Posted on 03/04/2009 8:57:15 AM PST by kingu
Walk by the netbook display at Best Buy and you're likely to hear cooing and exclamations of how cute the little laptops are. But take one home and you may realize your new baby just can't do the same things that a standard notebook can do.
Netbooks are just about the only thing these days that are generating any excitement in the hardware space. The form factor is appealing to many, for sure. With about a 10-inch screen, these are much smaller than the standard-sized notebook, and certainly much lighter, and quite a bit less expensive, too. Some are as inexpensive as $250, while others can get as expensive as the $1,000 range.
It's hard to walk by a netbook display at a consumer electronics store without hearing someone coo at them and talk about how cute they are, as if they were little baby notebooks.
And, because of their magnetic appeal to consumers, netbooks have been doing their part to make PC manufacturers happy. Look at the earnings report of any PC maker that also makes netbooks and you'll notice that netbook unit sales are just about the only thing growing at any kind of healthy pace. That's saying something during this year when hardware sales look positively bleak, with analysts like Gartner now forecasting a decline of almost 12 percent, the worst in history.
(Excerpt) Read more at channelinsider.com ...
I used to be into tiny gadgets. But the eyes get old, the fingers get stubby, fine motor control goes south. More power to the people who like the small stuff, I was just pointing out to the original poster there are legitimate complaints with these little things. I read “10 inch screen” and my eyes say “don’t even think about it”, in order to get enough data on that screen to be useful the fonts would be so small I couldn’t see them. Of course one of the other changes as I get older is more interest in things without silicon and desire to be unplugged from the world, portable computing sounds more and more to me like a trap than a feature.
My wife got a netbook for use while RV’ing. The thing is as slow as molasses. That is probably more the fault of the Windows OS. I should have steered her to Linux, but didn’t want the headaches of trying to learn (much less teach her) something all new to us.
Craigslist. Found a great laptop someone had to sell. Great deal. Even got a carrying case with it.
If it's an EeePC, go to wiki.eeeuser.com, and read up on the tips on how to make Windows faster, it really does make a difference. Surprisingly, Windows 7 runs /very/ well on netbooks, and I have to admit, if there's a way to draw me back to Windows, Microsoft needs to get that thing to market.
But yeah, these netbooks aren't speedy, but the 30watts of power they draw when charging an empty battery certainly is easier on the RV's power supply. :)
good recommendation.
For those who like Science Fiction, Baen.com has a ton of books available on the Free Library.
I always give them a plug, because I like companies that recognise their customers are not thieves.
Luckily for me at age 61, I can read very well without my glasses. I do need glasses to see at a distance. As I tell people, I can see you but I don't know who you are without my glasses on. I love my X61 Lenovo laptop from work and am looking at getting an ASUS for my personal computer. My sister and nephew each have one and they love them. Traveling with them is a breeze.
Ditto on the Free Library, though I'm also a monthly subscriber as well, six books for the price of a paperback, DRM free so I can read it on anything, pre-made into formats compatible with any reader or even just pure HTML. Highly recommend them, if you like SciFi.
You can plug a huge external monitor into the little EEE PC and get up to something like 1600x1280 rez.
I was OK until 31 or 32 (I can’t remember now), then things got bad. Astigmatisms, so near and far are problems but middle is great. The bad part is that since I had perfect vision until I was in my 30s I’m very much not a glasses wearer (and I have a severe phobia about touching my eyes so contacts are right out) so I tend to not wear them when ever I can get away with it (which is basically anything but reading and driving). I can still read some without them but it’s tiring.
I don’t really know what I’d do with a portable computer anyway. One of the things I like about going places is not being in contact with the world, if I was dragging the internet with me that would totally break that.
I’ve got a little Asus Eee with a half gig of memory and plenty of storage. It runs XP while my current laptop is saddled with Vista. Good for computing on the go and I keep it as a ‘live backup’ for my laptop. I just power it up every few days to keep my email current on it, and email any documents I’ve been working on to myself. Only thing missing is its ability to run the full Microsoft Office suite, though I can pass documents back and forth and work on them adequately. Oh, yeah, it also doesn’t have its own dvd/cd-rom drive, but I’ve got one at home I can attach to it and I don’t need one on the road.
But that kind of defeats the point of having a little bitty computer.
Not if one of your needs is also to save some $ on a ‘pooter.
Have you read the 1632 series? Love it, and so does the wife. Of course, since we’re addicted to the series, we end up buying the hardbacks. If I had a netbook, I’d probably go with the electronic versions.
You sound very nearsighted as I was. Ten years ago had LASIK surgery — decided to go “monovision” — left eye for reading, right for distance. Left eye can still read newspaper down to about 6 inches, but used to be able to read it at 2”. But then they’ve made the print smaller to save paper also lol.
These 'minidesktops' are coming up strong on the market, Asus has one that attaches to the back of an LCD screen with a couple screws.
The problem with using a netbook in the configuration with external monitor is heat, to be honest. Better to get something that's built towards that use. And indeed, I've one on order right now exactly for this purpose, with plans on donating my wife's existing desktop as soon as I get it setup.
Very much enjoy the series, Eric Flint has a ready home in our house for any book he chooses to write. 1632.org is a fan site dedicated to his series, and something you might enjoy visiting too.
It reminds me of the TVs they had when I was young, 5 inch screens and people had to buy magnifiers to put over the screen!
Most of them were bigger but I had an Uncle who was really tight and he had a 5 inch. That was just painful to watch even with my young(at the time)eyes!
I have both a desktop and laptop, and bought an Acer netbook with the 6 cell battery and XP. I love it. It’s great for travel and the internet. It’s easy, light weight and convenient to use. I don’t look at it as a real replacement for my laptop, but it sure is fun and easy to use without carrying any weight. I’ve had no problems accessing the internet, checking email or nominal computer use. The keyboard is small though.
What do you do if you have to reinstall Windows?
I've been to the 1632.org site. Probably need to hit it again, as it's been a while.
I'm reading The Bavarian Crisis right now. You can really tell when it's Flint writing, and not DiMarce. Wish he'd do one solo again.
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