The introduction of this device has spawned many headlines over the past few months. While still considered a portable computer or a.k.a. laptop, its small size, low cost, and extended battery life sets it apart from the traditional laptops. Due to its lower specifications, it’s primarily built for basic tasks such as email, web browsing, and typing up documents. This is particularly useful for college students and people who don’t need the more advanced features of a laptop or desktop. From my experience, a popular combination that college students buy is a netbook and a home-built desktop. The desktop is powerful enough to play the latest games and intense multi-tasking while the netbook allows for in-class note-taking. In fact, the popularity of these little netbooks has risen to such a point that a multitude of netbooks are available, with nearly every major computer manufacturer offering their own version.
So far, the netbook does sound pretty good. However, this review quite over yet and it’s time to shed light on a huge problem that plagued netbooks for quite some time. As mentioned above, netbooks are built for basic tasks. Very rarely would you see anyone use it for anything more than light gaming or anything intensive. Thus, the issue of what Operating System netbooks use has caused much controversy. While I am a fan of Windows Vista, it’s a shame to see Microsoft take heat from consumers complaining about how much Vista bogs down the computers, even making them unusable. In a purely coincidental way, another complaint that many Windows fan had was the retirement date of Windows XP, which was originally set to January 31, 2008 and finally pushed back to June 30, 2008. While XP has become “the OS of the netbooks”, Linux, an open-source operating system, is offered as another choice. However, I would recommend against using a Linux-based netbook because XP offers way more compatibility and support for drivers and software.
Now, on to some popular netbooks and my thoughts about them:
ASUS Eee PC
One netbook has been in the market for quite a while and it is the ASUS Eee PC. This netbook has been out since 2007 and is arguably the current netbook leader. One of the keys to its success is how much thinner and lighter it is compared to the other netbooks, yet offers more usability, notably its keyboard. Ben, one of the authors here at Portatech, actually owns an ASUS Eee PC, albeit an older model. However, one thing that would probably create headaches for most users is the lack of storage space most netbooks have. As evidenced by the smaller size storage space of mp3 players and the increasing popularity of flash drives and solid state drives, this particular netbook is only offered at 40 GB. It does have a hard drive based storage method which comes in at 80 and 160 GB, but it drains the battery at a faster rate, thus the switch the flash based storage.
Dell Mini 9
A new entrant to this competitive market is the Dell Mini 9. Introduced in September 2008, it gives a the other netbooks a run for their money. An especially interesting thing that caught my eye was the lack of the F11 and F12 button. However, all’s well when you see the keyboard is still quite large and not cramped, another major complaint of any netbook user. However, I didn’t choose to give this netbook some free advertising just because Dell is my preferred brand. For back to school students, a special promotion was launched for the introduction of the Dell Mini 9: $99 a pop. When I saw this, it literally blew my mind that they could sell a netbook at this price. However, the offer is valid when the purchase of a Studio or XPS laptop is purchased. Still, thinking back to when I said students look for the best combinations in ultraportable and powerful computers, this definitely did take the cake.
All in all, what do I think about the netbook? With an actual market created for it, it’s definitely here to stay. Advances in technology will only allow netbooks to become more powerful and still stay lightweight and energy efficient. Who knows, today’s laptops may become tomorrow’s netbooks.
Filed under: Uncategorized
