Best Netbook?

[BobtheGreatII]

What do you guys think the best netbooks are? I would really like to pick one up once I get some money, but the market is growing quite a bit... I would like to keep the price under $400... and the OS doesn't really concern me, I'll probably just put linux on it anyway...

So yeah, just looking for opinions. :)

[Masterz1337]

Dell has the Mini 9 starting at 250$, and the hardware is fully compatible with OSX, it comes with Ubuntu 8. Mine should be here in about a week actually.

[klange]

Mini 9 has the best hardware for the money, but you have to sneak around on Dell's site to find it (it's no longer listed on their Mini page)

[jcap]

Asus has the best netbooks with longer battery life (8 hours spec, 6 hours actual), where Dell's are typically 3-4 hours. I have a Dell myself, but I am ordering an Asus soon.

If you want more storage (160 GB) instead of an SSD for only $260 and 1 GB of RAM AND Windows XP Home Edition, then check out Asus. It's the same exact specs as the Dell Mini 9, but with double the RAM, a 160 GB laptop HDD, longer battery, and XP for less than a comparable Mini 9.

Dell will get you a basic netbook with Linux, 4 GB HDD, and 512 MB of RAM for $200. If that's all you need, then good for you. However, if you actually want to carry around movies, music, and do some work on-the-go, then Asus is for you. If you want XP with Dell, you need to pay more for all the upgrades, which will total about $270 (what mine was).

The OS is something that was extremely important to me. I use Microsoft Office and some other important apps on it, so I need to have Windows. If you plan on opening email attachments or doing real work on it, then you need to consider Windows. Don't even mention Open Office because that is the biggest heaping pile of steaming shit ever.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220441 $260 < Recommended for actual use - 160 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220545 $200 < Same as base Dell Mini 9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220355 $270 < 12 GB SSD

[Warsaw]

OpenOffice seems to work pretty well for me...but I'm using the Windows version. The OSX version sucks totally (but hey, it's v.1 still), haven't used the Linux ones enough to tell. =|

The HP Mini 2140 is really quite good as long as you get the option with the 1366x768 resolution screen and the 6-cell battery (it lasts a really long time). It's made of aluminum, has a good picture, nice keyboard, and runs decently fast for a netbook. 2GB of RAM can be used. Still sports an Atom N270 1.6GHz though. If you want a Hackintosh, do not choose this option, as it is more work than it's worth.