It seems that netbooks are the hottest things since sliced bread. At the same time, you might remember my article a while back that explained why netbooks are already obsolete. In the interest of fairness and balance, I thought it would only be fitting to give the flip side of that argument, discussing the reasons why a netbook should be an integral part of your digital lifestyle.
Do you own a netbook yet? If not, maybe you should consider it.
The Advantages of a Netbook Over a Notebook
Going back to my earlier article about why netbooks are already obsolete, one of the reasons that I provide is that netbooks are not as cost-effective as they could be. For the price of a suitable netbook, you’d be getting pretty close to buying a budget-minded notebook. While there are certainly exceptions, I think it’s fair to say that most notebooks are going to be more powerful than just about any netbook. This rationale overlooks one very crucial selling point for netbooks: they’re much more portable.
Sure, you could spend $500 on a cheap laptop and while it may not be the sexiest computer on the block, it’ll be able to handle most of the basic tasks that you throw at it. However, more likely than not, this $500 notebook is going to be a 15-incher. That’s a fair bit bigger (and heavier) than a netbook.
In order to get into a new 11- or 12-inch notebook PC, you can expect to spend a fair bit more than $500.
Further still, you don’t necessarily need to spend $400 or $500 on a netbook. It doesn’t take much shopping around to find a deal on a refurbished Acer Aspire One, for example. These cheaper netbooks can handle basic Internet tasks without a hitch and they come in at a pinch over $200. I doubt you can find a new laptop for $200, refurbished or not, 15-inch or not.
Have Netbook, Will Travel (And Be Entertained)
Alright, you probably won’t be able to slot that netbook into your back pocket (it’s also unlikely that you have a rear end as attractive as the model above), but I think we’d all agree that netbooks are a fair bit more portable than their larger laptop cousins.
Both in terms of physical size and in terms of weight, netbooks can be better travel companions than regular laptops. Popping the Eee PC or HP Mini-Note into your backpack at school is probably easier than trying to shoehorn a larger Dell Inspiron or Compaq Presario in there.
The same can be said about when you go on vacation. Wouldn’t you rather have a little netbook in your carry-on rather than a bulky notebook?
A Smartphone Is Not a Netbook
Again going back to my article about netbooks being obsolete, I said that smartphones infringe far too much in this territory. They offer even more portability and they are able to do much of what a netbook can do. You can use your BlackBerry, iPhone, or Nokia smartphone to check Facebook, update Twitter, read email, and watch YouTube videos.
At the same time, smartphones have their inherent shortcomings as well. For starters, the screen is a lot smaller. Watching videos on a BlackBerry Bold or even a shiny new iPhone 3GS just isn’t the same as watching the same videos on an Asus Eee PC with a 10 inch screen.
Mobile applications are also not as robust as their full computer counterparts. As great as TwitterBerry and Twitterfon may be, they just don’t offer the same Twitter experience as TweetDeck on the desktop. Even the recently launched TweetDeck for iPhone just isn’t as powerful as the real thing. The interface and utility just isn’t up to par. A smartphone is not a netbook, regardless of what Cupertino may lead you to believe.
Is There a Place for Premium Lifestyle PCs?
Ask the reps at Sony and they’ll tell you that the Sony Vaio P is not a netbook; it’s a premium lifestyle PC. Whatever you call it, can you justify spending about $1,000 (or more) on a so-called premium netbook? Personally, I’m not so sure. The build quality and materials used may appear to be a step up from the usual netbook fare, but if I were to spend that kind of money, I’d want more functionality.
The Gigabyte M912 convertible tablet PC netbook is perhaps a better value, because it has a convertible touchscreen. The construction isn’t as nice as the Vaio P, but it could be more useful.
For me, netbooks have to stay cheap. And they have to be cheaper than a suitable notebook alternative. You have to remember than the whole netbook/subnotebook phenomenon was founded on the philosophy that these little computers were never meant to be your primary computers. They don’t replace your main laptop; they supplement them.
The Future of Netbooks
Love them, hate them, or be indifferent about them, netbooks look like they’re here to stay. And it’s not just the netbook manufacturers who are cashing in on this trend, since we’re starting to see a steady supply of netbook accessories too.
Looking toward the future, there are some serious rumblings (and sightings) out there about a netbook being powered by Google Android. Yes, the same platform that powers the T-Mobile G1 smartphone. Netbooks need a lightweight OS, but is this going too far?
At the same time, we could be going in the opposite direction with a so-called MacBook Mini or MacBook Nano. Is Apple going to enter the netbook market in some official way? If it does, expect the splash to be just as big as when Steve Jobs decided he wanted to get into the cell phone business by “reinventing” the smartphone.
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