My Case for the Netbook: A New User's Story

Okay, so netbooks have taken a lot of flak from a variety of users, including myself. "What use are they?", I said. "A single core processor? What good is that?". I have completely changed my mind. After purchasing a netbook of my own, I have found so many uses for it that were very impractical for my desktop replacement PC. As a preface, I own a 16.4" Sony Vaio FW Series from 2009. It weighs about 8.5 lbs and while very powerful, is not very comfortable to bring to class and lug around on a daily basis, especially when my computing needs in those contexts are much less than when I'm gaming at home or watching HD videos from it's Blu-ray player or online.

So after observation of several of my friend's netbooks, I landed on the Asus brand. I bought a 10.1" Asus Eee PC 1005PE from this year featuring the new Intel Pinetrail Atom processors. I walked out of the door with the computer and a snazzy new slip case for it for under $380, not too shabby for all the functionality it has offered me. So here's my arguments and the uses I have found for my new netbook, and reasons why I think everyone should at least give them a chance:

1. Their portability is unmatched. At just under 3 lbs, this thing weighs less than most of my class textbooks. I don't like to carry a backpack around campus, so it is a perfect size for me to carry in place of my standard spiral notebooks I used to lug around everyday. Even if you do carry a backpack, your back will thank you for carrying around 5 (or more since it replaces those spirals) less pounds.

It fits perfectly on the desktop space in every class and thus takes up no room for others so you don't elbow bump with them in lecture classes with cramped seats.

I also travel to friend's and my girlfriend's apartments very often, so if I need to do work or occupy some of my time, I just grab my netbook and go.

2. The battery life is unmatched. My current netbook on a full charge will run for close to 11 hours under normal usage, including web browsing and word processing. For those with a long day, it is the perfect solution to the problem of lugging around a charger and having to sit next to a plug in every class. I can make it from my 9:30 AM class all the way to the end of my classes at 3:30 PM and still have more than half the charge.

3. Multitasking is still a possibility. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking isn't that bad on netbooks. I typically run the Pandora One music application and the web while doing my work, and there is very little lag, if any, when switching back and forth at a normal pace. You can stream Youtube and Hulu videos in the same fidelity and speed as you can with most PC's and while there is a noticeable difference in application load and install times, those things are (typically) done outside of the time you need to work.

4. Never miss another sentence in class again. I can't stress this enough. The ultimate driving factor for my purchase of the netbook, in addition to it's portability, was the fact that I was missing so much during the lecture taking handwritten notes. Since owning the netbook I have missed not one important tidbit, and have improved my retention of the spoken information in class exponentially. If you love to follow along on the instructor's Powerpoint presentations, you can do that as well, as it offers full OS support, which means you can load anything on a netbook you could with any other computer.

5. Again, it has FULL OS support. I have recently had questions directed toward me about whether or not Microsoft Office and other applications will work on a netbook. They will, and even run pretty well. Most new netbooks run a Starter version of Windows 7 that is optimized to run on the netbook platform, meaning that you can run whatever you want within the limitations of the hardware (no video editing, for instance).

6. It opens up new options for notes and documentation. There are several options if you wish to not load Microsoft Office onto your netbook. For some, it is easier to use Google Docs so that your notes can be accessed from any computer at any time. This is particularly helpful if you have another computer that you feel more comfortable reading notes on. Google Docs is free and compatible with most word processing applications.

If you do want to use your netbook as your main computer (as many have according to their needs) but don't want to buy or use Microsoft Office I direct you to Open Office, a fully featured FREE office suite that is compatible with MSFT Office. It is very reminiscent of old MSFT, but has a plethora of new features (like text prediction) that make it extremely user friendly. I personally use it and love it.




I hope I have done the netbook justice, as it has served me well over the past two weeks. There are a variety of options, including some dual-core netbooks (like the Asus 1201N) that can even stream and output HD videos and games at the expense of battery life (around 6 hours). It all depends on your needs.