Laptops Arena

We keep hearing every day about netbooks but how many of you actually know why they are called netbooks and not notebook or laptops? Well, netbook are a branch of subnotebooks or laptops that are generally designed for internet applications. They are small, light and ultraportable and due to their size, components are generally much weaker than those of a fully sized laptop. So, they are normally used for internet applications and other basic tasks. People that buy them are usually people that travel a lot and a netbook helps them keep in touch by checking the e-mail, reading news on the internet and even staying in touch with the folks back home if your unit has an integrated webcam.

They are also good if you are travelling but still have to keep up with work. You can edit documents and work with spreadsheets even if the small screen may require constant scrolling and this reduces your work rhythm. The truth is netbook are cheaper and smaller notebooks. Since they are small, they can be squeezed into any bag, purse, backpack or briefcase and the light weight will never bother you. You can pull them out and use them anywhere because they don’t occupy a lot of space. They are also a useful gadget for students that are allowed to take notes in class using a computer. Specs are really similar, what really makes the difference between netbooks is (in my opinion) the battery life. Since they are ultra portable and are meant to be carried around, the battery performance should life up to one’s needs and expectations.

But enough about general stuff. Let’s get down to business and see if we can dig up some netbook laptops for under $300. I think the best such cheap netbook that you could possibly buy is the Dell Mini 10 and the Mini 10v. You can even buy one with the Ubuntu operating system preinstalled. This netbook has the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor which is the most common choice for netbooks. Since these laptops are very small, you can’t put inside any powerful processor because those produce a lot of heat and the fan simply cannot handle the pressure. The RAM is limited to 1 GB which should be enough considering that more RAM and the same processor would not be of much help. 160 GB of free disk space is quite an ok number. There are netbooks out there that have about 12 GB of disk space or even less. They have to be provided with more space using a memory card. Be aware that most netbooks do not have optical drives for obvious space reasons so don’t do storing all your files on you netbook. The graphics card is an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, another common component of notebooks.



You have 3 USB ports, an Ethernet jack, a Kensington lock slot, one HDMI port, a 3-in-1 memory card reader, and the headphones and microphone jacks. Above the 10.1 inch display there is a 1.3 mega pixel webcam which will provide really good images via Skype. And now, for the most important part of all: battery life. The 3-cell battery will last for about 2 hours and 43 minutes if you continuously surf the internet with the wireless turned on. This number is below the netbook average but it is good enough to help you keep notes in history class. We heard that Dell has a 6-cell battery available which should provide about 5 hours of netbook usage. This netbook has a starting price of $279 but if you choose to customize it with different additional features, you may end up paying about $450.



The HP Mini 110 series has a starting price of $299. Instead of telling you the specs, I’m going to go though the number of choices you have for customizing this netbook. First of all you should know that this netbook is available in 3 different colors so you can choose the one you like best. Your choices are Black/White Swirl or Pink Chic. As for the operating system, the choices are Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3 or Windows 7 Started 32 bit. It’s funny that Windows Vista is not among the operating system choices. Is Windows 7 the ultimate replacement and will Vista go out of business? There only RAM available is 1 GB but there are 2 different processors on the list. Both of them are Intel Atom processor but one of them is an N270 operating at a speed of 1.6 GHz and the other is the N280 operating at a speed on 1.66 GHz. Not that big of a difference if you ask me.



There are three choices for the hard drive which should satisfy any kind of consumer needs.  You can choose between the 160 or 250 GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive and there is the 32 GB solid state drive flash module. Either way, it’s good to know that if you want more hard drive space, you have a choice. The graphics care is not negotiable. You have to go with the standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. There are 2 different options for the display: 10.1 inch WSVGA LED Anti-glare Widescreen Display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and the 10.1 inch HD LED Anti-glare Widescreen Display with a resolution of 1366 x 768. You can go with the simple HP Mini webcam or the web cam with HP imprint finish. The battery comes with 2 choices as well. There is the 3-cell battery and the 6-cell battery.  There is a 5-in-1 media card reader, 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port, a VGA out plus the headphones out and microphone in jack.



Finding a good netbook laptop under $300 is a difficult thing because the price of the 2 units we mentioned above is barely the starting price with the basic specs. If you want to add even minor customizations, the price will go up with at least $30. We recommend you add an extra 100 dollars to your netbook budget.