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Travel A Lot And Need A Computer? Get A Netbook.

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The Netbooks: Acer Aspire – $288.12 | HP Mini – $307.74 | Toshiba Mini – $349.99

By Technology Correspondent Paul Olson

When I travel, I usually bring my laptop.  It’s pretty small – like these – and has great battery life (I can watch DVDs on the plane).  But I’m thinking about getting a travel-dedicated netbook. Here’s why:

Battery Life

Thanks to their tiny screens, netbooks get pretty good battery life – usually 8 hours or better.  If you’re watching movies, expect less (tip: burn DVDs onto your hard drive using DVD Shrink and an external DVD drive).  If you want the best battery life, get a solid state drive (SSD).  These use flash memory instead of spinning disks.  These, however, are expensive, and I don’t think they’re worth it.   You want this thing to be basically disposable. Which brings us to …

Cost

You can get a decent netbook that’ll get you through your travels for around $300 (check out options from Acer, HP, and Toshiba.)  That’s cheaper than an iPad and cheaper than a lot of high-end cell phones.  That’s not exactly disposable, but it’s far from the end of the world if it gets stolen.  And it’s far easier to stomach than getting your primary computer stolen.  You don’t want that to happen. But things could be worse, which leads us to …

Encryption

If you’re traveling with a computer, encrypt it.  Use TrueCrypt and encrypt the entire disk (here’s a tutorial).  What’s this mean?  Basically, if somebody steals the computer, they don’t get to steal your identity too.  They can’t read the hard drive to grab your stored passwords and access your email.  Encryption turns the computer into a brick without the proper password.  This is not the same as setting up a Windows password.  The Windows password simply stops a computer from booting Windows – it doesn’t protect your data.  A thief can still read all the data on the disk if they attach it to another computer. Encryption makes this very, very difficult.

Webcam

Here’s another knock against the iPad – the webcam.  Nearly every netbook has one, which means you can Skype with your family and friends on your trips.  I was just in Paris and was able to give my sister a tour of our apartment thanks to Skype.  International calls are expensive.  Skype is free.

Keyboard

Lastly, if you’re bringing a computer on a trip, it’s probably because you want to get some work done while you’re away.   And if you want to get work done, you’ll need a keyboard (sorry, iPad).   Sure they’re tiny, but they work. Bring a mouse if you really want to synergize.

What do you think? Have you tried this or know somebody who has? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Comments

  1. I’m not a fan of the netbook, especially as real laptop prices drop daily. These days you can get a full featured laptop with a normal sized screen for under $400 (or lower) when on sale. Or, you can spend just 100-200 more for a full featured laptop that will make you much happier in the long run.

    I agree that the iPad is not really a great travel “work laptop”, but that isn’t really what it is meant for so it’s comparing apples (no pun intended) to oranges. Thats a whole different debate anyway though 🙂

    This article wouldn’t have been as bad maybe 6 months to a year ago, but the netbook fad has largely declined since then. I know a few people who bought them when the whole craze first hit and the things are mostly collecting dust now.

    My final advice for anyone seriously considering this is to make sure you try it in a store! These things are not full powered laptops, they can easily become bogged down. Specifically, try running MS Word (or some word processor), internet explorer (or firefox) with a few tabs open, some flash-enabled sites, etc, and you will quickly find the system resources diminishing. Also, not all of these come with Windows; some come with Linux.

  2. I know several people who use netbooks as their primary computers. Your computer should not be getting bogged down from everyday applications, period. I don’t care if it’s running a Pentium II.

    This thing, http://bit.ly/bKGNzM comes with a version of Windows 7 on it for under $300. I’ve edited video on slower computers. Or a nicer one like this, http://bit.ly/agmHGL, at $325 has 31 five star reviews. That’s a great deal if you use a desktop at home.

  3. I own one, and i friggin’ love it. I can do anything with it, well almost. i am always traveling so my “little” laptop is essential to kill some time and try to get some minor thingss done. It doesnt beat a huge computer for speed, but i dont want to carry around a clunky 17″ screen with my as i board a plane. Like Paul said, if you travel its great.

  5. I disagree with Bryan’s statement that the netbook fad has largely declined. I recently purchased an Asus netbook from bestbuy and I couldn’t be happier. In fact, my purchase inspired two of my co-workers to buy them. Beyond that, dozens of strangers have asked me about my netbook while I’m using it in public.

    That being said, the netbook isn’t for everybody. If cost is your primary concern, then Bryan is right – you can get a full-sized laptop for roughly the same price as a netbook. That being said, why should anybody buy a netbook? Here are a few reasons:
    1) portability – I have a large, heavy laptop. It’s a burden to carry it with me while I travel. I prefer the netbook because it’s lighter.
    2) functionality – Most of the time, I don’t need the extra computing power my regular laptop provides. I spend most of my time surfing the web, checking e-mail, and using Word. The netbook is great for light computing
    3) price – You can get a good netbook for between $200-$400 (side note: amazon has great prices). If my laptop was stolen I would be crushed – It’s a $2k machine with my entire life stored on it. If my $300 netbook gets stolen or breaks…well, that sucks…but the alternative is worse
    4) battery life – I get 14 hours. I don’t think I need to elaborate on this.

    Two types of people should get a netbook:
    1) Somebody who takes their computer out of the house and travels with it all the time
    2) Somebody who only has a desktop and wants something portable to do light computing with

    Who definitely shouldn’t get a netbook:
    1) anybody that requires a lot of computing power all the time (graphic designers, for instance)

    If anybody’s interested, I can post about some of the key features you should be concerned with when comparing netbooks…

  6. @Zach — I’d say top 4 features are webcam, battery life, memory, resolution — in that order. Seems like most have decent HD capacity and processor speed. A webcam is a must. Battery life should be 8+ hours. What do you think?

  7. I just returned from a 2 week vacation overseas and the netbook was definitely the way to go. A major benefit is not worrying much about theft or damage since they are so inexpensive.

  8. hi there qvc web site http://www.qvc.com has a sylvania netbook for only $286.96 this includs a 8.9 inch screen 1 gb ram and a 8 gb ssd yes you can still order cheap computers with solid state flash drives if you can learn too use less data yes i have a hp netbbok with 16 gb ssd and dont want too go back too hdd or wait for samsung series 5 with i5 cpu 2 gb ram and a 16 gb ssd for $449