WAHM Forums

Just wondering if anyone here works on a netbook (those tiny 10-inch laptops)? I feel like I would get a lot more hours in if I wasn't tethered to my desktop. It would be nice to be able to work while my son's playing in his playroom. Unfortunately, money is scarce, which is why I'm attracted to the under $300 price of netbooks. I've heard that the tiny screen size can be a bit of a pain, and I'm not sure if they're fast enough for what we do. Any thoughts?

I don't have one, but my Niece does.... they truly are very small screens - eek!

I work from my laptop (for the most part) scrolling up and down pages is a pain when comparing to my desktop monitor which incorporates everything in a glance!

I understand the versatility of using a laptop/netbook, but would ponder the scrolling and size (your eyeballs would take a huge bashing LOL)

Not sure I contributed anything worthwhile :-) but do hope it helped !

I just bought a Toshiba laptop at Best Buy--I bought it Sunday for $350--but I know the price is now at $320 this week on sale. It is PERFECT!!!

I just bought a Toshiba laptop at Best Buy--I bought it Sunday for $350--but I know the price is now at $320 this week on sale. It is PERFECT!!!

Somehow I missed that when I looked at their site earlier. The specs are pretty sweet for the price! A relative just offered me a 2 year old Toshiba laptop that just needs a new battery, so I may check that out before I decide to take the plunge for a new one.

I got a great refurbished lap top at Comp USA for $250. You would never know it was refurbished. It looks brand new and has all the latest stuff on it. It's very fast. I have a wireless network in my house so I can work anywhere. I also bought a cheap wireless mouse for it, and I find it much more convenient to work on than my PC. My lap top has a nice big screen.

I tried a laptop and found it cumbersome. I use a desktop with two 19" screens. The main rating page goes on one screen and all of the links go on another

I switched from a laptop to new desktop (my husband put it together for me) and large screen. It helps to keep your speed up when you have a faster working computer and what I like the most, I can fit a lot of open tabs and see more info on the large screen. (With some tasks I have 10-20 tabs open) Wouldn't change back to laptop unless I absolutely had to.

I do love my current setup and have a 20 inch screen, so that's nice...but I'm limited to working after my son's gone to bed, and don't get to spend much time with my husband because of that. I'm thinking that being able to work throughout the day would be worth the inconvenience of a laptop, but I could be wrong :) Hopefully my cousin comes through with his offer so I don't have to spend any money finding out!

I find working on a desktop to be much more productive. I actually use dual monitors (24inch and 20 inch) and keep guidelines and whatnot up on one screen while I rate on the other.

I do love my current setup and have a 20 inch screen, so that's nice...but I'm limited to working after my son's gone to bed, and don't get to spend much time with my husband because of that. I'm thinking that being able to work throughout the day would be worth the inconvenience of a laptop, but I could be wrong :) Hopefully my cousin comes through with his offer so I don't have to spend any money finding out!

Any chance you can set up a play area for your little one where you have your desktop? That's what I now have. He's able to play now on his own for a while and I try to use those times to get some work done. I got a plastic play yard (12 panels instead of 6) and he's got all his toys in there and it keeps him happy. he can still see me but i know he's safe in there and I don't have to watch him the whole time.

Unfortunately space is really tight, so I don't think I could set up this computer in a place where I could keep a good eye on him. Right now I'm tucked into a small "office" upstairs, while his playroom (ie. the former dining room) is downstairs...and his bedroom's down the hall, so I can't keep an eye on him when he's in there. I could see how your setup would work out great with the right space though!

I recently purchased a netbook and have had much success doing my rating on it.

My cousin followed through with his offer, and I now have a 13.3" laptop! It works fabulously. I picked up an inexpensive lap desk at Walmart and use a separate mouse. It is so wonderful being able to spend time with the family now while working!

I recently purchased a netbook and have had much success doing my rating on it.

Does having multiple tabs open slow u down? and whats the brand if you don't me asking?

Just like you, I wanted to do more work comfortably and I bought a netbook. I don't know why, but it slowed down my tph. I just can't get it to go fast enough over the wifi for some reason. It's a Toshiba nb305 with 1 gig of ram, so I might try upping it to 2 but I am not sure that will help. I'll have to look into getting a better router I guess. I love my netbook but it isn't helping with this job :-(

I don't have one, but my Niece does.... they truly are very small screens - eek!



I agree! I find it difficult working on it since the window is very small. I'd rather stick on my HP laptop, it's not that too fast but it's a reliable one. Try to look at shopping sites online from time to time for some sales & good offers.

I work really well for Leapforce using my Lenovo netbook. Multiple tabs slow it a bit, but not enough that it makes it diffiult to keep my productivity up.

My laptop crashed last week and I bought netbook because money tight up. I had an old mouse which still works well, and so far I love my netbook. Multiple tabs does slow me down a bit, but I can keep up with my productivity rate so far. The key for me is... get a good external mouse.

Netbooks are only good for internet, and thats it. They are not meant to replace traditional laptops as they are too underpowered. Think of it as a glorified PDA.

Netbooks are only good for internet...
Maybe. But even so, our work is on the internet, so it stands to reason that a netbook might be adequate for this job. I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from getting one if their finances don't allow for a full size laptop. Better a netbook than nothing so you can work!

As long as you can scroll easily I think netbooks are all right. I tested one out by HP and it seemed nice. I missed that sale at Best Buy on Toshiba laptops. :(:mad:

I have an Acer and got it maybe a year ago or so for emergency backup. A lot of people use internet on their phones which are really wee tiny things so I don't quite understand the balking about the netbook screen. It's massive compared to a PDA or a phone.

The netbook's performance has been just fine, it's quick to load on a high speed connection. It doesn't have a CD rom drive or DVD drive so bear that in mind when thinking about installing software.

The screen is too small for certain sites and situations so depending on the job you do it could be either perfect or inappropriate.

My almost 2 year old loves to watch videos from Nick Jr. on it while I'm on my laptop;) She sits with it on the floor and has a great time. Pretty expensive toy LOL