Everything You Need to Know About Netbooks
Netbooks are basically laptops, but they’re smaller, cheaper, and very versatile for their capacity. Netbooks are an affordable, and most importantly portable, extra computer which can be used for browsing the internet, sending emails etc. They don’t have the grunt of a laptop, but they can do most of the job, in these areas. They’re like a sort of portable home computer support service when you need one.
Why are they so cheap?
Netbooks have filled a niche created by the high prices of laptops. A Netbook like the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, costs about $500, has a 9″ screen, an Intel Atom processor, 1gigabyte of RAM and a tiny 16GB hard drive. (That, incidentally, is about all that you really need for a wide range of computer work, and it’s why Netbooks have become so popular so fast.)
By way of comparison, pocket-rockets like the Studio XPS 13 cost $1500+ and have 4GB of RAM, a graphics card, a much faster processor and a 320 gigabyte hard drive. Lots of power squashed into a small package, but very expensive.
What could I use a Netbook for?
Netbooks won’t run the latest games or play HD movies. But when you add a mobile broadband connection, there’s not much they can’t do. They’re very useful in business, as a sort of portable organiser and general workhorse computer.
Netbooks are also becoming very popular with parents as an affordable way to get that all-important first computer and staying solvent. The Netbooks are good basic trainers, and even if they’ll obviously need something with more power soon enough, they’ll also know how to use it when they get it.