Netbooks Good or Bad

Lots of mini laptops or Netbooks hit the Market over the past year, as many manufacturers recognized a hole in the much saturated laptop Market.


But is this a good or bad thing for the consumer?

In the world of laptop specs you get what you pay for, so can cheap Netbooks really compete with small full blown laptops?

I'm all for cheap mini laptops - that is of course if the purchaser understands what they are actually getting.

Over the past year lots of manufacturers have released cheap mini laptops.








They all seem to run either Windows Xp, or really cheap Netbooks run some flavour of Unix.
As soon as I saw Unix this started the alarm bells ringing, not because Unix is a bad system, but because it can run on much lower hardware specifications than Windows.

After checking out various specs it would seem the reason for this is indeed the low hardware specifications.
Releasing cheap mini laptops is a great thing, as long as it's understood this means low specs, in essence a laptop that's really designed for word processing, email & browsing, but as for large apps, recent games or any higher end graphics forget it.

If you’re in the Market for a cheap mini laptop for light use such as browsing, email, word processing etc then cheap Netbooks are ideal for this.

Just make sure you buy one running Windows Xp rather than Unix if your not used to Unix as changing from Unix to Xp on this type of laptop is generally very difficult due to the hardware specs.

Pluses

Many models are cheap

Good battery life

Light, easy to transport


Minuses
Cannot run Vista
Slow processor
Very limited upgrades

No built in CD/DVD Drive

iBall Lilbook 1017 10 Inch

iBall Lilbook 1017 10 Inch Netbook

Processor Intel Atom (1.60GHz, 533MHz, 512KB)

OS Windows XP, Vista & 7 (32 bit)

Web Cam 1.3MP web camera

Screen 10.1 Inch WSVGA 1024 x 600 LCD screen

RAM 1 GB

HDD 160 GB

Weight 1.3

Misc 3 in 1 card reader

Price* INR 14,559

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook

                                             

Dell, the name that brought us some serious quality products over the years sent us a netbook from their Inpsiron Mini series. It’s small, it’s cute, and it's Atom-based. The netbook market has some insane choices and more are welcome. So here is our review of the Dell Inspiron Mini 10v.


Design and ergonomics.
The model comes in many colors - we received a black model. It has a glossy finish, extending into the interior surfaces too, except that the latter is metallic silver. The touch pad is silver too, but has a matte finish and is keyboard centric. The keyboard itself is almost full sized, that is 92 % of regular sized keyboards to be precise. Buttons sizes are large and Page up and Page Down are integrated into the up and down arrow keys, thus overall there is no clutter of buttons. The ergonomic feel of the keyboard is quite alright - the slightly stiff tactile response of the keys is good for me personally.


Here comes my first complaint - the touch pad. It sucks, when you’re using it at normal speed. Only when you slowly move your finger across it does it behave. Dell please call up China, replace it NOW. The netbook looks very nice but ergonomics are not. It’s like the mouse is on speed, and you’re trying to catch it like some cheap online flash game. But besides that, everything else about the netbook’s design and feel is great. One small point to note in the keyboard is that the function keys and regular ones are reversed, thus to press F1 one has to use the Fn key first.

System Specs
The CPU is Atom N270, 1.60 GHz. Chipset is Intel i945GSE with integrated GMA500 graphics. RAM is 1GB DDR2. Included hard disk is 160 GB, 5400 RPM. For connectivity we have 3 USB 2.0, (2 on the left and 1 on the right), one D-SUB on the right, stereo audio (mic in, headphone out) also on the right, and power adaptor input on, you guessed it, the left side. There are no hotkeys on the keyboard. The screen can fold out to about 160 degrees.

The screen is a 10.1-inch, 1024 by 600 native resolution affair. The Wi-Fi is upto Wi-Fi n, and of course we have regular Bluetooth capabilities and a 10/100 LAN port. The battery is a 3 cell Li ion model, with 6 cell optional.

As for software, we have Windows XP SP3 presintalled on our piece, along with Cyber link Power DVD 8.1, and McAfee Security demo. There are recovery and driver discs, about 3 of them in total.

Tags: [ Dell ] [ Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook ]

Then for real world tests :
Video encoding, a 1 min uncompressed AVI using x.264 on 2 passes , time taken for second pass: 385 sec
Audio encoding was done using 8 Flac files into 192 Kbps MP3s: 612 secs
File compression test included 432 files with a total file size of 210 MB: 202 secs



File copy test yielded the following results( in MB/s)
Single write (2 GB) 39.793076
Single read (2 GB) 66.321793
Multiple write (2 GB) 33.0141961
Multiple read (2 GB) 41.144644

Battery Eater pro result (Full Load): 4hour 47 min

The CPU heavy task results are not so hot, they are slightly below average. The battery test result, and also real world usage wise is very good. For regular browsing and MS office use, with Wi-Fi on, we got about 8 hours and 47 minutes of usage.

The screen has above average brightness, but the sharpness and detail is good. Watching HD videos is not recommended, there is stutter. 720p videos work fine, but not perfectly smooth, as it understandably uses up lots of CPU juice.
Price Around Rs. 15,900

Acer aod 250

The Acer ultra-lightweight, ultraportable Aspire One netbooks were designed to bring you the ultimate in mobile freedom. Combining all the simplicity, quality and ease of use you expect from Acer with everything you need to stay connected, chat and manage your life on the road, these Netbooks are set to change our expectations of simplicity on the move. Technical Specification
CPU: Intel Atom processor N270 (1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2 cache)
Screen: 10.1 inch SD 1024 x 600 (WSVGA) pixel resolution, Acer CrystalBrite™ LED-backlit TFT LCD
Memory: 1 GB RAM, 1 SODIMM Slot
Operating System: Linpus Linux
Hard Disk: 160 GB HDD
Optical Drive: None
Wifi: Acer InviLink 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
Bluetooth: None
Modem: None
USB: 3x USB 2.0 ports
Audio: Two built-in stereo speakers, Built-in Microphone, Optimized Dolby Headphone technology
Graphics: Intel GMA
Carrybag: Protective Sleeve Bag
Battery: 6 cell Lithium Ion battery
Warranty: 1 Year Limited International Traveller's Warranty
Camera: Integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam, supporting enhanced Acer PrimaLite technology
Others: Multi-in-one card reader,special keys & touchpad

Weight: 1.27 (in kg)

Price around  Rs. 15,500 

The Difference Between Laptop and Netbook.

What is a Laptop?


A laptop (also called a notebook) is computer which has been designed to be made portable, featuring a screen hinged to a keyboard. A laptop includes a battery for portable power and a touchpad instead of a mouse for input.


What is a Mini Notebook or Mini Laptop?

'Mini Notebooks' or 'mini laptops' are just other terms for Netbooks. They can also be known as subnotebooks or ultraportables. Netbooks take the ideas from laptop design further still, creating a new market below laptops and notebooks but above handheld computers, smartphones and personal digital assistants. The primary characteristics of these are smaller size and weight, which are pretty similar to the average diary, as well as costing less than a standard laptop with prices starting at around $200 or £150, an excellent solution during the credit crunch!


Although Mini laptops aren’t as powerful as their bigger brother laptop computers, and lack the power for graphically intensive games and programs, they are perfectly OK for email, browsing and office computing duties with the bonus that you can use them just about anywhere.



The difference between laptop and netbook from the hardware perspective is that netbooks don't have built in optical disc drives and due to the smaller physical size screens and keyboards are naturally smaller as well. In practice 9 and 10 inch screens are still perfectly usable for normal computing needs. Just because a screen is reduced in size physically does not mean that the viewing resolution is compromised with most netbooks managing 1024x600 as a minimum.



In any case, portability and connectivity are the central focus for netbooks. Wifi is almost always in reach when travelling, 3G extends this to even more remote locations, external screens, keyboards and drives are available to increase usability when back at your base. So the differences that could be considered compromises are more and more being seen as features that no one should be without.


To sum up, the difference between laptop and netbook is that a netbook is smaller, lighter, cheaper and simpler with greatly enhanced portability.




So is it game over for the standard laptop and pc? Unlikely; whilst mini laptops can perform dozens of tasks to identical or similar standard of larger computers, they will (for the time being) be limited by battery size, processing power and storage space, the difference between laptop and netbook is pronounced enough not to make the former obsolete.



Furthermore, when using a computer over a prolonged period of time, it would make sense to use a bigger screen and a faster processor of a desktop replacement laptop or a PC, particularly for demanding programs’ such as games.


Finally, similarly priced but laptops, of varying quality, are available for around £200-300 leading some industry analysts to believe that the consumer focus will be on functionality and not merely size and weight.
Conclusion






The difference between 'laptop' and 'netbook' may seem very vague, but there is certainly space for both to function. If you've got a laptop, even reading this on one, lift it up. Feel the weight of it. Ask yourself, do I need all this extra space? Would I be better off with something smaller and lighter - if the answers yes then please browse the site and hopefully we will be able to help you find something suitable.