netbook

I've been doing a bit of research on my netbook and it turns out that there's a pretty sizable mod community for these Dell Mini's. One site in particular, <a href="http://www.mydellmini.com" title="www.mydellmini.com">www.mydellmini.com</a>, seems to have a very active forum with a number of well put together how-to guides. I am thinking of cracking open the Dell and doing a memory upgrade when I have a little extra money. It's around $25 for a good 2GB stick and while it requires a complete disassembly, it doesn't seem TOO daunting.

Prior to owning one, I never really understood the appeal of netbooks. Tiny, underpowered laptops. What's the target demographic for these devices?

I am proud to say that I have finally figured out the answer to the above question: Desktop users!

It actually makes a lot of sense.

Netbooks are targeted at people like me who prefer work on a desktop but would like a compact computing device to take on a plane, play Peggle on the crapper, check e-mail in bed, etc. I don't need a 17" screen and a quad-core processor to do these things.

I foolishly tried the "performance" laptop thing in order to do work on-the-go. I quickly found out that I was not nearly as productive on a laptop due to the physical limitations of the device. It really is true what they say about extra monitors and productivity, especially when doing anything graphics/multimedia related. On top of that, having slightly over one hour of battery life kept me pretty much tethered to an outlet. Oh, and I don't think they can really be considered laptops if they run so hot as to sear the flesh on your lap.

So netbooks are great and definitely have their place in the world of gadgets. Thanks mom.