Netbooks: Why and which ones.

Thursday, October 02 2008 - Toys

I just wanted to talk briefly about my recent acquisition of a netbook, their benefits, and which one(s) to choose if you're in the market.

Personally, I wanted something very small, but something that still retained the overall feel of a notebook. PDA's and other UMPC's are becoming more and more available, but they still lack certain key features that kept me from jumping on them.

  1. No physical keyboard: While my iPhone doesn't have a physical keyboard, I don't do serious typing on it, so no real need for it. If I'm to take notes on the device, write blog posts, and chat with friends and family, a keyboard is a necessity unless I want to waste lots of time.
  2. Too low of a resolution: Although most now do a good job of scaling websites and images down to fit the screen, there is still a significant amount of searching on a page to find the info I want. With netbooks, the horizontal resolution is almost guaranteed to be 1024 pixels. Since most websites (or at least the ones who've put any thought about their end-users into it) are based on a 1024 pixel width or less, there is absolutely no side-to-side scrolling.
  3. Fragile Feel: This isn't to say I'm afraid of breaking my new Dell Mini 9, but with a PDA's having an exposed screen, I feel like I'm just going to break the device. With the universal "laptop" design, you still close the lid, which lets you know carrying the device around in a backpack, or large pocket will most likely not break or damage anything.

I'm personally biased on the Dell Mini 9, not only because I've been happy with all of the Dell devices I've used in the past 10 years, but also because I happen to own the Dell Mini 9. That being said, I'm not entirely sold on it yet, simply because I haven't had enough time on it, and I haven't had the opportunity to test other devices. (Note to Samsung, Acer, Lenovo, Gigabyte, LG, and all other Netbook manufactuers: I'd be more then willing to use your devices for a "test period" if you'd like to send me one. And yes, I'll post a review too!) [ Just thought I'd throw that in... :) ]

If you're interested in a netbook whether it be for work, or pleasure, I'd highly advise checking out the following sites for detailed reviews on almost every Netbook, as well as info on specifications if you have certain requirements:

Before I give all of my netbook business to Dell, it would be nice to try out a 10" device like the Samsung NC10, Asus 1000H to feel the usability difference over an 8.9" device.