How to choose to buy Netbook

The first version of the Netbook introduced and offered was a big surprise to the public. A compact laptop sold at a moderate price - only half of a regular computer is truly surprising. Since then, there has been a trend of producing mini computers for manufacturers.

Apple's iPad model comes with the ability to surf the web and use email services. Following that trend, computer manufacturers began to shift interest from Netbook to tablet computers. Competition also becomes stronger. Netbook makers increasingly equip their products with more features, larger screens and keyboards, faster speeds and lower costs. Therefore, these products from places appearing in families are becoming more and more popular in small and medium enterprises as well as in universities.

As a result, more and more product lines of well-known brands such as ASUS, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, HP, and Lenovo and from Netbook have become a definition used to refer to computer types. mini. The reason that Netbooks are loved is compact, cheap and energy-efficient. The common feature of a Netbook is that it has a screen on its smaller side and has all the basic features of a PC. However, Netbooks also have different types of screen sizes, keyboards or other specific features. Currently, the battle for Netbook components production is being heated between Intel and AMD. Although it looks very similar, there will be a lot of things to discuss if you want to buy a Netbook. This article will help you solve that problem.

Wide screen, large keyboard

It's easy to distinguish a Netbook from other notebooks, but to distinguish them from their internal systems, you need to keep in mind some points. Previously, the size of the screen of a Netbook was 10 inches by default with a resolution of 1024–600. Netbooks today are no longer following that trend. Big-sized Netbooks like the HP Pavilion dm 1z line or Lenovo ThickPad X120 are sold at a screen size of 11.6 inches while the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 (Ion) and the Asus EeePC 1215N have a screen size of 12 inches. And the resolution of these lines can reach HD standards (1366-768).

Having a Netbook with full keyboard is also a rare item, but now this type of keyboard appears more and more about 10 inches in size. These include HP Mini 5103, Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 or Acer Aspire One AOD 255-1203. Most netbooks today do not have full keyboards (only about 89 to 93% of the size of a full set of keyboards) but with the current trend this type of keyboard will quickly be replaced.

Some outstanding features

You will find a full range of devices such as USB, Webcame, card reader and Wifi connection. Netbooks do not provide optical drives and their speakers are not very good, but with Netbooks you can connect to the Internet in many different ways. A set of WiFi chips and Ethernet ports can be found in most Netbook series that can help you connect wired or wireless Internet. There are also HP Mini 5103 series, Lenovo Thinkpad X120E or Acer One D255 with integrated 3G Modem that uses network signal type with wide band of Internet connection. With the three Netbooks mentioned above, we can use the mobile broadband integrated in the USB to connect to the Internet. The HDMI port is included in HP dm 1z series, Lenovo X120E, Asus 1215N can continuously transmit Audio and Video files to a flat doorway via a set of wires.

Atom background

You can find an Intel Atom platform that includes an Atom processor, integrated graphics, internal memory (usually 1GB) in most current Netbooks. Despite being a power-saving Netbook processor on the market today, Intel Atom is not the most energy-efficient. ADM is creating a new life on the market with Fusion APU series, combining CPU and graphics on a single device, minimizing battery consumption of Netbook. The chip can be found on the HP Netbook or Lenovo X120E.

Intel has also released the fourth generation of Atom chips, most recently Atom N455 (1.66 Ghz) and N 475 (1.83 GHz). These are single chip lines with complementary DDR3 memory. Atom N550 Dual-core version (1.5GHz) is used in Acer D255- 1203, HP 5103, Samsung NF310-A01 Netbooks, improving speed by up to 20% compared to the single Atom version without affecting battery life. This new line of chips, along with Fusion APU series, will be available at the beginning of the school year and holiday season this year.

Things need to notice

Standard Netbook battery consists of 6 cells (49-63 W) but there are some non-mainstream batteries with only 3 cells (30 W), you should be aware of this issue. The latest tests show that small batteries can last about 2 to 3 hours for a single charge while larger batteries can last for 6 to 9 hours. If you regularly travel abroad or study all day in class, you should use 6-cell or more batteries.

Regarding the hard drive, there are 2 types to choose from: fixed hard drive and rotating hard drive. With this type of hard drive, you will have to spend a lot of money if you want to have a hard drive with the largest capacity at 320 GB. Fixed hard drives (SSDs) have faster transfer speeds, are more durable and have a longer lifespan, but it requires higher fees if you want to upgrade. For example, if you want to upgrade your HP 5103 Netbook hard drive to 128G, it will cost you about $ 450 - higher than the cost of buying your old Netbook.

Many Netbook lines can run stably with 1GB of memory. Most Netbooks with Intel chips can upgrade to 2GB. Lines with Fusion chips like HP dm1z or Lenovo X120e using chips in order of 3GB and 4GB can be upgraded to 8GB and 9GB. A few lightweight 3D Netbooks for gaming and 1080p HD stream optimized to run videos using Nvidia's Ion platform or ATT's Mobility Radeon graphics card.

What you can do with a Netbook

Don't underestimate the capabilities of Netbooks. Not only surfing the Web, calculating and typing, you can also download images from a digital camera and edit them using a software like Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. If you are patient, you can Convert them to another format, or edit them using video editing packages.

You can run the entire music library with music playing software like Apple iTunes or Windows Media Player. Netbooks can open videos from sites like youtube or watch movies from an external USB without fear of scratching or network lag. Netbooks are also very popular with business people because you can trade with customers via email, connect them through a virtual network and protect with anti-virus and spyware software.

With the prices we see in the market in the range of $ 300 to $ 500, the appeal of external beauty is also not limited. The HD 5103 series has an aluminum-coated, sleek outer shell while the Toshiba NB 500 series is outstanding in color and material of the case. With the current trend, the price of Netbook will be lowered. Read our articles to learn about the latest Netbooks on the market or the Netbook product guide.