Netbook computers: Yes or no?

[I]Editor’s note: This column was originally intended for publication Friday, Feb. 20, 2009, but got stuck in Internet limbo.[/I]

At first blush it sounds like the ultimate tool for tropical life: A tiny, dirt-cheap (under $300), Wi-Fi capable notebook (OK, “subnotebook” or “netbook”) computer that can be toted anywhere. You can check the news over your Shirley’s Special Omelet, update your blog over coffee, then head to Micro Beach to finish work on your blockbuster novel as Jimmy Buffet (or, in my case, Jerry Reed) plays from the hard drive.

Hey, sounds good. It’s a temptation not only for tech-savvy people, but for newbies looking for an affordable entry-level machine.

On the latter note, a lot of families on Saipan are really hurting financially, so a small price tag holds the promise of allowing them to get a first-ever computer. About half the people I know who are buying these, or asking about them, are in the entry-level category.

So do you need one of these things? Does the promise meet the reality?

They’ve caught the world by storm. Although attempts to sell tiny notebooks actually stretch back a lot of years, the concept was more “toy” than “tool” until recently. That’s when, in 2007, a Taiwanese company called ASUS unveiled the weirdly-named “Eee PC.” I happened to be in Taiwan when the first (or what I believe were the first) models were hitting the streets, and I got my hands on one right away.

I can’t think of a good size comparison. How about, a bit bigger than a VCR cassette?

Weight: A bit over two lbs. It didn’t have a meaningful hard drive, but instead employed flash memory on the order of just 2- to 4-gigabytes or so. So, while technically it was very much a computer, in practical terms it struck me as more of an Internet appliance, a cute little tool for, say, checking your e-mail on the road.

The concept took off from there. Just about everyone makes these things now. A typical netbook, pretty much my benchmark for the genre, is the Acer Aspire One, one model of which boasts a 120 gigabyte hard drive, a dinky 8.9 inch screen, the Windows XP operating system (Linux is also a popular option), and 1-gibabyte of RAM. It doesn’t have an optical (CD or DVD) drive, but external drives can be connected via USB. Price is about $299.99 in some cases, which is cheaper than some cell phones.

I think Acer is also Taiwanese. Here’s a terrifying economic tidbit; despite its pioneering tech skills, Taiwan’s economy has fallen over 8 percent (last quarter of 2008, year on year basis). Yikes! If those guys are in trouble, then nobody’s immune.

Anyway, I’ve tried out many makes and models of netbooks. The keyboards don’t happen to suit my grubby little paws, and my pals who are touch-typists report the same misgivings. On the other hand, plenty of people (maybe most people, for all I know) are perfectly happy with the keyboards.

This leads to the most fundamental truth about portable computers, be they notebooks, netbooks, or whatever: They fit everyone differently. I wouldn’t buy a portable computer sight unseen any more than I’d buy a pair of shoes that are randomly-sized.

Saipan is a friendly enough place where you can usually get away with tapping a stranger on the shoulder and asking if you can try their computer for a few minutes, to see if you like it. Even 15 seconds on the keyboard is enough to reveal many design quirks.

I once tried a promising notebook computer (not a netbook) in a store, and I was all ready to buy it (the computer, not the store) but at the last minute I discovered that one of the “Shift” keys was in the wrong place. That would have been one miserable thing to own. And more recently I have talked to people who have bought portable computers with batteries that don’t last even an hour. The fact is that with computers, you can’t really take anything for granted.

But once I find a netbook model that I like, I’ll buy a couple, so I can hide my more expensive computers in a vault or something.

The bottom line on netbook computers is that there is no bottom line. You just have to decide for yourself. Yes, they are cute, but cute doesn’t always do the trick. It just depends on the trick.

[I]Ed is a pilot, economist, and writer. He holds a degree in economics from UCLA and is a former U.S. naval officer. His column runs every Friday. Visit Ed at TropicalEd.com and SaipanBlog.com.[/I]