If you have any love for things technology, you know the hottest trend in the past year has been netbooks. They’re light in every sense of the word. They are easy on the wallet, low on the processing power, and easy to carry around. Every company has come out with one. Dell, Asus, Acer, MSI, HP, Lenovo. You name it. They’ve made one.
A lot of these little netbooks come with Windows XP as an option, some with Windows as the only option. Unfortunately with as light as they are on the processor power, XP does not provide good user experience. Fortunately, there is a great alternative OS for these netbooks. Lots of documentation and support is available online on how to install Ubuntu, a very popular version of Linux, onto these netbooks. The beauty of it is that it’s 100% free.
For those of you that have made the jump to Ubuntu but don’t know where to go next, there is an awesome reference guide. You can pick it up here for free as a PDF or if you prefer, you can pick up your own hard copy on Amazon for a price that is recession friendly.
You have alternatives to Windows that aren’t Apple. Be free.
Hello, there. My name is Matt, but on this website I just refer to myself as m@. I love all things Star Wars, food, beer, and music, especially The Beatles. I'm one who likes to be noticed and will sometimes say or do inappropriate things to get your attention. I'm perfectly complimented by my online and real life partner
I spent the last week checking out all my options for netbooks. There are some good ones, but I’m still working on deciding what I want. My iBook is still running, albeit slowly. The key to buying computers is really choosing a machine that will work for you all the time. My other consideration for my laptop is for when I travel. Since I am sometimes gone for a month or more at a time, depending on what I’m up to, I’ve decided I do need something with more power and functionality than a standard netbook. I’m still keeping all my options open…
I’d say the biggest thing, regardless of choices, is getting as informed as possible of all your choices before deciding on which computer will work best for you.
If you have to be functional on the laptop, I wouldn’t recommend a screen size less the 13″. Unfortunately you lose the portability the netbooks provide.
For usability the smallest I’d go is the MacBook.
MSI has another netbook with better dimensions, but it’s got the same Atom processor unfortunately. Looks super cool with a nice sticker price.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/05/msi-unveils-ultra-thin-x-slim-320-fits-snugly-into-manila-envel/
Unfortunately for my budget, I’m very fond of the new MacBooks, in part because they’re amazing, and in part because their size is still actually fairly convenient, not to mention they weigh less than my 12-inch iBook. Go figure, right? I love the idea of the MacBook Air, but it’s got the issue with the lack of optical drive, not to mention the hefty pricetag. Though I did see a refurbished one for under $1000, which is actually a really good deal.