Buying Guide - How to Find Netbooks?

Netbooks provide a low-cost, ultra-portable alternative to budget laptops and are ideal for casual web browsing, email, and light document creation. Unfortunately, the market has become so saturated that choosing the right one can easily become a daunting task requiring large amounts of time and energy. In order to make the process easier for you,  If you are considering a netbook, it is likely that you are very concerned about the overall portability of your purchase, in which case it is recommended you pay close attention to size and expected battery life. If you are not as concerned about portability, then it is recommended you focus primarily on price as low cost is another key benefit of choosing a netbook.

How to Find Netbooks?

Smart Rating
The Smart Rating weighs the specifications of each netbook and combines the score with a weighted average of expert ratings from various publishers such as CNET, Laptop Mag, PC Mag and Engadget.

Battery Life
Battery life is often used as an indicator of portability, but it is important to note that a larger battery will mean an increase in both size and weight. One of the key benefits of a netbook is increased portability so be sure to pay close attention to the tradeoff between batter life and size

Display Size
The diagonal measurement of the netbook's screen size in inches.Be sure that the screen is large enough for your needs, but be careful not to over buy. While it may be tempting to go for that largest screen possible, it is important to consider the effect this screen will have on the expected battery life of your netbook. The larger the screen is the more power it will consume, and as a result, the shorter the expected battery life of the netbook.

Range
10 inches
10.46 inches
12.10 inches

MSRP
The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. The actual price you pay will vary depending on the retailer you choose and the upgrades you purchase.

Storage Amount
The amount of internal memory storage the netbook has. Netbooks are ideal for users who spend most of their time browsing the web and do not have large storage requirements. If you are unsure as to the amount of storage you will need, there are several ways you can estimate your future storage requirements. If you already have a computer, the best way to start would be to check the amount of storage you are currently using.

For those of you who are purchasing your first computer, we have included some guidelines in order to help you estimate your future storage requirements:

1,000 Megabytes (MB) is equal to 1 Gigabyte (GB) and 1,000 GB is equal to 1 Terabyte (TB).
Large high-resolution photos will typically use between 2-3 MB of storage each, while smaller thumbnails can typically be compressed to about .2-.5 MB.
A two-hour Standard Definition movie will typically use between 2-3 GB of storage, while its High Definition counterpart would use between 3-5 GB.
Advanced video games can use up to 5-7 GB of storage each.

Don't worry if you are still unsure how much internal storage you will need. Should you find that you did not purchase a netbook with enough internal storage for your needs, you will always have the option of purchasing an external hard drive or using an online back up and storage service at a later date.

What to Avoid in Netbooks?

Netbooks vs Tablets vs Budget Laptops
If you are considering a netbook, you may also want to look into purchasing a tablet computer or budget laptop instead, as these alternative options will offer similar levels of performance with slight variations in screen size, portability, and price.

Netbooks are typically very compact and will always offer a full-size, physical keyboard that makes them ideal for editing text and typing emails. A potential downside to netbooks is their decreased screen size, as the manufacturers will often sacrifice this in order to decrease cost and weight while simultaneously increasing battery life.

Tablet Computers are ideal for reading ebooks, browsing the web, social media and light email. Their form factor makes them easy to hold while you read and browse, but their lack of a physical keyboard makes any text editing or composition somewhat difficult.

Budget Laptops will often offer similar specifications as either a netbook or tablet, but at a much lower cost. The lower cost is due to the fact that these budget laptops will be much larger and much less portable than their netbook or tablet counterparts.