In 1996, gadget manufacturer Psion, Trademarked the name NETBOOK. When computer chip company Intel, began to refer to the recent spate of small form laptops as "netbooks", Psion got litigious. Apparently, we're not supposed to refer to these wee laptops as "netbooks" because that will somehow defile the brand name for a product that barely passes muster as a "netbook" by today's standards. Being that we adult webmasters have experienced the "low hanging fruit" dilemma, I shall (in this article) refer to the hardware as mini-notebooks, mini-laptops, small notebooks, small laptops, tiny, itty bitty, adorable and whatever. They're not "netbooks", Psion. So, don't come after me!
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"The base price for notebooks ten years ago was the same as it is today: $1000. That is why this fresh crop of miniature notebooks is so appealing. A serendipitous conflagration of demand and technological advancement." |
My little baby princess daughter ordered herself an Aspire One mini-laptop and I was the tech that set it up. You know how I said I would use the word adorable? It was adorable! It weighed barely more than two pounds with a blue sports-car glossy shell. As far as setting it up the unit came bundled with XP and there was no trouble moving/removing software. It found my LAN easily and I had it surfing the net within minutes after bootup. The little machine was as fast and hearty as my old ThinkPad and aside from the itty bitty monitor screen, using it was enjoyable. While I have yet to test other small laptops, I can sincerely give the Acer Aspire One, a Titmowse thumbs up!
You know what I hate about regular notebook/laptop computers? Their overall retail prices haven't fallen much since they first hit the scene. Today, you can buy a very nice tower/monitor combination for as low as $300. The base price for notebooks ten years ago was the same as it is today: $1000. That is why this fresh crop of miniature notebooks is so appealing. A serendipitous conflagration of demand and technological advancement.
Mind you, mini-laptops aren't for webmasters with serious needs for processing power. Gamers, video editors and other power-squeezing geeks will find these clamshells quaint and lacking. But for the page-making, Internet surfing, gallery uploading, jack-of-all-trades, adult webmaster, these babies are sweet. Of the current small form notebooks are powered by Intel's Atom processor. Atom was originally designed for hand-held units but contains the processing power of a late-model Pentium III. The Atom is low-consumption and its dual-core model is even being installed in desktop PCs. Atom has its competitors, the Tegra from Nvidia and the Nano from VIA. What you should take away from this paragraph is the fact that if you're looking for a complete replacement for your desktop, a mini-laptop may not be for you. If all you want is a portable Internet-capable device that you can use for general computing and basic tasks, these baby notebooks are perfect.
Whether you buy Dell's Inspiron, MSI's Wind, HP's Mini, Asus' Eee or go for Sony's long and skinny Vaio, you'll be getting a decent amount of goodies in a minimal package.
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Semi human-sized keyboard, audio with built-in microphone as well as webcam, wireless and ethernet, roughly three USB ports, usually at least 1GB of RAM, Trackpad, either an 8.9 inch or 10 inch TFT screen, varying capacity hard drives, multi card-reader and batteries that range anywhere from 3-hour to 6-hour charges. What you won't get is an optical drive. No CDs or DVDs without an external reader/writer.
Should you buy one of these little baby computing machines? That's your question to answer. The kid bought the Acer Aspire One because her old laptop died. In her situation, she's in college and working two jobs that entail daily computer use. The only complaint she had was about the screen size.
About that screen size.
I've been spoiled by my lovely 15-inch ThinkPad screen. I played with the Acer Aspire for a brief few days. By the end of my time with it, the small monitor began to piss me off. The kid wasn't fond of it at first but discovered some magic keyboard macro that allowed her to toggle window zooming on/off or something like that. All I remember is bumping up the Zoom and freaking out because it took me an hour to figure out how to restore normal view. So yeah, at least with the Acer, zoom is built-in and easily applicable. I suppose after a while, I could grow accustomed to a smaller monitor. The kid hasn't complained since she figured out how to tweak the zoom and that was 4 months ago.
In the end, the price on these little notebooks is tempting. If my trustworthy ThinkPad were to suddenly cut out on me, I might consider purchasing a mini-laptop, but only after ruling out full-size notebook options. The fun part about the wee clamshell craze is that nobody's buying their regular-sized counterparts and a lot of big boy laptops are on semi-permanently on sale.
Psion hasn't gotten very far with their threats to shutdown other-company usage of the term "netbook" and I've done my best to avoid such references. At this time, Dell, Intel and the netroots are challenging Psion and abandonment of their patent is a strong possibility. Maybe the Psion case will be the catalyst that finally accomplishes an overhaul of our outdated national/international patent process.