I'm thinking of getting a netbook.....

Hello All,

I'm looking to get a netbook primarily for basic productivity tasks (E-mail, MS Office, and connecting remotely to my office's servers). It would also be used, to a limited extent, for my entertainment when traveling (movies, music, classic games, such as half life 1) or just anytime I happen to be away from my computer.

The three most important things to me are smooth operation (can the netbook handle the tasks I mentioned above), battery life (6 cell battery necessary), and price ( < $500).

These are a few that I've been looking at:

Samsung NC10 - 10"
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131014][/url]

Acer Aspire One - 8.9"
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115518][/url]

MSI Wind - 10"
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152071][/url]

I've also looked at the Asus netbook, but it seems to be exactly the same.

I'd love to get one with an integrated nvidia 9300 instead of an intel gpu, but those are about $650 right now.

So, here are my questions:
Can these netbooks meet the requirements I mentioned above?
Does anyone have any suggestions regarding brands/size?
Are they going to be building dual core atom netbooks, and if so, what sort of price drop do you think could be expected from existing single core atom netbooks?
Would a dual core atom be worth the extra cost?
When would be the best time to buy, given the holiday season and any new releases? is there any new product coming out that I should wait for?

Thanks for your help,

X

Before you jump too far into details, I highly recommend you hit a local retailer and just try to type on a netbook similar to the ones you want. They generally have compressed keyboards, making them difficult and uncomfortable to type on. Considering you're going to use this for work, I'd check up on that before you even think about anything else - who wants a notebook that you don't like to use?