Choosing a Netbook--a picture can be worth a thousand words

If you are in the market for a Netbook computer there are many decisions to be made. The pictures here may help with a couple of them. Shown below are an Acer Aspire One and an Asus Eee PC 1000.

The Acer Aspire One (left) and the Asus Eee PC (right)

The machines are as different as any two Netbooks can be. The Acer runs Windows XP, the Asus runs Linux. The Asus has an SSD, the Acer a traditional hard disk. The Asus supports Wi-Fi N, the Acer doesn't. The smaller Acer machine has a weaker battery and was significantly cheaper.

But the picture above points out other differences (see a larger version of the picture).

The smaller Acer has a 9-inch screen, the larger Asus is 10 inches (approximately). Measuring the other sides of the triangle, the Acer screen is (approximately) 7.5 by 4.5 inches, whereas the Asus screen is 8.5 by 5 inches. Both screens have the all-but standard Netbook resolution of 1024 x 600, which means that everything is just a bit bigger and easier to see on the Asus machine.

And, the picture points out a sometimes often overlooked aspect of the screen, a matt versus glossy finish. It's fairly obvious that the Acer has a glossy screen whereas that on the Asus has a mat finish (you also see this in the picture below). Personally, I prefer the mat finish, but this is a matter of opinion. Cheaper machines will tend to have glossy screens because they're cheaper to manufacture.

Another difference between the machines is the placement of the mouse buttons. On the smaller Acer Aspire One, they are on the side of the trackpad; on the larger Asus Eee PC they are in the more traditional location, underneath. Using the Acer machine, I have found the placement of the right mouse button to be an annoyance, but, this too, is a matter opinion.

Netbooks compared to VHS video tapes

If you haven't seen a Netbook in person, then perhaps the picture above (larger version), with a VHS video tape in front of each machine, can help put the size in perspective. It offers an even more dramatic example of the mat versus glossy screen.

Taking a step back, my opinion is that a 9-inch screen is too small. While the smaller screen allows the machine to be smaller, I don't need my Netbook to be that small. Plus, smaller Netbooks have smaller keyboards. Anyone with adult hands and less than perfect eyesight is better off with a 10-inch model Netbook. Children may have a different perspective.

From a woman's perspective, the 9-inch Acer Aspire One could fit in some pocketbooks, whereas the 10-inch Asus Eee PC 1000 is likely to be too big. From a man's perspective, each will easily fit in any briefcase.

When the Asus Eee PC 1000 was first released, way back at the end of August, it sold for $700. Now, the price is around $500 and I've seen it on sale for even less.

See a summary of all my Defensive Computing postings.

[richardsona]

What the heck is a "VHS video tape"? :)

[SHADuck]

i just bought an inexpensive toshiba satellite which has 2 gb ram and a 120gb hd. unfortunately the cpu keeps on stalling, so it is only a tad quicker than the 2 year old acer 1gb/80gb

i just use it for basic surfing and word, so would an atom be sufficient?

why does the cpu stall?

[mhinnewyork]

The cpu is probably not stalling. The hard disk may be going to sleep, check the power options in the control panel. Or, the computer may be busy running a background process. You can see this using either Task Manager or Process Explorer. An Atom processor is said by everyone to be fine for basic surfing and word processing. Michael Horowitz

[trickycoolj]

I would like to see thickness comparisons if possible. Perhaps closed netbooks vs VHS tape? Great size comparisons and scale objects... I have those pens sitting on my desk.

After playing with the 10" eee at Best Buy the other day and hating the shift key (I only use right), I'm starting to think a 12" or 13" Dell might suffice. Although the keyboard size was comfortable (I'm a girl).

I'm replacing a 6 year old Compaq Presario 15" as a secondary to my desktop, *anything* new is tons better. Frankly, my old Compaq dwarfs my Latitude D620 when I bring it home from work. If only it wasn't my work laptop... and they weren't so expensive.

[hawknj]

I have the Acer Aspire one and I find it very useful. I tried the eee pc and the keyboard did not cut it for me. The Acer size gives me no problem at all and the screen looks great when watching a movie or any vid. The cost was great only $350.00. Down side is the 3 cell battery it would be perfect with a 6 cell battery.

[mhinnewyork]

I tried the original 7 inch Asus Eee and the keyboard was too small - speaking as an adult. I have not tried the 9 inch Asus machines. The keyboard on the 10 inch Asus Netbooks will, I think, be fine for an adult, they are bigger than the keyboards on the 9 inch models. I find the keyboard on the Acer Aspire One to be a bit too small. But, there is no one right answer.

The Acer has a glossy screen which is also a brighter screen so, yes, it should look great when playing video.

I too find the 3 cell battery annoying, it means you have to travel with the AC adapter. I haven't done duration tests with the battery, but it doesn't seem to last very long at all. Michael Horowitz

[RACinNY]

I have the Acer Aspire One with the 160GB HD , 1GB ram and XP Home. I got mine with the 6 cell battery. All for $399 and I'm loving it! I have large hands for a woman, I have never been able to wear woman's gloves for instance and I am having no problems with the smaller keyboard. I played extensively with the Asus Eee PC at Best Buy since it's only 2 miles away and I seem to be in there a LOT. Enough that a couple of their sales folks know me :) I almost bought the Asus too until I started reading more about the Acer. The reviews in the most recent issue of Maximum PC did it for me since I put a lot of trust in them. I also considered the fact that the larger screen while giving me a bit more handspace would also suck up just a bit more battery life and that was important to me. I don't mind the glossy screen, I've had laptops with both and in fact my current large laptop has one (17" wide). This machine is very thin, surprisingly, and I can easily stash it in my usual bag which is a small LL Bean across the back bag I've had for near 10 years. I was very surprised at how snappy XP boots, I was considering that if I wasn't pleased with XP on it I'd wipe and put on my flavor of Linux but no need. I appreciated that Acer didn't load it up really with a lot of crapware. I did get rid of the 60 day trial of Office 2007 and McAfee, right off the bat plus their choice for a DVD player. I'm getting 6 hours or so of battery life and that's with a lot of HD use and I get more like 6.5 hours or so without a lot of HD use. I was able to get it in the white so I'd not have smudges all over it and I like it. After messing about with bags and so on, trying a nice one I have here from an old portable DVD player worked well, I did go out yesterday and pick up something just for it and although it was a bit more than I wanted to spend I feel it will be worth it in the long run. Check out Case Logic's esling bags. I got mine at guess where, Best Buy but I'm betting I could have found it online cheaper but I wasn't willing to wait :) I predict we'll see the prices drop and the quality and features go up with all the netbooks out there and more coming. Acer will be offering this model with built in 3G and in fact mine has the spot for it but their website says that will be coming later this year. Right now I note that most places that have sold out of them have a ship date of the beginning, very beginning, of December so I'm betting those will have the 3G. Since it wasn't a need for me right away I was fine without it. A plug in for 3G for me if needed later is fine. This is not my primary laptop computer, I bought it specifically for on the go use....toss it in a bag or now grab the baq and GO. It charges up from 3% left to full in 2 hours so I have it always ready. Hope these rather verbose comments help.

[keltora]

I own the ASUS Eee PC 1000HD with the 120 gig hd and 1 gig ram running XP. The keyboard and screen are way bigger than my ASUS Eee PC 701 with the 4 gig drive and the 1 gig ram (also XP), however, since I used to touch-type on an old Velo 500, the 701's keyboard was no problem for me (and I have chunky hands).

I bought the 1000HD when I actually went looking for a new laptop (my poor old Toshiba is cracking across the lid), and since it was only $379, it was a steal in my opinion. In fact, I think I paid less for it than I did the 701...

[mhinnewyork]

The Asus Eee PC 1000HD differs from the other 1000 series models in that it has a Celeron processor rather than the Atom. My guess is that the Celeron will have sufficient horsepower for most applications, but I haven't tried it and haven't read anything about it. It's a great price for an Asus 1000 series machine. Michael Horowitz

[Techidude4U]

Dude, what's a VHS video tape?

[aalegado]

For some reason, this particular misspelling bothered me. The correct spelling of "mat" is "matte" as in "matte finish." It is not "mat" as in "placemat" or a small floor covering.