I’ve been reading a lot about netbooks recently.
If you didn’t follow the link to Wikipedia, a netbook is a notebook computer that is light, sufficiently powerful for web browsing, email, etc., and relatively cheap.
I didn’t know it at the time, but at this year’s CES in January my daughter and I looked at one of the first netbooks, the ASUS Eee PC. It had a 7” LCD screen, a modicum of memory and ran Linux off a flash drive.
I have to admit I wasn’t impressed. Amanda loved it (it was cute). And it was cheap, under $300 for the low end configuration. At the time it only had a 3 cell battery, which gave it a couple of hours, but they promised a bigger battery with 6-8 hours life “real soon now.” That caught my attention.
So now virtually everyone has, or is rumored to have, a netbook coming out. ASUS has a dizzying array of Eee PC options (many feel too many options) either announced or delivering. MSI has their Wind. Dell is rumored to have a Series E due out in August. There is even “The World’s Cheapest Laptop” selling for $130 (minimum purchase 50 units).
These aren’t Macbook Air or Lenovo X300 class notebooks. They are inexpensive, light and somewhat limited in performance.
Most of the recent introductions have 9” or 10” LCD screens and the newest netbooks use the new Intel Atom processor, a highly integrated, inexpensive, low power processor.
All the hoopla the past months has gotten me thinking. I even got out my old Toshiba Libretto 50CT palmtop (about the size of a VHS video tape) and played with it—and it still works. It’s keyboard is still a bit too small to really touch type.
Looking at what I really do with my notebook when I travel, I’ve come to realize that 90% of the time I check email, surf the web, and do some word processing. I could do all those on any netbook I’ve seen.
I have thought I would be just as happy with Linux, but several of the recent netbooks announced are coming with Windows XP. I could go either way, but all things being equal having XP would allow me to run additional software, especially the many Portable Apps that run off a USB drive.
Looking at all the options, I would say my netbook should have at least 512MB RAM and a solid state disk of at least 4 GB, more likely 10+GB or a 1.8” hard drive. Most have SD card slots, which is where I’m thinking I store my data. Either a 9” or 10” LCD would do fine. A 95% full size keyboard is a must. A weight between 2 and 2 1/2 pounds is ideal.
At least 2 USB ports would be sufficient. Wireless WiFi (802.11g is fine) is a must, the ability to use my Sprint broadband connection would be nice (although my Cradlepoint CTR500 converts my Sprint card into a WiFi hotspot). Wired Ethernet would be nice, but not an absolute (I could use a USB to Ethernet adapter when I really need it).
My one, absolutely inflexible requirement is the battery last at least 6, and preferably 8, hours. That’s full time use, I would expect the netbook to last morning to night putting it in standby when I’m not using it.
Looking at the netbook announcements, I would expect suitable netbooks to be available in the next couple of months. I’m excited.