Netbooks and Atom PC guide

Someone left a comment about Netbooks performance with HD content last night.  I thought about it and figured it would be a good idea to do a quick little guide on what I feel is what you should look for in a Netbook.  First I will tell you, HD content on any of the Atom computers is not good.  It’s not completely horrible but it’s also not great.  As I have explained when I talk about the Atom computer I will be selling soon on BurrowsSolutions.com, everyone at the shop owns one.  The boss bought one for home, I bought one for my youngest, and Tracey bought one to replace his old “big” AMD computer.  Since Tracey does not own a TV and watches all of his television from Hulu and other sources, that was the first thing he checked.  Performance was good for regular video but as soon as he tried HD content, it was really choppy.  So he added a 512MB PCI video card to the systems, but it really didn’t seem to make much of a difference?  It just seems these budget Atom CPU’s can’t handle HD content well and honestly they weren’t built for that.  Which is fine as long as you know that fact before you purchase.  Everything else runs very well on these systems and everyone is extremely satisfied with the general performance.
Now Netbooks on the other hand are slightly different and you have other considerations to make when purchasing one of these systems.  I do not have a lot of experience with them (haven’t seen many in the shop) however back in February I was shopping for one for the wife.  When I was shopping for it the most important aspects to me were battery life, hard drive, and OS.  First I’ll talk about the OS, I wanted XP or Vista because I don’t have the time to mess with Linux!  For the hard drive, I really wanted to get a SSD but the wife wanted space on the drive.  So I honestly lost that battle because a 16GB SSD was not big enough for her.  Finally battery life, I wanted this thing to work all day!  Now I’ll quickly mention screen size, most come with a 8.9″ screen but others have a 10.1″ screen.  The wife wanted small and I wanted more bang for the buck, I won this battle because bigger battery only seemed to come with the 10.1″ models.  So in the end for the wife, I bought her an ASUS Eee for $399.  It came with the 10.1″ screen, 160GB HDD, XP, 1GB RAM, and a 6 cell battery.  They claim 6.5 hour battery life but I have the laptop set for “performance mode” so I’m still happy with 5 hours.

So here is a quick guide to help you when purchasing a Netbook.

1. Look at some first!  I did this with the wife.  I took her to a local Staples and asked if she like them.  Important things here are the screen size, keyboard layout, and touchpad layout.  Look at the models at a local store and make sure you will be happy with a 8.9″ or 10.1″ screen.  I play with my wife’s every so often and I do like it, but it does make me miss the big 17″ screen on my laptop!!  If you have “fat” fingers, a Netbook might not be for you.  I do not have “fat” fingers but do have occasional problems when using my wife’s Netbook.  You do have to understand that you will get used to it, do not make this the “deal breaker” unless you have “fat” fingers and can not work it!  Touchpad buttons, this was something that I was a little bit of a jerk about.  The wife didn’t really care but I didn’t like it.  Some of the HP and Acer models have the touchpad buttons on the left and right of the touchpad, unlike 98% of “real” laptops out there.  I did not like this at all and wanted her to get one that had the buttons in the “standard” position, below the touchpad.
2. Battery life, most Netbooks come with a 3,4, or 6 cell battery.  With a 3 or 4 cell you normally get about 2 to 3 hours of life out of them.  I think the “key” point to one of these systems is the ability to use it ALL day.  So I really think you should opt for a model that has a 6 cell battery, that way you can use it almost all day on a single charge.
3. Screensize, most come with a 8.9″ or 10.1″ screen.  Pick one you are most comfortable with.  I personally need at least a 10.1″ because I’m used to my 17″ on my laptop and my 22″ LCD’s on my desktop.  The wife did complain a little though, because she felt she could fit a 8.9″ Netbook in her purse more easily.  So if you are a woman or purchasing for a woman, consider that.
4. OS is of course important.  You can get some pretty good deals with a system that comes with a Linux distro.  You have to be prepared to learn that distro though.  I personally do not have the time or interest in Linux, so I’ll pay the extra for XP or Vista.  Many affordable models come with XP but then a few higher priced models come with Vista.  In all honesty, I would have liked Vista on the new system but I was not going to spend $600 or more on a netbook.  Might as well buy a regular laptop for that price!!
5. Upgradability is limited on these little systems.  Most come with several USB ports, mic, headphones input, vga out, NIC, modem, Wireless, and a webcam.  Most come with 1GB DDR2 but are expandable to 2GB.  They do not come with an optical drive, so if you ever need to reinstall you will need a USB DVD drive.  Installing programs and other things to these Netbooks will require a USB flash drive or you can do it over your network.  For example, I created an ISO of the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 CD on my desktop, copied it over the network to the netbook, installed Virtual Drive Clone on the netbook, and then install the software on the Netbook with that ISO image.  Some models though actually come with an Express card slot.  I saw several Lenovo models that had them when I was shopping and I almost bought one but they lacked other more important features so I continued shopping.
6. Warranty is the last consideration to me.  It is very important but pretty much all Netbooks have a standard 1 year warranty so that is why it is ranked low on this list.  Just beware if you are purchasing a refurb because you will probably only get a 3 month warranty.  Compare the price of a new one and a refurb carefully.  If you save $100 and it dies after 5 months, are you really going to be happy?  Then again if you save $100 and it lasts 3 years, you received one hell of a deal!

I really hope my suggestions and insight have or will help you with your purchase!  I am pretty sure you will love your Netbook!