Is a netbook right for you?
Are you looking for a cheap, portable computer? Then you need a netbook.
You’ve seen people lugging heavy laptops in cases. then searching high and low for somewhere to plug them in because the battery only lasts an hour. Well netbooks have come to the rescue as the ultimate portable computer, and they’re set to make laptops a thing of the past.
Netbooks started as cheap low-powered computers, using wifi to access the internet (hence “NET book”). But these days, even cheap netbooks have so much power and storage capacity that they outperform normal laptop computers of only a couple of years ago.
is a netbook for you?
What can you do with a netbook?
Pretty much everything you can do on a laptop.
- word processing and spreadsheets
- accessing the internet (even out and about at wifi hotspots)
- Skype and instant messaging
- watching videos and listening to music
- editing your photographs
These are the basics you can do on even the cheapest netbooks, and don’t forget you can easily carry it about with you or even put it in your pocket. For specialist applications the regular high-powered (and expensive) laptop still has its place, but for the everyday user, a cheap netbook is the portable computer to buy.
So what IS the difference between a laptop and a netbook?
Not a lot, really.
Size is the main difference, with netbooks normally having screens measuring 10.1 inches and keyboards to match. And of course because they’re smaller, netbooks are lighter and more portable.
Then netbooks don’t have a DVD writer and most laptops do – but who writes DVDs these days? With USB sticks there’s no need and I don’t remember when I last burned a DVD.
Netbooks have a smaller processor – the Intel Atom, but most laptops are way overpowered for what you want to do with them and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how powerful your new netbook is and how fast your programs run on it.
And many netbooks now even have the Dual Core Atom processor, so their performance really does zip along.
And this means that the batteries in netbooks last long after those with laptops have rushed away searching for a power socket to recharge their laptop.Nine or ten hours’ battery life is not uncommon for a netbook.
And finally netbooks are limited to 250 Gigabytes of hard disk storage. We say “limited”, but a couple of years ago, that was the most you could get on a full blown laptop, and 250 GB should be plenty for most people – enough for many hours of video, tens of thousands of music tracks and most other things you’d want to take around with you.
Windows 7 for your netbook
Nearly all netbooks now come with Windows 7 Starter Edition pre-loaded. So you’ll get all the benefits of the latest operating system. You can still buy the occasional Windows XP netbook or Linux netbook, but Windows 7 is so good on a netbook that we don’t really think it’s worth the bother. You’d gain nothing in performance.
How do I get online with my netbook?
Once you’ve decided a netbook is right for you, you plug it into your router, or use the Wifi or 3G connection and you’re online in a flash. The netbook does it all for you, so there’s no complicated setting up to do. Netbooks, as the name suggests, are designed for the Net.
So check out some of the best offers around at the moment and see how much netbook you get for your money.
