.. or why I love my Acer Aspire One

For me the answer to this question was an obvious and very resounding yes, but for those of you who are unsure if a Netbook is right for you this rant should help you get to the bottom of it.

The first thing to consider is how you use computers and the internet. If you mostly spend your time working on detailed designs, relying on processor heavy software, or constantly playing games then the format may not suit you. If however you expect to use multiple machines and often spend hours browsing or working on text documents then it is definitely worth considering.

As much as I like my full sized laptop & desktop I have often found myself getting overly hot legs from my giant laptop or being hunched over a desk for way too long, so being able to use this tiny machine for casual internet use is great and makes it a lot more enjoyable. It doesn’t have the power of a full sized machine, but often we are not going to use half that power, so why lumber ourselves with a huge bulky object for simple web browsing?

The main thing to realise is that you are not going to use a Netbook all the time, so if you can only afford one machine get a full sized laptop or a decent desktop instead. I adore my Netbook for travelling, and can pop it in my bag every day without noticing the weight, but as soon as I need to do any serious coding or design work I switch straight over to a larger machine/display.

I run the Linux Linpus Lite on my Acer Aspire One, which can obviously restrict you in terms of software, however as the screen size is not appropriate for most work anyway I don’t really find this much of a problem. This model does also come with windows XP for a small increase in price, and might be worth considering depending on skill level/personal preference.

The main restriction of the Netbook is always going to be the screen size, and getting the right balance between screen size and portability is always going to be the most important thing when choosing which model to buy.

From personal experience I can confirm that you do quickly get used to the reduced screen area (although it does make you start to loathe some website layouts), and it doesn’t seem overly restrictive when browsing social networking sites, forums, email and news.

I have heard some criticism of the keyboards, however I have not noticed any problems, possibly due to my small hands but helped no doubt by the Acer Aspire keyboard, which has been getting great reviews and ratings.

I am not going to discuss the merits of currently available Netbooks. There are already plenty of sites out there with those reviews, I only have experience on the Acer Aspire One and great new models are coming out all the time. My only advice would be to go to a local outlet and try as many out as possible to get a feel for what suits you.

So if you are a writer, blogger, tweeter, facebook junkie or general internet addict I would check one out.