Jelly Bean, ok, i think i am getting your point. it is just that in US the difference between these 2 notebooks is $100. considering how much equipment i need to buy, it hurts. am also concerned about the touch pad on Samsung as i hear it is very hard to scroll up/down. what is your experience?
Do i need to buy extra USB cords to connect camcorder/netbook/hard drive or do they come with them already? also, should i be concerned about power fluctuations? i hope not as i can only carry so much weight.
and last, what specific 2 gig memory should i buy for Acer and for Samsung? i assume it is something that i can just open the bottom and replace, right?
please assume you are explaining to someone who is clueless when it comes to hardware. i can use it, but it does not mean i understand it. i try though. i really appreciate your help. thanks

Hello again.

I would just buy the Acer netbook.

Ok external hardware usaly comes with all the external cables you require to connect them to a computer/laptop/netbook.However a small amount of suppliers do not supply the cables.I would just check before buying if the correct cables are included.

If you leave XP on the netbook there is no need to upgrade the RAM to 2 gig unless you want to.That can be left alone as you would be paying out money for other items,RAM upgrade realy is not needed.Yes you just open the bottom plate undo two clips and remove old RAM and pop in the new RAM.

The touch pad on the Samsung is very sencitive and scrolls well.Although I use a USB small Logitech mouse,external.I find this easier for me.

I would buy the Acer as the specs are the same as the Samsung.This will save you money to buy other bits and peices you need or require.

As for asking questions,please ask away.We have computer users of all levels here and we do try to answer questions as much as possible and give explinations.Your chatting to the girl who could not turn a computer on in mid 2006 and hey I learned a lot since then.

I know you wish to purchase an external hard drive have you looked into the pocket sized ones?A lot smaller and lighter than the usal clumpy ones?

Jelly Bean, ok, then Acer it is. i still think i should upgrade the RAM because i will be transferring HD video and i want to be sure there is enough processing power to do it in a reasonable time. Can you please recommend one for the Acer? a link to what it should be would be nice. i will then find the best price for it. I am leaving XP on the netbook simply because i am familiar with it.
For external hard drive i found this Newegg.com - Seagate FreeAgent Go ST905003FAA2E1-RK 500GB 5400 RPM USB 2.0 Black External Hard Drive - External Hard Drives
Please feel free to comment. i appreciate the input.
you did not say anything about power fluctuations. should i worry about it?
and you did not know computers until mid 2006? wow, that is very impressive! more power to us girls
thank you for taking the time to explain these things to me. i really appreciate it.

i found this for RAM Newegg.com - CORSAIR 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Laptop Memory - Laptop Memory. what do you think?

EXACLTLY!!!!

Ok the hard drive looks great and the RAM,appears to be good choices there.I bought Corsair for my netbook.Are you reading my mind?

Stick with XP.As Vista costs more money.

That external hard drive looks cool and sleek.Seagate is a good choice.

Power consumption,I would say as long as you do not have lots of USB items attached you should be fine.Although if you run just off battery power I pursume it would run out quickly.So power charger connected would be needed.A lot of devices connected would possibly slow the netbook down a little.I suppose it is just do not overload the system.Web cams use next to nothing in power unless you are attaching a monster,but I doubt that.

The hard drive would use resouces/power unless they have there own external power supply.But would still use some amount of power from the USB port.Newer externals I would say are less consuming.

Hey ask away I will answer were I can.

ok, since i got your approval on my choices and approval on my camcorder accessories on the camcorder forum, i am buying it now. see no reason to wait any longer.
i am not worried about power consumption as on the trip i will only be using the netbook to transfer video footage from camcorder to hard drive at night when it is plugged in. well, maybe check my email. and i will use skype or some such for calls home.
i think one item i did not consider. i know i will have to install software to Acer to transfer video. since Acer does not have a cd/dvd drive do i need to buy an external one so i can install software? is there another way? as far as i understand it is not just "copy" it has to do with "capture"(?) for transfer to work. can you advise?
BTW, the curiosity is killing me, where are you in the world? i am sure you are not in US

Hey again.

I live in the UK,South Wales.

Ok now what I do to transfer lets say CD/DVDs I use The rip function in windows or copy function.I copy the disk to a external hard drive or USB pen drive.Then I transfer to my netbook.

You can do the capture workl on another computer and again transfer using an external hard drive or USB pen drive.

However we dont always have a computer we can use to do this.

Downloaded software is not an issue as it can be directly downloaded.

If you realy need a CD/DVD drive then you can buy an external USB but go for a slimline one.

I think you made a good desicion on your purchase.