WHAT do you use your netbook for??

I was just curious what you use your netbook for? You got it for a specific reason (or two or three), right? Let's hear them!

I don't have mine yet, but here are my plans w/ it:

- mobile office computer: The netbook I'm getting has plenty of power to run the CAD program that I use in my side business. This will allow me to travel to clients to conduct business. I'll also be able to kick back in nature for at least 6 hours and work in peace. Or hit a coffee shop (etc) and hook up to Wi-Fi if I need to email or surf the net. The little camera will allow me to video conference, too.

- mobile entertainment center: I have a small collection of movies on my external hard drive that I'll be able to watch when on vacations or traveling w/ the kids. Also, with my winTV "box" I can hook up to cable TV at a campground and watch TV through the netbook (USB). If there's a Wi-Fi spot vlose enough, I can alwys hit the Internet for something to do, too.

- secondary home computer: We have a tower computer at home which we share. With a netbook, we'll have the ability to both be computing at the same time, especially if I have to work.

I'm sure I'll come up w/ other uses for my netbook. This is all I have planned w/ it for now....

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Dave

Asus eeePC 1000HA w/ 10" WSVGA Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
Intel Atom N270 @1.6GHz, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHz bus, 512kb cache
160GB Hard Drive (de-partitioned) (+250GB External Drive), Windows XP Home

 

I use mine for general net usage, email, general usage at work, as well as a little bit of tuning on our racecar at work.

I have my quad core desktop for general storage and backup of my netbook and laptop, as well as it being hooked up to my flatscreen in my bedroom so i can watch video on the net.

The laptop is used for general picture and music storage.

 

I use it for casual internet, AIM, movies/music

 

I've used my netbook to build 3 websites,watch DVD's (with an external drive) I post to blogs,keep my shcedule, Keep on top of my e-mail, I use Wi-Fi and I have an adapter from Sprint to get the internet when wi-fi isn't available. I research the net and do just about anything I do on my desk top but at Starbucks or any other "out and about" location.

 

Welcome to the site Ron!

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Glad you found us, now JOIN IN!

 

Well, last night I used my netbook to watch movies w/ my wife.

I hooked the netbook up to our HD TV (VGA and sound), and ran two movies (digitally converted from DVD) from the hard drive. We had perfect picture and sound, and the netbook handled the task perfectly.

You could set this "system" up anywhere you have a TV that has VGA input, and use the netbook to "serve" the movies. Heck, if you digitize all of your movies, you could do away with your shelves of DVDs and go all-digital. That's actually the goal of my IT guy: creating a digital "jukebox" of all of his movies, and use a touch-screen netbook to run it, and watch it on his big screen TV.

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Dave

Asus eeePC 1000HA w/ 10" WSVGA Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
Intel Atom N270 @1.6GHz, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHz bus, 512kb cache
160GB Hard Drive (de-partitioned) (+250GB External Drive), Windows XP Home

 

How did you convert your movies from dvd? I've been trying to find a good software to do that for awhile.

 

I use DVD X Copy Platinum (by 321 Studios). I stop the process half-way through (before burning it to DVD), and simply move the "temp" folder it uses to somewhere else, then quit the program. All the necessary files to play the movie are in that folder.

Although, I think you could just use Windows Explorer to see the files on the DVD, and copy them directly to your hard drive. You'd only need the VOBs, IFO and BUP files for the main movie (none of the bonus extra stuff). I haven't actually checked to see if this would work, but I will soon. I doubt the X Copy program does anything "special" to those files for burning, so a direct copy process should work, too. I'll let you know on that.

Once you have all the files, you just need a player that'll read the IFO/VOB files from your hard drive. Not all movie players do that. I use PowerDVD for that.

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Dave

Asus eeePC 1000HA w/ 10" WSVGA Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
Intel Atom N270 @1.6GHz, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHz bus, 512kb cache
160GB Hard Drive (de-partitioned) (+250GB External Drive), Windows XP Home

 

I use it like I'll use my laptop, just tt it's way more convenient while travelling!

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Eye on Netbooks

 

I am a network analyst for a school system with over 100 sites, schools and admin sites. I use a Toshiba NB205 to configure switches and routers on site. At some of our high schools this may take up to 7 or 8 hours when doing a complete upgrade of switches, hardware and or IOS. The 9+ hours of battery life, which in my case is a low number, have never seen less then 57 percent of battery life yet. I have been using this netbook for only 2 weeks so far, but have used it extensively during this period. The sub 3 pound machine is really a snap to carry between the communication closets and not needing to carry around a power adapter is a real advantage.

I use only telnet and hyperterminal mostly which leads me to believe I will get the maximum battery time from a full charge, don't really know as I have not been able to run the battery down all the way yet. Guess I will have to try that one of these days, however, I prefer to go on site with a full charge so I don't have to worry about carrying around the adapter.

I also use the browser a bit to download ios updates.

I purchased the toshiba for two reasons, the keyboard and the battery.