Quick guide to netbooks
Fed up with your laptop? Fallen out of love with your desktop PC? Well, then perhaps it's high-time you invested in a netbook. These small but often perfectly formed little beauties have been flying off the shelves of electronics retailers in the past couple of years and it's not hard to see why. The best netbooks can provide plenty of computing power on the move while also offering a reasonable screen area and keyboard, but without the weight limitations of a traditional laptop. They're hard to beat on price too and, thanks to rocketing consumer demand, you can now find a whole raft of netbook machines to choose from with a technical specification to meet just about any kind of need.
So how do you choose the best netbook for your needs? The secret is really to first decide what you want to do with it, although your decision making will also need to be tempered with an element of compromise because a netbook can have more than a few downsides.
Is a netbook for you?
One thing is for sure, if you're used to high processing power from a home-based machine then generally speaking, most of the lower end models tend to be a little on the lean side when it comes to technical specification. So cheapest is certainly not best.
However, if you need absolute portability and tire of lugging a chunky laptop around then a netbook makes perfect sense. Pick up a netbook for the first time and you can instantly feel the difference. Again though, the smaller size will invariably mean a tinier screen area, around eight inches on the dinkier units, which might be counter productive if you're planning on doing anything other than surfing the web or browsing emails. Although most netbooks can run applications like word processing and spreadsheet programs, endless scrolling around the screen will soon wear very thin. If your needs are of a professional nature then even stepping up to a ten-inch screen should provide some additional comfort in the usability stakes.
What can a netbook do?
Aside from an occasionally limiting screen size, you'll find that a netbook is up to just about any task you'd carry out on a standard size computer. The great thing about a netbook is that they generally come complete with a touchpad or trackpad, much like those found on a regulation laptop, so you won't need a peripheral mouse cluttering up proceedings. Having said that, if you prefer to plug one in then that's equally achievable because most netbooks come with at least a couple of USB slots for quick and easy connectivity to printers or for hooking up memory sticks for data transfer and backup. These can also be used for adding a wireless 'dongle' that'll enable you to start surfing the web and sending and receiving emails via a mobile broadband contract. Plug and play storage peripherals such as mini hard drives can also be plugged in via USB sockets although most netbooks usually have a generous capacity hard disk or solid-state drive.
Compare before you buy
Spend a decent bit of time comparing technical specifications before you part with your cash though. Some netbook's can tend to look like a small child's toy but packed inside that little plastic or aluminium casing can be a sophisticated box of tricks. In particular, keep a keen eye out for processor speed as this'll be the main deciding factor on whether it chunters along nicely or falls over on a regular basis. Itel's Atom chip and AMD's Neo counterpart will deliver sprightly performance while also being relatively frugal on the battery life of your unit. At the same time, get a netbook with as much Random Access Memory as possible. You'll get by with 512MB of RAM but for decent performance and crash-free living it's best to plump for 1GB and upwards. As much as the machine will take, basically.
Mobile broadband
Of course, one of the best things about owning a netbook is that it allows web surfing and email activity pretty much wherever you go. Wireless and bluetooth connectivity means that you won't be worried by any cables or clutter either. If you're at home or work then your notebook can tune in to the router or network hub you have there (many netbooks often have a network connector too). Outside of those areas you'll find access to the web and email can often be picked up via a multitude of wireless hotspots up and down the country, many of them for free, or in exchange for buying a cup of coffee or burger. There are also oodles of mobile broadband contracts available from all the main mobile phone network providers that work just as long as you have network coverage and can be contract based or pay-as-you-go.
Operating systems
One other thing to consider is your choice of operating system. Many netbook machines have Windows XP (rather than Vista or Windows 7) installed due to technical specification constraints, while numerous others go with the open source Linux platform. The latter is an often-overlooked option but actually makes good sense due to its dependability and there's also lots of open source software, which proves to be remarkably stable when being put through its paces. Open Office, for example, has a raft of tools for carrying out just about any kind of home computing task, while the Windows route might not always be quite so accommodating.
And the best netbook is...?
So which is the best netbook to go for? It's difficult to ignore Asus as they were arguably the first to market with their Eee PC 701 some two years ago and have since expanded their range to include a raft of new and ever more powerful models capable of running Windows 7, plus a dinky Disney-themed netbook for the kids. However, all of the major manufacturer's have got in on the act and you'll find excellent examples from every one of them, from Acer right on through to MSI, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba. It's possible to get a netbook for under the £200 mark, but another hundred or so will get you a much more capable machine. Lesser-known brands like Medion often pack in a decent spec' for an even more impressive price and you can often get these at your local lo-cost supermarket.
Having said all that, the humble netbook isn't really tailored for the likes of hardcore gamers or video-editing professionals but they're evolving so quickly that things could change sooner than we think.
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