Netbooks are a cheap alternative to laptops

Now may not be the time to splurge on a new computer, but what if that new laptop only cost two hundred bucks? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

A netbook is similar to a notebook computer. The tiny laptop may be the perfect fit for the traveling business man or college student; it’s smaller and cheaper than your typical laptop.

The netbook is great for doing the basics like surfing the web or typing a word document.

Best Buy offers three versions of the laptop. “The three main ones, starting at $199, it’s the smallest one, it uses a Linux operating system so it’s something not a lot of people are used to, it’s just a very old operating system, said Best Buy computer specialist Jesse Tew.

Tew said the major difference between the three netbooks is their operating systems.

The most basic, and cheapest is an Asus computer that uses Linux. It’s an older system, but very simple.

Tew elaborated, “The second one we offer is $349.99. It has 128 gigabyte hard drive, but this is a spinning hard drive so it can be damaged with luggage and stuff such as that. And then the last one is $399. It’s a little HP that we have, a little larger screen, a little sharper. It’s doesn’t have the spinning hard drive so it’s a little more durable for most people, little larger to carry around too.”

All three feature a nice, widescreen monitor.

For a few hundred dollars more, it may seem worth it to skip the netbook and get yourself a regular laptop, but you have to install all your software with your laptops now, and a lot of the small netbooks actually come with the software for you.

By the time you add all programs and accessories, a $700 laptop could end up costing more like a thousand dollars.

The netbook does not have a CD-rom drive, but it does have a USB port you can use to transfer files. If you want to use a netbook for burning a CD or watching a movie, you’ll have to upload the music or movie ahead of time.

Another downside of the netbook is that the battery life is not as long as a standard laptop, lasting about three hours compared to about four hours for a standard notebook computer.