The Case For Keeping The Old Netbook

With so many devices on the market, sometimes one can’t help but desire the latest one. But with a strict budget to consider, I have to weigh the pros and cons of getting another electronic toy especially when an old, reliable one continues to suffice. So this is about the case for not buying an ultrabook, chromebook, or a windows 8 device and keeping the ole’ netbook which still meets my needs.

 First, the cons of the netbook. With its Intel Atom processor and even with the maximum allowable 2 gigabytes of memory, it is underpowered and slow. The boot up time takes about four times or more longer compared to tablets. It also takes a long time for programs to load, and so does opening webpages regardless of internet speed. Sometimes whatever you type or click lags. The latest news on this netbook is that Asus has stopped making them.

That being said, let me tell you what I like about it. First and foremost is its battery life. Rated by the manufacturer at 14 hours, it only usually lasts for 10 but still much longer than ultrabooks and chromebooks which only last for about 5 hours at best. Let me say though that I am not talking about Apple products which are beyond my budget. Then there’s the price. Ultrabooks are still expensive because part of what you are paying for is the lighter weight. Although you can buy a chromebook for as low as $200 now, it’s more of a cloud machine which works best if you constantly have an internet connection.  I’m still not sold on the new Windows 8 devices even though I’m already using that operating system on my laptop at home. First, I hardly work in the Tiles area and spend most of my time in the Desktop. Even if I can afford it, I may find that the cheapest Windows 8 RT device may not be flexible enough for my computing needs. As far as weight is concerned, my 3 lb. netbook rivals the weight of ultrabooks and chromebooks, and the keyboard and screen size have never been a problem for me. It even has a 250 gb hard drive which is plenty for my purposes. Besides, I already save my files to the cloud.

The only thing that the netbook requires is my patience due to the sluggish boot up, program launch, and webpage loading.  If I need a quick boot up all I have to do is surf the web, I still also have my trusty old 10 inch Asus Transformer tablet  which has an attachable keyboard that can make the battery last as long as 16 hours. If only I could get used to the android word processors and an easier way to copy and paste to my blog, then I’m golden. And guess what, both my netbook and tablets were purchased as refurbished products, thus cheaper, and they work just as well as brand new ones.

Netbook: Asus eeePC (Windows 7)

Tablet: Asus Transformer TFT 101 (Android ICS)

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