Why I Would Buy a Laptop Rather Than a Netbook

Recently a friend asked me about these new netbooks and whether they should buy one rather than a laptop. As ever the marketing guru's had been working overtime on this new style of computer and they had become the latest gadget to buy.

So what is a netbook?

The name is derived from a small laptop computer the size of a book. They are invariably low powered as they are mainly used to access the internet or use online or cloud based software. The other great advantage of a netbook is the battery life. Because they use lower powered processors and more recently solid state drives they can last around 8 hours if not more. Which should be enough for most people's daily use. As with most things the netbook is a balance between portability, cost and performance. Unfortunately in that order and I have been amazed how recently the price of netbooks seem to be rising while low end laptop prices falling.

Now I am not just blankly saying laptops are better for everyone because if I was a student walking round campus every day I wouldn't want to lug a laptop round with me including a large power supply as you will only get two to three hours work done. However there are a few reasons why I prefer laptops to netbooks. Personally I am always a little disappointed with netbooks. Maybe it's an ego thing like car engine sizes. The idea of an atom processor just doesn't do it for me. It's not just because of the performance difference in the processor or memory but the screen size as well. Netbooks started out being 7" but now seem to have grown to 10" or 12".

The other big difference is the lack of a dvd drive. Although with cloud storage becoming cheaper and the mobile broadband performance improving I can see being a less of worry. Also USB drives seem to be getting cheaper and bigger by the day.

So it does depend on what you need and the work you want to do on a portable PC. Although I have always felt as soon as get something you find something else you want to do with it. In my opinion I always felt short changed by a netbook and for a another £100 I could buy a nice laptop that would last longer before needing to upgrade my laptop.

Churchgate Computer Services offers a computer repair and laptop repair service in Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding Suffolk area.

View Article_Source