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by websites420 1841 days ago
Really? I recall netbooks being pretty bad. Cramped keyboards, short battery life, weak processors... the worst of all worlds, really. What attracts you to them?
2 comments

Not the parent, but back then they had longer battery life than conventional laptops, 93% size keyboard, were really cheap (great for me as a student) and were fine for browsing the net (for about a year, then the websites became suddenly a lot more complex) and remote work.

I remember trying to buy an eeePC in a computer store and when I said it is for programming the guy there didn't want to sell me one but tried to sell me a 17" monstrosity. But I needed it for travel and to do office and coding work and most of the time I used SSH to a more powerful PC anyway.

The only stupid thing was that Microsoft artificially limited netbooks to low resolution and low RAM. You could apparently either build a netbook, or a fully-featured laptop, but not a small-format laptop without getting some kind of license penalty. Same a couple of years later when Intel and MS mandated that Ultrabooks have glossy touchscreens and motion sensors and could be maxially X mm thick.

I'm writing novels outside in my spare time. Unfortunately, for people like me there are no reasonable options, especially since I need Windows (special software). The SunBook were too expensive to me (+tax and international delivery). I've given up by now and just buy the cheapest smallest laptop I can find, plus a power pack. It makes continuous backups so if it explodes in the sun I wouldn't lose too much work.

My EePC was better than what I have now, at least it had a matte screen and 12 hours battery life with a replacement battery, but unfortunately was stolen.