It's been interesting. The windows8 ability to "add" new features simply by changing your key (no reinstall), is really good. I went from simple Windows8 to Windows8 Pro simply by entering a new key. Windows8 downloaded/enabled all the required features and it was done in 20 minutes. Very nice.

Now I have the long tedious journey of getting it set up ready to work. I have Office on it, IBM (note no longer Lotus), Notes and not very much else. 3 months is my norm. Let's see if we can do it more quickly. This is, after all, a small light device for travelling.

I will, of course, have to change the hard drive for a SSD, but that can wait a month or so....

I've written this post on it. The only thing to really annoy me so far is the trackpad. It's multi touch and I'm probably going to disable that as I keep zooming web pages with the heels of my hands.... I have a Logitech wireless mouse attached to it at the moment.

I expect it will do everything I really want, in the end.....

[Aggers]

I expect it will do everything I really want, in the end.....

I'm sure you will, Suff. You have far more knowledge in this field than I have, and far more patience.

Enjoy !!!

[Fugitive]

I looked up a review for your new netbook Suff here http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Len ... 007.0.html as I'm still dithering over buying an ASUS. Which ASUS did you really want that you can only get in the US?

It's interesting that the Levano has Windows OS. My daughter has a new ASUS and it all seems so complicated as her main desktop is Microsoft Windows, her work phone is an iPhone and now with the ASUS she's running Android. So three different systems and even though she grew up with Windows she loves her Apple iPhone and finding Android annoying as it's all Google and Gmail and Chrome.

I like my HTC phone and Android so when we sat together going through the workings of her ASUS I felt at home with the system knowing I could make the leap from my Windows laptop to a smaller, lightweight ASUS for portability and eventually not needing either my desktop or my laptop at home. I don't mean that! I still love my desktop so a netbook would replace my laptop. The keyboard was good on the ASUS and the battery life far more than the three hours you mentioned for your Lenova.

I do like the simple way you could add new features to Windows 8 and the price looks good value but the ASUS is calling me.

[Suff]

Hi Fugi,

I wanted an Asus 1215B. It is a 12" netbook with an AMD fusion chipset and USB3 connections on it. In the end I got the Lenovo as one of the very few with a screen bigger than 10" with the AMD fusion and a USB3 socket.

Why do I want these things?

AMD fusion is dual core and quite fast, but most importantly it can take a single 8GB Dimm as it is pretty much a standard AMD chip which has been stripped down to be light. Most Intel machines can only take 4GB of RAM.

The Fusion also has extremely fast graphics, much faster than the Nvidia ION being put on the most expensive Intel machines. This means I can take it to a room and do presentations up to and including full screen video and it won't lag at all.

The USB3 is vital. It is 10 times faster than USB2. In fact it is so fast that most external hard drive connections are slower. I will be changing the internal drive to a SSD. This means I'll probably halve it's space available. If I then need extra space (I will), I'll have to connect it USB. I outgrew USB2 a long time ago and now it's like USB1.1 for most people, for me, of use for charging phones and running mice and keyboards.

I have an Android phone. I don't like it as I don't like Linux on which Android is based. I've been playing with Linux since 1997 and I still don't like it. As for Apple stuff??? No houseroom. My Office365 mail is enabled on my Samsung Android thing, which covers the extent of the software I'm likely to run on it, outside of a browser. There is no google (except play), there is no gmail (the account is not enabled) and there is no chrome. Well I don't run it as every time I use it, it feels like running full pelt at a brick wall to head but it....

For me Windows is what I do and where I want to live my life. Apple gives you what Apple wants you to do. Android likes to be open, but just try and remove your google play account and find out how much continues to work.....

My netbook is a small laptop for me. It's fast and has 3-4 times the battery life of my main laptop. it will do for travel, where I can get my mail and really work with documents written and mail read and replied to.

In the end it all comes down to what you do. I Work on my machines. Therefore, if I don't use Windows (it's possible), I create lots and lots of work for myself. That is time and the most precious thing in my life (outside of my family), is time.

In the end I will get an external battery for the netbook. It will add to the weight but will take it up to 8 - 10 hours of battery life. Enough in the end.

[Suff]

This is the size comparison