If you want to buy a netbook, like an Eee PC there are 5 things you should know before you spend your hard earned cash on such a mini laptop.
A netbook is often defined as a small laptop that is cheap. That’s about it, although the term can be confusing, as larger notebooks are sometimes called netbooks, GigaOM reports.
1. How are you going to use your device?
This may be the most important thing to determine prior to a netbook purchase. The term netbook implies you will want to do web surfing & work with email & all netbooks can do this well. However, netbooks are full laptops & can be used for a lot more than that & many purchasers, but only to a certain level (depends on the hardware & Operating System)
2. What screensize do you need?
Netbooks come with 3 different size screens & it’s important to think about how big a screen you need. The smallest screen found on netbooks is 7 inches & these display at a resolution of 800 x 480 which doesn’t show much on a single screen. The next size up is 8.9 inches & these often run at 1024 x 600, which is a big step up in screen real estate. The largest screen size is 10.2 inches (1024 x 600). A good rule of thumb is: Get the biggest screen you’re comfortable carrying around if you intend to be highly mobile.
3. Can you tolerate a small keyboard?
When you’ve purchased computers in the past, you probably didn’t give a lot of thought to keyboard size, but it can be a critical factor for many netbooks users. Netbooks small size means scaled-down keyboards that fit the width of the device. This can have a tremendous impact on your ability to comfortably type for extended periods. Netbooks with 7-inch screens are the narrowest & these keyboards can be as small as 80% of a full-sized one. It is almost impossible to touch type on these tiny keyboards. The bigger netbook keyboards (ones with 10-inch screens) are usually 90% the size of a full one & the key spacing of most of these is fine for normal typing.
4. Do you need the extended battery?
Some people just want a netbook to surf the web in front of the TV at home; for those folks battery life is not that important. But if your needs are more mobile, then it’s worth considering the battery life of your options. Netbooks usually ship with either standard or extended batteries, which are usually 3-cell or 6-cell batteries respectively. Battery life can be as short as 2 hours or less with the standard batteries, so get the extended battery if at all possible. These can typically provide 4 hours of mobile juice which is a lot better than the 3-cells, but are heavier.
5. Do your prefer Linux, or Windows?
This was originally not a decision factor as early netbooks only shipped with the Linux operating system. Some netbooks shipped with Windows Vista early on, but the performance on the hardware typically used in netbooks was not good enough. OEMs have since shifted to include Windows XP on most netbooks currently available. So with most netbooks you can choose between either Linux, or Windows.
