Netbooks Hit the Mainstream

As I write this, the White House has agreed to loan GM and Chrysler $14 billion to keep them afloat until late January. Bernie Madoff has “made off” with an alleged $50 billion of various investors’ money. Closer to home, the morning paper reported Sonoma County unemployment is at a 14-year high of 6.5 percent (although we’re doing better than the rest of California, where unemployment stands at 8.4 percent). Generally, the world is looking pretty grim—at least on a financial front—and for North Bay companies, it looks to be a slow slog through much of 2009.

It seems pretty clear that keeping the joint running will be the first order of business in 2009, and that very few of my readers are likely to be interested in buying new technology for their business this year. So, what am I supposed to write about? New technology, of course.

These days, all the cool kids are buying “netbooks”—small (seven to 10 inches), lightweight (two to three pounds) computers, typically running Windows XP with built-in Wi-Fi connections. Costing in the neighborhood of $500 and coupled with up to five hours of battery life, netbooks are great replacements for full-size laptops if all you want to do is browse the Web, run iTunes and check email. Examples of netbooks include the Asus Eee PC, Dell Mini, Acer Aspire One, Hewlett-Packard Mini 1000, Lenovo IdeaPad and MSI Wind. On a recent visit to Costco in Santa Rosa, I found both the HP Mini 1000 and the Acer Aspire One on display. When you see something in Costco, you can be pretty sure it’s gone mainstream.

If you’re considering a netbook, remember these are small devices, which means their keyboards are proportionately smaller as well. Typing on a 7-inch keyboard is a different experience than what you’re probably used to. Most people will probably do best with the 8.9-inch or 10.2-inch netbook models.

Some netbooks are offered with Linux (an open source operating system) instead of Windows XP and come with a correspondingly lower price. But unless you’re specifically looking for a Linux-based netbook, the cost savings will be quickly outweighed by the time you’ll spend getting used to the unfamiliar environment.

As I write, Radio Shack is offering a limited-time offer on Acer Aspire One with built-in wireless broadband for only $99. While this option frees you from having to find a Wi-Fi connection, the downside is the $60 per month charge for AT&T wireless broadband service, which effectively raises the price to $1,540. If you’re serious about wireless broadband connectivity, I’d recommend purchasing whatever netbook best suits you along with wireless broadband service and a USB network adapter from Verizon, AT&T or Sprint (I use Verizon). The separate USB adapter means you can use your wireless broadband with your existing computers as well as your netbook, something that’s just not possible with a built-in device.

Most netbooks these days also come with an integrated Web cam, which means you can use them for video chat, something that’s risen in importance for me since my daughter went off to college in Virginia. Personally, I’d avoid any netbook without a camera. Similarly, most netbooks come with a three-cell battery by default, but if you’re intending to use your netbook on coast-to-coast plane trips (or in other situations where you’ll be without AC power for extended periods), you should consider a six-cell battery, which will double the expected run time at only a slight increase in bulk and weight.

A minor downside of these netbooks is that, to reduce weight and prolong battery life, they don’t come with integral DVD drives. Of course, with your Wi-Fi connection, you can always watch something on Hulu.com. I’m watching “Burn Notice” these days, which is cleverly written and worth your time if you like spy-related stories (disclaimer: I know the show’s creator). But you can’t watch a movie on a plane without an external USB DVD drive or ripping the content to the netbook’s hard drive (and violating six kinds of copyright law, I’m sure).

As services move into the cloud (see last month’s column, “2009 Forecast: Cloudy, with a Chance of Windows”), devices like netbooks and iPhones are going to become completely adequate for most people’s computing needs. With the actual heavy lifting being done “in the cloud,” all you’ll really need is a machine that does a good job of running a Web browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome.

I’m hoping Santa will put one of these little gems under my Christmas tree. (After all, what’s Christmas without toys?) I’ll let you know if he delivered in a future column. The netbook will probably replace my bulky laptop on trips, but I’m sure I’ll still use my iPhone, since it works almost everywhere, not just where a Wi-Fi connection can be had.

Speaking of iPhones, my new favorite free iPhone application is by the Weather Channel. The default weather app that comes with the iPhone always leaves me wanting information, mostly since almost any chance of precipitation shows as the “rainy” icon. With the Weather Channel app, I get all the information I need. Just go to the App Store and search for “weather channel.” I highly recommend it.

New TechTalk blog

One of my minor regrets about writing this column is that there’s so much online content that I can’t link to from the pages of the magazine. And each column is a standard 1,000 words, which can look odd when I only have 213 words to write about a particular topic (like a new iPhone app). So, Northbay biz has thoughtfully started a blog, which you can find in the left hand-menu at www.northbaybiz.com under NBB Blog. By the time you read this, I should have several posts in place, so drop in and participate online. The whole goal is to make it easier for you, my ever-faithful readers, to let me know what’s on your mind.