Admission – I was a Netbook Holdout

Yes, there, I am out in the open now, ready to admit it. For the longest time I’ve been watching Netbooks, saying to myself – it’s really a useless toy, why spend money even?

• Sure you could check your email on the tiny screen, but can you play online video from YouTube or Hulu? Well, not in HD, but works just fine as regular video!
• But surely it can’t even play local MP4 files full screen – Yes it can, aparently!
• But you won’t even be able to play any 3D games or run Vista! Well, 3D games work! I was shocked to discover that even World of Warcraft runs, on minimum settings, of course. Vista I haven’t tried (and don’t recommend to), but Windows 7 (RC) works nicely on this machine!

In fact, I decided to post this from my little Netbook! We picked it up for only $260 before recent family vacation, and it proved to be an integral part of the family during the trip. Sure I was waiting for some real 3D (will nVidia’s Ion platform ever materialize?), but with the trip on the horizon and this great Woot price, decided that this is a worthy investment, for now.

Overall we’ve been really happy. Family mostly used it to visit Facebook and watch online (and offline) videos. Did I mention that our model came with 160GB hard-drive and 6 hr battery life? Two really important characteristics, in my opinion, making it much more than a toy.  My only complaints are 10″ screen (really minimum), and keyboard size (but new 11″ models have bigger keyboard also). Oh, and be sure to always use Full Screen mode on your web browsers (key F11 on most).

In unrelated news, our Internet at home is back! Comcast tech came and delivered, as they say. It’s very fast and stable now, and we are happy. So, to celebrate, enjoy this fun music video! If you are not on Netbook, hop over to YouTube site and watch in HD.

Comments #

Comment by Мистер Рабиновиц on 2009-09-05 12:44:59 -0500 #

Ingale,
were you able to connect to VPN and then to your computer at work?

Comment by Adi R on 2009-09-05 23:29:00 -0500 #

Yes, VPN worked just fine, since it comes with Windows XP, it’s rather easy.

Comment by Adi R on 2009-09-05 23:34:45 -0500 #

And, Mr. Ganelin, why don’t you sign comments with your real name? Worried about security? I just upgraded to latest and most secure 2.8.4 wordpress!