My Quest for a Mini-Laptop

[Corrupted_Fear]

Hi there, erm, again.

I am on a quest to buy a mini laptop that I can carry around with and use for wardriving/on-the-spot pentesting and such. I dont really know much about the world of mini-laptops (standard size desktops and laptops on the other hand...), and I really do NOT want a tablet (coding on a touchscreen keyboard... ouch.). Has anybody had any experiences or recommend a certain model or type? I was planning on installing backtrack or mandriva on it, maybe both with ubuntu on the side. I'd prefer to stay under $300 if possible, i don't have much moneys

Im open to any suggestions at all, this is one of those ideas I had in the middle of the night while in the shower, so I'm just probing to see if its even feasible.

Thanks a ton for the assistance,

-C_F

[techb]

BeagleBoard or a RaspberryPi could work for mini computing devices. If you use an os like Angstrom, they have prebuilt bins for AirCrack and what not.

[Corrupted_Fear]

I've heard alot about the Raspberry... ill look into it. And I have ever only used backtrack and mandriva, because I've always used standard not really mobile computers, are there any other OS's built specifically for mobility rigs like this?

Edit:

looked at the Pi. Holy crap thats awesome. It isnt what I need, but now I'm getting one anyways for $35 bucks.  I need something small and compact too (the Pi is very small, but you need to bring a keyboard and a monitor, a small tv by the looks of it), I'd like to just pull it out of my bag and make a quick note, then take it out an hour later and perform a WEP crack and a metasploit pentest. So I guess I need still a default laptop design, as much as I love the SoC design. Thanks for the suggestions though.

[Ragehottie]

I would look at the Asus Eee PCs. Both of my brothers have one, and they are pretty nice. There model was only like $300, too. Oh, and they get great battery life. My brother's get around 11 hours.

[Corrupted_Fear]

@Ragehottie:

Now that I like. Is that 11 hours of pure usage or sleeping on and off?

[Ragehottie]

@Ragehottie:

Now that I like. Is that 11 hours of pure usage or sleeping on and off?

The website said 11 hours. I think it meant sleeping on and off. When he used it solid(no internet) he got around 9-10 and when he used it solid(with internet) he got around 8-9. Not to shabby

[Corrupted_Fear]

Yea, i read. I think I settled on the Eee PC 1011CX. Has everything I need and looks like a fairly powerful computer for the size. It will take me a little why to get the money, but after that I can't wait for the test runs that follow  Thanks again for the help. Still open for any software suggestions. And I was planning on using GRUB for the boot loader, any better options you guys prefer?

[Uriah]

I don't know much as far as laptops go, but make sure you get your money's worth. I built my pc for around 300 dollars as well, but the specs are great. Laptops aren't as "open", so I doubt you can build one in the same way, but I just wanted to let you know you can do a whole lot with 300.
Also, I've been hearing alot about those rasberrypi's. Im going to look into them right now.

[Kulverstukas]

I assume by mini-laptop you mean those netbooks. I could recommend the Acer Aspire One. I had it for years and it's still as good as new. I had dual-booted ubuntu and backtrack on it and it was great.

[techb]

With the RasPi you don't need a TV, you can use a small TFTLCD display. For a keyboard you could use a mini keyboard, or a chatpad for xbox. You can use a mini mouse, a touchpad from a laptop, or get a touchscreen LCD for the display. Angstrom is built specifically for embedded devices, Ubuntu also has a port for embed, also Arch will work.

[Corrupted_Fear]

Yea I read about the Pi, and it could work, but I would have to buy casing and stuff to make it portable and stable. Im still getting one because they are awesome, but probably not going to work to well for knocking around all day in my bag. And I saw the Aspire One's, I was debating between those and the Eee PC from Asus. Would one be better then the other or are they just two companies trying to offer the same thing? Building one would be great, but still I would need to get the casing and it would have to be stable and durable because I would carry it around with me everywhere. Ill probably build my own for a solid home gaming machine, but not for portable stuff like this. I've got a lot of time to look at which one I want, because its going to be a good amount of time before I get the money to buy one :\

[Kulverstukas]

I think "Acer aspire one" and "Asus Eee PC" are pretty much the same thing with a slightly different look. I also was debating which one to take, but the acer one was cheaper in my case so I took that one.

[Corrupted_Fear]

yea, i looked of the specs a bit. The asus is a bit more feature rich and has longer battery life, so I believe I'm going to go with that one.

[MrFreeze]

I would look at the Asus Eee PCs. Both of my brothers have one, and they are pretty nice. There model was only like $300, too. Oh, and they get great battery life. My brother's get around 11 hours.

I have an Asus Eee PC, and it's nice for some applications, but I've found it to be extremely limited in some regards. The nice thing is that I have Ubuntu, so it boots very quickly (unlike a Windows OS that can take a while to load), and its nice for a lot of things, just not a very robust machine. Ive since switched to a regular sized laptop and probably used the mini one for less than 6 months.
Just my experience.