Netbooks versus Laptops

It was interesting.  I was in a couple of Best Buys last week looking at netbooks.  Each of the sales assistants I talked to gave me all the reasons why I didn’t want one.  So I tried to do a little homework.  One thing I found is that in the stores you see only a small number of the available netbooks maybe six or eight.  I found at least forty from about 10 different manufacturers.  I’d be interested in other people’s experiences but here’s what I found.  Netbooks are not a replacement for your everyday computer.  You’re not going to be playing a game or watching video on them.  The screens and the keyboards are small to make them portable but on the other hand it doesn’t make them comfortable to work on.  One of the other downsides is that they don’t have an optical drive so you have to download any software and you won’t be using them to play a DVD on your next airplane ride.  They are light and very portable.  A netbook is a about 2 pounds while a laptop ranges from 3 to 7 pounds.  Some have a much longer battery life up to about 8 hours.  I think if you’re doing a lot of travel and like to work on the plane, these are a good buy.  When the person in front of you cranks down the seat, you’ll still be able to work.  Just like all computers, the processors will be speeding up and new features are going to be added.  So the question might be when to buy rather than if.