Netbooks: the newest thing in laptops and Windows operating systems.

• Author: Mahle, Adam
• Position: Technology

A new generation of low-cost laptops known as netbooks is gaining popularity. To see if they live up to the hype, I decided to take one for a test drive.

There are many models on the market, but I chose the ASUS Eee PC 1000 because of positive reviews and two important factors. First, it has 40GB of solid state drive (SSD) storage. SSDs can be faster than standard hard disk drives and are also more resilient when banged around, which can be a definite plus for anyone who travels much. Second, the Eee has a track history for easy installation of beta versions of Windows 7. I was eager to try it out.

UNBOXING

The Eee came in a rather small box with the standard equipment. Physically, the power supply is the smallest that I have ever seen on a laptop--but then the Eee uses far less power than most laptops. The Eee came preloaded with a Linux distribution operating system. It was simple, easy to use--and not at all what I wanted.

INSTALLING THE OPERATING SYSTEM

What we wanted was to try out the new version of Windows. Loading it, however, turned out to be a bit of a trick. First, to save size and money the Eee has no CD/DVD drive, so I had to get an external drive with a USB connection. Then the 40GB SSD turned out to actually be an 8GB hard drive and a 32GB SSD--with the 8GB drive as primary. After much trial and error, I finally got Windows 7 loaded. But if an IT guy had to go online for help to get it loaded, what chance is there for non-IT professionals?

Also, though Windows 7 does run on an Eee netbook, it requires turning off some of the flashier system features to do so. Plus, when you install Microsoft Office, you start to see the shortcomings of the low-powered Intel Atom processor in the Eee. After opening just a single Office product, the system starts to slow down significantly. Open two Office programs and it slows to a crawl. Stay away from Microsoft Office and the Eee performs decently. On the bright side, once Windows is running smoothly, it boots up quickly thanks to the SSD drive.

THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING?

There are lots of reviews saying netbooks are the future of inexpensive, ultra-portable computing--and the Eee PC 1000 shows that netbooks are clearly on the way. Other more powerful, newer machines are already in the works--and may...