Now that just about every hardware manufacturer is releasing netbooks (small, lightweight laptops), its tough to figure out which ones are worth buying. I was just perusing a review of the HP Mini 311 at Engadget, and noticed that this hardware seems like something well worth recommending. It sports graphics testing scores similar to that of a Macbook Air, but with a pricetag starting at $400, it’s WAY more affordable! No word yet on the battery performance, but if the performance isn’t too bad this will definitely be a netbook worth checking out if you’re someone that wants a netbook with a fair amount of pep!
If you happen to be looking into buying a netbook, here are a few things you may want to look for:
- Processor: You’ll want high performance with low power consumption – the Intel Atom processors fit this bill well.
- Memory: Get at least 1GB of RAM. The less you need to use your paging file, the “faster” and more responsive your netbook will feel.
- Solid State Hard Drive: If you can afford it, these are generally considered more reliable. One thing to note, don’t save your only copy of any important documents on these drives because *if* they fail, it’s pretty much impossible to recover data from them.
- Battery Life: The norm should be at least two hours between charges
- Network Connectivity: If you think you’ll be travelling quite a bit, you may want to opt-in for mobile broadband in addition to the wi-fi connection.
- Operating System: With Windows 7 about to release, I would wait and purchase a Windows 7 netbook before buying a Windows XP netbook. Many of the linux varieties are nice also (for simple web surfing, etc). It really will depend on whether you plan to load up “windows-only” programs onto your netbook.
- Expansion Ports: You’ll want at least a few USB ports and a headphone port.
If you have questions regarding Netbooks, feel free to Contact Me.
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Good read, thanks. Always looking out for weird and wonderful stuff to read