For the past six months or so I’ve been receiving a lot of flyers in postal mail touting, "If you sign up for internet service with us, you get a new netbook computer!" For many U.S. residents they’ve been seeing the same, and maybe this is even happening in other countries.

Everybody knows that in order to get the computer, you have to subscribe to the ISP. And of course this never applies to the "basic" internet plan. You’ll almost always have to go with the mid-to-premium plan.

In some instances, getting the computer requires you to jump thru a lot of hoops, such as is the case with Sprint. Where they nail you with first is the mail-in rebate. As you know, once you mail that sucker in, you’re the sucker because yet another company has your mailing address to send junk mail to. And then comes the fact that the broadband modem is embedded in the netbook, so you can’t move the service from the netbook to another computer whatsoever.

Very crappy. This is not a "deal" at all.

There was a time not-so long ago when certain ISPs tried to hock supposedly "free" computers, so this idea is nothing new. Back then the PC you received was annoying slow, riddled with built-in spyware/malware and did nothing but make your computer experience nothing short of a nightmare. The modern variant of this is the netbook, but instead of spyware/malware, they lock you in with ISP-specific proprietary hardware.

Note that not all ISPs who offer free netbooks are shady. Some do deliver on their promise and you do legitimately get a new netbook with no hassle or any up front cost for the computer. But I’d still recommend buying a computer outright instead of receiving anything via an ISP "deal."

This is yet another one of those instances where you have to read the fine print, because if you don’t, well.. you know what happens.

As mentioned before, Dave bought a netbook. I went with the Dell mini 10v, he went with the Asus EeePC 1000HE. Both are almost identical as far as specifications are concerned (CPU speed, screen size/resolution, etc.) What it really boils down to when choosing one of these are the details, such as the keyboard layout, power supply type, battery options, RAM options and so on.

For example the EeePC 1000HE does have a matte LCD display while the mini 10v has a glossy. The trackpad on the 1000HE is “taller” with actual mouse buttons while the 10v has the buttons built into the trackpad near the bottom. The 10v has more of a standardized keyboard while the 1000HE is more chiclet style (and yes that is the way it’s spelled).

Earlier in the week I stopped by with my 10v and put it side-by-side to the 1000HE. It’s not a detailed review by any means, but it gives you an idea of the small differences between makes and models. See video below for details.

In a very short period of time I’ve found that in order to get along with a netbook properly, there’s 10 things you absolutely must do.

1. Use Google Chrome

Those who know my browser preferences find this a bit of a shock being that I’m a diehard Firefox user, because I’ve made it no secret that I can’t stand the Chrome web browser.

On a netbook however it’s a totally different story.

Chrome gives you the most usable space for your monitor with the least amount of memory munching. Being that you’re only dealing with a 1024×576 (or 600) screen, space is at a premium. Granted, you can F11 it for full screen with other browsers, but it’s better if you see your menus and tabs. Chrome allows you to do this easily.

If you’re using Firefox the tabs will munch up vertical pixels easily, and so will IE 8. Chrome gives the most vertical space because the status appears as a bar that fades in but isn’t locked – and that’s good. And when you open up new tabs, no extra vertical space is taken up either.

It’s the best browser to use on a netbook, period. And coming from me, that’s saying a lot.

2. Spend quality time with your mouse configuration program.

No matter what model of netbook you use, you will probably hate the touchpad. And I mean really hate it. That’s okay because most people do. The netbook format at this point hasn’t exact found the happy medium for a mouse design, so to speak.

Side note: I do know the perfect design for a netbook’s touchpad – no touchpad. It should be the rubber eraser-tip style thing Thinkpads have. This would work perfectly on the netbook format. Yes, you lose your mouse gestures but I’d happily give them up for the mid-point joystick and two tactile buttons below the keyboard.

Fortunately on the Dell mini 10v and all other netbooks, you can control every single thing it does. It even has sensitivity recognition, so not only does it detect touch (obviously), but also how hard or soft you touch.

It is required for you to sit with this and spend a good amount of time tweaking the settings. There is no fast n’ easy way around it. Fortunately once done, it’s done and you don’t have to do it again.

Or if you still hate it, spring for a laptop mini-mouse.

3. Spend quality time with your monitor settings.

Like with the touchpad, this will take time to set correctly as well. In my situation, the screen was just too bright and too blue. And this wasn’t fixed by putting the brightness setting down a few notches. I had to manually go into the config program for the colors/brightness and set it that way. Once I did, I said to myself, “Okay, that’s the way it’s supposed to look.”

The Dell mini 10v in particular has a really, really bright screen. This is a good feature, but it’s set to FULL-ON BRIGHT out of the box.

4. Know your keyboard.

On more or less all netbooks, certain keys on the keyboard do double duty. On the mini 10v this is seen in the function and arrow keys. This is a non-standard layout, and you won’t take it to like a fish to water. For example, I use PgUp and PgDn a lot – but these are on the arrow keys whereas I have to do Fn+Up to page up and Fn-Down to page down. Being that I’m a keystroke freak, this takes time to get used to.

It should also be noted that most netbooks do not have the faux number pad, that being where the right-side keys serve as number keys when Fn is pressed.

5. Purposely seek out lightweight apps.

Instead of using AIM, use AIM Lite.

Instead of using WinZIP, use 7Zip.

Consider using AbiWord instead of OpenOffice Writer or Microsoft Word.

It’s not that the “heavy” apps won’t work on a netbook as they’ll work fine. But whenever you can use less processing power, the better because it increases battery life and they obviously run faster.

6. Purposely seek out apps that can be installed with no media required.

This means to use apps that can be downloaded and installed rather than something that requires a CD/DVD installation method. You could get around this by purchasing a 50-dollar USB external optical drive or creating ISOs and virtually mounting disks within XP, but that’s a pain to do. You’re better off if you use apps that can be downloaded. Sourceforge will be your best friend here.

7. Spring for the 6-cell battery.

This screen shot speaks for itself:

This is not Windows XP making a mistake as to how long the battery will last for. It literally will run for over 5 hours on a single charge. And that’s with wi-fi enabled! You can easily get 6 if you decrease the screen brightness a few notches and disable wi-fi when you don’t need it.

8. Know your wi-fi hotspots.

Most people don’t bother taking their laptops with them to open wi-fi hotspots because the laptop is too big, too heavy and barely holds a charge over 2 hours and 30 minutes. The netbook gives you over 5 hours with a 6-cell battery and it’s under 3 pounds, so yeah, you’ll want to hit more wi-fi spots.

How to find them? There’s two ways:

First way: OpenWiFiSpots

Punch in your ZIP code and you’ll see the closest wi-fi spots near you.

Second way: Searching for “wifi” in Google Earth.

Use the Google Earth software and position the map close to where you live, then search for “wifi”. Both business and user-contributed wi-fi listings will appear.

Obviously both ways are dependent on where you live. If you live in a more metro area, you’ll find more spots. For example, the metro downtown area of Tampa Florida has an entire area covered for wi-fi called the S.U.R.F. Zone.

9. Get familiar with netbook specific resources for your model.

Each netbook offering has at least one independent web site that is dedicated to what you use. The Dell Inspiron mini for example has www.ubuntumini.com. If you wanted to know everything and anything about Ubuntu on the Dell mini, well, there you go. No matter which make/model you decide to go with, chances are there’s a world of informational resource available to you outside of the company’s web site who manufactured it.

This happens because there’s almost a cult-like following for netbook computers. Except this is a really good type of cult.

10. Know your operating system choices.

The most popular OS on netbooks right now is Windows XP. However Ubuntu does have a “Netbook Remix” version of their own OS. The best part? You can install the whole thing to a single 1GB USB stick and test it out if you like. I’ve done so on my Dell mini 10v and yeah, it runs great.

You can expect other Linux flavors to offer “remix” versions of their own distributions in the near future.

Side note: You’d be surprised how much faster a netbook remix version runs compared to the ‘full’ version of a Linux distribution. If you have an older laptop, you may want to check it out.

I just bought a Dell Inspiron mini 10v. It will be arriving either later this week or early next week.

After examining all the different ways I could purchase it, I decided to go refurb.

Why?

Because it’s nearly $100 less than new.

For a laptop that’s in the sub-$500 range, $100 is a pretty big consideration. In my situation, I paid 23% less compared to buying new, and I got more for the money besides that.

With netbooks you either love or hate them, and you certainly don’t purchase one for speed and power. You want it for the portability factor; this is why I bought one. Later on when I actually get the thing I’ll write up more about it, but for now I’m concentrating on price.

Resale value

Netbooks will not have any significant resale value because laptops of this size are meant to be disposable tech to a degree. I know that in 2 years the 10v I bought will barely be worth $100 at best – and that’s being generous.

This is going to be a cold hard fact no matter which make or model you go with, mainly due to the reason they were designed from the ground up to be inexpensive.

Those who are anti-refurb will do nothing but pay more for the same thing

I know there’s a whole lot of you out there who are decidedly anti-refurb and say, "If it’s not new, I don’t want it." You may change your tune on that when it comes to netbooks.

Refurbs today (at least with Dell) are not like they were years ago. You get all the same warranty choices including extended options with new OR refurb. In yesteryear this was not the case as refurb warranties didn’t offer the same coverage, but now they do and have for some time.

This being the case, those who choose to go new for the same model as a refurb do nothing but spend more money for the exact same thing.

By the numbers

These are the specs of my Dell Inspiron mini 10v. Items listed in bold/red are things you have to pay extra for when buying new as upgrade options.

• Obsidian Black
• 10.1 inch WideScreen True Life Laptop Screen (1024×576)
• Processor: Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache)
• 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 1 DIMM
• 160 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• 6 Cell, 56WHr Lithium-Ion Primary Battery
• Dell Wireless 1510 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
• Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
• Genuine Windows XP Home
• Microsoft Works 9.0
• 32BIT Operating System CD
• Windows Live
• 30W AC Adapter
• Service Software
• Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950

The price I paid for the refurb: $309.21. That’s with tax and shipping included.

If you were to price this new for the exact same model with same upgrade options, the price is $384 and that does not include tax and shipping (if included that would go over $400 easily).

In other words, with new I’d pay $100 more for the same thing.

With netbooks, you are so much better off concerning the pocketbook by going refurb. If interested in a Dell refurb netbook, the site is http://www.dell.com/outlet.

What about other makes and models of netbooks? How do they compare in price?

At present the best price for a netbook is in the high 200s (US Dollar).

The MSI Wind at NewEgg at the time of this writing sells for $289.99. With shipping added in, it still stays under $300 and it’s very close in specs to the Dell Inspiron mini 10v, HOWEVER.. the battery life sucks.

The best part about the refurb Dell I bought is that I specifically sought out one that came provided with a 6-cell 56WHr battery. Netbooks are supposed to be super-duper portable by design, but all that portability means nothing without a really good battery under the hood (literally).

If you are interested in a netbook, the battery should be the first thing you examine. If it’s a 3-cell/24WHr, you’re only going to realistically get 3 hours of use per charge. For a netbook, that’s terrible. Aim for the 32 and 56WHr batteries.

You should always go for the better battery. This is true for any laptop, but it’s especially true for netbooks.

What will the prices of netbooks be in the future?

They’ll most likely stick around the high 200s for a good while yet. However in a year or two it’s possible you may see low 200s for new netbooks.

The one I just bought will definitely not be the only. Future models (and this is happening very soon) will have integrated GPS and more television/tv tuner options for media center use. The existing Inspiron mini 10 already has an HDMI output for such a task.

Portable computer tech is looking really good right now, and it’s getting better. But most importantly, it’s cheap.

I don’t know how this one slipped by me, so apologies that I’m late to the party on reporting this one, but better late than never.

The Xcore86 is an amazing little board because the entire computer is embedded within it. And one of the best features it’s that since it only uses 1.2 watts, it can run without fans.

Even better is that a netbook with this board can be configured to run on 8 AA NiMH batteries for a full 4 hours! And no power brick, just a cord! Amazing? You bet.

And I thought Mini ITX and Nano ITX was cool.. ha! This is better.

See video for yourself. It’s rather amazing. Make sure to watch it all the way thru – it’s totally worth your time.

After checking out the video, does this interest you? Would you buy one?

A few definitions up front: Most people know what a netbook is, which is a small-form laptop/notebook computer. The nettop is the same thing in a desktop form, meaning a small-form desktop PC.

Right now those of us using traditional tower PCs are very used to the ATX or MicroATX form factor motherboard. It allows a fair amount of room to get inside and add or replace things like hard drives, RAM, video cards and so on.

However this may change sooner than we think in favor of smaller computer boxes.

CPU makers like Intel have proven that yes, you can get a decent amount of computing power from smaller processors that don’t emit as much heat. This isn’t to say that the smaller variants can outrun their bigger brothers, but they can keep up. It is the reason netbooks and nettops can even exist.

The nettop is going to be something that will become more common relatively soon, because they can be built inexpensively and sold at a substantially lower price. Netbooks are a hot seller because of this reason, and it stands to reason that nettops should also gain some good market share as good cheap low-cost computers.

So where does this leave the geeks that like to actually build computers? Are we doomed to use PCs that are never meant to be worked on, serving to be disposable appliances and nothing more (like the Mac mini)?

I don’t believe the traditional PC will ever fall out of the market completely, even if the small-factor boxes do replace the big ones we use now.

What I do believe is that we’re going to have to start getting used to smaller parts for our future desktop PCs. Instead of the 3.5-inch hard drive, we’ll be using SSD. Instead of ATX, we’ll use Mini ITX.

The parts aren’t really the problem, it’s the small-factor cases that are. These may prove to be nothing short of bash-your-head-into-keyboard irritating, especially if it’s the the type that is a snap-fit with plastic "teeth" and no screws. Usually a screw-less case is desirable, but not in this instance.

Fingers crossed, hopefully there will be geek-friendly nettop cases. I do believe this above all else is what will make the nettop easy to work on. If the cases are designed with easy-access in mind, then we can continue to do the same things we do now with our big boxes.

At present, I can say with certainty that the nettop in its current iteration is not geek-friendly in the slightest as it’s designed to be an throwaway computer appliance.

But hopefully future nettops will give us, the geeks who like to build, something to, you know.. at least crack open without breaking it?

Yes, this is a netbook 9-inch screen model that I’m talking about.

The computer industry is hurting right now so most of the larger OEMs are slashing prices left and right and Dell is no exception.

The Inspiron Mini 9 is selling well, but evidently not well enough so the price has been dropped significantly.

With Ubuntu Linux installed, the price is $249. With Windows XP, $299. But even with XP, that’s still cheap. I mean, seriously, you can’t even buy used decent units for that cheap.

New laptop, anyone?

A truth: About once a year, someone proclaims very loudly that Linux is Dead with a capital "D" and that Microsoft, once again, is kicking the crap out of it in terms of market share. This year’s honor goes to Robin Harris at ZDNet with the article Windows kicks Linux to the curb.

Personally speaking I don’t think there’s any real way to know the true number of how many people are running Linux on the desktop or laptop. You can’t base it on sales of new computers because people can easily uninstall Windows and put Linux on a computer box. You can’t base it on web traffic statistics because someone using a Windows OS might be using a Linux OS next month – or maybe running a dual-boot system – or maybe using virtual session Windows inside Linux. You just never know.

Per the article linked above, netbook share does not dictate how much Linux is used or isn’t used – that much I know.

I think it’s safe to say Linux does have a foothold in the market simply for the reason people actually know what is and have heard of it. Is it the leading OS when bundled with new computers? No, and it never has been. This is because most people download it instead of actually buy it.

So.. yeah. Linux is "dead" yet again. But for a corpse it seems to be doing quite well.

The netbook style of laptop is hot right now. Really hot. A big reason for this is because the price for them is really cheap (even as low as $250 brand new or $299 for the Dell Inspiron Mini 9), so yes, they’re flying off the shelves as fast as manufacturers can make them.

However as a far as it would suit as a primary computer replacement, the answer for most people would be a flat-out “No.”

Even though I personally champion the netbook format, I won’t say you should use it as your primary computer.

Continued

Recently announced: Best Buy will be carrying MSI’s offering in the itty-bitty "netbook" style laptop, called the "Wind". It will come with Windows XP Home Edition, an Intel 1.6 Atom processor, 120GB HDD, 3-cell battery and comes in black or white.

I’ve been following the netbook-style laptops for a while now and the industry has proven that there’s definitely a market for it. The reasons? Price and portability. These things are on the lower end of the price spectrum and obviously provide the best portability in a pint-sized computer.

Most people who haven’t used a small-screen unit like this would probably say "A 10-inch screen? How can anyone read anything on a screen that small?" The answer is that the native resolution accommodates for the smaller size. You’ll either get 800×400 or 1024×600 native resolution. If those numbers look "odd" to you, bear in mind netbooks are widescreen format. These smaller native numbers make for readability on a netbook screen fairly easy.

If you’re in the market for one of these, I’d recommend going at least 1024 wide on the native because most modern web sites require that when viewing them. Your only option with 800 is to deal with a horizontal scroll bar or use CTRL-Minus to size down the site in your web browser of choice. All major web browsers have this ability.

Most major manufacturers have netbook offerings. Dell has their recently announced Inspiron Mini 9, we all know about the Asus Eee PC, HP has their Mini-Note, there’s the MSI Wind listed above and more are coming. In 2009 you’re sure to see more companies getting into the biz of "smaller is better".

Things the netbook-style laptop has proven

1. More than a few people really don’t care about the optical drive.

Netbooks don’t have optical drives and this is part of the reason they are physically smaller. However it seems that people who buy these units really don’t miss them. True, you can’t burn discs or watch DVD movies on one of these things – but how often are you going to do that compared to everything else you do on a computer? Probably not that often.

The lack of an optical drive is something customers of these units are very aware of, readily accept and have – surprisingly – easily dealt with it.

To note: You could easily attach an external optical drive connected via USB to it if you wanted to if you needed to install apps that were disc-only.

2. It has escaped toy-like status.

When netbooks first appeared most people didn’t deem it to be a "real" computer and shrugged it off as more of a novelty than anything else.

That attitude has changed.

People have found that netbooks – many of which are in the sub-$500 price point – do pretty much everything one would want to do with a portable computer. And that small size is oh-so nice.

3. It "saved" Windows XP.

Vista can’t run on netbooks strictly for the reason that units that small do not have the horsepower to run it optimally.

There is no netbook that I’m aware of that even offers Vista, so for people that want Windows they are given XP Home Edition instead.

Nobody has really complained about this.

And for those that think I’m Vista-bashing, I’m not. The blunt honest truth is that Vista is too "heavy" for netbooks, plain and simple. That’s why it’s not offered on them to begin with.

4. You can easily escape the "Windows tax" by using Ubuntu instead.

On most netbook offerings, ordering one bundled with Ubuntu will shave $50.00 of the total price. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 for example is $349 with Ubuntu and $399 with XP Home.

This is an excellent example of how using Linux can truly cut costs in a great way.

5. Most people don’t need a super-powerful box anymore.

Netbooks are not for gamers, videographers, graphic artists or anyone that needs computer boxes with gobs of storage, memory and speed. This accounts for the vast majority of computer users out there.

Said honestly, the netbook fits in very nicely in today’s computing world. We’ve finally got laptops that truly embrace their portable nature more than any other – and they’re cheap.

This is definitely a form of computing that’s here to stay.

A recent report by the New York Times states that PC makers are shaking in their boots because other manufacturers (like Asus) have proven that yes, you can deliver a usable low-cost low-power notebook to the market that people will actually buy (like the EeePC).

Right now is not a good time for PC makers because it seems that no matter how much they drop their prices, people don’t seem to be buying these days.

I can totally understand why. When you see an EeePC for $300 and fast realize it can do just about everything you need, why would anyone want a $500+ desktop?

The answer to this is for the industry to offer a low-cost "net-top" PC. It would cost roughly the same as the notebook version (around $300). This computer would have no optical drive, a solid state disk and a few USB ports to plug in whatever you need to.

Some would say "Isn’t that what a Mac mini is?" Not exactly; it doesn’t use SSD and has an optical drive. And it’s $600. We’re talking about next-gen low-power/low-cost units here.

We could finally see the advent of the "silent brick" PC, which is what the net-top would be. A small out-of-the-way box about the size of a novel and at a price point that would have most people say "Yeah, I could use one of those."

Watch for it.