Netbooks

Hey so I'm almost 18 and getting a netbook probably for my birthday in two weeks. I just wanted to know If anyone has experience playing online on netbooks and wat are good cheap ones to look into? Any response is really appreciated

If you only plan on playing one table then it will do fine, but any more than that and they are basically worthless. Between the screen size and the processing power, they really aren't able to multi-table much. The main reason they are called netbooks is because their primary purpose is to really just get on the internet

Do u know wat netbooks wuld be good in order to play on? Do u personally have one?

I have one through work, and personally, if you're wanting to play poker on a computer, then I would go with a notebook instead of a netbook. The screen size is going to be your biggest problem and there is no getting around that no matter what netbook you go with. You can get great deals on regular laptops if you're looking at the right places. Sign up for Newegg's(newegg.com) newletter and they send them out a couple times a week and it's pretty often that they send out great deals on laptops. Just be sure to read the reviews and make sure there aren't a ton of problems with that specific one. But Notebook > Netbook. I would only get a netbook if I planned on traveling a lot and needed to save space on the airlines.

Oh ok thanks for the info. It's just I'm a college student now and debating between notebooks and netbooks. I'll check out that website too

I have problems playing on regular laptops because the screen is just too small so I don't really think you could play any really serious poker on a netbook. Like the buy above me said you could play one table at most.

Wat about stacking tables? Would there be any problems with doing that?

Asus has a dual-core atom processor laptop coming out pretty soon, check that one out. The hp's are pretty decent also. I don't have any experience playing poker on them though.

Also if you have the money to shell out, Alienware's m11X can't be beat. Fully stocked with a i7 could run you about $1300 though.

I do have a netbook, and it has the slightly faster Atom N280 at 1.66Ghz with a 667Mhz FSB (most are N270's at 1.6Ghz/533Mhz) and the RAM maxed at 2GB. The only poker I use it for is occasionally single tabling without a HUD, or railing other people's games (like the CC League games). If I seriously want to play on the go, I bring my laptop. The netbook just isn't a pleasant experience.

Even the dual-core Atom's are woefully underpowered compared to conventional CPUs, and would only improve performance slightly over the previous generation netbooks. Netbooks simply aren't intended for heavy processing -- by definition they are intended for low-duty use like browsing and note taking, maybe movie watching with the newer N450 CPUs (mine sometimes hiccups and lags during video playback). And screen resolution, though improved slightly on some of the latest models, is still severely lacking. All of these compromises are necessary to achieve the portable, battery-sipping goals for the device, but all are counter to a good multi-tabling poker experience.

Even when stacking to overcome the resolution problem, running multiple tables or even just HEM/PT3 and a HUD, is going to seriously degrade performance to the point of being unplayable.

I agree with Hamm -- if you're looking for a portable poker playing machine, buy the beefiest laptop you can find. And my preference is the most resolution possible, which is why all of my laptops have 1920x1200 WUXGA+ resolution. I have a pixel obsession, lol.

Ok well here's my situation: my 18 birthday is coming up and my parrents recently banned me from playing poker as I got caught plYing for money. They know I want a laptop for college but I Attend a jc college. Were searching one rite now and we r looking at netbooks. If I were to change to a laptop is there any that are good priced that will work good?

What's your price range? Check out Dell's 15r and hp's G60 series

You should easily be able to find a decent notebook. A month ago I helped my inlaws in shopping for a new laptop. At the time, Office Max had an HP dual core i3, 4 GB of DDR3 ram, 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive with Windows 7 64 bit version for $550 if I remember correctly.

That would easily allow you to run poker along with HEM or PT3. You could probably run 4 hands at a time. Maybe more.

The key features I'd look for is dual core (i3 or i5) or quad core (i7) if you can afford it, 4 GB of ram and a 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive. Next on the list is the display. Make sure it has a LED backlit screen. Most now a days do but just verify that.

Also since this is for college, I'd also get an external hard drive to back up your key files. That way if the drive dies on you, you'll have a second copy of all your work. I remember hearing of someone in Calgary who was working on his phd or something and was almost done his final paper that he spend the last couple of years working on. Computer was stolen from his car and he lost all of that work. Backups are key since we use computers for so much now.

Anybody hear of toshiba intel celeron 900 processor?

Toshiba doesn't make the processor, it's an Intel Celeron in a Toshiba laptop. I like Toshiba laptops but Celeron's suck. They're very low-end, value-oriented CPUs. For a simple browsing, email, light-duty laptop it would be okay. If it's going to be your main school laptop while also your entertainment laptop and your poker laptop, you're going to be disappointed -- you really need something beefier in that case.

Why would I be disappointed? The quality of the tables or lag while I'm playing?

Because the processing speed is not fast enough or powerful enough to handle very much that is going on. You should be looking at a Dual Core at the very least, but should be looking for at Core i3 or i5(or i7 if you can get a good deal, they are the high end). These are the processors that are being made that are going to last you the longest because they can handle todays computing needs.

Agreed.

And the Intel Core i3 are quite cheap and a good dual core processor. They would only add a little bit to cost of the laptop but you'll far happier with the performance.

I would definitely go with an i5 if it was even remotely close in price just because it is going to be so much better in the long run, but compared to other CPUs, any of the i3s are going to hold up good.

How much is the i3? Around 500?

All of these are i3, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...el%20Core%20i3 But you will also want to look for ~4GB of RAM and at least a 500GB HardDrive.

Oh ok thank u. I'll check those out rite now

So cheapest one is 700$. Not to bad but I'll haveto think about it

I bought my wife a HP netbook last Christmas and loaded a full version of windows seven without issue. If you want on the net and playing occasional poker on the small screen it will function without issue. Paid $269 CDN and had the free 7. works like a charm.

Now if you want to do multi tasking humping the CPU while you play then the upgrade to the notebook might be for you.

I run Win7 on mine too, with the N280 CPU and 2GB, and at least for me playing poker for any length of time is a major frustration, even one table. Forget about more than one table, or running HEM/PT3, TableNinja, etc. I certainly would never *plan* any poker playing with it -- it would be an emergency-situation-only option for me.

Ya I think netbooks rite now are out of the option. Iv realized there size is small and resolution wuod be horrible to play theres no way I'm gunna get a netbook now. So now I'm researching laptops and like I said earlier the toshiba intel celeron processor 900 has great reviews and is very affordable as well

I strongly advise against the celeron, you will be happy with it at first, but as soon as your get some programs loaded on, you'll be disappointed.

netbook = bad
notebook = good

avoid getting netbook at all costs

Hmm now ur making me think twice about it lol have u personally or known somebody that has had it?

Ya ive realized that thinking of getting a netbook was a bad idea

Yes, and it is old technology. If you're going to buy something used for a great deal, then buy a celeron, but if you're going to spend the extra money for new, then get something worth paying for. You know the saying "You get what you pay for"? It definitely applies here.

Ya that is true. Something to definetly think about now. I am glad that netbooks are over and done with for me lol there just Soooo small. I'm joy going to hav this laptop for a couple ears then probably get a new one which is why I don't wanna spend alot on something

Trust us -- if this is a laptop you're going to be living with for the next couple of years, expecting to do serious school work, watch movies, play video games, and multi-table poker while running HEM/PT3 and a lot of other software, then avoid the Celeron. It's simply too underpowered to be enjoyable for long.

Also, realistically, most computers don't last very long to begin with. I'd say a very good amount of time to get out of a computer is about 4 or 5 years. After that, the hardware becomes dated to the workload required, the computer becomes slow, etc. I have built 4 of my own computers, the main one of which I use has been used for the last 7 years, but it has been a work in progress. I am constantly upgrading, whether it be the motherboard, CPU, RAM, (I don't know how many HD's I have gone through). So whether you get a really good laptop or a middle of the road one, it will probably be replaced within the next 4-7 years anyway, so it's a matter of how well you want your computing experience to be until that time. If you buy a good one now, you might not have to get a new one as quickly because the components won't be outdated as fast.

Ya that is true. I trust u guys but I don't get why the toshiba one I mentioned above grts so much positive reviews from it. All I'm looking for is a laptop that will be able to run online poker efficiently and multi table along with just using Microsoft or some program for school work. That's why I dont think I need the extra money for a better end of a intel or something along the lines of that

Be careful going by reviews alone. What are the reviewers using it for? Probably 80% of laptop consumers are surfing the web, sending email, maybe playing a flash game or two, writing a Word doc, and streaming the occasional low-definition movie. For that a Celeron would be fine and thus it wouldn't impact reviews much. Also, most reviews are written right after buying a product, when the "consumer high" is going strong. People want to like what they just bought. Over time, however, the "new" will wear off and they'll start to notice things they don't like. But they seldom come back and edit the review they wrote a year ago.

If you plan to get serious about poker, and intend to multi-table, you'll eventually want HEM/PT3 and a HUD. Now you're running a local, full-blown database server, and HUD overlays over all your tables. These are resource hogs. And if you have more than a few tables on a laptop screen, you'll wind up wanting to run some table management utility like TableNinja or AHK scripts, which also tend to be CPU intensive. Not to mention the non-poker related stuff you will no doubt try to do, like watch some hi-def movies or play a video game or whatever. And on top of that you'll try to multi-task and do a couple of resource-intensive things at once. On a Celeron, forget it.

Hamm and I both work in the IT field. I've been building and programming computers for well over 20 years. We're giving you some strong advice on what to look for and what to avoid, based on what you've told us you want to do. In the end it's your money (presumably) and your choice, but you can't say we didn't warn you. I would encourage you to hold out for a couple hundred more bucks and get something you'll still be happy with in a year or two. Black Friday is just around the corner and there are always some killer laptop deals to be found.