Should You buy a Netbook?

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:45:02 +0000

So we are all very familiar with laptops, but what is a Netbook. A netbook is a stripped down version of a laptop that is built mainly for online applications. The reasoning behind the design of a netbook is that more and more aplications move to the internet, thus decreasing the demand for a laptop with super hardware. Why would Net aps decrease the need for power? Simple, all processes are run on the webserver so the webserver does all the number crunchung and you just use your Netbook as terminal.

How do I identify a Netbook?

Look at the price and specs. If you see a laptop that costs a fraction of a regular laptop and is about half the size. Chances are good you are looking at a “Netty”

Processor

Netbooks usually run on the Intel Atom processor, a processor designed for low powered mobile electronics like Mobile Phones and Netbooks. Don’t try and compare performance of the Intel Atom with regular processors from Intel, you will be disappointed. Some benchmark tests reported that the Atom takes up to 3 times longer to perform the same spreadsheet calculations as the bigger Intel CPU’s.

The Atom has 2 major advantages over the Bigger Intel processors and that is it’s energy requirements. A Netbook running on the Atom wil l on average have a battery life 2 to 2.5 times that of a laptop, which makes it excellent for mobile computing.

Screen Size

Netbook screen sizes range between 7 and 12 inches and has a resultion in the area of 1024×600 wich is not to bad but don’t try hooking it up to your LCD TV or flat screen monitor.

Other Hardware

Due to the space constraints of the Netbook you wil not find all the regular stuff from a laptop. No optical drive and limited ports, again just drives home the fact that Netbooks are maschinines that is designed for the Web. All Netbooks however comes out standard with WLAN adapters. Some Netbooks even has embedded 3G but be prepared to fork out a little more for this nice feature.

Operating System

Netbooks run on Windows XP, Linux and Windows Vista but XP has proven to be the best steward of these mobile machines. The reason being that Vista’s system requirements are to heavy for the little guys and Linux just scares the daylight out of the average computer user like me.

Is the Netbook Right for you?

What makes the notebook atractive is its portability and price but I am afraid if you like 3d Games, Photo Editing or Engeneering aplications the Netbook might not be right for you, on the other hand if you just like surfing the web, chilling on Facebook and chatting on Skype, the Netbook might just be the right fit for you.

The vid below has more info on the differences between a Notebook and a Netbook.

By the way, I edited and posted this blog from my Lenovo Ideapad S10. Also check out the Lenovo Ideapad S12

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 – Netbook Review