In spite of all the nay-saying that met the first Asus EEE mini, which I only this morning sent off to its new home, netbooks are not going away. Originally they were more commonly known as "mini pc's." First users were intended to be children, but like the Alphasmarts before them, nerds and writers quickly took over and embraced them for new purposes. Before the manufacturer's knew what had happened demand completely shifted focus. We wanted the tiny size but better keyboard, screen, memory.
That original mini was, for me, the first 7 inch Asus EEE with only 512mb and a teenie screen and keyboard. Both the smaller screen and keyboard were fine for me, but I discovered my dependence on the portability grew steadily, and before I knew it I was hungry for more RAM, speed, space, and options. Enter the Lenovo s10 netbook, which was only 2 ounces heavier, but came with a full screen and keyboard, plus a full gig of ram. Not only that, but 180mhz makes this little model blazing fast.
Rated just a hair behind the MSI Wind, largely thought to be the best netbook, I prefer the Lenovo simply because it's light, was very inexpensive, and leaves a smoke-trail behind it that none of my full sized laptops could ever match. If I could redesign it the only features I'd change would be the location of the CTRL key, longer battery life (though it hasn't yet been an issue... we all want batteries to last for 8 hours), and a less smudgy surface. If only they'd had it in pink! I got the only model in my state and it was black.
My baby really does take good care of me. This may be the coolest gift EVER.
Honestly, if you are a writer you need a netbook. Why? It weighs barely more than 2 pounds, so you can sling it into your purse. Ideal for surfing, writing, and light tasks, these little work-horses almost force us to write rather than goof off. They require USB or SD storage, since they have no floppy or CD/DVD drives, also saving space and weight.
For serious... they should come with "best seller in progress" printed across the lid.
