Netbooks: The Missing Manual

Introduction

Modern personal computing is all about having the largest screen, the most muscular processor, and the biggest hard drive, right?

Not when all you want is an ultraportable way to read your favorite blog or shoot off an email from your local café. And without breaking the bank after all you spent on that widescreen display and dual-core tower for your desktop. Enter the Netbook. Don’t think cheap, tiny, and underpowered—think economical, lightweight, and peppy.

With their smallest screens measuring around 7 inches diagonally, the tiniest netbook is a good 10 inches smaller than desktop-replacement laptops with their 17-inch screens and processors that can heat up the whole basement after a few hours of gaming. Booting one of these up just to check email is like driving an armored tank down to the corner store for a gallon of milk.

If you just need a small machine to check your email, browse the Web, see what people are talking about on Twitter, or feed that Peggle addiction, a netbook is more than big enough. Better still, it probably costs at least a thousand dollars less than that big bruiser of a laptop. Instead of more firepower than you need, a netbook gives you just what you need.

Perhaps you’re considering a netbook because you want an inexpensive traveling companion that’s bigger than a smartphone but smaller than your 15-inch regular laptop. Or maybe you’re considering getting a netbook for the kids to keep them off your work laptop. Or maybe cost is a consideration ...