My desktop PC is getting a bit old. It is time to start thinking about its replacement. I might be interested in getting a laptop. It would be nice to be mobile with my computer. Recently I have seen cheap netbooks for sale. What exactly is a netbook? They seem small. I suspected it might be some type of marketing ploy to sell me a cell phone on steroids. So I decided to do some research.Luckily my local library had a book that claimed to be the missing manual for netbooks. The book was published by O’Reilly. So I figured it was a good a source as any. It describes netbooks as being ultra portable. They are also economical. For example, one might cost $1000 less than a notebook. A netbook is good for email and browsing.
The screen on a netbook is typically between 7 and 10 inches. They have different processors which save power. There is no DVD or CD-ROM drives in them. The most common operating systems on them are Windows XP or Linux. I personally prefer Windows XP over the other Windows versions. This might be a big plus for me.
The most common CPU for a netbook is the Intel Atom chip. An alternative is the VIA Nano. The netbook keyboard is typically 85% the size of a laptop keyboard. There are a couple battery options. A 3-cell battery can keep you running for up to two hours. A 9-cell battery lasts for up to seven hours.
I read a lot more about netbooks. Be on the lookout for future posts on the subject.
