Until a few months ago, the idea of getting a laptop for no more than you'd pay for a fancy cell phone probably sounded a little nuts. Laptops cost well into the hundreds, after all, and on into the thousands if you want a really great one. But as of late 2008, inexpensive miniature laptops, called netbooks, have begun to take over the laptop market.
Depending on where you get yours, most simple netbooks will cost you anywhere from $50 (when purchased from an internet service provider along with a new contract) to around $200 to $400 if you pick up one on your own from a site like Amazon. In fact, according to Amazon, a vast majority of their best-selling laptops right now are inexpensive netbooks.
The Netbook Boom
With the current economic downturn, the computer industry is expecting the largest decline in buyers in its history. Pricey desktops (and especially laptops) are sitting on the shelves; people simply can't pay the prices for them that they used to. So for the industry, the booming popularity of netbooks is providing a small measure of hope.
But their increasing use throughout the world is beginning to beg the question: what exactly is a laptop, and what does one need to do?
Netbooks are incredibly convenient, but most of them just can't do what a regular full-sized laptop can. They just don't have the memory, the screen size, the drives (most don't come equipped with a CD-Rom), the power, or the speed of their bigger cousins.
But the real question is, do they need to? Given much people travel and their increasing ability to save, store, and use information online, netbooks don't really need to do everything a full-sized laptop can do. In fact, netbooks aren't intended to replace traditional desktops or laptops at all (and netbook buyers shouldn't expect them to). For most netbook users, a netbook is simply a great addition to their current computer (whether a desktop or a laptop). It's ultra portable, easy to use, and has enough storage to be used on a day-to-day basis.
Shopping for Netbooks
There are a huge number of netbooks out there, ranging from ultra-cheap $200 versions (the cheapest mainstream netbook brands are Acer and Asus) to laptop-priced $1000 models (like the slim and sexy Sony VAIO netbook). And what kind you get depends entirely upon what you're looking to have your netbook do. If you just want to be able to surf free internet dating sites and check your email, almost any netbook will help you do it. But if you plan to use your netbook a bit more extensively, you'll need to do some careful shopping before deciding on one.
Some netbooks, for instance, don't run an operating system like Windows. But if you plan to use your netbook for more than just the most basic functions, spending the extra money on a netbook with an operating system will keep you from wanting to pull your hair out.
In short, the more money you spend, the faster your computer will be, the more memory it'll have, the longer the battery will last, and the more portable (that is, lighter) it will be.
No matter what kind of netbook you're looking for, the most important thing to remember is that a netbook isn't a replacement for a full-sized computer. It's small in size size, it has a teeny (average 9-inch) screen and tiny, cramped little keys. But if you travel a lot and want to be able to take your work (or, hey, your internet dating profile) with you without giving yourself a hernia carrying around your 8 pound old dinosaur of a laptop, adding a netbook to your collection might be just what the doctor ordered. Perhaps literally.
