IF on a mini laptop

RootShell (IFReviews.org) wrote:
> Elly escreveu:
>> Does anyone here play IF on a mini? If so, can you recommend one and
>> say why you've done so: I'm thinking of buying it just for this
>> purpose and all information would be most appreciated.
>
> I bought the Asus eeePC 901 (linux version)!

Hi Elly. I bought an Acer Aspire One netbook, not primarily to play IF,
although playing and writing IF are two of the many uses I put it to.

As it happens, the Asus Eee 901 was the other netbook I considered
buying before going for the Acer in the end, so I think I'm in a good
position to compare the two.

The advantages of the Acer Aspire One are:-

- 120Gb hard drive (instead of 12Gb or 20Gb SSD on the Asus)
- Nicer, more comfortable keyboard
- It's a fair bit cheaper
- Two memory card slots instead of one

The advantages of the Asus Eee 901 are:-

- Longer battery life (the Eee lasts more than twice as long, at around
6 or 7 hours to the Acer's 3)
- Smaller (not by much, but this makes a surprising amount of difference
to portability)
- SSD instead of a mechanical hard drive (although it's smaller, it's
less likely to break)
- Bluetooth
- Better webcam

The CPU, memory and screen are all pretty much identical between the two
machines.

Looking at the above list, you might wonder why I went for the Aspire
One. In short, the storage swung it for me - there's so many different
things I do with the machine, 20Gb just wasn't sufficient for me.

If you intend to use it solely for playing IF, I'd probably recommend
the Asus Eee. You certainly don't need the extra storage space of the
Aspire One for tiny IF game files, and the nicer keyboard alone isn't so
important for what little typing is involved in playing IF.

I'll just add a brief mention for the Samsung NC10, which came out after
I bought my Aspire One, and looks very nice indeed. However, it's more
at the Aspire One end of the market, and pricier to boot, so I think the
901 is probably your best bet!

Jerome