Netbooks vs Laptops
Over the past few years, there has been much debate over Netbooks. These are mini laptops used primarily for internet access in public places. The phenomenon is that some of these laptops get 7-9 hours or battery life on one charge and are much smaller and lighter than their laptop counterparts.
Which is right for you?
Netbooks are very portable due to the fact that they are very small and light. They allow for quick internet activity in any location that has a WiFi connection. An issue with these devices is that they generally come with a very small hard drive. These hard drives are Solid State Drives (SSD) which are basically glorified flash drives. They have rapid access times but slow writing times. They also come with a slow processor. The processor is definitely very efficient in the sense that it consumes very little power compared to normal laptop processors but it is a single-core processor in the era of dual and quad-core processors with much higher speeds and onboard memory.
Traditional Laptops
These are definitely a little less portable due to their size compared to the netbooks, but they offer a lot more storage space, screen real estate, and considerably more processing power. You’ll notice it when you turn on your laptop, launch a program, transfer files… pretty much anything you do on your computer. You’ll get more productivity as well since you’re doing things faster and more efficiently.
It all boils down to whether or not you’re willing to sacrifice speed and productivity for a little bit more portability. If you are, netbooks will definitely get the job done, it might just take a little while longer to get the same task done.
I like netbooks, but my large hands usually don’t get along well with the smaller keys.
Ultimately, the answer to this question depends on a user’s needs. For those who want to travel a lot while keeping up with e-mail, news, and other web-based items, a netbook is the most logical choice.
I’ve seen so many Netbooks fail recently, espically from Asus and Gateway, that I simply won’t recommend them. I don’t know what the problems are, as they are just shipped back to the manufacturer. My biggest complinat though about netbooks is that they are shipped from the factory underpowered and running inferior operating systems. I think the solution to the netbook issue would be system like the iPad. It will allow for internet over WiFi and 3G, it’s very light, and you don’t need alot of mess to go along with them (Power Cord, etc). That’s the future, and that’s what you should save your money to purchase.