Netbook assistance required

[robin]

That makes it pretty clear that either:

(a) Something inside the laptop is using a lot more power than it was designed to and is overwhelming the external power brick thingmy.
(b) The external power brick is fubared.

It's pretty easy to load test the power brick vs it's rated output ... then again it might just not be worth the effort if a new one from Maplins or wherever is £20. If the brick can hold the rated output voltage at the rated output current then it's the laptop that's gubbed. If the brick output collapses under load it's the brick that's gubbed.

Did you say it was running hotter than it used to? That might lend weight to (a).

Cheers,
Robin

[rossybee]

The power cable was renewed in august by a pukka HP one (only £12 on amazon) so less chance of that being the fault...

I'd say that it does run hotter than it should and has for a while tbh

One other thing which might indicate charging circuit fault is when it's on and charging, it alternates between charging and not, and it's not relative the cable waggling or the like...

[robin]

I would say that it's probably time to cut your losses, myself. You could dismantle it and probe about a bit with a multimeter whilst it's running, but there is very little chance of effecting a repair as the circuit boards are normally littered with components you either cannot buy or cannot solder or both.

Cheers,
Robin

[rossybee]

My hunch too thanks.

Not one for fannying around with soldering electronic componentry (more due to lack of ability than anything else) so will look at cheap options to replace the whole thing...handy it's my birthday next month

Open to suggestions

Preferably compact (ie not full laptop size), light-ish, and with usb connection(s) for external memory. Oh, and cheap

[robin]

Samsung ChromeBook £239 IIRC. Does web browsing. Does media playback. Very small. Long battery life. I'm impressed with mine, though the browser does still crash from time to time, so not yet 100% stable - but that doesn't matter because it remembers all your pages and when it restarts you'll be more or less where you left off.

Cheers,
Robin

[rossybee]

Just had a wee look at the chromebooks in PC World, and for the money, they seem to fit what I'm looking for....

...one question, can I open and edit office files (mainly .doc and .xls)?

I think I read someplace you can download google apps to do this?

[martins]

Tempted to throw the thing away and get a mini tablet

Definately.

Has the exact same issue last year.

Have now given up the fight against Apple and am gradually becoming an Apple Zombie. Only got the laptop left to convert.....

M

[rossybee]

Apple not on the radar for various reasons such as no usb, price, and sheep-like image

Had a play with bro-in-law's nexus 7 recently, and it's too wee, and I think I prefer a proper keyboard.

So....chromebook?

[robin]

You can open office docs to an extent using google docs - it has both online and offline variants - so when offline your edits are stored on the internal drive and then the result can be pushed up to your online google drive next time you connect.

The office programs are not complete, though ... you couldn't write a book or handle a complex spreadsheet that way ... but for short documents or your expenses spread sheet it will be just fine ... I wrote a couple of documents on mine whilst on the train a while back and it worked perfectly.

Cheers,
Robin

[BiggestNizzy]

Surface ?

It's a laptop with touchreen and detachable keyboard.

[rossybee]

Sounds ideal robin thank you, I'm not doing masses of documents or spreadsheets, main use will be for web surfing

Samsung one is £30 more expensive than the Acer equivalent but looks nicer and has longer battery life. Worth the extra?

[rossybee]

And...ended up picking brains at pc world in Dundee (much better than the one in Aberdeen) and was told that the chromebook wasn't ideal for my usage...

So bought a Samsung galaxy tab2 10.1, which is the doggies danglies so far, I can attach my memory stick and open and edit word docs so happy

Cheers all for the assistance

[robin]

Nice. Note sure about android myself, but no doubt works for web browsing and the odd document edit - and a lot cheaper than the Apple equivalent.

For reference, my chromebook is the small silver Samsung one (ARM based, not x86). Really handy when main laptop is in bits for upgrade-itis and you cannot get the correct driver set installed

Cheers,
Robin

[rossybee]

Don't get me wrong Robin, your advice was very helpful and much appreciated but the chromebook was just that little bit limited for my required usage in situations with no WiFi (offshore/remote locations)

So far so good with this android device, and it's not an apple

[robin]

So far so good with this android device, and it's not an apple

Samsung for global domination