Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a new phenomenon emerge. A phenomenon called the Netbook, that has brought the concept of a smaller, more affordable laptop. These miniature laptops provide quite a big bang for their buck. They revolutionised mobile computing by offering decently powered notebooks at very affordable prices with a LOT of battery backup sometimes reaching to up to 10 hours of usage. All this was possible thanks to the new line of mini processors launched by Intel known as the ATOM family of processors. They use very little power and provide computing platform, that although, not powerful, is good enough for browsing, using documents, Spreadsheets and such and even the occasional movie. As soon as this technology came to be, every laptop manufacturer started churning out their own version of netbooks carrying a multitude of features. The first laptop has been launched by ASUS known as the Eee Pc 701 that came with a 900 MHz Intel Celeron M processor. But now there are 100’s of netbook variants by different manufacturers having one thing in common. AMD has also launched a range of low processor to power netbooks, but Intel’s Atom processors largely dominate this segment.

But the main question is that if it’s worth buying a netbook. After all, a netbook isn’t for everyone. Power users, gamers, anyone needing a larger display and those using image editing software should steer clear of netbooks. And how should one choose a netbook that suits their needs.

Choosing a netbook isn’t generally as difficult as buying a desktop or laptop because there isn’t much difference between them. Even though they are manufactured by different companies and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, their internal components more or less remain the same with base set of features present in almost every netbook.

So lets start off with talking about all these features. First comes the processor. Now as I mentioned, almost every netbook available is now using the Intel Atom processor that basically has two variants. The Intel N270 which runs at 1.6 GHz or the N280 which runs slightly higher at 1.66 GHz. These processors use low very less power and are capable of running a variety of operating systems including the windows 7 OS along with preserving power hence giving you more backup. Also if you are looking for a little more punch and don’t really care all that much about a lot of battery backup then you can go for the dual core version of the Atom processor called the Atom N3xx series of CPUs, like the N330 that runs at 1.6 GHz and has a total of 1 MB cache. So here choice isn’t that vast and if you’ve decided that you need an ultra portable netbook for basic work functionality and internet browsing then choosing any option would be viable depending in how much you are willing to shell out.

Now comes the size. Netbooks are basically meant to be small, cheap and lightweight which can be carried around in a backpack or a handbag without the hassle of it being a burden by taking too much space or making it heavy. So technically you should look for a netbook that’s as small as possible. The sweet spot for netbook display sizes is 10.1-inches. Since the size of the netbook is limited by its display size, most 10.1-inch netbooks will have a display that will have a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Also since any keypad cannot be wider than the display size, you are looking at a smaller keypad. Some people just cannot use a netbook on account of the really compact and cramped keypad. Netbook keypads are even more cramped than 11.1-inch and 12.1-inch notebooks. Obviously, a notebook will also have a larger display resolution. So keep in mind the resolution of the display and size of keyboard before buying a netbook.

Now we’ll talk about the battery life. Essentially netbooks aren’t meant to perform well at processor heavy tasks such as Photoshop rendering or playing games. Even a basic laptop will out-perform an Atom N330-based netbook. Netbooks have been designed keeping battery life in mind, and thanks to the extremely frugal processor and accompanying components they can achieve this. So almost every manufacturer is boasting about 8 to 12 hours of battery backup with their netbooks. Many manufacturers may also cut down this battery backup for two reasons, one is that a bigger battery makes the netbook considerably heavier, and makes it costlier. Such netbooks come with a 3 cell battery which can provide up to 2 or 3 hours of backup. But if you want your netbook to run longer then its advisable to go for one with a 6 cell battery that has a power rating of 6600 mAh which would give you about 5 to 6 hours of backup, or a more powerful battery with a rating of 8700 mAh that can give you 10+ hours of backup.

Next comes storage. Now this is very important when considering a netbook. Netbooks are built with cost and size constraints in mind. So you can’t expect it to have 500 GB or a 1 TB hard drive. Mostly all netbooks come shipped with a 160 GB, 4200/5400 rpm drive. Such a drive is usually compacter and weighs less, additionally it helps keep the cost again. Another option is to go for an SSD, but they are tons costlier and offer up to 10 times less storage space. Also if your netbook comes shipped with an SSD and Windows XP then its not much of use because windows XP isn’t really optimised for an SSD so you would need to install windows 7 after which you would have space enough only for a dozen movies an a few hundred songs. You could however go for 7200 rpm drive but would have to sacrifice on some battery life.

One aspect of netbooks that may differentiate them is the RAM present in them. Most of them come with 1GB of DDR 2 ram. Most netbooks running the Atom N270 or N280 max out at 2 GB RAM so if you get a netbook with just one gigabyte of RAM, its almost necessary to upgrade it to 2 GB, so you may need to get another 1 GB stick of RAM that may cost around Rs. 1,200. If your netbook has a single slot of RAM, you’ll have to ditch the 1 GB stick and opt for a single 2 GB stick. This would be priced at around Rs. 2,500. You could also consider 4 GB, especially if you’re running a dual core Atom processor on an NVIDIA ION platform, although this is slightly overkill for a netbook processor.

Graphics processing is very poor in netbooks. As they haven’t been designed keeping high end gaming in mind they may come with a basic on board graphics card good enough to play standard definition movies or even some high def movies but no high end gaming. They come shipped with the Intel GMA 950 chipset that has a 400 MHz core that is capable of performing most 2D and 3D operations including the visualisations that come in windows 7. So if you want some gaming grade performance the only option available is the NVIDIA ION platform which is based on the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU that supports DirectX 10 and open GL 3.2. Obviously, it’s not going to handle a game like Crysis but it can surely give you a smooth performance with a game like Warcraft 3. But all this performance comes at the cost of battery life, which will reduce at an alarming rate – after all graphic solutions are power hogs.

When Netbooks first came out they all ran on just one OS, LINUX! The reason was very simple. This open source based OS ran great on entry-level computers and could be shipped with the machines for a cost net to nothing. But since Microsoft revised its licensing fees almost 90% of the netbooks now come shipped with the Windows XP OS. And since October last year, a new OS has come to light, the Starter Edition of the Windows 7 platform which has been specially aimed towards the OEM netbook segment. Even though Windows 7 starter edition works almost seamlessly on the netbooks with only a, slight performance degradation when compared to XP. It has almost no features when compared to the full version of Windows 7 and its not really recommended. So you are better off getting a netbooks with XP, or upgrading it to the windows 7 Home Premium Edition.

Last but not least one should see all the connectivity options present in the netbook. Almost all netbooks come with an 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi card, an Ethernet port, at least 2 USB ports, Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Some of them now come shipped with a build in 3G card which allows you to wirelessly connect to the net without depending on a wifi hotspot or a wired broadband connection. The only two options available are either buying a netbook form a telecom service provider or purchasing a usb dongle and plugging in your existing SIM card.

So there you go, it should be a lot easier to choose a netbook now that you know what are the basic features and components you can choose from. Most netbooks cost between 12,000 and 20,000. If the cost is any higher its better to go for a proper laptop with a 13.3 inch display by spending about 5 or 6 thousand extra, and get a lot more in computing power and features. Obviously, you would lose battery life and portability.