spectastic

do they exist? my last experience was with the asus transformer t100. it was a freaking nightmare. during my tour, it was fine. nothing went wrong that I can remember. When I got back, it came with a plethora of problems like screen going out, mouse pad going out, cannot boot properly. I've had to factory reset about 10 times before I deleted basically all the apps that i could to free up some ram, and it seems to have stabilized. well this morning, that POS got drowned by my bottle of milk that spilled all over in my carradice camper. it's FUBAR. I am both heartbroken and euphoric at the same time.

It's time to get a new travel laptop, and I want to do it right this time. What's amazing to me is that the T100 transformer ranks on top of many review sites, so I'm going to stick strictly to consumer inputs this time.

The thinkpad x200 seems like a good candidate. any input there or other good suggestions? I'm hoping to get some kind of consensus for something that's the best balance between weight, reliability/longevity, performance, price

my priority:
1. reliability/longevity
2. price ($200 range)
3. performance (web browsing, word processing, video watching, photo/video uploading)
4. weight

bmthom.gis

What about a Samsung Galaxy tablet? You can get a bluetooth keyboard.

Tourist in MSN

I get cheap tablets with Android operating system. No name brand ones made in China are well under $100 USD for a 7 inch screen. Small, light, compact, and the best part is very low power requirement. If I break it, I will not get upset at that price. Great for checking e-mail and weather forecasts when you stop at restaurants that have free wifi.

I know this is not what you asked, but I have not carried a netbook on a bike tour since 2012 when I got my first Android tablet.

Doug64

We have been really happy with pout Toshiba netbook. It has enough horsepower, 285 GB, to down load large photographic files, and anything its big brother can do. On a tour this summer we backed up about 90 GB of photos on it, as well as doing some photoshop work. We also use it to do other work while on the road. Sure, it is heavier than a tablet, but it can do so much more.

We have carried it in one of my wife's or my panniers for about 10,000 touring miles without a problem. We had an Acer with a solid state hard drive before that, but it only had a 16GB hard drive and was really slow.

spectastic

I understand the attraction but the convenience factor of laptop is important to me. Imo the android os is about as useless as chromebook. I'd like to use windows and also use it for traveling for motorcycle tours and other stuff7

spectastic

What model toshiba

manapua_man

I've got an old Acer Aspire One that I picked up for $10 with a dead HDD, swapped it out for one of my spare SSDs and I just run linux off it for everything.

I don't think I'll cry over it if/when it dies or gets stolen.

bmthom.gis

Understandable. I recommended Android because the Galaxy tablets are a lot less than the MS Surface. I haven't had good luck with netbooks. I had one that I used for maybe 6 months, stopped using it for awhile and now the screen won't work. it never seemed to do enough and I would get frustrated at it. You could also check out pawnshops for a used laptop. They don't command a high price and might be more than adequate. Hope you find something!

Doug64

It is a NB505. We got it in 2011 (checked with wife), which means we used it touring only around 9,000 miles. I thought we purchased it somewhere in 2010. Regardless, it is still a lot of rough miles.

Biketouringhobo

look at Acer Chromebook 11in 3lbs 3oz
runs awesome

spectastic

oh.... yeeeeeaaaah

spectastic

i literally watched it go from 40% available to 20, to 13, to 1, in a span of maybe 3 minutes, right before my eyes

djb

that certainly is completely typical with any rechargeable battery that is in its dying days. Battery quality can be a real factor here. I have had camera batteries bought at the same time and used pretty much the same, usage, cycles, recharging, yet the aftermarket one that cost half of the Nikon one has shown this sort of behaviour yet the orig. one doesnt--same life and usage, so it shows there is clearly a quality issue here.

also too, rechargeable batteries have a given lifespan and that lifespan is affected by many factors as well, how often used, total discharge, charging all the time and maybe not having a trickle charge function built into the charger....all kinds of factors, how hot the battery gets....

travelinhobo

Sorry to disappoint, but they don't make minis anymore. I have an Acer Aspire One which was bought almost 6 years ago. I went looking some months ago to replace it as ever since month 6, I've had to do an ERecovery due to freezing and slowness. I've lived with it since I'm poor. At any rate, you can find a few computers at 10", but they're mostly tablets, not an actual computer. If you type a lot like me, you need a computer. If you don't, time to change to the tablet thing. Best luck is to find one used on Craigslist. Best place to go for info is Best Buy only because they have selection. But maybe the guy knows what he's talking about and maybe he doesn't. Suerte.

staehpj1

The think pads are nice, but are way more than I would be willing to carry on tour. If you don't mind the weight and bulk they might be a good choice and reconditioned ones are available pretty cheap. Personally I much prefer to just carry a largish smart phone.

spectastic

I'm not talking about battery life lol. I was referring to the woot fire sale that I captured in that screenshot.

spectastic

This one is 11 in and 3.3 lbs. They've changed a lot since the IBM days

GeoKrpan

I've been using an Acer Chromebook for two years. It has survived daily travel in a pannier. Love the Chrome operating system.

spectastic

This one is 11 in and 3.3 lbs. They've changed a lot since the IBM days. And this one also happens to b new with a year Lenovo warranty

djb

Oops, oh well....

Biketouringhobo

my mom got me the Acer Chromebook 11in

GeoKrpan

I also have an 11". Got a refurbished one on Groupon for $129. On the bottom it says C710-2856, manufactured 5/22/2013. It's a great machine.

Biketouringhobo

I got the Acer Chromebook 11in cb3-111-c670 2015

GeoKrpan

Looks good.

C9H13N 

I have a $200 Windows laptop (lenovo ideapad 100s, 1 month old), and a $200 Chromebook (samsung series 3, 2012). They are about the same size (both 11" screens). The Chromebook is lighter, faster, more responsive, has a better screen, better touchpad, longer battery life, really is better at almost everything, and it's over 3 years older than the Lenovo. The only reason I bought the Lenovo is to access DoD websites with my CAC.

YMMV

edit to add: the Lenovo's touchpad doesn't support multitouch gestures, tapping the touchpad to click, or even scrolling on the edge of the touchpad, so you have to click on the little scroll arrows with physical buttons like it's 1997.