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If you have come to this page hoping to find out what a netbook is, I apologize but this article is about what to do with the new netbook once you get it out of the box. If you need to know “what is a netbook” then click the link and read about it here, the article is called what is a netbook?
OK so you have the box that contains your brand new netbook, you have taken the netbook out of the box what do you do now. You can take in the perfume that is new computer smell, you can then either read the manuals or throw them to one side but what then. What do you do now? What I would do, and did do, is play with it and get acquainted with it, do this for however long you like, I played with mine for over a week just too find out all I could about the Operating System that was installed and the hardware I needed to use to do the things I want. Playing with the OS is more necessary if you have bought a Linux netbook. I bought the Acer Aspire One with the custom version of Linspire Light Linux on it, and so didn’t know what to expect. I had a good play around on it. I didn’t like it that much, so that meant I would now have to find a Linux distribution I did like, but that is for another article. For all you Windows XP owning netbooks I would still recommend you try a Linux distribution even for a little bit just to see if it improves your netbooks performance, I will be writing another article to explain more about this but you don’t have to wait to play around.
While getting used to the OS you will be getting used to using the netbook hardware. The keyboard, screen and the track-pad, remember everything is going to be smaller and the most important to get used to is the keyboard, this may take time to get used to especially if you have a small netbook but not too much time if you have a large model with a full size or near to full size keyboard. I bought a 8.9 inch version that has quite a small keyboard but not too small that it is difficult to type on, in fact after a week I could touch type as I could on a normal keyboard, maybe even faster as there is not too much space between the keys so there is less distance to travel. Try and get used to the track-pad as well as this is the method most used especially when traveling. Somme are set up differently and they will all be smaller than there notebook brethren, you may need to play with the sensitivity so that you can use it without lifting a finger to go from one side of the screen to the other, this will help when you are dragging and dropping files. The screen can be a little different for most people as they mostly have a resolution of 1024×600 this will change how you view documents and websites, you will find yourself scrolling an awful lot more than with a bigger screen. The only thing I can say here is stick it out it is not that bad, just remember that for this little inconvenience you have a smaller, lighter, cheaper and easier to carry around computer. When you can hear yourself starting to moan about having to scroll all the time just remember how much money you saved on the computer itself and from not having any chiropractor bills for your bad back from carting a heavy laptop about. Another thing that you will gain from playing around is you will find out exactly how long the battery lasts and not the projected (guessed) time. You will then be able to tell if it lasts as long as you want it to, if not then you can always buy a notebook mouse.
What benefit will I have had with all this playing with my new toy. Well it will tell you if the netbook was all that it needs to be and it will let you know if you can improve the experience with some peripherals or if all is lost and you need to return it o the shop. After all this playing around you should have found out if:
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XP or Linux fits your needs
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if you need to get a notebook mouse
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how long the battery lasts and if you need a bigger one
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if this netbook is good enough for you
I hope you enjoy playing around and discovering the ins and outs of your new netbook and that you will never have to do anything as drastic as returning it to the shop. Have a great day and see you soon I hope.
In the last article “What is a netbook” I described the basic
characteristics but didn’t really get into the component
specifications that make up a netbook. In this article I will explain
the specifications and options so as to advise you what to look for
when you are buying a netbook. This article will help further answer
the what is a netbook question that you are here to have answered.
So you have a basic grasp of “what is
a netbook?” and you are now interested in buying your very own
netbook, but what is it that you look for? Just now most new netbooks
will all have the same technical specifications in that the processor
and memory will be the same (although try and get as much memory in
it as you can). Now the main point of a netbook is so you have a very
mobile net surfing platform for accessing email, RSS, Blogging,
Tweeting, facebooking and other Internet based activities. Although
you will be able to finish that work that you took home at the
weekend and do some media playback. There are also many web based
applications you can use to do any work that you may have like using
Google docks for word processing, what does this mean for the
specifications of the netbook, first it means that the components of
a netbook are far from cutting edge but they don’t need to be. It
also means that the components are not too power hungry which means
that the battery will last longer.
What specifications to look at
The processor and memory tend to be the Intel Atom processor and
most tend to have about 1GB of memory, so you don’t really need to
look to much into these specifications. The components you do need
to consider when buying your new netbook are the following:
- Hard drive
- Screen size
- Keyboard layout
- Battery
- Operating System
- Ports & built in peripherals
Hard Drive
There are 2 types of hard drives that
are used in the netbook they are either normal Hard Drives (HD) or
the Solid State Drives (SSD). The normal HD is usually sold in 120GB
to 160GB drives all though there have been models of netbook with
more. This drive is used for netbooks that have windows XP installed
as it takes up a lot of space on the drive. The thing with a normal
HD is that as they have moving parts it will use up more power so the
batter will not last as long and also the netbook will not be as
robust and is more likely to be damaged if you drop the system. The
netbooks with SSD storage usually come in 8GB to 16GB but there have
been models with 32GB as well. The reason they are smaller is because
they are a little more expensive than a normal HD so to offset the
cost of the drive Linux is installed instead of windows XP. The good
thing about the SSD versions are the opposite to normal HD models so
they use less power and are more robust. That are the main
differences to the 2 types of drive
Screen Size
This option is probably the most important as this will decide the
size of the machine itself and therefor the weight, resolution and
size of the keyboard. Earlier models had 7 inch screens and this
severely limited the machine. Now the most common sizes are 8.9, 10
and 11.6 inches. The bigger the screen the more clear everything will
be to see and also the better the resolution that can be displayed.
Most people are used to viewing things on at least 17 inch screens so
the size of a netbook screen can be surprising to many people. I
would definitely recommend going to a computer shop that shows them
working, even if you plan on buying them online just to look at the
screen and see for yourself how comfortable on the eyes it is and
also to see how programs are displayed on the small screens. The size
to go for here will depend on how much money you are wanting to spend
as the sizes are not really that wildly different that it will effect
how mobile the devices are.
Keyboard Layout
This is another of the more important aspects to look into when
buying a netbook. Now the size of the screen will impact this so the
smaller the netbook the smaller the keyboard and also the layout will
differ to squeeze it all in. This is where going into the shop and
try typing. I think this aspect of the netbook will sway the decision
to buy one model over another as there is nothing worse than using a
PC when the keyboard is uncomfortable to use. There are netbooks
that have full keyboards so look out for these if this is important
to you.
Battery
The battery is not that important I just thought I would include
it just for information. Most netbooks will come with a 3 cell
battery which means that the netbook will last about 2 hours but
there are some netbooks that have the option of a 6 or even 9 cell
batteries. I would try and get the biggest battery you can afford but
you can always buy the netbook with the smaller battery and get a
larger one later.
Operating System
Here is where you may not have a choice when buying your netbook
but I will get into that in another article. Here I will advise that
the main Operating System OS on sale is Windows XP. But there are
models with Linux and even Windows Vista, and in the future windows 7 will be available. If faced with a choice of Windows XP or Vista definitely go with XP. Vista is a little too slow for a netbook so avoid it. At the time of writing Linux on a netbook is not that common, compared with when the netbook started, this is strange as
the Linux OS is perfect for the netbook, because it doesn’t use as
much system resources to do anything and is much more secure. But
this is your choice If you need windows for a particular application
then go with it if you are not that particular about that then you
may be better off with Linux. I would give it a try and I will be
writing articles in the future about what your options are in the
regard to Linux so watch this space.
Ports
The options here are mostly the same as well but they can differ
so look at it anyway. The ports that should be on your netbook should
be at the very least 3 USB ports, an SD card reader, a microphone
port, a headphone port, a VGA port and an Ethernet socket. If they
are not there then don’t bother. There are models with HDMI ports,
this is the replacement port for computers and HD TVs. They will all
come with built in wifi some will have bluetooth and others will have
a 3g pin card slot for on the go Internet connection but these are
just extra options. As long as the netbook has what you want this
part is easy.
So once you have had a look through all that you can come to your
decision. I will always recommend you go see the model you are
interested in and compare them to all the others at your local PC
shop that has them out on display. Have a good play around on one and
then make your decision. I hope this has helped, but if you would
like to ask any other questions please leave a comment or contact me
through the contact me link in the menu. Thank you for reading have a
great day.