[SOLVED] Netbook or low cost laptop suggestions UK

[Dougal]

Hi Guys n' gals
I'm looking for a Netbook or laptop (something like an Acer) maximum budget is £300 for work. I need to dual boot with you-know-what mostly to prove Linux can cut it in industry for data collection from National Instruments interface cards which will in turn have the ability to output control to instruments, motor controllers, etc. I would also hope that what ever version of Linux I dual boot with (hopefully Ubuntu of some kind or perhaps CrashBang) will have a fast boot time.
I know this shouldn't be too difficult but, I am unfamiliar with the type of equipment used with Linux for this type of work.
Any thoughts are very welcome.
Thanks...

[waterhead]

The lower cost netbooks usually cannot run Windows. You should get one that already has WinXP on it, and a hard drive big enough to partition for Linux. Since this will be used for more than just email and web browsing, you may want to get one with a larger CPU. The Intel Atom 230 (1.6 GHz) is a good choice for a netbook.

[rokytnji]

With Waterheads suggestion. Acer Aspire Ones

12 inches Netbook, 12 inches mini notebook, subnotebook - Compare prices and products - reviews, photos, features...

[dschuett]

I personally would consider getting a Lenovo IdeaPad. We just ordered a bunch at work, and it is amazing how fast these little things are. An IdeaPad would fit your listed needs perfectly!

[bigtomrodney]

With Waterheads suggestion. Acer Aspire Ones

12 inches Netbook, 12 inches mini notebook, subnotebook - Compare prices and products - reviews, photos, features...

I have an Aspire One and it's brilliant. I would say go for one with a moving parts conventional hard drive. I was a big advocator of using the SSD to save heat and battery life but unfortunately the SSDs they use have terribly slow access speeds. I think they come with 160GB 1.8" Toshiba drives now.