Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em, some people don't really know what they really are, but the fastest growing computing market right now is the netbook market. After the wildly popular eeePC, other companies have followed suit, and now all the tech sites and blogs alternate between lavishing praise on these little guys and churning out reasons not to buy them. Here's a little bit of straight info.
What is it, again?
A netbook is a teeny-tiny laptop. They're normally about half the size of a standard 13 inch laptop, have around 9 inches of screen and a slightly reduced size keyboard. All have WiFi cards, and some models are coming out with integrated wireless modems.
What's so great about them?
They're small. Having a full computer system about the size and shape of a small hardback novel is pretty handy. If you've lugged a full laptop around, you know that they can get pretty heavy and awkward. Not so with the netbooks.
They're cheap. Unlike a lot of reduced sized electronics, they're cheaper than their larger predecessors. The price range is from $200 to $550, give or take. That makes a lifesaver for those who can't afford a more upper end system, people who want a second computer for the family, and those who want to tinker with hacking their system or loading a new operating system, but are afraid to touch their main box.
They're efficent. Most netbooks coming out run on Intel's Atom processor, which is very energy efficent, and gives 2-3 hours of wifi enabled performance. Most netbooks boot Windows XP or Linux in well under a minute. In addition, netbooks usually have solid state drives (ssd) instead of traditional hard disk drives, which make read times much faster, uses less power, and because there's no moving parts, make the computers more durable.
What's the catch?
They're small. Not everyone can get used to a 7 or 9 inch screen, and the keyboards are often cramped, or situated oddly (especially first generation models).
They've got lightweight capacity. All the convenience of the ssd comes with a price--diminished storage. most netbooks out today have between 4g and 32g ssds, which can get eaten up very quickly with a big itunes account.
What to look for
The market is flooded with these PCs right now, and it can be very confusing. As someone who's had the opportunity to play with some of these, let me tell you that:
1. Definitely grab a nine inch or bigger screen. It's completely worth the extra money.
2. If you're going to run windows, get at least 8g of storage, Linux, half of that.
3. Look for a model with an Atom processor, like the Dell Mini 9; the older Celerons will get a little chuggy.
4. If you're going to use it for more than basic web browsing, consider getting a hard disk instead of an ssd. If you've got 15g in your iTunes collection, a 16g drive isn't going to cut it.
Keep an eye out for netbooks. With a struggling economy and an increasingly connected world, ultra-portable cheap netbooks are going to have a great run.
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