Netbooks: Should I or Shouldn’t I?
People who are worried about the economy but need new computers are now turning their eyes to the newest offering in the portable computing arena, the humble netbook.
I’m not going to lie to you. Netbooks are cool. Anyone who is into compact cuteness (as I am) is sure to like them, but a computer is first and foremost a tool, or you might as well buy a three hundred dollar lump of plastic and be done with it, if you don’t consider what you want to do with it.
But don’t let the cheap price tag and easy portability seduce you without some careful thought. How do you use a computer? What needs does it serve?
Netbooks on the market as of this writing tend to come with about 1-2GB of RAM, a small keyboard, a hard drive of over 100 GB (160 seems to be standard), and a battery that can last 3-4 hours on average and a price tag of between 300 and 400 USD.
You’re not going to be doing any hard-core gaming on this machine, friends, but I’m assuming if you’re looking for an ultraportable for the latest LAN party, you’ve already sussed out the specs on a much sexier machine and you’re up for the $1000+ price tag. If you’re doing video editing, same/same. You’re doing work that requires power, and you’re going to have to pay for it. But you know that.
This machine is for routine computing – email, web browsing, writing, and spreadsheets. I actually run Office 2007 on mine with no problems whatsoever. While I had intended when I bought it to be a stopgap for a dying laptop, I’m finding that as I use my little AspireOne[1], I’m more and more in love with it. I can write just as well on this as I can on my laptop, it fits in my purse and I can run all the software I need to do my work, except the Adobe suite. But since the bulk of what I do is write, I can do 90% of my work right from this little netbook. The longer battery life is a real pleasure, and I really do that most cliché of writing activities – write from a coffee shop.
They don’t have CD or DVD drives, but can handle downloaded movies okay. I’ve watched movies streamed from Netflix on my netbook, as well as iTunes downloads of televisions shows.
The 160GB hard drive is plenty large both for my working files and my music/audiobook collection. I don’t own many videos, and the ones I do are on an external hard drive. If you really want an extensive media collection that’s portable, you probably want a larger laptop, anyway.
The netbook is what some people are calling “good enough computing”. Just because we can own terabytes of material, do we need it? Yes, as our media is increasingly digitized, we probably will[2], but do we need it on every machine? The netbook is meant for portability. If you’re considering one, consider how much you travel. I can pretty much count on going up and down the East Coast three to four times a year. This netbook is a much more travel-friendly machine than my laptop was. Weighing in at a kilogram, this baby slips into my purse just fine, and can still deliver on all the computing power that a writer really needs.[3]
But what about spreadsheets or presentations?
If your netbook has a video out (and all the models I looked at in most of your box computer stores did), you’re golden for presentations. Just remember one should always test a presentation on the machine one will use before giving it!
As far as spreadsheets are concerned, I regularly teach advanced classes in Excel and none of these very complex and highly-linked spreadsheets have ever taxed my little machine when I review exercises for class.
The one thing that might frustrate some people with a netbook is the keyboard. It’s small. After some time typing on my netbook, I find that a regular keyboard seems enormous! I adjusted fairly quickly, but I also have little hands. If you have big pianist hands, you might find it a bit of a challenge. I highly encourage you not to buy a netbook before spending some time playing with one in a store. The quirks of keyboards and touchpads can drive one crazy, so it’s best to experiment with several models before committing.
The takeaway here is that a netbook is good for what it does. It handles the net quite well, and you’re all good with most office-type applications. Resource-intensive applications involving graphics and movie editing require more power. It’s cheap, it’s portable and makes for a good working machine. Just don’t expect to play World of Warcraft on it, ‘kay?
[1] At $299, it came with the cheapest price tag in Staples, which is why I got it. There was little spec differentiation.
[2] The answer to, “Will I need more RAM or a bigger hard drive?” is almost always “Yes!”
[3] I often say that I could do my job on a smartphone, but I certainly wouldn’t want to.
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