Tech Blog

[#1]

I've been a Netbook fan since 1982, only it wasn't called a 'Netbook' then.

1982 is the year NEC released it's PC-8200 [image]. By today's standards your toaster has more computing power.

But, back in the day, it was the ultimate in portable computing power, consider:

• 8 line, 40 character monochrome LCD display
• 2.5 Mhz (not Ghz) 80C85 CPU
• 16k bytes of RAM - expandable to 128k
• Cutting Edge MS-82 BASIC programming language

My 8200 was the equivalent of some full desktop systems, in many ways. The beauty of it was, it was a fully enclosed, portable computer system with a full sized keyboard. It was great in meetings.

On the entertainment side, you could connect to online services like GEnie and CompuServe for research, playing games, and chatting with friends from around the world.

It was cool, but things moved a lot slower then. The 8200 (and it's cousins the Tandy / Radio Shack Model 100 & Olivetti M-10) had monochrome displays, graphics were very simple, and the computers didn't multi-task. Forget multi-media. Inexpensive memory and faster processors were years away.

Portables like the 8200 were the beginning of the mobile computing concept that spawned the Laptop, the PDA (Apple Newton - iPhone/Pod Touch, Palm, etc), all kinds of in-between computers.

Two things make today's Netbook different:

1. connecting to the modern Internet (with all its Flash / Ajax-y multi-media goodness)
2. much more processing power

In my experience, a successful Netbook design is one that gives you the ability to take most of your computing experience with you -- a genuine 'compute anywhere' experience. They make a great second computer.

Here's why today's crop of Netbooks have really caught my attention.

You don't need all the resources of a desktop. As far as netbooks are concerned, the Internet is your friend Online applications (such as Google Docs, PhotoShop Express, Picasa, Flickr, SlideShare), or light-weight open-source applications (OpenOffice, Gimp) unlock you from the desktop. Now you can store your data in 'the Cloud'.

Over half of my work with a computer is done online. I created this blog post in Google Docs, edited it using 3 different computers (a desktop, a laptop and a netbook). Netbooks are optimized for the online environment. I can go to any wi-fi enabled café, or library and continue to have 'my' computing environment.

Netbooks are also good, portable multi-media players. Most have enough drive space, CPU horsepower, battery life, and a sharp enough screen to ensure a reasonable playback experience.

Granted, a Netbook isn't that perfect (yet) for video editing, high-resolution layout and photo manipulation, but for 90% of our common computing activities, they work fine.

And if you absolutely *must* use an application on a desktop, remote desktop software (VNC, PCAnywhere or LogMeIn) allows you to use your desktop computer from your netbook.

Now, netbooks don't come in all operating system flavours. You can't get a Macintosh netbook yet, though one is rumored to be in development. Some hardy hackers have managed to get versions of OSX running on their netbooks, though the process isn't for the faint of heart. I'll wait to see what Apple comes up with. Windows XP and a few flavours of Linux are the standard OS of netbooks. 

 
For me, a Netbook is a great 'light-weight' computer. How 'bout you? How do you use your Netbook in your daily life?

Message Edited by bgrier on 05-18-2009 10:45 AM

Message Edited by bgrier on 05-18-2009 10:46 AM

Message Edited by Laura on 08-21-2009 04:56 PM

[#2]

I got an Eee PC 901 when they first came out and took it on Vacation with me just to be able to do a little writing on it. It is a great machine (would be better if the 8 GB drive didn't die) for doing stuff in the cloud for sure. If you use DropBox you can have file available to you wherever you are and regardless of machine. I have it on my MBP here and my Ubuntu-powered Netbook so I can keep some docs and update password files, etc.

The key is to recognize that it is not  intended to be your workhorse or everyday machine. It is a light, internet tool. If you don't expect more than that, you'll be quite pleased I think.

[#3]

I use an HP Mini 1035NR, and while I was at WES a couple of weeks ago, I had multiple people stop to ask me about my netbook, my impressions and my experiences with it.  Don't forget, these are all people with BlackBerry devices as well, so that just goes to show the kind of interest these netbooks are drumming up.  One of the features that people liked the most though was the appearance.  Some of these netbooks just look smooth.

Now then, what are my impressions?  If you use them for what they are meant for, then they're great.  Don't expect them to replace a full computer though, or you'll end up thoroughly disappointed.  The screen size is small so it can be hard to stare at for extended periods of time, but again, if you aren't using it to replace your actual computer, no problem.  One of my biggest issues with netbooks though is that most of them simply don't have that great of battery life.  I wish I could get more than 2 hours out of mine, especially when sitting on a plane for extended periods of time.  And yes, I could get a 6-cell battery, but that's an additional chunk of money.  So that's my only real beef with my netbook. 

[#4]

Great comments @trishussey & @Krypto. I agree, netbooks should only be considered as light-weight computers. Really, they could be considered modern typewriters. PDA's and iPhones are not very good for doing large amounts of writing or anything related to document work. With a netbook you can.

Battery life has been a bane to me too. My eeePC 701 is 'adequate' but I can't fly 'cross country and be using it without a recharge port handy. My wife has an older Dell 1201 (tiny laptop) but we opted for a larger battery pack for it. It's an awesome netbook that approaches laptop functionality.

Screen size (and keyboard size) are also other things to consider...as Tris said, it is a light internet tool that makes some sacrifices in order to be light.

[#5]

I just wrote a little something on the forum and I though it might be interesting to post it here too so here goes:

To give you an idea for the computing power (or lack of) that you get with an Intel Atom 230 (this the desktop variant of the Atom N270 found in most netbook and it's almost identical in every way) found in most netbooks on the market, Anandtech recently added the Atom 230 to their processors comparison bench page.

Some of you might not know this but the netbook CPU is intended for very light task and without anymore delays, I'll let you see by yourself:

Intel Atom 230 VS Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140

The Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 is one of the slowest desktop processor you can find on the market. It's the kind of CPU you'll find in those cheap $300-$400 desktop PC. It uses the same 1.6GHz core frequency as the Atom 230 (and N270). As you can see, even against this very low end CPU, the Atom seems very slow and outdated.

Now, to give you another kind of comparison, I present you a "real" modern processor, the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, probably the consumer Quad Core processor that sold the most on the market as of today:

Intel Atom 230 VS Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

It's not even funny anymore.

There you got it, you now know what to expect from a netbook's processor in term of computer power.

Don't get me wrong here, I didn't write this to tell you not to buy a netbook or to say that the Atom is a bad CPU. From a technological point of view, the Atom is a marvel, so small, powerful for that size and yet consume almost nothing in term of electricity. I wrote this so that people know what they are buying and know that a netbook isn't meant to replace a laptop or desktop computer. A netbook is a light and small computer which primary use should be, as the name implies, to use internet. That or write a paper with word, listen to some music or watch non HD movies.

[#6]

@Morfanos: Woah! Great analysis, and it goes a long way to show the differences between the netbook and 'beefier' computers. Well done!

Given the need of netbooks to be connected to 'cloud-computing' resources (Google Docs, etc) I wonder how a simple  comparison of MS Excel (running locally on the netbook) vs Google Docs spreadsheet (in the cloud) would work out? I'd think it'd be rather interesting to see a comparison of net apps vs local apps running on a netbook and laptop.

There's something to be said for having the computing resources not tied to the browsing resources (ie, processing in the cloud) , which appears to be the main argument for the netbook.

But, if you can't be connected to the net, then the netbook's usability is reduced.

[#7]

Sadly, since cloud computing is kind of new, at least at the consumers level, I've never said any benchmark for that.

The way it works, anything working with the cloud would be more limited by the cloud itself or the network connections.

But it doesn't really matter for now since real consumers level cloud computing is still a good 5-10 years away from us. Also, the North American network isn't ready yet for that kind of usage. I've spoken about our network state with some friends who work as engineers in that exact field and they also think will need at minimum another 5 years.

[#8]

@Morfanos,

So it seems...but think of the power we'll have when it does become a reality. Data farms will be the norm. I'll keep my stuff in the cloud, where it's safely backed up. I'm paranoid so I'll contract another company to keep a sync'd backup (in case the first co. is offline for a bit).

All my personal media (photos, music, video) will be stored out there. 

Of course, this assumes that Internet access is ubiquitous. Without the connection, that content is useless

So maybe there'll still be an argument for local storage after all

[#9]

After a year of happiness with my MSI wind U100 I urged my girlfriend to buy a netbook for college rather than lug around a big desktop replacement laptop. She settled on an Aspire One netbook in Future Shop Vancouver for under $280. Her one gripe was the small 10.1 inch screen but this was easily sorted out by plugging the netbook into an external Acer 19 inch monitor, also purchased at Future Shop Vancouver for $109. I use my netbook for business/surfing the web she uses hers for college. The appeal of these little netbooks is not just the size - it's the price tag. Fact is laptops used to cost over a grand 8 years ago. Today in 2009  cheap laptops can now be bought for under $280, with 160GB hard drives and intel atom processors. I'm sure we'll see a sun $100 netbook in the next few years.

[#10]

"After a year of happiness with my MSI wind U100 I urged my girlfriend to buy a netbook for college rather than lug around a big desktop replacement laptop. She settled on an Aspire One netbook in Future Shop Vancouver for under $280. Her one gripe was the small 10.1 inch screen but this was easily sorted out by plugging the netbook into an external Acer 19 inch monitor, also purchased at Future Shop Vancouver for $109. I use my netbook for business/surfing the web she uses hers for college. The appeal of these little netbooks is not just the size - it's the price tag. Fact is laptops used to cost over a grand 8 years ago. Today in 2009  cheap laptops can now be bought for under $280, with 160GB hard drives and intel atom processors. I'm sure we'll see a sun $100 netbook in the next few years." - I agree. I use cheap laptops to help me make money from home.