Why I’m not buying a netbook – yet
Netbooks are one of the hot topics in the world of PCs today. Following the failure of the UMPC and Tablet denominations of computing, manufacturers noticed how well Apple’s Macbook laptop was selling and started testing just how low they could go in terms of price and specs.
Without going into a history lesson, the current iteration of netbooks consist of various processors that are, or are equal to an Intel Atom processor running at 1.6 ghz. They generally include 1 GB RAM, and hard drives of roughly 160 GB for platter based drives or 8-32 GB for SSD drives. The devices have screens ranging from 8 to 12 inches and weigh between 1 and 3 pounds. They also do not have internal optical drives and very few external connectors for adding peripherals. They are, in essence, internet laptops.
Over the past year, netbooks have gone from an asterisk to a significant portion of the laptops purchased. HP developed their own OS specifically for them. Microsoft is pushing XP on them, even though they’ve been trying for 3 years to get people to forget about XP. Hardcore techies are installing OS X on them and testing to see what high end games they can get to run on them.
Why is everyone going so crazy over netbooks? Because companies have learned from iPods, iTunes, and Google that if you miss out on a trend, a market leader will emerge, quite possibly never to be overtaken. So, everyone is playing their hand in this new fad, by either making the hardware, tweaking the software, or just reselling the devices.
If you asked me 18 months ago if I thought I’d see a netbook at a major retailer, I would have chuckled politely, asked what a netbook was, and said no. But just a few weeks ago, there was a stack of MSI Wind netbooks on sale at Costco. Fry’s is brimming with netbooks in all sizes and configurations.
I’ll admit, the first time I actually stopped to look at one, I was stricken with gadget envy. I could just imagine having one of those and being able to sit on my couch to surf the internet or maybe even install WoW and play that on it. I went home and decided to really look into what these things could do. For those of you unfamiliar with Intel’s Atom processor line, they’re basically low power versions of an old Pentium 4. After doing a little research it turns out that they’re capable of pretty much exactly what they’re designed to do, and not much more. You can get over the RAM issue pretty cheaply, but the processors are soldered onto the motherboard most of the time.
So, who does need a netbook? College students for sure. From what I understand, a lot of college kids these days take notes on their laptops, and carrying around a 3 pound laptop as opposed to a 7 pound one is a no-brainer. Of course, this probably shouldn’t be their ONLY computer, but I can see how it would be useful in that situation. Another group would be travelling business people. Gotta give a Powerpoint presentation? Done. Need to do more email manipulation than you can get away with on your mobile phone? Got it. Need to watch a downloaded movie in the hotel after work? Sold.
I can think of a few scenarios where I might be want to have a netbook versus what I already have, but they are not a prominent enough portion of my life to justify the purchase – for now:
- When I’m on vacation
- When the processors get faster and cooler (32nm, 2ghz and dual core)
- After I get LASIK
- When WiMax is more prevalent and cost effective
- If I switch mobile phone carriers and go to a Blackberry (haha, yea right)
I have a laptop from work. I also have a recently built desktop and an iPhone. My wife has an iBook and a Blackberry. Why in the world do I need another device? The places I sit down to do a significant amount of my computing are at my desk or on the couch. If I didn’t bring my laptop home, and I need something in a pinch, I’ll use my iPhone or my wife’s laptop. If I’m going to be doing anything processor intensive, I’ll go use the PC. Another problem with netbooks is that the keyboards are generally smaller than standard laptop keyboards and I’ve already got wrist problems. A few years ago I owned a Macbook as my only computer. The primary reason that I sold it was that I just couldn’t get used to the small screen. So, with all those reasons against having a netbook, there’s really no major reason to pull the trigger. Yet.
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