Tech: The Great Netbook Hunt

All the netbook hoopla started off with the Asus Eee, a tiny $300 laptop with a 7" screen and just enough power to run basic productivity applications. Since then, Asus has priced itself out of its own market with a bewildering array of options (including the Eee 1000, a 3 pound beast of a netbook that retails for nearly $600). It seems like every computer manufacturer on the planet is trying to fill the void, as this Cnet story indicates:



I got interested in netbooks after I started to realize that lugging around a 7 pound laptop from class to class gets old, fast. I first tried locating an Acer Aspire One, a well-reviewed netbook that once sold for the bargain price of $350. Unfortunately, at that price point, the One has the singular disadvantage of being impossible to find. Best Buy had some in stock a few weeks ago, but they've quickly sold out, and the market has fixed the real world price of the One at about $400.

Enter the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. It's undoubtedly the most configurable of the netbooks (you can add in more RAM, a bigger SSD, Bluetooth, and even a higher-quality integrated webcam), but the big draw for me is the miniscule form factor combined with acceptable battery life. I ordered one recently, and hopefully, it'll make taking notes in class less of a chore (as well as increase the number of Shangrila Towers posts I can make a day):