[BEKO86]

Seen as I have two faulty notebooks I thought its a good time to go and buy a netbook. Double up as spare media player and a lot more convenient. OS not important as will use ubuntu I think. Must be capable of outputting xbmc at 1080p. native res 720p.

Budget is as little as possible, without compromising on the ability to output smooth 1080p

Or recommend a minimum spec

Cheers.

[poofyhairguy]

Budget is as little as possible, without compromising on the ability to output smooth 1080p

Something with a NVidia GPU then:

http://www.amazon.com/Seashell-1201PN-PU...B003QR039M

[BEKO86]

Thanks for the reply, I should have ordered this a few hours ago the VAT in the UK has just gone up by 2.5% to 20%.

Got to get one this week, using my android phone for internet is getting quite tedious now!

[Torroa]

Macbook Air 11.6
Runs XBMC- and every day-to-day apps smooth. No heat/fan noise, and no moveable hard drive either. Screen, keyboard and build quality is top notch, and it plays circles around any netbook available. Second best would probably be a Vaio with ULV processor.

[bmcclure937]

Macbook Air 11.6
Runs XBMC- and every day-to-day apps smooth. No heat/fan noise, and no moveable hard drive either. Screen, keyboard and build quality is top notch, and it plays circles around any netbook available. Second best would probably be a Vaio with ULV processor.

Did you miss the line "budget is as little as possible"?!

The Macbook Air is clearly not on the same budget as a netbook! I am not against Macs (as I am a proud owner and Mac user)... but this is not the time or place to recommend an Air!

[poofyhairguy]

Here you go my British friend:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-Netbook-bat...B003V4AS4K

[BEKO86]

Thanks for the info, shame its a lot cheaper over on your shores. Ripoff Britain as usual!

As far as Apple goes, its 40% hype and 40% marketing BS.

[donabi]

Samsung N510 would be another candidate.
I'm using it over a year now.
Some little Hardwareissuses with the hinch on the left, but nothing a good glue couuldn't fix

[BEKO86]

That Samsung is over £ 100 cheaper! That's some major brownie points with the wife.

Gonna see what happens with prices this week.

[poofyhairguy]

Well heck, if you can find ION1 systems I LOVE my HP Mini 311.

[BEKO86]

Narrowed the search down to these,

ASUS 12.1 inch 1201NL 1.6ghz ION XP Netbook - £299.99

HP Compaq Mini 311c Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz ION 11.6 Netbook - XP ... - £299.99

Samsung N510 Atom N280 1.66 GHz - 11.6" TFT - £305

The Asus has a glossy type screen, I normally prefer Matt. But overall style is nice.

HP ticks all the right boxes apart from I am not a fan of the brand, I have only ever had issues with HP notebooks. I am presuming the screen is Matt.

The Samsung doesn't have ION graphics I believe nor a ATOM processor. But it does have a matt screen.

So I have pretty much decided that the ASUS 1201 is the one to go for, there are two versions though, the N has a ATOM duel core and the NL has a single core ATOM, both retain ION graphics. Obviously the N is cheaper by around £100.

Am I right in presuming that the single core plus ION will run XBMC just fine?

[ion_man]

Am I right in presuming that the single core plus ION will run XBMC just fine?

Yes, if you replace the hard disk with a SSD you will get an even smoother experience, but XBMC will work even with the hard disk on a single core plus ION.

BTW, I realise it's late but maybe the following ION netbook overview can still be useful for you:
http://www.linuxtech.net/features/nvidia...age_2.html

PS: I second poofy's recommendation of the HP Mini 311, it's a great little machine!

[BEKO86]

thanks for the link, I just came back here from there.!

my info on the Samsung was wrong but proving difficult to find in stock anyway, the HP seems out of stock too in many places, I just can't bring myself to buy another HP though.

looks like the asus it is, now to find the cheapest with cashback and discount codes

[BEKO86]

£299.99 with 10% flashback so 279. not too bad.

edit that's cashback dam Android auto correct.

[Torroa]

Ok, the Macbook Air is too expensive, but it sure is a very nice netbook..

If you run out of options, a CrystalHD mini PCIe card is also an option. I also have have a HP DV2 with a BCM90012 which playback 1080p without too much struggle. It's not an Atom based but an Athlon Neo platform. It did cost around 250£ a year a go (the non HDMi version), and has better build quality- and performance compared to the average netbook.

I got the CrystalHD card on eBay back when it cost 10£ including shipping. Not sure how much they go for nowadays.