I had a discussion with a guy on a computer forum the other day and he basically told me that netbooks are useless. He used an expression to describe these mini notebooks that I won’t repeat here, but he really got me thinking. It’s not about whether netbooks are useful, but why people think so.
Now it was a topic about Apple’s latest tablet, but due to similarities in screen size, netbooks are often compared. Note that I’m not against the iPad, or the people who buy it, but they are intended for a completely different use, and this article is about netbooks anyway.
This guy told me that he had tried a netbook once and it was cramped, the keys were too small, and the screen was simply unreadable. According to him, no serious work can be done on a netbook. Now that’s what got me thinking as I type about ten hours a day on my 10″ EEE computer. If I was right I would have died from the massive pain caused by RSI but I’m here writing this so you can use a netbook for such activities obviously.
The really interesting thing about this is that many people still think that a small computer necessarily has to come with less features, or even be so limited that using it is no longer a pleasure. Okay, I admit the screen isn’t too big, but guess what, I use the computer on my lap, so it’s always about 1 foot 6 inches away from my eyes. At this distance I can easily read size 10 and 12 fonts and on a netbook that’s all that really matters.
What most netbook haters don’t realize is that these computers are far from the single-function toy they think it is. Obviously, the first and most common use for them is browsing online content because browsers are very widespread applications, they are used by everyone and they do not consume all the processor resources. It makes a lot of sense to sell a computer running a browser, right? But then there are movies and mp3s that need to be played as well, people like to listen to music while browsing.
While the onboard speaker is poor quality, no laptop comes with better, mind you, I’ve never had a laptop or desktop motherboard that has better sound through my AKG headphones. I once had an NF7-S Abit motherboard with a truly wonderful SoundStorm audio chip, but it had a low power output, so it lost a lot of its dynamics at high volume. It’s as loud as I want it to be and no noise is transmitted from the CPU. There is no buzz.
It comes in handy when you’re watching a movie on the way to work or back home. DVD quality movies can also be viewed on the small screen. Most people think that 10″ is too small to enjoy a movie. Well, I disagree, the resolution is higher than a DVD, so everything works fine, because the screen is never too far away. I would say it takes about two weeks to get used to the size and resolution.Now there are netbooks that come with HDMI so connecting it to the big LCD screen is no longer a problem.
This person also told me in his strongly worded rambling rambling piece that the processor isn’t fast enough. Not fast enough for what exactly? I can play most flash games and some older titles with no problem. I’m glad I can’t play World of Warcraft on it, so my productivity is higher than ever and my addiction is shattered.
I guess people hate netbooks because they don’t want to spend the time getting used to it. The first week I thought I was wrong and my girlfriend wanted me to give it back. By the time the second week passed, I had no doubt that I would keep this mini notebook, even if I eventually buy a larger one. There are so many things I can do with it more comfortably that the next thing is probably going to be a desktop system.