The Beginning of the Netbook Craze
The humble Asus Eee PC started it all. Back then, if you looked at it when it first came out, you’re likely to see what I saw. A dinky, miniature version of a laptop that threw away a lot of its features and emphasized on the portability. Yes, it was handy for Internet utilities, I admit. For one thing, the keyboard was a lot smaller, with the keys half the size of the normal keyboard. Adult sized fingers would take some time getting used to it. The trackpad was hard to maneuver, plus there wasn’t an optical drive.
The Eee only had one saving grace, in my eyes; it was cheap. Not dirt cheap, by a long shot, but the money that you’ll usually spend buying a decent notebook could be used to pay for three of the little machines. Perhaps that’s what it’s for; something that you could give to each of your kids to play with. I did not know how wrong I was.
What happened afterwards was history. A lot of people were drawn to buy the Eee, not only because it was cheap enough, but because the world is slowly becoming more and more connected to the Internet. The Eee not only afforded portability, but its batteries lasted a lot longer than any laptop. It’s a lot like the now indispensable mobile phone these days. You can stay connected and up to date with Internet events, and you just need to find a Wi-Fi spot to be able to IM or e-mail.
Since the raging popularity of the Eee, other ‘netbook’ models have sprung up, including a bunch of new models of the Eee itself. All of them follow the same general pattern that made their now two-year old ancestor successful; they were cheap, very portable, and with a long-lasting battery life. But with a ton of models out there today, how do you know which netbook to choose?
Bottom line, you need to be well-informed when making a choice of netbooks. And the best way to gather information on the different models is to look up reviews on the Internet to help you decide. Once you’ve seen the netbook models, and know which one fits your lifestyles, you are now ready to start looking at actual models.