Netbooks: or "How we can reinvent the PC to sell you another one"

Well, I fell for it. I bought a netbook earlier this year. Did I need it? Does anyone ever really need this product? The safe bet is on "no" for both questions.

But it's still pretty cool. I ended up buying the Acer Aspire One model, and I've been pretty impressed with it, and actually found myself using it more than any other computer at home. A couple things to get out of the way:
1. The keyboard takes some time to get used to. If you've got fat fingers like me, you won't like it as much as a full size keyboard. The Acer has an 89% keyboard.
2. The battery life -- not great. The Acer has a three cell battery that's good for about two hours, on a good day.
3. The brand. These are low cost machines, so don't make brand out to be a bigger item than it needs to be. Acer doesn't make these, they farm out to some company you've never heard of. I'm sure other manufacturers are similar.
4. Windows XP: just say no. I bought mine loaded with windows so I could easily load AutoCAD '09 and the ms office suite. Just say no. If you want a fully fledged laptop, buy it. Besides being slower, and having a shorter battery life, a lot of the Windows netbooks (including mine) have had issues with fan noise. There's a workaround, but just avoid the trouble to start with and get it with Linux.

On the plus side, the screen -- while small -- is very crisp and easy to read. The computer runs fairly quickly, despite only having 1 Gig of RAM. It has a built in webcam, which works well for Skype or Windows/MSN Messenger. Unlike some Dell laptops I've used, the Acer won't give you third degree burns from using it on your lap for a few minutes. It does what it's designed to do very well, and for a very reasonable price. Just don't plan on playing any of your latest game releases on it.

All in all, if you're looking for something cheap to surf the internet on, use skype, occasionally do some light word processing on, a netbook might be for you. Mine ran $239, and I've seen them for under $200 if you look a little harder. Tigerdirect seems to have them on sale regularly. I would recommend that if you're looking to buy one, you run by Best Buy or your local big box electronics place to actually look at and use a netbook before purchasing. They are most certainly smaller than a laptop, and if you're expecting a laptop with a 15.4" screen, you will be disappointed!