This article is about any peripherals you may be interested in getting for your netbook to increase your comfort and productivity, if they are more useful at home or on the go and also If it is a DIY project or something that you have to buy. The advice I give here is just that, advice, you don’t have to buy or do any of the suggested things that I say here in this article, just do what you feel.
There are a few peripherals I will advise you get but they will depend on the hardware you have. This means that I will have different suggestions for different machines and also a general list that all can use. I will start with a general list.
General
This is a list of peripherals that I will suggest all groups should invest in but like I said before you don’t have to this is just a list of things I think will make your netbook use easier.
- Wallet/Case/Bag
- Mouse
- USB key/external Hard Drive
- Laptop Tray
Case/Wallet/Bag
Your new netbook will need protected at least so a soft wallet of some kind will help with this. Everyone that owns a laptop should have one, at the very least. Many netbooks will come with a wallet as standard, but if you are like me and got the basic model this may not be the case. This is something that you could make yourself out of a great number of materials, depending on your skill levels and is also the cheapest item to buy. I will be writing about making one in a future article. You may want to get/make a case so you can keep all your other peripherals in as well this will be a bit more than the wallet to buy and a little more complicated to make but can be a good investment especially if you travel a lot and want to have the netbook and peripherals protected in transit. The wallet and the case will be still small enough to fit in a bag of whatever design you like. You may also want to buy a laptop bag and hold everything in it. The only problem with this is that they look like they have a laptop in them so are targets for thieves, although more and more bags have a laptop pouch in them now. But then you can carry anything you like in them. This item will be more expensive than the first 2.
Mouse
The track-pad on most netbooks are very small and this means that when you are moving the cursor or scrolling down a web-page or document you will need to make many movements. This however doesn’t have to be the case, if you get a mouse. You could get a cheap optical mouse with a wire or go all out and get a wireless mouse. I bought a wireless mouse in matching colour and I love it. You could even use an old mouse you had for your desktop although the cable will be a bit long and you must ensure that it is a USB mouse and not PS2.
USB Key/External Hard Drive
This device will be used to store any files that you may have that will not fit on your main netbook hard drive. The USB key is also used to install Linux distributions as well as help restore windows if there are any problems. The USB hard drive could be used for backups as could the USB key if it is big or your netbook drive is small.
Laptop tray
This is more of a comfort thing than a needed peripheral but I would recommend it anyway. This device is useful if you are going to be sat in a position that does not give the use of a desk. For example if you are in bed or in the garden. This peripheral is definitely something for home rather than travel but if you have room then why not take it with you. There are some good DIY laptop tray instructions on line but I will cover some here at a later date.
older/smaller model netbook
Older models stuck very close to the netbook ideal in that it was a true cheap mini notebook for the masses. It was designed with the Internet in mind and so didn’t come with much hard drive space, in fact they didn’t have hard drives they had slid state disk, which is just a USB key style of storage. Because of this it would have Linux as the OS, as it doesn’t need much room. As a knock on effect of having Linux came with less memory as well. The thought behind a small drive is not just for the cost benefit but also the thought that the user will be on-line most of the time and that they could store files on-line. The list of peripherals I would recommend getting are:
- Memory upgrade
- Larger battery
- SD card
Memory Upgrade
The older models of netbook tend to have only 512MB of memory but this is not always the case. I would recommend you have at least 1GB of memory in your netbook. This is of course up to you but when I put an extra 1GB in my netbook it gave it a much needed performance boost. I know that some netbooks are difficult to upgrade in this way. I have an Acer Aspire One and it was a bit of a nightmare to upgrade but more on this in another article. You can try this on your own or you can pay to have a professional do it, if it is more difficult than just opening a flap on the bottom and inserting a fresh new stick of memory that is.
Larger Battery
Most old models of netbook come with a small 3 cell battery. For some this may be adequate but for most you will want to get at the very least a 6 cell battery for the model of netbook you own I managed to get a 9 cell battery and this boosted the time I can have my netbook on from 2 hours to about 6-7 hours.
SD card
As I said above if you have an older model netbook you will possibly have a Linux model if so you may also have only 8GB of storage on your netbook. If so you should get a USB key as said above or you could get an SD card and have this inserted for more storage. If you have the Acer Aspire One you may have a model that has 2 SD card slots, one is for temporary insertion to remove photos and the like from your cameras SD card. But the other is meant for permanent use of an SD card to boost the amount of on board storage. This is very helpful for keeping files stored to leave your main drive for installing programs.
New/large models
The newer models tend to be between 10 and 11.6 inches and they tend to have a full keyboard, larger screen. They also tend to have at least a 6 cell battery as well so there are not much that this netbook needs other than what has already been mentioned. But if there are peripherals out there that are invaluable for the new netbooks I will let you know.
There you have it a good list of peripherals that will make any netbook experience better. Notice that nowhere in the list have I advised you get a USB DVD drive, this is because I don’t think that it is necessary at all. If you need one for your work or you have a particular need by all means get one, I just believe that it is not needed. you may think how do I install software? You can buy and download software on-line, and if you have Linux you will have a program that will allow you to download and install it for you built in to your OS. Do remember that you do not have to buy any of the devices mentioned, you could make them or use old devices that may still work. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or a difference of opinion please drop me a comment or an email.
I first purchased the Lenovo S10 which was a very good netbook. However, I also bought a Samsung NC10. I would have to give Samsung top marks for quality built, design, battery life, and keyboard size. If you are looking to buy a netbook (I spent months researching), I would definitely recommend the Samsung.