First-time Netbook buyers
Although netbooks sales have grown tremendously in the last few years (with this years sales growing at over 100%), the total PC market driven by netbooks has reached just 10%. There’s a lot of headway that could be made both amongst people who don’t own netbooks yet, and those who aren’t sufficiently aware of them.
What is a netbook?
If you’re confused by all this netbook talk, we’ll break down what a netbook actually is.
- A netbook is a smaller laptop, usually within the 9-12 inch screen range.
- It’s about as powerful as laptops 3-4 years ago. Think back to your laptop then and how it was quite efficient, until you heard about all this new technology out there.
- Most people need laptops for browsing, working on documents, watching a few movies, and that’s about it. Their needs haven’t changed much over the last few years. Netbooks take care of these basic functions without additional frills. This means no DVD drive.
Advantages over laptops
Some advantages a netbook has over conventional laptops are the battery life, portability and cost.
- There are some netbooks out there that will run without a charge for 10 hours.
- Most netbooks weigh under 3lbs. This makes them extremely portable, especially as a lot of them are about an inch thick.
- They’re also very inexpensive compared to laptops. Whereas most laptops cost about $1000, you could pickup a decent netbook for somewhere closer to $350.
Main things to consider while buying a netbook
There’s a few things you should keep in mind when you finally go out and pickup your first netbook.
- Keyboard – Make sure there’s a comfortable keyboard that’s at least 90% sized, with a full-sized shift key.
- Processor – The Atom N450 is a new line of processors releasing in January 2010. While it doesn’t boost performance, it saves up on battery life. The other option is Nvidia for a more graphically competent netbook. Expect to spend more though. As an option you could get a multimedia boosting Broadcom card (still to be released!)
- Portability – The whole point is the lightness. Anything over 3lbs (including the battery) is way too much.
Be advised that while netbooks are great for lightweight tasks; stuff like playing games, multi-tasking and using heavy programs is a task better left to your laptops and desktops for now.
Recommended Netbooks
- ASUS 1005HA – available on amazon for $338.95. Read our review here.
- Acer AOD250 - available on amazon for 279.99 in black, blue, white and red. Read our review here.
- Samsung GO N310 – available on amazon for $299.99. Read our full review here.
Filed under: Netbook