Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

What do you think of nettop computers? I'm thinking of getting something small, portable, and battery-powered that'll let me install Linux (I guess that requires a removable-disc drive unless I can install from a flash stick), take a USB flash, and let me browse the Internet, type on the screen, and mouse on the screen (no separate keyboard or separate mouse) for word-processing for files compatible with my laptop's hardware and software. Prices look good. Are they decent equipment?

Show me some examples (links). If they meet your needs then they should be fine. They don't really fit my needs so I haven't tested them much. Scott.

In the $50-$200 range from Newegg (not their other sellers), mainly refurbished, mostly in stock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ageSize=60 as accessed a few minutes ago. They don't seem to be toys; brands seem credible. Refurbishing is okay; I'm using a refurbished laptop from Newegg now and it's been fine. I guess what worries me is whether they're so architecturally different from laptops and desktops as to be incompatible, that flash drives and files can't be moved between machines.

When you said battery powered I had assumed you were talking about a micro-laptop. The systems you linked to are basically just very small form-factor PCs, the only thing different between them and a standard desktop system is size and power, architecturally they are the same so there would be no problems moving drives, files, etc. Note that they are AC and not battery powered, however they do consume very little power (25W or less in many cases). I often use systems like that as file and print servers, in fact I currently have one of these in that role: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_AspireRevo

When in that role I run them without a keyboard, mouse or display and control them via remote desktop. Scott.