New Netbook/Notebook

[CFalcon]

I'm scouting around at the moment to get a new netbook or light laptop in the next month or two, and was wondering if there are any experts here or anyone else who's been browsing around them lately and has any advice.

My current netbook takes a good 3 minutes to turn on and get Chrome running, and if I have IRC open, a few chrome tabs open and try to watch a youtube/iplayer vid all at once it starts to seize up. HD video is completely impossible. So I want something that can do light multitasking without dying, decode 1080p video without stalling, and handle some light gaming (I know I won't be playing supreme commander 2 on a netbook, but being able to at least play Age of Mythology would be nice). And an HDMI out port is a must.

Looking in the £300-400 range, although could stretch to £450 for something exceptional. Got my eye on the ASUS Eee PC 1215N which is coming out in a couple of weeks. Also like to hear people's thoughts on netbook vs. ultraportable laptop vs. regular laptop. I do like the portability of my netbook (already have a powerful desktop, but spend alot of time away from home), but if the performance difference for the same money is *massive* then I could accept a 15" screen laptop.

 

[Dax]

I'm a PC technician, and I hate netbooks. Burn them all. Like the Torah.

EDIT: I can have a look into getting you one if you are happy paying P&P?

 

[CFalcon]

Been looking at the Dell Inspiron 101z and the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810TZG. Was wondering if anyone could give an opinion on the relative merits of the AMD Athlon II Neo K325 and the Intel Pentium ULV SU4100, both 1.3GHz Dual Core. The AMD CPU is newer, so is perhaps better, and comes with the more compact and nicely built Dell, but the Pentium comes with a better GPU and is a great deal cheaper. The AMD has a higher FSB frequency (2000 MHz compared to 800MHz on the Intel) but the Intel has 2mb L2 cache while the AMD has only 1mb.

Was rather hoping there'd be a glaring difference in performace that'll make the choice more obvious for me. Can't find a direct comparison between the two anywhere.

 

[timtadams]

compare laptop processors:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

compare laptop graphics cards:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.130.0.html

Im not going to suggest what you should get, as i probably wont get it right.

But if i was looking for a laptop/netbook (which i actually am atm) i wouldnt bother with a netbook. Just because i want gaming capability. And i dont mean Crysis. I play C&C Generals Zero Hour. But i will get the best i can within my budget as this way it should last me longer. I dont want a laptop that can handle what i play now, but more, so that when i do have a more demanding game i want to play, i will be able to