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Product Survey: Netbooks
Whether you think they're a passing trend or a genuine response to the need for increasingly mobile computing, netbook sales are soaring and there's now an enormous amount of choice.
Florent Alzieu
Updated: June 10, 2009
Updated: June 10, 2009
Our Tests
People use netbooks for different tasks to regular laptops, and we've tried to reflect that in our tests, which are slightly different to those that we use for other notebook computers:
• Battery Life & Portability
Their rugged go-anywhere capabilities are one of the main selling points of netbooks, so it's only right that we look at battery life ahead of everything else in these tests.
• Processor Power
The usual minimum capabilities of a netbook suggest that it should be able to start quickly, get you online and handle basic office software. Watching streaming video online shouldn't be too much of a problem, but anything else is definitely a bonus and we'll be pointing out if any netbooks are more powerful than this.
• Handling & Connectivity
Finally, we'll try to give you an idea of the product's look and feel. This is doubly important for netboooks, which after all aren't designed to be hidden on your desk but taken everywhere. We look at the quality of the case, the size and image quality of the screen, how loud the keyboard is and which ports it provides.
• Battery Life & Portability
Their rugged go-anywhere capabilities are one of the main selling points of netbooks, so it's only right that we look at battery life ahead of everything else in these tests.
• Processor Power
The usual minimum capabilities of a netbook suggest that it should be able to start quickly, get you online and handle basic office software. Watching streaming video online shouldn't be too much of a problem, but anything else is definitely a bonus and we'll be pointing out if any netbooks are more powerful than this.
• Handling & Connectivity
Finally, we'll try to give you an idea of the product's look and feel. This is doubly important for netboooks, which after all aren't designed to be hidden on your desk but taken everywhere. We look at the quality of the case, the size and image quality of the screen, how loud the keyboard is and which ports it provides.
For the vast majority of netbook users, their netbook is a secondary computer, designed to be taken on the road, but not to replace their main machine--which might well be a regular laptop, or could just as easily be a desktop computer. The absence of a DVD drive, the small screen and the cramped keyboard all point to the fact that netbooks are just one answer to the classic trade-off between performance and portability, with the advantage weighing in favor of the latter in the case.
There are three big questions that are likely to weigh heavily in your choice of netbook:
• Storage: Flash Memory or Hard Disk Drive?
Flash memory is quiet, offers better shock-resistance and excellent read speeds from the drive. Hard drives, on the other hand, offer more space (currently up to 160 GB compared to just 16 GB for the largest SSD in a netbook) and better overall performance when read and write speeds are taken together. This is a subject that's set to change, though, as developments in SSD technology could lead to much more flash memory capacity.
• Screen Size: 8'' or 10''?
There's a simple relationship between the size of your screen and how portable your netbook is: the bigger the screen, the heavier it will be! Measured diagonally from corner to corner as with screens on other devices, a 10'' netbook screen is perfectly comfortable and leaves room for a decent-sized keyboard. In general though, 10'' netbooks are between 100 and 200 g (3.5-7 ounces) heavier than the other common size for netbooks, 8''.
• Operating System: XP or Linux?
Windows XP and Linux are the two main options to run your netbook. Provided you choose a reasonably powerful processor and at least 512 MB of RAM, XP runs perfectly well, and will bring a familiar environment right into your backpack if you're already a Windows user. Installing the software and peripherals that you're used to having around on larger computers shouldn't be a problem either, within the limits of the netbook's less powerful performance.
There's more variation with Linux, with most manufacturers customizing an already-existing distribution with the aim of making it more accessible. Going beyond the basics to customise your computer or install your own software does require a minimum of technical knowledge.
