Thoughts from somebody who owns one:
"The batteries last ages"
Or they do now. I have an old one that has only 1 to 2 hours of life.
"They?re surprisingly tough"
Not about to test that.
"The devices are cheap"
As long as you don't buy the models ZDNet tends to recommend, which tend to be $100 more than what they really cost. Got mine for $300, and it works nicely for college.
"They don?t lack functionality"
They are surprisingly functional, I'll give you that. They even include web cams, and they're fine for those who don't need much.
But they do lack higher end features. Gamers and power users won't like them.
"They are good enough"
That's code for "we are going to throw at you the never proven idea that 99% of people only ever use the bare minimal features."
I'm just not that convinced. Most people I've met aren't cookie-cutter people. They have their needs, and their needs are generally different from the needs of other people. Despite the constant tendency to try to make most people out to be "average" - I'm just not convinced, sorry. It's been my experience that most people have at least *some* need for something a bit off of the normal computing experience.
"So why wouldn?t you want one?"
I play games, like most people. As soon as I can afford it, I'm getting a gaming laptop.
I'm not terribly convinced that gaming is "niche" either. Most people I know at LEAST do some casual gaming. Sure, high end gamers may be "niche," but gaming itself is not.
Even casual games are starting to rely more on the performance of higher end PCs, and on a netbook, you tend to notice that some casual games play better than others.
In addition - it doesn't even always play well with the Internet, its primary claim to fame. Gmail takes noticeably longer to load, and you can't watch the highest resolution online videos. Even if it's "enough" for most people, it can be a drag on the overall experience.
Living on the cheap end gives you a pretty mediocre experience. Sure, it's enough for my college work, and I'm sure there's quite a few people out there that barely use computers for much beyond email and internet - but it's far from an ideal machine, and if you can spare the money for something a bit more powerful, it's worth it to pass on the netbook and get something else.
Discussion on:
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