Best Netbook Laptops

Acer has become one of the dominant players in the netbook market thanks to their aggressive pricing. The Aspire One D150 is their second model to come to market and increases the screen size from the original 8.9-inch screen to a 10.1-inch screen. In addition, they have increased the battery to a six-cell battery although it is one of the lower running time units for such a battery. Some may be disappointed with the keyboard that is the same as the older smaller model rather than an increased size for easier use. Still, the Aspire One is one of the more affordable netbooks on the market that can be found generally for $350 and can be found for less when it is on sale.

One of the key advantage of the netbook market is the promise of all day computing without the need for external power. Many of the early netbooks failed to achieve such a goal because of the three cell batteries used to reduce their overall cost. Now many companies are rolling out netbook models with six cell batteries. King among these is the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE that features an outstanding battery life they claim to be nine and a half hours. Real world usage will probably get around seven to eight hours which is still amazing. Add to this ASUS redesigning the keyboard layout and including 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth and this is a solid netbook. Prices range from around $380 to $400.

With such small footprints, netbooks are notorious for their small keys and unusual keyboard layouts that can make extended typing or even learning to use a netbook difficult. If you are looking to use a netbook over extended periods of time, you probably want to make sure you get a solid keyboard with a nice feel and sizable keys. Samsung's NC10 netbook leads the market with a 93-percent sized keyboard compared to a traditional laptop keyboard. This extra room plus its nice layout makes it a joy to type on for long stretches. The downside is that the trackpad is a bit smaller than other netbooks in order to fit the keyboard. Prices for the Samsung are a bit more expensive around $450.

Because of their relatively small size, netbook screens tend to be lower resolution than traditional laptop computers. In fact, they can be difficult to read for some people with less than perfect eyesight. A larger screen such as that found on the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 is very advantageous to anyone who is thinking of using the system for graphics or just wants to have more space for applications. Dell's 12.1-inch screen is one of the best in the market thanks to its bright and colorful graphics. The downside to such a screen is the larger overall size making it more like an ultraportable than a netbook. Performance is a bit lower and prices a bit higher as well. Prices range from around $475 and up depending upon configuration.

Business travelers are looking for a solid system that has a good all around performance and features. The HP Mini 2140 is very different from the rest of the netbooks on the market thanks to its aluminum clad exterior that makes it one of the most durable on the market. Add to this a very large and comfortable keyboard and some of the best networking features on the market and this is something that any business traveler who wants a small system will definitely want. It even has the ability to be expanded thanks to its ExpressCard/54 slot that lets it use laptop expansion cards that most netbooks cannot. All of these features do carry a higher price tag starting around $480.

One of the images that many companies want consumers to think about with a netbook is the idea of a pocket computer. Most netbooks are too big to actually fit into someone's pants pocket. Sony's VAIO P series of laptops is an amazingly small computer. The unit is only .8 inches think and weighs only a pound and a half. This clearly makes it the smallest and most portable out of all the netbooks on the market. Sony manages to make the system quite usable thanks to its extra wide display allowing for a sizable keyboard. They removed the trackpad and replaced it with a trackpoint device. Features include a 1600x768 display and built-in GPS. All this style and compact size carries an amazing $899 price tag.

Let's face it, most netbook computers lack the ability to really carry many features because of their low prices. This hasn't stopped people from opening up early netbook models to add in features through a variety of modifications. Not all of the netbook models are so easy to tinker with. Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 has a single bottom panel that can be easily opened up to access to memory, storage and even internal mini-PCI cards. This combined with its hardware that can allow the unit to be converted into a Mac OS X platform make it extremely attractive to those who want to trick out their netbook to do some amazing things. Prices vary with the configurations of the Mini 9 but the base Windows XP model runs around $300.