Netbooks, the hugely popular and (surprisingly) successful mini-notebooks are taking the workforce by storm. These lightweight accessories are becoming a must-have for the professional on the go. A combination of processing speed, hard drive space, and portability, they are what laptops were meant to be. But are they right for you, or your end-users? Here at CTOvision.com, we have created a little quiz to see if a netbook can fulfill your needs.
The Netbook Quiz
Question 1:
Do you travel (a lot)?
Question 2:
Do you find yourself wishing you had your computer with you all the time?
Quesiton 3:
Do you use Office, Browsers, and iTunes, but not much else?
Question 4:
Does your laptop’s battery die/go critical when you need it most?
Question 5:
Do you find yourself more and more annoyed trying to find a way to transport your laptop? Is carrying that extra bag all the time getting quite irritating?
Drumroll Please…
If you’re finding yourself nodding along with those questions, saying yes yes yes, then a netbook is probably a good option for you. Netbooks, from the 7″ to the 10″ size allow you to do your work (especially cloud computing) from whereever you are. Their small size and footprint take up almost no room in your bag/purse (or even a large pocket), plus they weigh about 3lbs (on average). No more lugging around 10 lbs, 17″ laptops for you!
The standard for Netbooks is a 1024×600 pixel screen, an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 100GB hard drive, and Windows XP SP3. The sum total of those parts is a zippy machine that will run Office (or Open Office) flawlessly, connects instantly to any WLAN, and cruises the Internet with grace.
The main competitors in the netbook market are the two giants (HP/Dell), The incipient netbook producer (Asus), as well MSI, Samsung, and Acer. A quick Newegg.com search returns 48 netbooks, ranging from $279.99 for an Acer EEE PC to $899.99 for a Sony 8″ VAIO.
Netbooks as an IT Solution
So what can a netbook do for you, the CTO, of your firm? Well, they are cheap. Really cheap. Less than $500 per machine usually. Think about all those end users with $1500-$2000 powerhouse computers that only are used to type, email, and browse. Netbooks also use roughly 50% of the power of regular laptops. They pull in about 40W instead of the 75W+ standard A/C adapter. Not only do they require less power, but they have larger battery life, requiring they spend less time charging. Some netbooks have battery life of up to 10.5 hours – let’s see if your 15.4″ notebook can compete with that.
Some people won’t like the small form factor, which is completely understandable. However, there are a few way to mitigate this – use one the new netbook docks allowing one to incorporate a full size mouse/keyboard and monitor at their desk. Some even have full sized keyboards, the Samsung N120 has a 98% full sized keys that make typing a breeze.
In total, how do netbooks help firms achieve that magic buzzword – ‘Green’? It’s easy, they use less power, require few resources to create, and give off less heat. These are 3 attributes that are basic requirements to creating a green environment and workplace.
So think about integrating netbooks into your firm’s IT offerings. They can give you new capabilities while cutting costs and energy bills.
About RyanKamauff
