What is an Netbook? A Netbook is a small laptop computer.
- Typically, a screen no larger than 10". My current Dell laptop has a 15.4" screen.
- The keyboard is 80%-92% the standard size.
- The price point is $200 -$400.
- Easy to transport. Small size and weight.
- Low on price.
- You want a basic computer to access the network and not much more.
- Not enough power to use standard Office applications such as Outlook and Word.
- Poor experience when surfing web. You are constantly scrolling left and right, up and down to view a web page. Viewing a web page on an iPhone is a much better experience.
- No optical drive. You cannot load software from a CD, or play music CD's. You will need to buy an external CD drive (approximate cost $100).
- Hard to upgrade because of small form factor.
- Buy a named brand such as Dell or HP.
- More is better. Get the biggest hard drive you can. Get the most amount of memory, the biggest screen and the biggest keyboard.
- Conventional hard drives such as SCSI. Do not buy a Netbook with a solid state hard drive. Solid state drives are new technology and are still very expensive. In order to meet the small price point for a Netbook, solid state drives are in the 4GB to 16GB range. A SCSI drive will be 40GB-160GB.
- Do not consider a Netbook with less than 1GB of memory. Less than this will ensure that your Netbook performance is pokey.
- Anything less than a 10" screen will make surfing the web a painful process.
- If you can touch type, a keyboard less than 92% of standard will be frustrating to type on.
