Saturday, February 7, 2009

Netbook Networking

My daughter has decided that it'll be difficult to sit at a desktop computer and multitask with all the stuff she'll need to do to keep Teddy fed, changed and happy. However, she doesn't want to completely lose contact with the online world either.
The solution is some sort of wireless laptop - specifically a netbook. These lightweight Internet appliances are perfect for travel activity - either moving around the house, researching restaurants in a hotel room on a motor trip, or even emailing on a cruise ship.
Sarah's a demon touch typist, and I was concerned that the typical 7 or 9 inch netbook keyboard would be frustrating for her. We found the solution I think. It's a Dell Inspiron Mini 12 - larger 12 inch screen and an almost full size keyboard. It weighs a bit more than a kilo and is as thin as a Macbook Air. She ordered it from Dell and it should arrive next week.
These netbooks have state of the art wireless hardware but otherwise are solid 2003 technology. The Mini 12 has an Intel Atom Z530 processor and a Poulsbro chipset - low power, slow 1.6 GHz single core processor, maxed out memory at 1 GB. The original models ran Vista Home Basic and it was painful to watch. The second generation Mini 12s offer a step back to Windows XP or a step forward to Ubuntu Linux.
If you choose XP it costs more to buy the netbook, and you can only get Microsoft Works installed on your machine. You have to buy and install Microsoft Office or download and install Open Office. Of course Ubuntu comes with all the software you need right out of the box. Ubuntu is also a great choice for a netbook because it'll boot faster and use less resources - no need for CPU sucking security applications. The final advantage is that Sarah will have the opportunity to learn and use Linux - one never knows if and when such a skill will come in handy at the office.
Of course Grandpa the geek is all ready to provide whatever IT assistance is needed.

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