Netbooks, smartbooks, laptops -- students and parents are bombarded with choices these days.
The mobile computing experience is getting smaller and faster. People want to be able to put a computer in their pocket and still have it be large enough to not drive them insane. I am a big fan of small computers, but if the experience isn't a good one, the device will tend to sit on a shelf.
(The new Dell Mini is lovely and cheap, but the horrible touchpad and lack of mouse buttons make it a no-go for me. Ditto my trusty old Powerbook, which I love, but the lack of a built-in right button slowly drives me insane every time I use it.)
So let's back up. Is a netbook or smartbook (the term used for a small, powerful computer that has a screen of 10 inches or less) good enough for today's student? Well, no. Many schools are offering them to students to use during the school year and that's fine. However, they are not a good value for overall computing for a couple of reasons.
First, they are pretty costly when compared with a value-level standard laptop, which will offer much more performance for the price. If your kid wants to pop a CD or DVD into that netbook, forget it. If he or she wants to play a substantial game, forget it. They just don't have the power, disc space or RAM. But, that is not why they were created. They were put on the planet as secondary products for executives and people who have a real computer at home or the office and need a smaller device to check e-mail or to keep in touch.
If you're a college student, you are going to go nuts pretty quickly if a small netbook is your only machine. On the other hand, a machine like the Dell or the new HP 1000 may be enough if you are only doing light duty, such as e-mail and a few assignments.
In high school or grades below, a netbook may be OK for portability reasons if the student has to tote the unit back and forth each day. There also is the security concern -- most schools are using these so they can keep the administrative rights to the units so they are not hacked (an effort that will take about 15 minutes with the typical high-school student.)
If money is tight, consider a budget laptop from a first-rate company like Dell or HP and load it with RAM after you buy it. If your student is heading to college, contact the university before you buy anything. The university may have special deals on PCs, it may have a PC that all students are required to purchase or it may have suggested configurations.
Also keep in mind that software such as Microsoft Office is usually sold to students for just a few dollars after they enroll, so you can often save hundreds of dollars by sending them to school without that software and telling them to buy a copy at the bookstore.
(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer-repair firm and a tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com)
COMPUTER CENTRAL
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