By: Troy Richards
In recent years, laptops have overtaken desktops as the main computing platform for consumers. Even more recently, netbooks have taken over laptops to become some of the best-selling consumer PCs around the world. Are netbooks really becoming the computing platform of the future?
The popularity of netbooks boils down to a well-known fact. The majority of laptop users use their laptops for surfing the net, checking their emails, and running simple applications (instead of serious work or play). Because of that getting a regular laptop would be overkill. A netbook can perform all those simple computing tasks and in addition to that, is so much cheaper and way more portable than regular laptops. A netbook has since become a must-have for every PC user. The Asus 1005HA and the Toshiba Mini are examples of some of the best netbooks models in the market.
Nevertheless, netbooks are not without their limitations. The small screen, limited computing power and cramped keyboard of a netbook restricts its use to simple computing tasks. If you need to do some serious work/play, a full-featured (and full-sized) laptop would still prove to be a better buy. Here, you will either have to give in to a bulky, budget-friendly laptop or fork out the extra dough (probably $1000 or more) for an ultra-slim, ultra-light and full-featured laptop such as the Apple MacBook air that costs around $1500-$1700 each.
So is it possible to have it all in the laptop world? Is it possible to find a cheap, portable yet powerful laptop model in the market? Believe it or not, there is! Recently, there is a boom in what I would call 'hybrid laptop' models that combines that portability and affordability of a netbook, along with the computing powerful of a full-featured laptop. Laptop models like the Acer Aspire Timeline and the Acer Aspire AS1410 series are almost as powerful as full-sized laptops yet strive to keep the size and price tag of a netbook. The Acer Aspire AS1410-8804 11.6-inch laptop for instance has about the same weight of a netbook but bellies an Intel Core 2 processor, a full-sized keyboard, a HD screen and a 250GB hard drive. The best part is, it is just $70-$80 more expensive than a regular netbook model.
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