On A Netbook: Asus, 1 Gig, XP vs. Hp, 2 Gigs, W7.

Alright...Some of you may remember me. The deal is that I want a Netbook. So, I actually went to Best Buy today and the guy told me that there was only one netbook with Windows XP. It was Asus. Everything else had Windows 7.

 Spoiler

There are a certain number of things I want to do on this netbook:

1. I MUST be able to dual user and run Maplestory smoothly. That's my top priority.

2. I would really like to Zakum without dcing. I heard a lot about Windows 7 dcing a lot at Zak.(Windows 7 vs. XP issue)

3. I would like to be able to HT on the netbook without problems. (Well this is if I get XP...But I'm not sure if 1 gig is enough...(To be honest idk what gigs do, but that's what some guildies told me))

 Spoiler

Now. Here are some options:

$280 - Asus netbook, Windows XP, 1 Gig.

I asked the guy and he told me he could add a gig. And he said yes, but it would cost $120 or $130 more. Soooo.

$410 - Asus netbook, Windows XP, 2 Gigs.

And uhhh if I don't get this, I would look for an Hp netbook, definitely with 2 gigs, but it would most likely come with Windows 7. I don't know how much this costs. But that's my 3rd option, unless you can provide a 4th.

I made a poll so please vote on what you think is best.

 Spoiler

There are two things that you could try to help me understand.

- What do extra Gigs do?

- Is Asus an okay brand or not? I think Hp is the good one, I never heard of Asus though. If you could fill me in on this it would be really nice.

Thanks guys.

Lmfao? 1 GB of ram isn't enough to bump up the price $120. All of the things you're trying to achieve with your purchase are significantly harder to do on a netbook than just on a laptop. If anything is going to do what you want it to do though, the 2 GB asus is your best bet.

You should also buy a mini-refrigerator. Cause when you start playing Maplestory on a netbook, you're going to look really hot.

All of the things you're trying to achieve with your purchase are significantly harder to do on a netbook than just on a laptop.

This

You should also buy a mini-refrigerator. Cause when you start playing Maplestory on a netbook, you're going to look really hot.

and this. Not just you but the netbook would actually be hot. Netbooks aren't the best at keeping cool when you're really pushing the CPU, especially with dual MS-ing (and you're probably gonna have a browser and other stuff open too). Also, double check and research on win7 DCing at zak to see if it's true because sacrificing win7 for maple story isn't worth it.

My love for XP is undeniable. But I don't even think the netbook, even with XP and 2 gigs of ram can run dual MS and HT.

If I were you, I would honestly save my money for a Computer Tower. Honestly, Maple Story isn't the type of game that you can play smoothly on a laptop, much less a netbook without eventually having complications down the road. To bring up specs, I have a crappy Sony Vaio that is four years old. I added 2 Gigs of Ram so it now has 4 Gigs of Ram for $30. My processor is an Intel Core Duo CPU T7300 @ 2 Ghz. During winter time when there were no heat in the dorms, I turned on my laptop and ran old House episodes on it in order to keep the room warm. I shit you not. I would not be alive if it weren't for the horrible design of heat maintenance that comes with every netbook and laptop.

It's surface area is at least two to three times bigger than the netbook you are planning to purchase. Don't even think about shelling out an extra $50 for a heating fan. That really screws with your system and becomes the stupidest nuisance you will ever have to deal with as you more or less have made your laptop become a pseudo-tower. My graphics card is some generic crappy brand that will most likely still be better than the one in your netbook.

The only people who should buy netbooks are business professionals who can spare the expense, college students who have no lives except to study and organize notes, people who want to look cool because they own a netbook, and people who wanted to buy an ipad but had second thoughts.

If you want the "full" Maplestory experience then you should buy a computer tower with a decent internet connection. Not a netbook.

I have one of those asus 1 gig xp, ect netbooks and it can run maple but it sure isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be. You'll probably be experiencing a lot of split second screen freezes or choppiness at a boss which will probably screw up pot timing and attacking. Because of the fairly low processing power/using integrated graphics it has quite a bit of trouble when a lot is going on, such as going into ch 1 fm.

Granted I haven't gone to any major bosses on it as I mainly use it for transferring stuff, shops, and occasional training, you may want to consider something else for your needs. Also I haven't tried getting 2 clients loaded on that so I can't say if it'll be able to handle it. Also I wouldn't recommend playing on it for several hours as it does start getting hot after a while.
however, as they say, your results may vary :p

Just for comparison for w/e you are looking at, the one I have has these specs:
1.67 Ghz, 1 GB Ram, and the integrated graphics on it is Mobile Intel 945 express chipset Family with 224 Mb. and it uses XP 'home edition'

If I were you, I would honestly save my money for a Computer Tower. Honestly, Maple Story isn't the type of game that you can play smoothly on a laptop without eventually having complications down the road. To bring up specs, I have a crappy Sony Vaio that is four years old. I added 2 Gigs of Ram so it now has 4 Gigs of Ram for $30. My processor is an Intel Core Duo CPU T7300 @ 2 Ghz. It's surface area is at least two to three times bigger than the netbook you are planning to purchase. The graphics card is some generic crappy brand that will most likely still be better than the one in your netbook. The only people who should buy netbooks are business professionals who can spare the expense, college students who have no lives except to study and organize notes, people who want to look cool because they own a netbook, and people who wanted to buy an ipad but had second thoughts.

If you want the "full" Maplestory experience then you should buy a computer tower with a decent internet connection. Not a netbook.

This pretty much sums it up

Okay thanks but...What is a "Computer Tower?" I know, I'm really bad at computers F7.

Edit: Oh I Google'd it. You mean a regular desktop.

Why not a normal laptop? Netbooks aren't really suited for MapleStory: The keyboard is hard to play with, the processor power is not the best. You can forget Zak and HT with such a computer, unless you pay a lot.

If you're going for a "much for the money" laptop, I'd recommend Acer Aspire 5732Z. I've got it myself, and it manages to run MS okay last time I checked. Besides, it's not too hard to downgrade, though I'm not sure if there are enough drivers out there, esp. for the wireless.

The deal with that computer is that it's not too much HDD-space, and not an extremely good battery. That shouldn't matter much if you got a computer home and is going to play MS: You're not going to run MS with your battery only, the comp won't manage to run at max performance (or, it will, but it'll drain the battery for any computer).

My thoughts only, though.

Well the thing is I already have a labtop, and it overheats too much and won't dual user. Not to mention after like 1.5 years battery died, and if it becomes unplugged from outlet it shuts off. It's a Vista 32 bit. So to be honest I wouldn't want another labtop.

And I'm too dumb with computers to downgrade, whatever it comes with is what I keep. And Windows 7 is ehhhhh. I rather get Vista than W7. But I rather get XP over anything, because like I said, I wouldn't know/be able to downgrade.

Edit: Bleh. I really don't want to buy a desktop just for a second user. I would just go on the netbook/desktop I would buy to leech off something I kill on my labtop MS char, or vice versa. It surviving bossing and playing nicely would be a really nice bonus. And I guess multi usering doesn't matter.

1. what do you mean by dual user? i didn't know it was legal/possible to run 2 instances of MS, so i'm going to assume that's not what you mean. if it is, ignore my vote/this post.

2. have owned an asus eee701, (linux). the brand was good but can't compare your other measures since didn't game on it (4GB SSD, and MS doesn't run on linux). my super-coder friend used the eee901 and to my knowledge can run WoW on it. i think he uses kubuntu there. not really comparable sorry. agree with earlier post that heating IS an issue for eee701 at least.
edit: the asus eee701 started the netbook "trend" of 2007, if that gives you an idea of the brand. yes, hp is big, but i'm not sure it's the leader of the netbook market.

3. have also owned an acer aspire one which came with windows XP, 1GB RAM. contrary to earlier posts, MS played fine on my netbook - out of the box, didn't compromise speed/graphics, in fact was better than my desktop (both had 1GB RAM). i remember (years ago now) leeching heavily using both aa1 and desktop, as well as playing MS at uni, and other such silly things. i don't think zakum/ht was out at the time, or if i did, i wasn't interested in it, so can't compare. heating was less of an issue with my aa1 (than the eee)

4. i guess this is why i selected the first option on your poll.

hope that helps?

Not really. You're speaking magic to me. Expelliarmus? No but really, I don't know what (2) means.

Uhhh. You can set up 2 logins on a computer and run MS at the same time on both of them. That's what I mean. It's probably against ToS but they don't do anything against it.

Well the thing is I already have a labtop, and it overheats too much and won't dual user. Not to mention after like 1.5 years battery died, and if it becomes unplugged from outlet it shuts off. It's a Vista 32 bit. So to be honest I wouldn't want another labtop.

All those effects will happen earlier and they will be stronger on a netbook than a laptop, I can guarantee you that.

If you need XP, contact Dell. They surely have something that comes with XP with enough power to run MS. Besides, their service is amazing.

Not really. You're speaking magic to me. Expelliarmus? No but really, I don't know what (2) means.

Uhhh. You can set up 2 logins on a computer and run MS at the same time on both of them. That's what I mean. It's probably against ToS but they don't do anything against it.

ah, i see. well as with most operating systems these days you can have two users, not sure about the ram requirements for two instances of MS though.

2. have owned an asus eee701, (linux). the brand was good but can't compare your other measures since didn't game on it (4GB SSD, and MS doesn't run on linux). my super-coder friend used the eee901 and to my knowledge can run WoW on it. i think he uses kubuntu there. not really comparable sorry. agree with earlier post that heating IS an issue for eee701 at least.
edit: the asus eee701 started the netbook "trend" of 2007, if that gives you an idea of the brand. yes, hp is big, but i'm not sure it's the leader of the netbook market.

hope i can translate my post here:

- EEE701: am talking about the asus eee701 because it is the cheapest netbook i know of, and it's also the one asus is most famous for - possibly the most well-known netbook. bought mine for NZ$300. i think when the store assistant is talking about a $250 netbook, i don't think it could be anything but an eee701 - i could be wrong.

- COMPARISON: MS doesn't run on linux, thus i did not test MS on my eee701, thus did not test ht/zakum etc. also, you are not looking at the linux version anyway, so my great experience of the eee701 is not necessarily relevant for you. however, i can vouch for the brand and for what i think is the model (if not XP on this model).

- SSD: check whether the netbook has a hard drive or ssd (solid state drive, the kind of thing you have in USB sticks). my eee701 had 4GB SSD. this means there was 4GB of disk space (MS takes 1-2GB to install last time i checked); also, just like i wouldn't recommend running MS off a USB stick, i wouldn't recommend running MS off a SSD drive. however, recent versions/the XP version might have a hard drive. or, you might not be looking at the eee701 in the first place, in which case this wouldn't matter.
edit: the SSD issue is probably not specifically relevant to MS. maybe i'm a bit biased because my SSD corrupted on me at 10 months old, and i generally try not to run heavy programs on SSD anyway. also, just making general netbook observations.

- EEE901: i'm talking about the asus eee901 because it's a netbook, and it's been tested with a high-end graphical MMORPG - just not by me. Friend also uses a non-XP operating system so performance might be different for you.

- HEATING: agree with above posts. heating for the eee701 (not sure about 901) is an issue. different netbooks have different heating issues, but for the eee701 it is definitely a major issue. it personally didn't bother me, but it might bother you.

Just a few notes regarding Netbooks and operating systems:

- WinXP runs things 10% faster on a netbook, because it's not as "heavy" as Win7.
- With WinXP your netbooks battery lasts 10% longer then with Win7, same reason as above.

Also, make it clear for yourself where you are gonna use the Netbook for! Is it:
- Typing / Browsing 90% of the time -> Battery life is everything that matters - find some netbook battery life tests on the internet to get things clear
- Typing / Browsing -AND- Gaming / Watching HD Video's -> Choose performance, but always remember that normal performance notebooks are a lot faster then "performance" netbooks.

About the RAM: 1GB = enough for Typing / Browsing / Watching video's

So 1 GB isn't enough for MS F4? I'm getting mixed responses for this. My other friend said he HT'ed no problem on 1 GB, although I think he was on a desktop.

- SSD: check whether the netbook has a hard drive or ssd (solid state drive, the kind of thing you have in USB sticks). my eee701 had 4GB SSD. this means there was 4GB of disk space (MS takes 1-2GB to install last time i checked); also, just like i wouldn't recommend running MS off a USB stick, i wouldn't recommend running MS off a SSD drive. however, recent versions/the XP version might have a hard drive. or, you might not be looking at the eee701 in the first place, in which case this wouldn't matter.
edit: the SSD issue is probably not specifically relevant to MS. maybe i'm a bit biased because my SSD corrupted on me at 10 months old, and i generally try not to run heavy programs on SSD anyway. also, just making general netbook observations.

An SSD would increase the overall efficiency, because loading and writing requires less time. Besides, no moving parts, so it would be more resistant than a normal HDD. Only negative thing about such a HDD is that its disk space is low, so you should check that first.

An SSD would increase the overall efficiency, because loading and writing requires less time. Besides, no moving parts, so it would be more resistant than a normal HDD. Only negative thing about such a HDD is that its disk space is low, so you should check that first.

i dropped my eee 701 many times without obvious problems, can't say anything about "faster" as i obviously don't have the same benchmarks as everyone else is comparing. however, SSD performance is supposed to degrade with write cycles. yes, the limit is very high, but keep in mind the performance degradation is also gradual. you can read about write cycle limits on wikipedia if you would like!

how do you figure that the only negative thing about ssd is low disk space?

also: see Ari/Lori's comments on this blog. it happened to me as well - corrupt ssd within 10 months of the new purchase (within warranty). in that instance, my netbook was all but bricked. i had to ask aforesaid linux guru friend to plug in a nice linux liveCD and remap the sector table for me so i could even turn it on. this won't happen to everyone, but from what i see on a variety of tech forums (netbook and others), the corrupt drive complaint seems to appear more often with SSDs, and i don't know why. linux guru himself said that SSD is more prone to corruption - don't know where he gets his info from, but based on what happened to mine, i'm inclined to believe him.

An SSD would increase the overall efficiency, because loading and writing requires less time. Besides, no moving parts, so it would be more resistant than a normal HDD. Only negative thing about such a HDD is that its disk space is low, so you should check that first.

And the price is like 5 - 7 times as much for about a fourth of the space. Call me when they're more cost effective, because I could break and replace 5 - 7 WD Caviar 1TB drives before I match the cost of like a 256GB SSD. Those 5 - 7 standard drives will last you longer than that single SSD, in both lifespan and effectiveness. Our typical file space usage is expanding, so the only SSDs the average consumer can afford isn't enough practical space anyway. They're only good for installing as a system boot drive or game boot drive, hardly even the former.

Not to mention a couple or more 1TB WD Caviars at 7200 RPM (or more, different drives) in RAID0 is pretty damn fast as it is.

EDIT: Offtopic, sorry. :<

So 1 GB isn't enough for MS F4? I'm getting mixed responses for this. My other friend said he HT'ed no problem on 1 GB, although I think he was on a desktop.

1GB is enough for normal mapling, however for -full- party bossing (20+ players) at zakum/ht/pb, 1gb is a bit short, it will work, but 2gb is much better.

The question about smoothness and maple is not related to RAM, 2GB RAM only "prevents" total crappy slowdown lag spikes (1~2 FPS).

The major thing that -does- matter for more FPS in maple are the CPU (processor) and GPU (graphics chip). Those are mostly weakish in netbooks. They're allright, but weakish.

It will run maple allright, maybe even in 60FPS (=smooth) for normal training, however I'm uncertain about mass skill spamming (Zakum/HT/PB).

Oh btw, if you're going for gaming on a netbook, go 100% WinXP, not Win7, since you'll need all the system resources you can scrape out of the hardware of a netbook.