I’m going to get a Netbook. Stock Netbooks have twice as much memory (1GB) than I currently have.  If I find I need more, I can upgrade to 2GB for about $25.  If I find the screen too small to read (and why it would be, if it’s larger than a paperback, I’m not sure), I will hook up the office flatscreen at my desk, which will soon be minus a relevant CPU.  I can compensate for the lack of a CD drive by downloading programs, or transferring them to a memory stick with another computer.

Netbooks run on Windows XP, a familiar and reliable operating system.  Windows Vista, by most accounts I’ve read, is a memory suck, and therefore a fail.  One only has to look at the apologetic Microsoft advertising associated with Vista to read the handwriting on the wall.  While I lust after covet a MacBook Air, paying six times as much for the similar features isn’t a wise budget move.  Pete will have to continue on as the Mac-Head in the family.

Much discussion has ensued in geek and non-geek venues about the merits of netbooks vs. laptops. I first started toying with the idea as part of a discussion here with Derek Rey, and skirted the issue in our discussion of The One earlier this year.  Sean at Sean808080.com covers most of the salient points, and actually selected the model I’m liking, even though he owns a MacBook as his primary computer.

Netbooks are an interesting marketing phenomenon, because they essentially take the technology model and turn it upside down.  As Wired magazine recently noted, netbooks evolved out of the desire to make laptops affordable educational options in developing countries. They needed to be hardy, dependable, and most importantly, cheap.  The EeePC was born, but what happened with it was unforseen.  Middle class consumers throughout Europe and the U.S. bought the entire first run of 350,000 units to use to stay connected on the go.  Anyone who has lugged a 7 lb. laptop and its assorted accessories through various airports – haven’t we all? – knows they don’t seem exactly portable.

Traditionally, technology has trickled down from on high to the mass market.  Even now, consumers are paying over $1000 for machines.  In the early days of computers, it wasn’t uncommon to pay $3000 or more in 1990′s dollars for a desktop computer that flew along with a 386-bit processor.  Now, with netbooks, the consumer has the option not of buying more, but buying less. And buying less, they are.  In droves.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I thought about what I use my computer for most frequently.  I’m not a gamer, and Pete’s the Photoshop expert in the family.  I use my laptop for writing blog posts, internet use, email, and accessing my office desktop when I don’t want to go to am not in the office. It occurred to me that I could store certain rarely-used programs and files on memory sticks.  The netbook has several USB drives.  Other stuff is already done and stored completely online.  Even hardcore Photoshoppers know about online apps like FotoFlexer.

I really don’t need more out of a laptop. I need a lot less than I was willing to pay for even a few months ago.  It used to be that I would get the most computer I could afford, in an effort to beat the obsolescence game.  No more do I think that’s necessary.  Predictions are that others feel the same way.  Netbooks, 7 percent of the computer market in 2008, are projected to be 12 percent this year.  Pete will have the SUV, and I’ll have the fun little Mini Cooper.

Related:

• Microsoft to Squeeze Windows 7 onto Netbooks (technologizer.com)
• Keyboard on the new Asus Eee 1000HE ‘like night and day’ (crunchgear.com)
• CES 2009: asus eee keyboard pc (designboom.com)
• Intel moves against Psion for ‘Netbook’ trademark (news.cnet.com)

NETBOOKS – LESS IS MORE THESE DAYS is a post from: Passing Thru