Accessing the Internet using your own laptop - on which you run up-to-date anti-virus software - protects your passwords better than using a public Internet terminal or a friend’s PC.
Netbooks
- The Netbook concept:
- A compact portable, fully Internet capable computer that weighs only 1 kilo - and can go anywhere.
Where Netbooks have strength is in their ability to connect to the Internet. So if you do a lot of browsing or just want to stay in touch via email or your social networking Sites, they are perfect.
As far as doing serious spreadsheet or word processing work there are some limitations. The keyboard, for example, takes some getting used to because of its compact size. The screen is considerably smaller than what is typical for a notebook so you will need to do some scrolling around. The touchpad can be a little tedious to use.
Moreover, the price is very appealing for an immediately-usable out of the box computer with a 20GB solid state drive (SSD). (Windows versions naturally cost about GBP£100 more.)
PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge to eliminate the too small size of the mobile phone for the internet and the too bulky size and over-specification of the laptop for mobile computing. Netbooks appeal to a wider audience than mobile Internet devices. Netbooks, which once were seen as companion devices for accessing cloud-based services like Gmail or social-networking sites like Facebook, are now being used as full-blown computers.
Some users believe that Windows is the best Netbook OS. However, others think Linux is a better fit. Linux is not going anywhere but up in the Netbook market. Here are 10 reasons why:
Netbook hardware is the perfect match for Linux
Netbooks require a secure OS
It is all about the interface
Your Netbook can be more than just a slow laptop
Linux will keep your costs down
Linux offers more flavors to choose from
You will gain speed
Improvements will come faster and more often
The next version will work
Support is better
One of the biggest arguments people use for Windows over Linux is that “You can’t play games with Linux.” Well, you cannot play games on a Netbook (outside of Web-based games). Moreover, there are tons of other software types you cannot (or will not) use on a Netbook. No PhotoShop, no Quark, and none of those proprietary apps that people seem to need to do their day-to-day business. Netbooks serve a small purpose - to let you get online - and they do it well.
Linux is the perfect networking operating system. It plays well with other OSs, it is secure and it is fast. However, one thing any purchaser of a Netbook should know is that space is prime. Although a fresh installation of Eeebuntu might take up nearly 2.8 gigs, you can quickly trim that down using the Synaptic package manager by removing the applications you will not be using. Windows XP with SP2 takes up 2.5 gigs of space so the tradeoff there is minimal.
If you are using Windows XP on an ultra portable piece of hardware, you are a mobile risk for viruses. In addition, you will not be installing Norton’s or McAfee on your Netbook - especially if you are using a flash-based storage Netbook. With Linux, you will not need those tools in the first place. Your Linux-based Netbook can travel anywhere you want and you will not have to worry about picking up viruses or spyware like you would with a Windows based Netbook.
If you have limited screen real-estate, why not use a desktop interface designed for that real estate? Instead of using the standard desktop metaphor, the Eeebuntu Netbook Remix desktop introduces an interface that is perfectly suited for the desktop size offered by Netbooks. This interface makes the Netbook experience far more efficient than any Windows interface. It is cleaner, faster and user-friendlier - and it soon becomes familiar. Not different just for the sake of being different, it is obvious the interface was well thought-out and aimed at the new PC user as well as the new Netbook user.
Eeebuntu is a full-blown Linux distro that happens to install on an Eee PC. When using Eeebuntu on a Netbook, you really feel like you have the power of a full laptop at your fingertips. You can even install a full-blown LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server on your Netbook if you like.
One of the reasons Netbooks are so popular is that they are cheap. Linux is open source, so any software you are installing will be free, so the cost of Netbooks can continue to fall. If Microsoft were to attempt to use Vista or Windows 7, the cost of your average Netbook would not fall. In addition, any extra software you want to install - or any anti-virus or firewall software you will want to use when you are running a Windows operating system on your Netbook you will pay for.
There are plenty of Linux varieties to choose from. Even with Netbooks, you can go with the basic Xandros or even try the full-blown 3D Elive+Compiz! There is a Linux distribution for everyone. Just be careful when you make a choice: Some of the distributions (such as Eeebuntu and OpenGeeeU) include the array kernel, which has wireless for Netbooks built in by default. Some of the others will require you to take a few extra steps to build in wireless support. Moreover, with some of these distributions, there are different sub-variations. Eeebuntu has the standard release, which is just like a standard Ubuntu desktop, along with the Netbook Remix, which is a special desktop designed with the Eee PC user in mind.
I have used the same Netbook running both Windows XP and Eeebuntu, and there is no comparison. The Eeebuntu desktop was noticeably snappier than the Windows XP. The Web browser and mail clients opened nearly twice as fast on the Eeebuntu install than they did on the Windows XP install. There are differences between the various Linux flavors. For instance, the Xandros distribution is slower than the Eeebuntu distribution, but the Xandros is noticeably faster than OpenGeeeU and Elive.
Just like any software in the open source community, the Linux Netbook operating systems will continue to improve at a much faster rate than the Windows operating systems for Netbooks. More people are working to improve the experience; open source bugs are found and fixed far faster than Windows bugs. This will help improve the Linux Netbook OS far faster than anything Microsoft can manage. Open source users are more apt to submit bug reports and open source developers implement patches faster. These patches and bug fixes will not come in the form of Service Packs (as they do in Windows), which are released infrequently and in large chunks. Because of this, you are less likely to FUBAR your network when updating a Linux-based Netbook.
You can be sure the next release of Eeebuntu will work on your Eee PC because it was made for that hardware. From release to release, you never know what a Windows operating system will work on. So why take a chance on purchasing hardware that Microsoft will make irrelevant with its next release? Instead, rest assured your Linux OS would continue to work whenever you upgrade it.
Finding support for a Windows-based Netbook is not as easy as it is for a standard laptop or desktop. The nice thing about the Linux Netbook community is that the developers are interested in making sure the OS works well and are quick to listen to their users. So you know if you have a problem with your Linux-based Netbook, a quick search on Yahoo will most likely find a simple solution to your problem. In addition, if you do not find an answer on Yahoo, you can go to the Web site of the distribution developers, where they will have either a support forum or a contact form (or email address). Getting help on your Windows-based Netbook will require a call to the company that sold you the Netbook or a call to Microsoft. Alternatively, you will have to hope your problem has already been reported and fixed so you can find it on Yahoo.
My Netbook Issues/Criteria:
- Unconditional Web access;
- Avoiding virus infection by having one PC for home & another for Web and keeping them completely separate;
- < GB£150.00;
- Portability;
- No need to upgrade current software;
- No need for a dongle for current PC;
- Wi-Fi - > 30 hours/month?
- > Seven-inch TFT;
- > 800x480;
- > 400 MHz;
- > 128 Mb RAM;
- > 8 GB Solid State Disk;
- expandable storage via USB port;
- additional USB port for USB mouse;
- Ethernet port;
- Mike & speaker jack;
- Linux - Windows runs only well on mechanical drives;
- Battery, AC adapter & charger - > 3 hours running time;
- < 700g.
