Under $300 for a new one is sick though.. the only deal I saw that falls into that range is grabbing it at Best Buy and using the $100 high speed internet coupon.

They’re pretty handy, but I definitely prefer one with a 10″ screen. Grab one Jonathan and file away the expense. Ho ho ho.

I had no idea these existed until now… and now I really want one. The Aspire One was supposedly under $300 a few weeks ago.

Hmm… legitimate business expense??

The Lenovo one I have pictured has a 10.2 inch screen, much bigger than other 8.9 inch netbooks out there, so it’ll probably be a bit easier on the eyes. Problem is, if your daughter wants to get the Lenovo S10, she’s a bit out of luck as they’re running into a major stock issue. Lenovo currently isn’t taking any new order, and they’re not expected to be available until late October, early November.

I’m actually going to go to the store tomorrow to pick up an Acer Aspire One, for about $380 after tax, since my Lenovo isn’t going to be shipped till November. What I suggest is for you guys to head to the local Best Buy, Circuit City, or computer store, see if they have any of these netbooks on display and check out how she feels about the screen size (or watch various videos on youtube).

Here’s a list of current netbooks from Wikipedia you can browse through.

I don’t recommend spending more than $500 for a netbook, as with that price, you’re coming awfully close to budget 15 inch laptops from Dell, HP/Compaq, etc.

Finally, what’s the current machine for your daughter? Is it not working well because it’s old or…? If it isn’t beyond 2-3 years old, it might just need a bit of a file clean up and tuning, additional RAM to get it up to speed.

Find a friend or family that’s well verse in computers to do some optimizing for the computer, or if need be, try Best Buy or Circuit City which also offers those tuning service (I’d suggest backing up personal data, pictures and what not on a separate storage and remove any sensitive data prior to handing the laptop for servicing).

Sometimes a little defraging, removing of old files, getting rid of spyware, adware, and malware can make a machine perform like new. This might be the more practical and sensible route, provided the machine isn’t too old to make it worthwhile.

Hope this helps!