Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Netbook Craze Begins

By Rick Amorey

It all began with the down to earth Eee PC from Asus. If you saw it during the time it came out, you'll likely see what I saw: a dinky laptop that gave up a lot of its functionality just so the consumer got a portable device that was handy for simple Internet utilities. The keyboard was about a third of the size of a normal laptop. It seemed like a bad joke, I mean, how can an adult with normal sized fingers even type on it? The trackpad was hard to maneuver, and there wasn't an optical drive, to boot.

The Eee only had one saving grace, in my eyes; it was cheap. Not dirt cheap, by a long shot, but the money that you'll usually spend buying a decent notebook could be used to pay for three of the little machines. Perhaps that's what it's for; something that you could give to each of your kids to play with. I did not know how wrong I was.

What happened next was history. Many were apparently attracted to the Eee, not only because it was cheap, but also because the world is slowly getting more and more reliant on the Internet. The Eee is not only ultra-portable, but also has a battery that lasts longer than many notebooks. It was similar to a mobile phone in that regard: You stay connected more consistently, and all you have to do to email or IM is to find a desk and a Wi-Fi area to open it up.

Since the raging popularity of the Eee, other 'netbook' models have sprung up, including a bunch of new models of the Eee itself. All of them follow the same general pattern that made their now two-year old ancestor successful; they were cheap, very portable, and with a long-lasting battery life. But with a ton of models out there today, how do you know which netbook to choose?

In the end, you have to make the informed choice when you want to buy a netbook. And the best way to be informed is to read up on the models themselves; look for netbook reviews online to help you decide. Once you know the netbook model that appeals to your lifestyle, be ready to enter the netbook world. - 22787

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