Netbooks are definitely the next generation of computing. The main purpose behind designing these computers was to enable people to use the World Wide Web on the go. Netbooks are light weight, have very good power back up, and are compatible for both wireless and USB enabled high speed internet connectivity. You can carry these with you easily wherever you go. Though Apple produced the first computer that was a blend of a PDA device and a laptop, it was Psion that first initiated the Netbook revolution. The term Netbook was copyrighted by them, however, was released later.
Today, there are a wide variety of these computers available in the market. If you are planning to buy one, you should first get a clear idea about the different types and brands. There are a few factors that can help you decide which model to buy:
Price: Netbooks are meant to be affordable, thus, you should get an option that packs the best features at an economical rate. There a lot of amazing models available in the range from $299 to $399. The Asus Eee PC, HP Mini, Toshiba Mini, etc. are all really cool Netbooks and are priced perfectly. The low prices were mainly established to make computers accessible to a wide range of people, especially students.
Size and Weight: An ideal Netbook should not weigh more than 1 kg. It should be extremely portable. The screen size ranges from 5” to 12”. Some standard features of computers like the DVD drive, floppy drive, etc. are not included in order to make the machines more compact. The size of the keyboard and its keys are smaller. The Asus Eee PC was the first Netbook that was commercially produced and it weighs just 900 grams and has a screen size of 7”.
Hardware: Due to the smaller size, the types of hardware used in these computers are not as great as other types of computers. Also, the storage space and some other things are not that great. The RAM is generally quite low. However, recently, newer and more equipped Netbooks are being created that provide better hardware and storage space than the earlier versions. For example, the Toshiba mini Netbook has hard discs of 250 GB space and RAM of 1 GB. You can easily find models with an average of 500 GB disc space. There are some Netbooks whose RAMs can be expanded to up to 2 GB. You should go for an option that suits your needs perfectly.
Processor: Majority of companies implement the Intel Atom processor in their Netbooks. Its two varieties are used generally, one of 1.6 GHz and the other one of 1.66 GHz. These computers do not have much processing power. You should keep the fact in mind that these are not meant to take too much load.
Operating System: Netbooks come with preinstalled operating systems. As these computers do not have disc drives, formatting the OS can be a headache. Thus, you should go for a model that has the OS which you want to use. Till recently, Windows XP was the most commonly used OS in Netbooks, as Vista and other systems needed better configuration. But now, most of these computers come with Windows 7 starter version, which works perfectly with any Netbooks’s configurations. Check out our mini netbook reviews for some top selling netbooks available on the market today.