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The World of Netbooks - an Introduction

By Josh Bancroft (Intel) (69 posts) on October 16, 2008 at 4:03 pm

If you run with an even slightly geeky crowd, you've probably heard of these "netbook" things. Maybe even seen one or used one. They're those smaller-than-normal laptops, sporting 9 or 10 inch screens, diminutive keyboards, and able to drop into a large purse or small bag. The Asus Eee PC, MSI Wind, Dell Mini Inspiron 9, and Acer Aspire One are some popular examples. Most of them have the new tiny powerhouse Intel Atom processor.

I've been living in the world of netbooks for the last several weeks, and I've got a lot to tell you about what it's like to use one, what they're good for (and what they're not so good for), and why you might want one. I know several people who have bought a netbook recently, and I'll point to what they have to say about them. I'll even get all geeky (it's what I do best!), and talk about the different operating system options (I've tried almost all of them), and applications that are well suited for netbook use (and how to tweak them to make them even better).

Since this is Intel Software Network, a community of software developers, we'll look at using a netbook from a developer's point of view. And perhaps most interestingly, I want to try to figure out why people who buy netbooks seem to love them so fiercely - they take them everywhere. They rave to their friends about them. There's something special about netbooks - they're not just a smaller version of your laptop.

That's a lot of stuff, and I'm not going to dump it on you all at once. Over the next little while, I'll be posting lots of netbook-related stuff. And of course, I'll be looking for your questions, and trying to answer them. Just leave a comment!

Categories: Mobility

Comments (6)

October 16, 2008 6:26 PM PDT Omar A Rodriguez

Typing this on my 10-inch Asus Eee, I will keep an eye on this post. I got mine a few weeks ago and it's great. I dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu Hardy. Battery life is amazing. The shift key is the only thing I can complain about but that's only because I felt like I needed to complain about something. :)

October 17, 2008 5:47 AM PDT brad

I think I was ahead of the netbook scene. Four years ago I bought an imported Panasonic R3 Letsnote laptop. It seems to have similar specifications of the current netbooks. So, I think I can comment from experience here. Running Windows XP Pro it has been a powerhouse. It does not have a fan and never seemed to get hot like I read about most of the netbooks. I take the R3 everywhere and it has traveled with me around the world several times. Also, when using it for business, its size makes it perfect for taking notes in meetings without being obtrusive. I am considering getting a new computer, but I am concerned about the heat issue and the power of the processor and if a dual core chip would be better. Finally, would it be better to wait for Windows 7 ?

October 19, 2008 9:11 PM PDT Jeremy Schultz

Nice, Josh, looking forward to it. I'm teetering on the verge of getting one, but I'm paralyzed by indecision. Omar's dual boot option sounds pretty ideal. I'd be curious if you tried this option, how difficult it might be to set up, and which netbook(s) is using the Moblin stack....

October 20, 2008 10:08 AM PDT Josh Bancroft (Intel) Total Points: 3,492 Status Points: 2,992 Brown Belt

@Omar - The 10" Eee is a great machine. And dual booting is nice. I've heard the same thing about the shift key, too. :-) @Brad - You were definitely ahead of your time. There have been subnotebooks for a long time, and part of the "mystique" of netbooks is why they're so popular all of a sudden, when the concept isn't really all that new. Regarding your questions, I'll be talking more about heat (don't worry about it - the Atom processor puts out 2 watts, compared to 35 watts for a Core 2 Duo laptop chip) and battery life. Regarding waiting for Windows 7, I have no idea. I don't know much about it, other than what I've read in the press, but it seems to me to be a revamp of Windows Vista, which doesn't do too well on netbooks due to it's size and higher performance requirements. But it will be interesting to see if netbooks change Microsoft's (or anyone else's) mind about the direction they take their operating system. @Jeremy - I haven't tried to set up dual boot yet, but it's pretty trivial, from what I've read. No harder than on any other computer. I have played with some Moblin bits, which I'll be talking about, but there aren't any shipping netbooks that I'm aware of that use any parts of the Moblin stack. There was that demo at the Linux Plumbers' Conference, where some Intel guys from the Moblin team showed off an Eee PC that could cold boot in under 5 seconds, which is amazing. My gut tells me that Moblin will have a role in netbooks going forward, but that's just me speculating... Come by sometime and I'll convince that you NEED a netbook. None of this fence sitting around here! ;-)

October 31, 2008 1:38 PM PDT Omar A Rodriguez (Intel) Total Points: 335 Status Points: 285 Green Belt

I recently opened the System Monitor in Ubuntu and noticed that it reports Atom as two processors. Anyone have any idea about this? Is it a bug in the Ubuntu System Monitor or is my Atom really a dual core?? :P

October 31, 2008 5:54 PM PDT Josh Bancroft (Intel) Total Points: 3,492 Status Points: 2,992 Brown Belt

Omar, the Atom processor isn't dual core (at least, the one in today's netbooks isn't), but it DOES support HyperThreading, and will present itself to the operating system as two logical processors/cores. It does the same thing to me on Windows, just like all other Intel processors with Hyperthreading (HT).

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