[geeks] Best Cheap Netbook?

[Lionel Peterson]

True enough, but the rise of Ultrabooks and the 11" MacBook Air validate the
concept of laptops that focus equally on performance AND portability.

The problem with netbooks was (IMHO) they originally focused on portability
and cost, sacrificing performance.

A laptop like my Acer TimelineX with the ULV i7 processor, 8 gigs of RAM
(added for less than $50), and an 11" display with a near-full compliment if
I/O ports which I bought for under $500 stretches conventional definitions of
a netbook into the realm of mainstream laptops in a smaller, but still quite
functional form-factor.

Intel Atoms w/ 2 gigs of RAM running Linux with a 7-9" display was never
anything better than a novelty, and installing Windows XP helped the platform
gain some acceptance for the 93%+ of computer users that prefer MS operating
systems. Once the displays got larger (which brought larger keyboards) and the
ability to upgrade the RAM to 8 Gigs they really ceased being netbooks in the
classic/original sense.

Lionel

On Feb 3, 2013, at 7:41 PM, Andrew Jones <andrew at jones.ec> wrote:

> As in many things, you get what you pay for.  Netbooks are dead as a market
segment because no one wants a "cheap" laptop.
>
> By the time you've taken an off-brand, low-spec laptop and filled it with
RAM and an SSD, you've paid most of the price of a decent laptop with a usable
warranty