Netbook hype

Netbooks are all the range at the moment, providing light, cheap and easy ways to access the internet, create documents and receive e-mails on the move.

As much as the hype about the “mini-laptops” is still going, I just can’t see why.

All netbooks that I have come across so far come with a fairly poor 1.6ghz atom processor and 1 – 2GB of RAM memory, all good for basic needs, just no good at all for anything that demands more processing power i.e. gaming.

Looking through the specs and what mobile devices are out their; PDA’s, Smart phones and the iPhone offer a similar user experience and ability to that of the netbooks (all be it, lacking a QWERTY keyboard)

So why lug around a mini laptop when you can carry a similarly powered device in your pocket? I think at the moment, netbooks are just fashion hype and not much more.

With all that I have just said, I will admit other than netbooks, mobile devices are pretty poor when it comes to spreadsheets.
PDA’s powered by windows mobile have excel built in (i.e. I have been using the HP iPaq H6340) the area for the spreadsheet is small, keys are small and really fiddly so not much use. The iPhone on the other hand has no spreadsheet support, very disappointing (I depend on the iPhone more than any other device).

I’m still awaiting the arrival of a pocket sized computer, or media device that can literally do anything you ask of it.
Until that day comes, my bag will still contain at least my iPhone and webbook. Even though I usually have both those devices on me, I still can’t do everything I want to do. Maybe just one day soon, all that will change

---