Netbook for Watching Downloaded Movies

[dssxxxx]

1st post....be gentle.

I have the Eee PC 1005HA-PU1x for use at a second home.....browsing the net, emails, word processing...using bluetooth to connect to my blackberry. Love it and works great.

Now thinking of getting another for just 2 purposes. Checking emails and watching downloaded movies (not HD) on plane trips and when traveling.

Have wireless Internet through cable at the house and download from Megaload 2-7 movies at a time (approximate 1 - 1-1/2 hour download time - fast cable) on my 14" Dell laptop.

My questions is can the above Eee or 1001P-PU17 handle the watching of these downloads with only 1GB memory or do I have to upgrade to 2GB? Will I see any difference in quality, etc.?

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Would consider another in the same price range, such as Samsung N210 and/or N220. Or any others. Thoughts??

[ThisIsNot]

Any netbook with either the Atom N270 or N280 processor along with the Intel GMA 950 (which means that this is pretty much every netbook out there now) can handle standard definition video playback without issues. The RAM won't really aid in video playback either. The Intel GMA 950 will consume up to ~300MB of RAM depending on how it is being stressed. The added RAM would only help your computer with running multiple applications.

I was able to download movies from the iTunes Store (something that consumes far more resources than downloading through either Internet Explorer or FireFox) while watching standard definition content on my netbook (Atom N280 + Intel GMA 950) when it had 1GB of RAM. I upgraded it to 2GB simply because a 2GB stick can be purchased for about $18 online.

Either way, you aren't going to run into issues with another Eee PC. The 1001P-PU17 actually has the latest Atom N450 processor and Intel GMA 3000 series graphics card. These aren't going to be more powerful than the current Atom N280 processor and Intel GMA 950. However, they are more efficient. Companies can now push their netbooks to the 10+ hour mark on smaller (or smaller rated) batteries. The Atom N450 and Intel GMA that comes in the Eee PC 1001P-PU17 won't have any trouble playing back SD video content while downloading movies on 1GB of RAM.

[dssxxxx]

Sounds great.

One other item was mentioned.

Some people think we should wait for the Broadcom HD chip to be released in the netbooks.

What's everyone's opinion on this statement?

And thanks for the great advice above.

[ericinboston]

Although you got a great reply already, I would still grab the extra ram if it costs you $30 during checkout...or find it online and install it yourself. Plan for the future is my motto...might as well make your small upgrades/adjustments now rather than 1-3 years down the road.

Also, many vendors showed new netbooks at CES this year...might want to hold off a week or so to see what the truly latest and greatest netbooks are.

-Eric

[ThisIsNot]

Originally Posted by dssxxxx

Some people think we should wait for the Broadcom HD chip to be released in the netbooks.

My netbook has a Broadcom Crystal HD chip in it and I love it. Then again, HD video playback was important to me. The Broadcom chip and Nvidia ION platform are out in many netbooks now but their purpose is for HD video playback. There is one thing you should know about both the Broadcom and Nvidia solutions: HD playback is limited. These dedicated video decoding cards won't work with every application out there. Popular programs such as Windows Media Player and iTunes don't work with them. This means that you can't buy an HD video from the iTunes Store, stream an HD video from Netflix, or download an HD movie from other legal serves and expect it to work. The HD video must be played back in specific software.

Right now, this software is either ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 2 (a modified version, TotalMedia Theatre 3 doesn't work with either chips) or Cyberhome PowerDVD 9 (again, it is modified as the standard edition doesn't work with either chips). Both of those applications can pretty much open any video so long as it doesn't contain DRM (as iTunes Store, Netflix, and other online purchases do).

HD video playback is smooth though and works flawlessly. I have even played back HD-DVDs and Blu-ray movies on my netbook without issues. Right now, Asus doesn't have an Eee PC with a Broadcom chip. They have a Eee PC with the Nvidia ION chip coming out soon but that is pretty much it.

I wouldn't worry about either a Broadcom chip or an Nvidia ION GPU unless you want to playback 1080p videos. The GPU included with the Eee PC you want can playback 720p videos when using VLC (which can playback anything that doesn't have DRM; again, no legal purchases or Netflix streaming). Playback will be smooth but CPU usage will be up around 75% (even with 2GB of RAM). This means that your battery will drain faster but it can be done.

Originally Posted by ericinboston

Although you got a great reply already, I would still grab the extra ram if it costs you $30 during checkout...or find it online and install it yourself.

I agree. It never hurts to have 2GB of RAM and a 2GB stick is so inexpensive these days (it also takes 2 minutes to install). I have never been in a situation where I said "damn, I wish my netbook only had 1GB of RAM instead of this 2GB."

[dssxxxx]

Great reply.

OK...........for my use, either of the 2 E's mentioned in my first post will suit my needs. Correct?

Also, as with my first E, I upgraded to 2GB RAM for under $30 and took about 3 minutes to install.

Again, great post and reply....thanks.

[ThisIsNot]

Yes, for standard definition video playback, either of the two Eee PCs you listed will do just fine.