For a busy population that’s always on the move but still wants to be connected to the rest of the globe via the World Wide Web, portability and functionality are key in any piece of technology. Laptops have the market cornered – each one that comes out is lighter, has better battery life and more functions. But the rise of the Netbook has been a serious challenge to laptop manufacturers. So which is better? And why should you still come down on the side of the laptop?
Weighing up the options
The obvious advantage that a Netbook has over a laptop is the size. Netbook displays usually range from seven to 10 inches, whereas laptops normally start at between 13 and 14 inches. While this inevitably makes the Netbook smaller and more compact, it does restrict the size of the screen, making it limited in its ability to show applications such as films, pictures or games. They also have limited resolution, currently a maximum of 1024×600. Anything below this maximum level of screen resolution doesn’t allow you to view the whole width of a web page at once. So the user has to resort to scrolling across the screen to read an entire line of text. A laptop has a larger screen and higher resolution, allowing you to view the entire web page in comfort.
When it comes to power and battery life, the Netbook wins. Their smaller size makes them much more power efficient than a laptop, giving them a battery lifespan of about three times longer than an average laptop. However, the latest generation of laptops are addressing this issue, and some of the best are now comparable with Netbooks.
Where the laptop beats the Netbook hands down is in the performance. Netbooks may have the advantage of being much smaller and lighter than a laptop, but that strength is also a weakness when it comes to performance. Because a laptop has a larger internal hard drive, it is capable of running a far greater variety of applications than a Netbook. You could, of course, upgrade your Netbook with an additional external hard drive bolt-on, but that really detracts from the point of having a Netbook in the first place. A laptop gives you greater hard drive capacity, higher processor speeds (particularly if you have a dual core processor) and greater graphics memory, making them a far more versatile tool.
Netbooks are also lacking in one major department – they don’t have optical disc drives, so you cannot use CDs or DVDs as you can with a laptop. Yes, they do have Wi-Fi connectivity built in, but that doesn’t make up for the lack of a CD-ROM drive, particularly if you do a lot of work with programmes like Auto-CAD, or have to re-install Windows in the event of a crash!
Smaller isn’t always better
One of the commonest complaints about Netbooks is the size of the keyboard. If you have large fingers, you’ll probably spend as much time correcting typing errors as actually typing out your work. This makes them impractical for exercises such as note taking, for example. The limited processing power in a Netbook means that running any kind of processor-heavy application will also slow the Netbook down considerably – not the most desirable situation if you are trying to watch a download from the Internet or even play a game.
Finally, that clincher – the price. Netbooks are cheaper than top of the range laptops, but even a cheaper, entry-level laptop will have more processing power than a Netbook, and will only be slightly more expensive. So if you want a piece of technology that will do everything you ask it to, the choice has to be a laptop every time.