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.