You may or may not have heard of the term “netbooks”. They seem to be all the rage in personal computing these days. So what are they? Netbooks are the new class of mobile computers that offer an alternative to laptops. They are basically a smaller version of the laptop, both in form factor and computing power to run resource intensive computing applications. It is very possible that they are the next revolution in mobile computing. Computer makers now offer a scaled-down version of the ubiquitous laptop. The alternative they offer is one that is smaller, slimmer, and cheaper. Cheap compared to the price of a normal laptop and in some cases even less expensive than a mobile phone. So is this scaled-down version of a computing platform for you? Are you willing to give up your laptop for a netbook?
Before deciding to purchase a netbook, it would be a good idea to identify and understand your requirements for a mobile computing platform. What are you doing with that current laptop of yours? You most likely use it most often to surf the web, run office applications for document processing, spreadsheets, presentations, email, etc. If you are a savvy web user, you can probably do all of this on the web. Is there a local application on your laptop that can use all the computing resources of your laptop? This is probably a rarity for most laptop users. Games, photos, videos, music editing apps, etc. could be part of the mix, but even some of these have online alternatives.
Most netbooks run Windows software. The operating system that is installed is mainly Windows XP. So there is nothing new on the operating system front that users need to learn. The general specifications include the Intel Atom N series chip clocked at 1.6 GHz and RAM installed at 1 GB with the ability to expand to 2 GB. A 10.1 “TFT screen size can be a limiting factor for some users, but given the clarity of today’s screens and the main motivation is a smaller form factor, this could easily be overlooked.
Netbooks are available from most of the major computer manufacturers, most notably Acer and Asustek. Both Acer and Asustek have a wide variety of products and attractive prices, especially suitable for students and business users. Netbooks could serve as a standard computing platform for students in schools, colleges and universities. Small and medium business owners and corporate executives on the go could also benefit from netbooks. Sales force personnel who are constantly on the go visiting customers could use netbooks to connect to back office applications via the web from the customer’s location.
Today, more work is being done to bring netbooks capable of working with different operating systems (eg Linux), chip sets, etc., to make low-cost computing feasible for all user groups. Looking ahead, you can expect to see faster, thinner, and less expensive computing platforms. Click Netbook Review to see a list of the latest netbooks available. Compare features and specifications to find the one that best suits your needs.