Netbook or laptop?

Rico · March 16, 2010, 09:40:08 AM

Here's one thing I want to be able to do with it. Since being out of town, I watch a lot of TV shows via www.hulu.com and other sources. What I wanted to do was take the laptop to the other room, use an HDMI out on it (or other connection if needed) and hook it into the 32" flat panel LCD TV I have there. Then I can watch the shows in a more comfortable setting. This seems pretty feasible with some of the more multimedia friendly laptops I am seeing.

P.S. Any netbooks out there with HDMI out - or other outputs to do this?

billybob476 · March 16, 2010, 09:58:03 AM

If you want it really easy, just see if your TV has a VGA port on it. My 40" Samsung LCD does. HDMI would be better but for Hulu purposes I imagine VGA would be fine.

Bromptonboy · March 16, 2010, 10:52:39 AM

The HP Mini 311 series (a few of the models) does have HDMI. I use an full size HP laptop with HDMI to watch hulu on our big screen set.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Mini&series_name=mini311_series

Rico · March 17, 2010, 11:15:26 AM

That's a nice item. Frak, why did I look at those Alienware/Dell laptops? Man, they sure are awesome looking!

billybob476 · March 17, 2010, 11:50:29 AM

As cool as that is, I gaming laptops have never done it for me. They get too old too fast!

Bromptonboy · March 17, 2010, 02:20:11 PM

I am within a hairsbreadth of ordering one of those HP 311's.....someone stop me! 3GB of RAM, 80GB SSD,......MMMmmmmm...SSD....

Darkmolerman · March 17, 2010, 02:27:11 PM

Quote from: Rico on March 17, 2010, 11:15:26 AM
That's a nice item. Frak, why did I look at those Alienware/Dell laptops? Man, they sure are awesome looking!

Hehe sorry for the suggestion, Alienware gets the best of us :(

billybob476 · March 17, 2010, 02:28:16 PM

Just double check on how that 3 gigs of ram is allocated to each chip. If it's 3 1 gig sticks you'll break dual channel. DDR need to be in matched pairs to run at full speed. For 3 ggis you'd need 2 1 gig sticks and 2 512 meg. Not sure if the laptop has 4 slots.

Bromptonboy · March 17, 2010, 02:46:31 PM

For this machine (HP 311 mini):
Choices:
1GB DDR3 System Memory
2GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
3GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)

must be 2 x 512MB and 1 slot for the balance.

billybob476 · March 17, 2010, 06:01:51 PM

heh, didn't know they had 3 GB DIMMs, guess it makes sense.

Rico · March 18, 2010, 09:56:51 AM

One thing I'm finding is the Netbooks (of course) and even some of the smaller format laptops (like the Alienware small version above) leave out the internal DVD/CD drive. I guess this isn't a huge thing and can be dealt with, but I'm unsure if it will be something I really miss or not.

RickPeete · March 18, 2010, 10:16:25 AM

Yeah. Netbooks don't have internal CD/DVD drives. If I install software, I just 'share' a CD drive from another system on my home network and use that.

Eventually, I just went and got a USB DVD R/W drive for like $70 or something so I could watch a movie on a trip or burn something for a friend when I wasn't home.

billybob476 · March 18, 2010, 10:23:14 AM

Yeah you can get a USB optical drive for around 70 dollars and just throw it in the bag with the netbook. I can't even remember the last time I used my DVD drive (especially on my laptop, I'm not even sure it still works) .

Rico · March 18, 2010, 11:09:17 AM

The big thing I think of is if I want to watch a movie or something on it. Anyone ever stream a movie on DVD from another PC's shared DVD drive wirelessly to a netbook or laptop?

Rico · March 21, 2010, 05:15:58 PM

Gosh this thing is tempting me a lot!

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