My friend fried her laptop, and she's looking at getting a new one. I'm trying to convince her she would probably be more than happy with a netbook... but I don't know a ton about them.

Do any of you use them, and which ones do you like? She'd basically be using her computer to do homework/write papers, surf the internet, and watch movies (obviously the small screen wouldn't be great for watching movies).

If she's going to use it to write papers and do homework, she'd probably be happier with a larger keyboard than what most netbooks have.

some of the newer asus eee netbooks have ALMOST normal laptop sized keyboards. as for watching movies, i don't think ive seen any netbooks with optical drives so thats something to consider.

I like both the Asus EEE PC's & the HP Mini's. She could easily connect a USB keyboard & optical drive when she's at home.

The cheap ones have minimal RAM, SSDs and might be loaded with Linux instread of windows to keep the cost down.

A GB of RAM is a must. The SSDs might only have 8GBs of memory, but there are netbooks with big hardrives. Most run Windows XP.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/26/asus-eee-pc-1004dn-lands-in-taiwan-gives-the-netbook-a-serious/

My buddy picked up a netbook with an Athlon 64 and dedicated video...I did not know there was such a thing. Apparently it wasn't too cheap, though.

seems pretty cheap

Consider the new Asus Eee convertible tablet. Looks like the dream form factor for a tablet.

HP Mini 1000

I know you are asking for advice on netbooks but you haven't really described any use for which a netbook would be ideal for her. In fact, every use you cite would lead me to believe that a netbook would be a terrible choice for her unless you were to add that she does all the things you cite while constantly on the go. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum from a netbook are computers like this one from Tigerdirect.com. It's relatively inexpensive and great for the uses you provide. Of course, if portability is necessary there are any number variablely sized systems between the two extremes. I just think a netbook is impractical for most people who don't have a constant need to use a computer in space limited conditions such as mass transit.

Thanks Wookie. Thinking about it, you're right. I was going with the netbook because (some) of them are cheaper... but this essentially would be a desktop replacement so the lack of major features probably isn't such a good idea.

I sent her a link to the laptop you posted and told her to look around the rest of TigerDirect - I had forgotten about that site.

Thanks again!

Massassians helping Massassians!

Walmart is running a deal for a Compaq 15.6" with 3gb ram for $300. It's not online though, in store only.