Netbook v.anyonetunedwithone?

[Six_Shooter]

Has anyone used a netbook to tune with, 10.1" or larger?

My laptop is getting old, and having issues with the optical drive now, is the last straw, I won't put another dime into it. It needs a battery, there's a mark IN the screen that's annoying to me, the case has seen better days, it's been a workhorse, but I want something newer, and LIGHTER, I would still like a larger screen, but I'm almost thinking I could get used to a small screen.

If you've tuned with a netbook and a regular laptop, which do you prefer? Things that I should know about using a netbook?

This would mostly be for using with Tuner Pro, maybe a few other pretty basic programs.

The other thing is, I'll be going back to school soon (hopefully), and I'm trying to decide if I should get a more capable laptop and use it for double duty, like I always have, or use a dedicated tuning laptop/netbook.

I do have an old Compaq laptop that was given to me, that isn't good enough to run Windoze7, but runs XP decently, I could turn that into a tuning only rig, the problem is that it's lacking an SD card slot, I use an SD card to hold all of my tuning info, reference and the files for the cars I've tuned. I have this to be very convenient, because I can leave the card in place, save to it, read from it, etc, and when I need to transfer files to my desktop, I just swap the card over. This is much easier than using a USB thumb drive. It also only has 2 USB ports, which usually is not a problem, but I could have 3 devices at a time. Well the Auto Prom should help eliminate one cable... Hmmm...

[EagleMark]

Not sure on the Notebook? But 13 inch laptops are just about as small. Just saw one on Craigslist, Windows 7 2.5G Big ram, Big HD, $1500 in software Dell for $475...

One day I'm going to get a Navy Seal type ToughBook... when I'm rich...

[Six_Shooter]

I've been looking at the Toughbook too, there may be a chance for me to get one on trade, or any laptop I want, but I just don't know if I want to go back to a 13" screen. The 15" widescreen has basically ruined me for anything smaller. :/

I just wish I could get a dual screen laptop, I love my dual screens on my desk top, and want more. lol

[jim_in_dorris]

Six_Shooter, I have seen some new laptops with displays on both sides, but that isn't what you want. LOL I liked dual screens so much I went with 3 20" monitors for my last upgrade. It is a real kick using all three monitors at once while I am working on something. I really want the ability to run Tunerpro on a smart phone. Keep everything on the cloud, and only need 1 device. A tablet would be my next choice. Anyone want to adapt Tunerpro to run on Android? With tablets and phones now coming with quad core processors, who needs an obsolete piece of technology?

[PJG1173]

Six_Shooter, I have seen some new laptops with displays on both sides, but that isn't what you want. LOL I liked dual screens so much I went with 3 20" monitors for my last upgrade. It is a real kick using all three monitors at once while I am working on something. I really want the ability to run Tunerpro on a smart phone. Keep everything on the cloud, and only need 1 device. A tablet would be my next choice. Anyone want to adapt Tunerpro to run on Android? With tablets and phones now coming with quad core processors, who needs an obsolete piece of technology?

yup, I can get a sun tan sitting at my desk from my monitors... couldn't imagine giving up my 17" display on my laptop for a 13". I think using tunerpro for datalogging would be great on an andriod phone and save straight to the cloud. I can barely click the links on a browser without going to the wrong site, so I would be very hesitant to try to tune from a smart phone.

[Six_Shooter]

Yes, I would love to have a datalogging version of Tuner Pro (Scanner Pro Mobile?), to use on my iPhone, but Mark has no plans of doing such a thing and won't release the source code to anyone to make something, which is understandable.

Tuning from the iPhone (smart phone) or a tablet would just be killer.

Once I get better with electronics (I'm hoping to start college in the fall for Electronics technology), I want to build a dual screen laptop, I have the physical side of it pre-planned, just need to figure out how to internally interface it.

Anyway, I'm still leaning towards another full fledged laptop, but probably something that has less features than my last one does, and for about a 1/4 of the money.

My next desktop build will have triple monitors, my current MoBo and vid card won't quite support it gracefully.

[EagleMark]

I've been looking into this for awhile and would like to have just one laptop. But I think having a dedicted laptop or desktop and a tuning laptop would be cheaper and easier. One thing my next laptop will have is a glare free outdoor veiwable screen! Touchscreen would be cool to? Anyway refurbed like new condition Panisonic Toughbooks with one serial and one USB are all over for $400. Really have no need for tuning laptop to have big fast processor or big hard drive that way.

http://www.laptop-advantage.com/pato.html

[historystamp]

I use an SD card to hold all of my tuning info, reference and the files for the cars I've tuned.


This is much easier than using a USB thumb drive (http://www.supermediastore.com/category/u/usb-pen-thumb-flash-memory-drive-drives). It also only has 2 USB ports, which usually is not a problem, but I could have 3 devices at a time.

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Not sure what the advantages of an SD card are over a flash drive. I can only think of speed of access when using USB 1.1.

Old computers would have the slower USB 1.1. Newer computers will have the faster 2.0 and perhaps 3.0.

There are sd card readers to USB.

I'd go with the re-purposed laptop you already have. A dedicated machine seems like a good thing. Convert to a flash drive. Got an 8gig flash drive for $10.

For an adventurous person, you could get some syncing software application. Create a folder on your harddrive and sync to you flashdrive. This way you would get speed of access from the harddrive and a copy on the flash drive for transfer. ( I'd probably worry about sync getting confused & slow, but that me. )

Robert

[Six_Shooter]

The advantage of the SD card, is not anything to do with speed, or accessing, or anything like that.

I can simply leave it in the SD card slot, save and read to and from it, and when I need to transfer files to another computer, like my desktop, I simply pull the card out of the laptop and put it in the card slot in my desktop.

I have an SD to USB adapter, but I would just use one of my many thumb (flash) drives if I were to do that. Again, this makes for more work to transfer files, I know it's not a whole bunch of work, but I'm usually in a hurry when I need to do something like that, so anytime I can save will be useful to me, and the convenience of it.

I guess if you read my first post in context you would see that I already wrote this. ;)

[hammertime371]

i been tuning with an inspiron-mini. its the 1011 model. 10" screen is small but very portable. runs tunerpro no problem with 150gig hd and 1.3 cpu with 2 gig ram. use a flash drive with ready boost to help speed it up. lots of these on ebay for cheap. although ill hook up an 24" external monitor to review logs. i get teased a lot because its pink!!! hey it was free so im not complaining!!:rockon: with the upgraded battery i get 10hrs easy of life.

[historystamp]

Yes, the fact that flash drives don't hang out as much from the computer is an advantage.

Here is a small form factor ( physical appearance ) flash drive.



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http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/926437/HP-16GB-v165w-USB-20-Flash/