Get a red Asus Eee PC Netbook for $189.99
A mere $189.99 buys you a Windows XP-powered Netbook.
(Credit: Asus)New rules for Netbooks: Don't pay more than $300 for a model with a 10-inch screen, and don't pay more than $200 for an 8.9-incher.
Mwave has a pretty sweet deal on one of the latter: A refurbished red Asus Eee PC 900HDB for $189.99 shipped.
What are the specs? They are solid, starting with a 900MHz Intel Celeron M 353 processor (which may not be faster than the more common Atom CPU--I've read varying opinions), the Eee offers 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home, and the aforementioned 8.9-inch screen.
And it's red! It's pretty rare to find a cheap Netbook that's anything but black (or occasionally white). This one's downright purty.
It's also a refurbished unit, meaning the warranty is a fairly typical 90 days. I'm going to state once again for the record that I don't consider that a negative, especially considering the $60 or so you're saving on a new unit.
I will, however, direct you to the return policy (at the bottom of the product page) for the Asus. It states that this is a nonrefundable item. You can return it within 30 days, but only for a replacement.
Hello, gorgeous! Love the Eee PC's deep red shell.
(Credit: Asus)While this would make a fine portable PC for children and students, I think business users would find it a welcome travel companion as well. It's a svelte 2.5 pounds and its four-cell battery should be good for at least a couple hours' work.
Agree? Disagree? What's everyone thinking about Netbooks these days: Getting better all the time, or still too underpowered (or uncomfortable) to be practical? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
Looks like everyone else is getting this one too!
By the way, is there a feedburner or other email newsletter of this blog I can subscribe to?
As for feedburner, just click the little orange RSS icon to subscribe to the Cheapskate feed.
Having an 8.9 inch screen and a large hard drive and Windows XP all for $189 is a heck of a deal... for a Netbook.
Guess someone returned it because it was too hard to use.
Get a Linux netbook next time.
I'll take my current Atom netbook and reduce it to a torrent client/server, even the current netbook for $189.99 here would serve well for this. Load up utorrent (enable ui), peer guardian (when setup download all the anti-p2p watchdog lists), avast anti-virus, malware anti-malware, and IObit Security and it'll make this into an energy efficient, secure (from anti-p2p watchdog groups), and safe (between Avast, IObit scanning real time and mal anti-mal manually scan afterwards) file sharing machine that could run quite well for a long cheap time on the prior ups offer from yesterday.
I've been looking into buying a netbook for awhile, and this blog + Woot have been great sources of deals.
As for this one...does anyone know how long the battery will last with a Celeron processor? And how hot will it get? I know the ATOM is supposed to be better for both battery life and heat...
Also, can the refurb be trusted? I've never heard of mwave before, and the 30 day warranty is sorta scaring me.
Thanks!
I love your deals - and I don't mind the netbooks! I've bought one before myself.
My question is: why is it so hard to find your blog on the IPhone version of the CNET site?
While the acer has much nicer specs had no issues. The mwave one for 125 ( total) took a few days ironing out bugs and error messages that on start up and trying to do anything. I have a feeling that is why it was returned. Whoever had it first could not get past the error messages on start up...For a while thinking of returning it and get the linux one since all i wanted it for was a cheap quick surf toy.
While had many re furb good purchases i started kicking myself for the mwave purchase. But realizing not even ebay or craigs list would of neted me a low end 7 inch asus for 125, i kept working with the machine till it did what it was suppose to do....
Was very pleased for 345 i scored 2 netbooks 2 gifts that made each person ( myself and hubby very pleased).
While i do think there will be more deals around xmass getting them quickly or standing in line not my idea of fun... This way we are all set and pleased with what we accomplished.
One of the things that stood out after the mwave one bugs ironed out was , that it did fit in my purse and glove compartment. It served a purpose while waiting for appointments.
For me the larger screen size did not work as well, for my intended purposes.
- by bubba2million August 31, 2009 6:44 AM PDT
- * UPDATE * - I bought this when I saw the deal here and I have to say - I LOVE IT. It works SO WELL. I bought it for my girl and it just works so well. It runs fast, it finds a wireless signal faster than my giant Dell laptop, Windows, trackpad, keyboard - just awesome. And so TINY. And for under $200! She uses it all the time and it's just great. I also like having a secondary PC around in case my regular laptop has issues I need to fix.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(27 Comments)Thanks so much for finding this deal, Rick. Keep'em coming!!!!!!!!!!!!