As I am interested in buying a new laptop this CNET piece, titled What is a Netbook computer?, peaked my interest. According to the article:A Netbook is a new type of laptop computer, defined by size, price, horsepower, and operating system. They are small, cheap, under-powered, and run either an old or unfamiliar operating system.
Netbooks run either Windows XP Home edition or Linux. They do not run XP Professional, Vista, or OS X. Microsoft arbitrarily restricts Netbooks from running the Professional Edition of Windows XP. Likewise, Apple arbitrarily restricts OS X to Apple hardware and it has never played in the low-end realm that Netbooks occupy. Vista requires too much horsepower to run on a Netbook.
Size-wise, Netbooks have 9- or 10-inch screens, weigh from 2 to 3 pounds, and sport keyboards sized from 80 percent to 95 percent of normal.
Price-wise, Netbooks start at about (all prices are rounded off and approximate) $330 for a Linux-based model and $350 for an XP-based machine. The high end of the Netbook price range is debatable. To me, anything over $500 isn't a Netbook. If you are interested you can read more here.
Not sure if this geek is ready to go cheap on his new PC.. but the Scrooge in me does like the price :)
Hearing good things about the Dell 9 incher. I'd get one in Linnux for armchair surfing.
ReplyDeleteThey seem like a pretty good idea, especially for the price.
ReplyDeleteI have been experimenting with Linux some and I can do almost every thing with Linux that I can do with Windows. Of course I am still a noob with any Linux,But OpenSuse has been pretty cool so far and CentOS is pretty cool I just couldn't get my wireless configured with it. I am sure it is due to my inexperience.