Are netbooks becoming an impulse buy?
By Emily Price
The Asus Eee PC 900A is now available at Best Buy with a price tag under $300. With prices that low, netbooks are almost becoming an impulse buy. Sure, the 900A doesn’t have as many features as other laptops out there, but it will get the job done, with some money left in the bank.
My first laptop (the first one I purchased myself anyway) was a 17-inch MacBook Pro. The Cadillac of laptops from Apple, that thing cost me close to $3000 when I bought it. I had big aspirations with the purchase…I’m a video editor so I loaded Final Cut Pro on the machine, and I like to tweak photos, so Photoshop went on there as well. I was going to make my laptop THE computer I used for absolutely everything.
Quite a few years later, it became apparent that the laptop (while fully capable of doing all those things I mentioned) was still no competition for my souped up Mac desktop. I found myself going to the desktop (and my two 24-inch monitors) to do video editing and photo manipulation rather than using the laptop, which made the laptop turn into essentially a netbook I would use when I wanted to surf the web or chat on IM from the couch or on the road in airports.
If you’ve never had the pleasure of hauling around a 17-inch laptop let me tell you something-it isn’t pretty. I have to carry a larger than average laptop case, and the thing weighs a TON…Ok, maybe not a ton, but definitely close to a ton when it’s on your back all day during a trade show.
The Asus Eee A900 would do all that I typically do with my laptop, but it only weighs a little over 2 pounds. Much more manageable. The laptop has built-in wireless connectivity, USB ports, a card reader, 1GB of memory, an Intel Atom processor (that’s what the a stands for) and a 4GB hard drive. While the hard drive isn’t exactly big enough to make this your only computer, you can easily get an external to cover the slack.
I’m seriously contemplating the purchase of one of these (which takes away from that whole impulse buy comment) however if I just happened to find one while browsing my local electronics store I’d probably bite the bullet and make a purchase right then and there.
Do any of you own a netbook? Was it an impulse buy or something you thought about for a while? Check out this story we covered a few weeks ago about a couple of backpackers carrying these along on their journey.
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October 18th, 2008
17″ laptop=case with wheels. Mine can be used as a backpack as well, by folding up a rigid bottom and clipping on a couple of padded straps.
Everytime I see a stoop shouldered traveler with a large bag banging against their hip, I want to grab them and ask what they were thinking.
I’ve never understood how anyone could wear the torture devices that get sold as women’s shoes either, so it may be just me.
October 18th, 2008
Ken, good point. I have an original EeePc and now I find I NEVER need to take my full-size notebook out into the field. Having a small lightweight device like the EeePC makes life a lot more easier.
December 9th, 2008
I bought an EeePC for school (seriously! lol), and I love it. Since I’ll type up assignments both on campus and at home, and have a knack for forgetting my thumbdrive at home, I use Google Docs and don’t even miss the extra ‘features’ in MS Office.
I keep finding other uses for it also, like a portable music system via Pandora Radio when I’m relaxing in the back yard with friends and a brew.
It’s so freakin’ small and has enough battery-life that I can literally put it in my bookbag and go. And no, I don’t work for Asus (although the employee discount -would- be nice…).