A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

I have a new computer too.....it's also an Acer, but a 'netbook'. I love it (and by the way loved my old Acer laptop), new one is so easy to carry in my little backpack to coffee shop etc. Now I need to get an external drive to load a couple of programs. Do any of you have experience with one? They are more expensive than I expected and not too many available. Next I will search around online and wait to learn more here. (Glad you're liking your Acer Karen!)

Diana,
About a year ago I bought a little Acer, smaller than yours. It was on sale and I told myself that it was something I would use while RVing, so I bought it. As it turned out, it was too small. My eyes got tired real quick. My DD wanted something she could use on her lap on the sofa to check work scheduling stuff and said that allot of the flight attendants used the little Acers so I ended up giving it to her. She's still enjoying it. I have thought of getting another, only with a bigger screen, but am also concerned about it not having a CD-ROM drive. The cost of a notebook plus an external drive would mean that I could get a full sized laptop for the same price. I do understand the convience of a smaller sized one. It's just not what I'd prefer. I'm glad you are enjoying yours, though! I will check out bigger Acers.

HEY GIRLS!

a Laptop USED to be considered the SMALL one, and PORTABLE. ISn't that the point? When I first went rv'ing w/ the ex,, he wanted to take his WHOLE pc! I told him he was nuts to want to drag all that weight plus the space it would take up..
Eventually convinced him to get a laptop, the dunce! We bought it @ BB in Anchorage. Got a great deal. It was less than $500 for the whole schmere,,including the $100 charge for the geek squad to set it all up and load the virus thingy. We had picked out the acer but they were out of those, (very popular, i see) so they substituted a higher price name brand, (forgot which,, prob HP) for same price. Those guys are a dream to deal with! I will go there again when it's MY time!

My point: ANY laptop is small enough... so get one that doesn't hurt your eyes! ! ! The bigger the screen the better. AND,, I've been told (by my kids,, the experts) that today's laptops have unbelieveable memory space and capabilities equal to the desktops.

Let me hear ya'lls input..

love yas!

J

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Good morning, Diana!

I bought an external hard drive several years ago. I really am glad I bought it - transferring data won't be a PITA. It's a Seagate 160 Gb and I don't remember what I paid for it.

I think it's a good investment. I'm wondering now how it would have worked to install applications on that drive...hmmmmm...

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When I bought a netbook last summer (Eee PC), I was able to download needed programs from the respective Internet websites, so didn't need an external drive. The 2 I downloaded were Norton Anti-Virus and Verizon Wireless. Already had an acct. with both.

mtngal wrote:I have a new computer too.....it's also an Acer, but a 'netbook'. I love it (and by the way loved my old Acer laptop), new one is so easy to carry in my little backpack to coffee shop etc. Now I need to get an external drive to load a couple of programs. Do any of you have experience with one? They are more expensive than I expected and not too many available. Next I will search around online and wait to learn more here. (Glad you're liking your Acer Karen!)

I was looking at an Acer netbook yesterday, and I didn't see any USB ports to plug in any kind of accessory. Did I miss something?

it is my understanding, but this is from a few years ago, that you can't run any programs off an external drive unless it has an operating system installed on it. they are great for data. the program on the laptop but you can work with data on the external drive. But like I said it was a couple of years ago that I was told that - things change fast. I have an external drive for my home PC and when we leave on longer trips I back up everything to date on it and I put it in the safe deposit at the bank - has my life on it. and I have another external drive for my laptop when traveling, mostly as back up for pictures.

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Janice, here's a link to the Acer site. The two Netbooks I checked each had 3 USB 2.0 ports.
Hope the link works - that one heckuva LONG url!

http://us.acer.com/acer/product_detail.do?slot21e=%01&slot30e_presel=%01&slot44e_presel=%01&slot11e=%01&slot36e=%01&slot45e_presel=%01&slot34e_presel=%01&slot4e_presel=%01&slot6e_presel=%01&slot42e_presel=%01&slot22e=%01&slot49e_presel=%01&slot32e_presel=%01&slot22e_presel=%01&link=oln108e.redirect&slot20e_presel=%01&slot37e_presel=%01&slot38e=%01&slot40e_presel=%01&slot1e_presel=%01&slot1e=%01&slot10e_presel=%01&slot36e_presel=%01&slot20e=%01&slot8e_presel=%01&slot14e=%01&slot47e_presel=%01&slot11e_presel=%01&slot2e_presel=%01&slot37e=%01&CRC=3305224199

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I don't think the external drives are that expensive - have been using one for a long time to back up my computer - and now I use it for all the stuff I don't want to have take up space on my new one. I put all my pictures on mine.

There are actually several different types of external hard drives. I don't believe you need anything more than one of the small ones (about the height and width of a paperback, but only maybe 1/2 inch thick) - they will hold more than the computer I'm on now will lol - so yes, you can get one that will do everything you need. I believe they run now about 60-100. Good value and will work good with those little puters. Or big ones. I do believe in backup tho - so if you're going to have all your programs only on that - I believe you might want a 2nd one for backup.

LOL - Karen is the backup queen in her rig - I'm a computer backup believer.

I bought an Acer 10.1 with the extended battery and it is great. I downloaded any programs on a Thumb drive and loaded them that way. But I also bought an external drive for $69 at Newegg.com seemed they had the best prices.

Karen

Ok, I'm no computer geek, but isn't a hard drive different from the cd rom/dvd drive that Diana is asking about? Jump right in and correct me if I'm full of hot air!

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I'm getting the feeling that 'netbooks' don't have a cd/dvd drive to load software? ? ?

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correct

yes, as Lenora said, no cd/dvd drive in my netbook.....I need it to load a couple programs, but mostly for music and pictures (many images on cd before thumb drives came along!)....anyway, I love my little 'netbook', I don't use it for real work, my eyes are still ok with this size screen. It really is full circle....my very first laptop had a screen smaller than this one! oh my how time flys!!!!

mitch5252 wrote:..

Janice, here's a link to the Acer site. The two Netbooks I checked each had 3 USB 2.0 ports. [/color]

Oh, blind me!!