Six Windows netbooks rated

Find out which is best for you

Netbooks, highly portable mini-laptops that are smaller, cheaper, and weigh less than regular laptops, are on track to be one of this holiday season's hot sellers. The cheapest netbooks, priced well under $400, run the Linux operating system, which limits which application software you can run on them and may require learning how to use Linux. Models with Windows XP installed start at around $400 and have nine- or ten-inch screens. We tested six of the least expensive Windows models now on the market:

• Acer Aspire One A150X
• Asus EeePC 904HA
• Dell mini 9 (8 GB)
• HP Mini 1000
• Lenovo ideapad S10
• MSI Wind U100-016

None of these offered the best of everything. We found plenty of trade-offs between weight, battery life, size, storage capacity, and ergonomics. (Check our computer buying guide for more information on important computer features. And watch our online Laptop buying guide video by clicking on the embedded player on the right.)

Still, if you're considering an inexpensive, super portable computer for the holidays, we found the following tested netbooks had some particular advantages:

Best combination of long battery life and well-designed keyboard:

• Asus EeePC 904HA, $400

Its battery lasted more than 5 hours. We liked the large trackpad, which lets you use "multi-touch" gestures to scroll horizontally and vertically; zoom and rotate photos; scan and zoom Web pages; and more. That said, the trackpad buttons were hard to press. The Asus was also a bit larger than the other netbooks, was the heaviest at 3.1 pounds, and had the dimmest screen. You get 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, Microsoft Works, and Skype for Internet phone calls. The Acer netbook had even longer battery life, but some drawbacks in its ergonomics.

Best combination of a fine keyboard and light weight:

• MSI Wind U100-016US, $400

If a large screen, superior keyboard, and easy-to-use trackpad are most important, this is your best choice. Its 10-inch screen was one of two that size we tested. It's matte rather than glossy, minimizing reflections. Battery life was a short 2 hours and 23 minutes, though. You get 1GB of memory, a 120GB hard drive, and 60-day trial versions of Microsoft Office 2007 and Norton Internet Security. The Wind weighs 2.5 pounds.

Best combination of compactness, large screen, and features:

• Lenovo IdeaPad S10, $400

Lenovo did the best job of building a large 10-inch screen into a compact package. There's also a unique set of features, including an ExpressCard slot for connecting peripherals, such as cellular Internet cards, plus a disaster-recovery system to protect you from losing work. Battery life was relatively short at 2 hours and 40 minutes. You get 504MB of memory, an 80GB hard drive, and Norton Protection Center. Weight is 2.7 pounds.

Other models have some advantages, but also more shortcomings:

The Dell mini 9 ($425) and HP Mini 1000 ($400) were both very light, thanks to solid-state drives. But those drives are very small at 8GB each and slowed the computer noticeably. The Acer Aspire One A150X ($410) had a long battery life and includes Microsoft Works, but a quirky trackpad and shallow wrist rest.

Consumer Reports Ratings of Netbooks

Brand & model	Price	Speed	Keyboard	Battery life (hrs.)	Sound	Screen (inches)	Memory, Storage	Size, Weight (lbs.)
Asus EeePC 904HA	$400	High	Good	5 ½	Good	9 (matte)	1GB, 160GB HD	Large, 3.1
MSI Wind U100-016	$400	High	Good	2 ½	Fair	10 (matte)	1GB, 120GB HD	Medium, 2.5
Lenovo ideapad S10	$400	High	Fair	2 ¾	Fair	10 (matte)	504MB, 80GB HD	Medium, 2.7
Acer Aspire One A150X	$410	High	Poor	6	Fair	9 (glossy)	1GB, 160GB HD	Medium, 2.7
Dell mini 9 (8GB)	$425	Low	Poor	4 ¼	Poor	9 (glossy)	504MB, 8GB SSD	Small, 2.3
HP Mini 1000	$400	Low	Fair	3 ¼	Good	9 (glossy)	504MB, 8GB SSD	Small, 2.3

Guide to Ratings
Rank order is based on our tests of speed, battery life, keyboard, plus weight, features and specifications. Speed High-speed models ran applications as quickly as a 1.6GHz Celeron-based laptop; Low-speed ones ran noticeably slower. Keyboard includes its size and layout, plus our assessment of the trackpad. Storage is either a hard drive (HD) or solid-state drive (SSD). Size can vary in each dimension by an inch or so, but even the largest model is far smaller than a standard laptop.

All models use the Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor and include Windows XP installed, 2 or 3 USB ports, a smaller keyboard than a standard laptop, Wi-Fi, a slot for both Secure Digital (SD) and Multimedia (MMC) memory cards, webcam, microphone, headphone jack, but no CD or DVD drive. Most offer a choice of colors; some offer a higher- or lower-capacity battery, or more built-in storage.

—Dean Gallea and Donna Tapellini

Comments

[Kathryn]

Ok, I just got a toshiba laptop, and now looking for a good wifi card? I know nothing about any of this so any info of what i should be looking for would be helpful. Thanks

[K]

I'm an K-8th gr. art teacher traveling to separate classrooms daily. I'm considering a netbook/laptop to cart around with my numerous art supplies. I need to keep class plans documented and access art-related info whenever and wherever. Our computer guru tells me our school does not have wireless but if I buy a Dell with Vista Business, I'll be able to use it. Does that mean I have to buy a Dell? Thanks in advance for your input and suggestions.

[Kati]

I just purchased the Lenovo S10 last weekend. I got to play with it at the store and I fell in love with it. The keyboard is super easy to use, the 10" screen is beautiful and the sound is surprisingly strong. Its only real downfall is the short battery life. It lasts me around 2 hours, 45 minutes. Boot up is super quick and it has a 160G HD and 1G of RAM.

[C Wagner]

Would all the commenters complaining about CR's poor review because "surely SSDs are fast", please try one or keep silent?! SSD based netbooks tend to hit bottlenecks and face slow write times. I have the SSD-based Dell Mini 9 (only two hundred bucks) and it is much slower on occasion than my mother's MSI Wind. However, it's still lovely! The MSI, by the way, is a great machine, but the trackpad is awful. The Dell Mini 9 is cheap, small, light, sometimes a bit slow, great screen, awful keyboard. Highly recommended as long as it's not your primary machine!

[GGHaupt]

I've been in so many stores trying out the Acer Aspire, the EeeePC, the HP Mini, etc. Why? I was going to purchase the highly rated pocketbook-sized Acer/Eee PC! What a shocked to find how easy the keyboard touch is on the HP Mini compared to my almost-purchased netbooks. Try, try, try - before you buy! Maybe I should wait a little longer if new ones are coming - to TRY THEM OUT!

[Fred B]

SSD's haven't quite caught up with mechanical drives. The read times are very fast and the OS will boot pretty quickly. The write times on the other hand are really slow. Also notice how you can get 160GB of space for the same price as an 8GB SSD. The SSD will show up in a lot more computers when the price comes down and the space goes up. 400 bucks for 80-100 gigs is ridiculous.

[Hugh]

I have the Asus 900 & absolutely love it. We rarely use our desktop anymore. Getting on for my daughter's 21st

[Jim Bliss]

Grad Student - get the least expensive one which has the nicest feel for you. Check the keyboards (definitely personal taste here). Check the feel in your hands and the weight (carrying and stowing). If you are just doing email and notes then you probably do not need the largest hard drive. Get one on sale and you will be happy. Avoid the glossy finish unless you want to wipe it all of the time. They look nice but display oil all of the time (although I have the Aspire 1 with gloss and like it, just wipe it every few days).

[Chris514]

I am going on to grad school, and am considering getting a netbook for taking to class, sending e-mail, doing some research before I head home to my laptop. Any suggestions?

[Christopher]

RE: Previous poster, cheap solid state drives are in fact often slower than standard platter drives. This is due to the memory technology used (SLC vs. MLC- look it up) that limits write speeds and impacts performance. To get a fast SSD drive (and the higher end drives can in fact be much faster than traditional drives), you need to spend some cash. A good example is the Intel x25-m, which will run you $375 for 80GB but sports read speeds in excess of 200MB/sec and write speeds a very respectable 60MB/sec.

[Gabe]

This review is very poor.

How can the solid state drive be slower than a regular hard drive, Consumer Reports?

Also, you failed to mention HP's keyboard. It is better than all others. being 92% the size of a regular keyboard.

I cannot believe my eyes!

[Philip Alani]

i got the hp mini 100 for christmas and its pretty good, like it has good screen and speakers but it is really slow!!! like im used to fast computers, and im not really used to this one but ill get sued to it lol

[rumproof]

I have ordered the Samsung NC10 due to the positive reviews (not CR) on other blogs. At some point, it would be good if CR would get around to this.

[lccurtis]

I purchased a Acer Aspire One a few weeks ago and it runs great. I have iTunes, Office XP Pro, Visio, and a few other applications running and they work very well on this machine. The main reason the AA1 did not rank high on keyboard is because of the track pad is very small and right and left mouse buttons are mounted on the side of the track pad versus at the bottom. I admit this did take some getting use to, so I purchased a wireless notebook travel mouse which took care of that problem. The Acer to me is the best of all the netbooks. Styling is terrific, large hard drive 160 gb, 5 plus hours battery life, upgraded memory to 1.5 gb. The only limit to these small machines is running high end graphics software (and some of those work fine)I can actually see the Acer Aspire One being used by more than the average pc user, it is powerful enough to be used as a ultra-portable daily business machine, as well as for those who are on the go and want the capabilities of a full laptop in a small package

[Michael F.]

The CSI Wind now comes with a larger 160GB hard drive and the 6-cell (4400mAh) battery (same as the Acer One). The street price is $399 for the new version. I had a chance to play with the Acer One, Asus EeePC 904 and the MSI Wind at Microcenter. The Wind takes the best of the Acer and Asus and adds a larger screen. The battery life is unbelieveable. It lasted well over 5 hours even when installing software and running disk-intensive operations. The built-in web cam is perfect for Skype too.

My only complaint is that it takes a little time to get used to all of the Function keys. The supplied documentation is on the weak side. However, I found a really cool forum that addresses everything about the Wind. You can even overclock the processor to run at 1.8 without any issues.

[Oregon Bell]

Gretchen

I got the Acer Aspire One A150X and installed iTunes. Works great.

I intend to use it for iTunes, I thought the built in speaker was a disappointment. I listen to a lot of news programs, not music, So the speaker was a disappointment.

The volume is controlled by the Fn key and and arrow key. So you can not just use one key stroke to control the volume, or the screen brightness. I am used to having a volume button, one touch and you can mute. With this model, you have to find the Fn button and the F8 to mute. To manage volume, screen brightness or mute , you need a light on in the room, and two hands.

I installed Flock and Firefox as browsers. We were tracking how fast YouTube loaded. Once the Google Desk top was turned off the down load of a YouTube video was comparable to my Dell 600m lap top with an Linksys WiFi card N.

I un-installed MS word student, because of the cost, and Works because it is only compatible with its' self. and added Open Office. Because it is XP I can load software I have a license to MS Office 2000. Dream Weaver MX,

I have small hands and the keyboard feels intuitive. I noticed when I showed it to friends they did not miss a beat using the key board. The touch pad seems to be very sensitive, and I am getting used to the touch pad.

The screen is very 'clear' even though it is small, the perception when I went back to my 15 in laptop was to think it looked big. An interesting experience of perception.

After I loaded a virus scan on top of all the other software, I still had 100 gig to use for Podcast storage.

Now, we will see if the Acer can hold up for 4 or 5 years. Radio Shack only offered a one year guarantee.

Oregon Bell

[Wanchaiman]

How can you rate the HP Mini's keyboard as "FAIR"?

ALL the reviews - in print, internet or video - rave about the high quality of the HP Mini's keyboard and how the keys are super tactile and laid out like a full size keyboard.

This is perhaps the best quality of the HP Mini which you fail to mention entirely.

I cannot believe your reviewers actually used the machine.

In addition, it comes with 1GB RAM as standard.

[Dorothy Parker]

I just bought the MSI Wind U100 and love it! I'm probably going to get a second because my husband and I fight over who gets to use it. Our 3 other desktops and one other Dell Laptop haven't gotten much use since. The Wind is very lightweight, speedy, the keyboard is terrific, and the screen is bright and large for the size of the unit. We carry it everywhere in the house (including the bathroom). And I just pop it in my purse when I need to go out. No more giant laptop case! The built-in NIC card has the best range of all our units in the house, beating out the aftermarket high-end network card on our Dell. It has a generous amount of well-placed USB ports, etc. I used an external CD/DVD USB drive to install my personal software (the Wind instantly recognized the drive no prob). I am an IT professional, with 17 years experience in Windows-based networking. I spent about 8 hours researching netbooks (HP, Asus, etc) before deciding on the Wind. And I couldn't be happier.

[Matt Burns]

I think the comment that the Linux operating system "limits which application software you can run" is a bit misleading. While it's true that you can't run (most) Windows applications on Linux, you also can't run an application designed for Mac on Windows -- you have to get the version designed for your specific OS. Further, just because a specific application may not be available for a particular OS, that doesn't mean there are not equally good (or even superior) alternatives that do the same thing. Considering that the majority of software for Linux is free and open-source, I personally think that Linux has the advantage when it comes to general software availability. However, Windows does have the advantage when it comes to games, since few of the more popular games are currently available for Linux. (As a side note, an increasing amount of software designed for Windows *can* be run on Linux using Wine.)

As to the second part of the comment, about having to learn the Linux operating system, both the Gnome and KDE desktop environments for Linux are more similar to Windows than is Mac OS X. A casual user should have no problem learning to use Linux. And since Linux tends to organize applications by use rather than by developer, it's arguably easier to use than Windows. It's only advanced users, used to using the DOS shell and editing the Windows registry, that may have some difficulty adjusting.

Considering netbooks are designed primarily for web browsing and other simple tasks rather than more resource-intensive tasks like gaming, I think the Linux netbooks are definitely worth consideration.

[Gregg D]

I bought a dell mini 9. It runs great now that I have added 2 meg of ram, installed an 8 meg SD card, uncompressed the files, and removed the pre-installed programs. It runs Windows xp, Microsoft Office 7, Microsoft Works, IE 7, and a couple of other business related programs almost as well as my desktop. Overall I am very pleased with the Mini 9. The keyboard does take a little getting used to but overal I'd rate mine very high.

[Ian Murray]

Hi Gretchen, the Acer Aspire One will definitely run iTunes, as the operating system is Windows XP. It's a nice little netbook, but the fan and hard drive are quite loud. I tried one and took it back for that reason, and I am now waiting for my Dell Mini to arrive.

[Anna]

Just purchased the hp mini 1033cl. Has anyone installed microsoft works? I only want to use Word and Excel and was told that this small guy might not be able to handle the software.

Ideas?
thanks

[RollerBand]

I do agree with dreizehn and wdhoss.
Being labeled as netbook, it should serve its ultralight weight feature, and function as net surfing device. The size of DellMini 9 is very suitable to deserved its recognition as Netbook.
HDD consist of mechanical and does take more time than SSD. Secondly, why built-in HDD and not external drive? Netbook is highly recommended for internet surfing, messenging, skype, etc. The point is, HDD may hog the system if usage is 70% or higher.
The only drawback that a consumer have to take note is the keyboard for Dell Mini 9.

[Mercedes Maharis]

Thanks, Tad, for this info on Linux programs and my specialized software. Have you looked at the new Samsung NC10? It's getting some rave reviews. It is not solid state, however... 7200 disc...
Is is better to go for a solid state or stay with moving discs, which is, I guess, now outdated? Best regards...

[John Fender]

"But those drives are very small at 8GB each and slowed the computer noticeably"

This statement is laughable and as such, the reviews are worthless to me. When the reviewer can explain to me how an 8GB drive (SSD no less) can cause the computer to "slow noticeably", then I'll reconsider .. well, ok, maybe if the drive has 7.5 GB worth of crap on it and I'm trying to open a 20mb image with Photoshop...what a joke - these machines are designed for a specific purpose, as stated, "highly portable mini-laptops"...primarily an on the go browser and e-mail tool.