Thursday 29th October 2009

Netbook reviews

What are they?

Well, in appearance, a netbook looks like a shrunken down lap-top.

Where a lap top might have a 15 to 17 inch screen and measure up to one foot by a foot and a half - net books measure about 9 or 10 inches across and have a monitor of 7 to 10 inches.

So they are in effect physically shrunken, but not necessarily stripped of all of the functions that you would mostly need for day to day computer using.

Over the last two to three years, the laptop has been undergoing a revolution - and this type of new lighter, cheaper, stripped-down version has taken hold.

Interestingly enough, what is now a very consumerist item, was first inspired by the charitable One Laptop Per Child project.

That scheme aimed to put low-cost computers into the hands of people in developing countries.

The OLCP laptop was originally supposed to cost $100 per laptop, and caught the imagination worldwide - basically NET BOOKS they stripped out all of the unnecessary features in them, and they don't have expensive processors, and very big batteries, or a CD or DVD drive, but they give you simple access to the net - you can surf, using a nearly full (but smaller) keyboard, you get your access to email, and you have word processor features as well.

The Asus Eee PC, the Toshiba NB 100, and the LG X110, all available from The Carphone Warehouse at present.

The Taiwanese PC maker Asus - were the first to realise people in developed countries could also benefit from netbooks.

When this first came out if got a very positive reception.

Weighing a mere 920g and with dimensions of a small text book, it's the perfect size for carrying around in a small bag or simply by hand. It's small enough too that it can be used in more or less any environment, be it plane, train or bus - so long as you can sit down, you can comfortably use the Eee PC.

When this design first came out in late 2007, it had a Linux operating system, but this version comes with Windows XP.

It is very small and compact - 9 inches across and less than an inch thick.

The screen is only 6 ½ inches diagonally, so it is small, but compared with trying to surf on the latest touch screen phones or PDA handsets, you can use web pages very easily - no straining.

It comes with wi-fi and a web-cam as well - it's all set to roll on the web.

This costs €249 to buy straight - or you can actually get it for just €1 if you sign up to Chorus/ NTL through The Carphone Warehouse this month - there are obviously terms and conditions on that.

It's a nice little netbook - with a 0.3-megapixel webcam and integrated microphone - so you can chat to your friends from the comfort of your seat in a coffee bar with free wireless broadband, while they're probably drinking a latte in another wifi café in another part of the country!

Now it is only 512 MB RAM, so it is not the fastest, and has an 8G solid state storage drive, so you won't be downloading masses of photos or songs.

That's the ASUS, what is the Toshiba like?

The Toshiba is a little dearer, at €349 - released earlier this year.

It weighs in at just under 1 kg, the Toshiba NB100 is very light and would even make a dent in your backpack/daypack. The keyboard is small and will take some getting used to. The touch pad is directly beneath the keyboard, with the mouse keys beneath it, just like a regular laptop would have. All 3 of the net-books we're looking at do. The Toshiba is the only one that has separate right-click and left-click buttons, the Asus and the LG have one central mouse button with a central rocker or pivot on it, that you have to get used to, but it's no problem using.

It also have a webcam and microphone, along with it's wifi software, McAfee virus protection software (You spoke to their International President yesterday!!), and Microsoft Office, and MS Works.

It has a hard drive of 120 GB and 1 GB RAM.

It's a nice looking silver casing with matt black keyboards and monitor frame - though the dark keys might be a little harder to see properly in that shaded wifi coffee shop you are hanging out in with your chocolate muffin.

The Toshiba has a bigger screen too.

And the LG net book?

This is my favourite - and not necessarily because it the most expensive of the three - it costs €399 from The Carphone Warehouse. When it first came out I saw online prices of £800 sterling, so the market is quite competitive now.

It has a lovely black finish on the outside and white keyboard.

It has 1G of RAM which is typical of all three netbooks here, and 160GB of hard drive.

It is also an inch and a half wider than the other two, and has a screen of about 9 ½ inches diagonally, plus a magnifying tool on it as well.

It's keyboard is bigger too and easier to navigate - I like the white keyboard, though you could get it smudged - again with the chocolate muffins in the wifi café!

So are they a replacement for your laptop or your home desktop pc?

Not strictly speaking - they are more marketed as a back up to your main desktop pc or laptop - as they are lighter and easier just to throw in your rucksack or handbag, and take to work, to college or on a plane - you don't want another bag charge getting on that flight, so you?

They don't have a disk drive - which makes them lighter and quieter, but you can't rip music CD's directly to them - you would have to download music directly from the web, or use an external CD drive.

If you really only want a small netbook to surf the web, don't be put off by the hard drive capacity, as you can buy an external hard drive with 500Gigs of memory for €80 at Heatons for instance - which should do you fine.

What do you need to look for when buying one?

Look at the battery time - the Asus runs for about 2 hours or a little more - there battery indicator only works in percentage terms which is annoying rather than hours and minutes.

The Toshiba has at least 3 hours of battery time.

The LG has a battery life of only about 2 hours which is a little disappointing.

Mess around with them in a store and see if the keyboard size works for you.

And remember that they are stripped of high-performance processors in favour of components that weigh less and use less battery power.

And check that your machine boots up nice and fast too!

- Toshiba NB100 - €349
- LG X110 - €399
- Asus - €249 Or €1 if you sign up to Chorus NTL (T&C's apply)

More details from www.carphonewarehouse.ie