My Future Netbook Or Something
Posted: October 24th, 2008 | Author: lrei | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: apple, book, Hardware, iphone, linux, phone, Software, Tech, ubuntu | Comments OffIf I ever buy a netbook it needs to have a proper OS. Windows is even more of a joke on a netbook than it is on a normal laptop and since I don’t foresee apple coming up with a netbook in the near future, linux is all that’s left. And no, that crap Asus ships and calls linux is not an option. Windows wannabe Xandros with a lame interface – no thank you. Ubuntu is currently the (only) way to go. And I mean normal Ubuntu not Ubuntu with weird interface (DJ Silly Remix). Sure you can install something like Ubuntu EEE if you have an eee pc or similar but that still might not get all your hardware runing properly plus why did you have to do it yourself? That should’ve been done by the manufacturer imo.
I also find some of the hadware on the current generation of netbooks lacking. There’s nothing that can be done about the SSDs at the moment. They are all slow, low-capacity energy-vampires. One could go with the traditional mechanic drives but that’s soooo last century. The memory is a different story. 512MB is definitively not enough. 1GB is usable but 2GB would be nice. But the biggest let down in my opinion is the battery life. Assuming you don’t stick with windows or the windows wannabe that comes pre-installed, you won’t get past 5h of battery life. And knowing the reviewers and my own careless use of computer resources, that probably translates into 3h in my hands
Granted some may say I’ve missed the point of netbooks. That all netbooks are for is browsing the web, reading email and instant messaging. Nope. That’s just all you can do with the current hardware. Ok the truth is you can do a lot more but you’ll soon run into limitations. Say I want to fire up eclipse and work on my JADE powered project for the Distributed Intelligent Agents course. It’s painfull enough on my macbook I can’t imagine it being bearable on the current crop (read crap) of netbooks.
But that’s not what netbooks are for right? And if it’s just browsing and reading email, an iPhone will do. But work still needs to get done and while my macbook is great for that, I’d still like a more portable option. One I wouldn’t be too afraid to drop/lose. A more task-oriented option (e.g. work on proj A for 2h at a random place with wireless) without the hundreds of applications I keep conveniently open on my macbook would also be nice.
Obviously there are already many options in the market and more to come. But I’m not paying more than 350 eur for one. That’s the price of an eee pc 901. So all I have to do now is wait for another 12 months for it (or rather its sucessor(s)) to reach the kind of hw specs I want and for them to either drop the pseudo-linux or for ubuntu’s netbook support to improve a bit.
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Related posts:
You’re saying SSD storage is slower and more energy-consuming than traditional HDs? Somehow, I had precisely the opposite idea.
They are currently slower in things such as sequential writing but an order of magnitude faster in access times and they have a better overall reading performance. They are also as energy consuming as traditional HDs.
But that’s just the current generation. I think the next generation is going to be a lot better with the major players getting serious – namely Intel. The previews I read of intel’s SSD tech wall said it was amazingly better.
So I’d rather wait for them to be on the market before buying a netbook.
The netbook remix interface (though I actually like it on my netbook) can be turned off for normal desktop mode via a few clicks.
I’m also not fond of SSD’s at the moment. I value their durability but the storage sizes are feeble at the moment.
My Toshiba NB100 (which came with a custom Ubuntu) runs very sweetly under 512mb. Granted my needs aren’t heavy on a netbook (document writing and surfing) but even with a number of windows open there’s no slow down.
3hrs I think is also tolerable battery life time. After all, I’m not a fan of doing too much computing on a small screen.
Netbooks are actually meant to be low powered though (hence low price), so if you want something more muscular the ultra-mobile PC market seems a better thing to look at, although it’s not getting as much attention at the mo.
While an iPhone or similar phones are fine for the web I have to admit I still prefer a computer for browsing just for a keyboard.
I don’t see Apple releasing a netbook ever, as to their own detriment they ‘don’t do cheap’.
@mo79uk tks for your comment. Yeah it’s sad Apple won’t do a netbook – they’ll probably make an 11″ version of the Air if they feel the need to compete in that size segment.
I’d go with a standard HD instead of an SSD at the moment too.
For me, battery life is very important – it needs to last 1 (work) day w/o recharging. My macbook with only 5h battery life almost does it, so I guess 7h of actual battery life (as opposed to what manufacturers claim) would be enough.
Hmm if you say 512MB is enough than ok. But I’d want to run Firefox, Eclipse, pidgin and a music player – that would put me past 512MB for sure.
I confess I’m not familiar with the toshiba NB100 – I’ve heard of it but never read any reviews. I’ll check it out.
I’ll wait for the next generation of netbooks that should be just around the corner and see if any of them meet my relatively high demands (at an affordable price).