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Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Netbooks
Florent Alzieu
Updated: December 5, 2008
Updated: December 5, 2008
Today, it's common to divide laptops into two distinct categories: netbooks and notebooks.
Netbooks are small, light, stripped-down computers designed to work in today's portable world.
Notebooks, on the other hand, are much bigger, more powerful computers, but are still capturing market share from traditional desktop computers. Capable of more and more, the latest models are even capable of playing recent video games.
Netbooks
Netbooks are a relatively recent arrival so the amount of confusion surrounding what they actually are is understandable. In short, they're extremely small and light computers that are designed to be--to use another name--ultra-portable.
You slide them out of your pocket, switch them on and thanks to a wireless Internet connection you can be surfing the web within seconds.
Because they're such basic, straightforward machines, there's no need to worry too much about which operating system is in use. The two most common choices are Windows XP or a Linux distribution and the only area in which one has a distinct advantage over the other is when it comes to being lightweight and energy efficient, where Linux definitely has the upper hand.
If that's what a netbook is, it's important to remember what it isn't, too.
It's not necessarily a bargain 'deal-of-the-century' cheap laptop, but instead a dedicated second computer.
A netbook isn't powerful enough for playing many games, and the screen is often too small for enjoying long stretches of video.
For that, you'll need a real computer. Netbooks, though, make a great complement to a fully-featured computer.
> Product Survey: Netbooks
Netbooks are small, light, stripped-down computers designed to work in today's portable world.
Notebooks, on the other hand, are much bigger, more powerful computers, but are still capturing market share from traditional desktop computers. Capable of more and more, the latest models are even capable of playing recent video games.
Netbooks
Netbooks are a relatively recent arrival so the amount of confusion surrounding what they actually are is understandable. In short, they're extremely small and light computers that are designed to be--to use another name--ultra-portable.
You slide them out of your pocket, switch them on and thanks to a wireless Internet connection you can be surfing the web within seconds.
Because they're such basic, straightforward machines, there's no need to worry too much about which operating system is in use. The two most common choices are Windows XP or a Linux distribution and the only area in which one has a distinct advantage over the other is when it comes to being lightweight and energy efficient, where Linux definitely has the upper hand.
If that's what a netbook is, it's important to remember what it isn't, too.
It's not necessarily a bargain 'deal-of-the-century' cheap laptop, but instead a dedicated second computer.
A netbook isn't powerful enough for playing many games, and the screen is often too small for enjoying long stretches of video.
For that, you'll need a real computer. Netbooks, though, make a great complement to a fully-featured computer.
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Budget Buyer: Hercules eCAFE EC-800 For their first netbook, Hercules stripped the costs right back to the minimum to bring one of the most affordable computers on the market. |
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Simplicity First: Hercules eCAFE EC-800 As well as coming at an excellent price, the first eCAFE also comes with a customized Linux distribution that puts the emphasis on ease-of-use. Even users who aren't familiar with Linux can get the hang of it straight away. |
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Demanding User: Asus EeePC 901 The 901 rises to all of the challenges that face netbooks: it's small, light and has excellent battery life. The only downside is that the SSD hard drive is just 16 GB. |
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On The Go: Asus EeePC 901 Lighter than even the 1000H, the 901 has an extra twenty minutes of battery life. |
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Expert: Asus EeePC 1000H The 1000H is the netbook par excellence, with plenty of storage space, a comfortable keyboard and well-designed screen. At nearly 1.5 kg, though, it's far from being the lightest netbook out there. |
> Product Survey: Netbooks
