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56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! Meso happy! Ubuntu rocks! This machine is a poor man's MAC!, October 20, 2008
I am currently writing this on my new Sylvania G Netbook MESO. Which I have now owned for a little over two weeks. This is the Ubuntu Remix edition, but if the desire moved me I could always throw on a copy of windows XP. For the record the desire will not be happening any time soon. Let me first explain why I decided on the MESO and then give a brief review of pros and cons this little machine.
WHY DID I BUY: Over the last few years I have started to use Linux more and more. I am not a "geek" persay. And I don't like having to command line everything. I like a nice grasphical interface to do nearly all my work. I'm from the windows 95, XP generation. So I hunted around and tried a few distributions, SUSE, Madriva (which I loved for a while) and then I discover Ubuntu. Something about Ubuntu just felt right. Everyone is different. But for me Ubuntu felt like home. Is it a perfect replacement for windows....no. But it does most of what I need. And after spending some time working with a Vista laptop, I finally decided that my next laptop would be Ubuntu based. Vista was too bloated. Even with all the eye candy turned off....it was slowwwww. I would run Ubuntu on the same laptop and it was quick and responsive even with COMPIZ (eyecandy working overtime) So I wanted a laptop with Ubuntu preinstalled and working right out of the box. But it seemed that of big commercial companies only DELL offers Ubuntu laptops. They are very nice looking. But I just wasn't sold. Then I saw the new crop of netbooks coming out, and I stumbled upon the Ubuntu web page describing the Netbook Remix GUI. I decided to make the plunge. So when the first netbook came out with this version of Ubuntu on it, I purchased it.
WHY GET UBUNTU REMIX: I wanted it, because it had the power of Ubuntu, but with the simplicity of a mac using the remix GUI. (once you get use to it. I come from a PC background (windows) and when I first started working on a Mac it took me a few hours to get comfortable. The remix was as easy as that to adjust to, if not easier. My wife who is completely computer illiterate, and can crash any machine in about 30 seconds by just looking at it, and she was up and running on this in no time. (and as a side note: Has not been able to crash it yet.)
TO MESO OR NOT TO MESO: Sylvania? Don't they make light bulbs? Yeah they do. I was a bit wary of buy anything from a relatively no name (computer) company. And truth be told they are simply slapping their brand on a machine from over seas. But then again who isn't these days. I purchased the netbook, because I wanted something inexpensive, (around $350) with a decent harddrive (80gb on the meso), that was small and lightweight from carrying around, and good on battery usage. The meso met all those needs. It may not be for everyone, but it was perfect for my needs. And I can say that any issues I have had, their tech support has walked me through, via emails and telephone calls. The support has been excellent from Sylvania.
THE LOOK: A number of site have said it looks like a portable dvd player. That maybe be so, to some people. But I have had more complements on the look of this device in the last two weeks, than with any other electronic gadget I have ever owned. I own the white (snow) version. Looks like a baby Mac. And people will come up to me and ask "where did you get such a cute little laptop? I love it." I mention that it uses Ubuntu, and the price. Most have no idea what Ubuntu is, but when they see the interface, they are like "Wow." That's so cool looking, and I can't believe its so inexpensive!" The build quality is excellent as well. At no time does the meso feel "cheap". It well constructed, and has a lightweight but solid feel.
PROs: Great battery life. I was working at a net cafe for nearly four hours wirelessly and still had charge left in my battery. Not bad at all. I had it on the highest power saving setting, and the screen dimmed a bit, but still that excellent. The screen is nice and bright, and easy on the eyes. I have the 1 gb ram version, and I find the performance to be excellent. This version of Ubuntu is tweaked to best use the Intel Atom processor's various abilities, and it is fast and responsive. Boot time from cold start about 30-45 seconds. But after that you ready to go. Not like windows. 45 seconds to boot, then wait another 3-5 minutes while all your programs load. When Ubuntu is up, its up. 30-45 seconds is not bad at all. From a suspend mode, you up in 5-7 seconds. So far hibernate does not work. I hope they get this function working in the near future. 80 gb hard drive, is fast and quiet. CPU fan is silent. I mean it is as quiet as a mouse. I have heard others having issues with it running at a high rate. These may have been some of the early models first released of the line. But mine is stone silent. The restore partition (in case you jack up your ubuntu) works great! (I have already tried it, it wipes everything and puts it back to how it was when you first opened the box.) VGA port works great. I have it connected to a DELL monitor at 1280X1024 resolution. Plug and play. I have hooked up a number of usb sticks, mice, keyboards, external harddrives, CD/DVD burner, two HP printers, all worked plug and play. If you need a small, lightweight, machine, that won't get viruses and crap ware, this is the machine. Wireless is very fast. Excellent for web surfing. The version of office (Openoffice) that comes with Ubuntu worked great with all my MS office docs! Just wish they had a real MS ACCESS replacement.
CONs: Can't hibernate yet (out of the box) Webcam is a bit subpar. But for $350 I can let that ride. Its just not the great. Keyboard is nice, and firm, with a nice solid feel. But it is very small. I have small hands and it is small. I am getting us to it. But just know it will take some adjustment. You have to expect that on a device this size. Its not too bad, but it will take some time to get use to. Software repositories need to be refreshed with newer software. Suspend sometimes hangs when you close the lid to the netbook. What I mean is, it will suspend automatically when you close you netbook, the first time. But after you wake it back up, if you close the lid again, nothing happens. So you need to press the power button, and tell it to suspend. A minor annoyance. All the hot buttons work, except the one that turns the wireless off and on. I called tech support and they said it just turns it off slowly. But on my unit, it has no effect at all no matter how long I hold down the button or how long I wait. The mouse buttons and touch pad set up are nice, and have a nice feel. The buttons do make a rather loud clicking sound when you tap them, which is not a problem unless your in a very quiet environment. But the touch pad is set up for button clicks, and scrolling. So you can use the silent touch pad instead if you are in a quiet place. So it is not really a big issue. Either Sylvania or Ubuntu needs to release a .iso for this Netbook Remix version of Ubuntu. It great having an additional recovery partition, but if the whole hard drive craps up you will need some form of media to reinstall. A small side point. COMPIZ does not work out of the box. And in fact I have not been able to get it to work on this machine. I would love and update to be released so I can enjoy the eye candy of COMPIZ. I know its doable. I would just like it out of the box.
FINAL VERDICT: This is the best computer buying experience I have had in a long time. Due in large part to the Ubuntu installation. It just works. Its a poor man's MAC if you will indulge me. I have fallen in love with the new GUI, and I love the speed. I have a video playing (MP4, with no choppiness, in video or sound.) and I can be surfing the web, and flip over to a WORD document, all without losing a beat. It never seems to sure from any lag (like my Vista machine) No need to defrag, no viruses, no spyware, no registry problems. When I uninstall a program it is gone (all of it) The machine and OS are rock solid. They work beautifully together! I hope this becomes the OS of choice for NETBOOKS in the future. For me its a Vista killer. But be aware it is not a gaming machine. So if your a game, look else where. This is a web, email, video, music, word processing, spreadsheet, workhorse. Though it does seem to play a wicked game of chess. :)
RATING:
APPEARANCE: 8.5
BUILD QUALITY: 8
PERFORMANCE: 9
INTERFACE: 10
WEBCAM: 2
WEB PERFORMANCE: 8
OUT OF THE BOX EXPERIENCE: 8
OVERALL: 7.5
I would say if your in the market for a netbook, and want to try something different than windows, but can't afford a MAC, this is the machine to get!
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect for me., October 17, 2008
I was looking for an ultraportable PC that could be taken anywhere easily and do everything I need a notebook to do. This is a great form factor, at just over 2 pounds can easily be carried room to room in one hand and was a nice price should it happen to get destroyed or take a walk. I have used Ubuntu for the last 2 years, so switching Operating Systems wasn't a concern. Ubuntu is a great OS -- stable, secure. No spyware or viruses to worry about, free automatic upgrades every six months. Windows games wouldn't run on this too well, and without a CD, it would take some techno-wizardry to get them installed. There are emulation programs that can run some games, but I haven't had much success with that technology even on a much more powerful machine. I like the color scheme (Solar Yellow), and yes it sort of does look more like a portable DVD player than a notebook, but if that bothered me I'd have gone with the black. I had to call tech support today because of something very basic I was doing wrong (how to toggle off Num Lock) -- instantly reached a human who was pleasant and helpful. Yes the keyboard is a little crunched, but isn't a huge problem, I generally hunt and peck anyway and at the main office where I use it, i have a spare USB keyboard to plug in. Another post said something about an EVDO card not fitting in the slot -- it doesn't have a PCMIA or Express slot. For EVDO, you would have to use a USB EVDO card. The installed version of Ubuntu doesn't support EVDO yet, but the Oct 08 release is supposed to. For techies, there is ample help in Ubuntu forums on how to use the EVDO card right now, I have been using one in Ubuntu for a while. Battery life is decent.
Strengths:
1. Tiny size.
2. Cool Colors.
3. Native Ubuntu device.
4. Good tech support experience.
5. Nice sized hard drive (other netbooks this price often have a much smaller solid state drive - which has some advantages, but the overall capacity mattered most to me).
6. Good for email, office docs, web browsing.
Weaknesses:
1. Not for someone who doesn't want to leave Windows (there is supposed to be a XP version, but I haven't seen it sold anywhere).
2. Keyboard is a little crunched.
3. Not a gaming machine.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Full size performance in sleek size, November 22, 2008
This little netbook is half the size of a normal laptop, and weighs hardly anything. I was really impressed with the Ubuntu operating system - don't be intimidated if you have never used linux before! It is super easy to get used to, and what is really awesome is the add/remove program tool. Instead of going to the computer store and buying programs, you just use this application to access literally thousands of programs to do anything, even great games - ALL ARE FREE!
It operates silently, runs all sorts of programs quickly (3D games not so well), transfers data via USB faster than any other computer I have used, and the battery lasts almost 3 hours - though it was 3.5 hours when I got it a month ago. Everyone who sees this computer loves it too.
When comparing stats to other little netbooks you will see that this is the best buy, and trust me - get the Ubuntu version and stop being a slave to corporate software giants!!!
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