Netbooks are very specialized computer systems. They are designed to be compact, low cost and have very long running times. In order to achieve these goals, the manufacturers have to make a number of sacrifices. Processors must be slower and have fewer cores making them unable to run certain applications and slower at others.
DVD drives are completely removed preventing playback of CDs or DVDs and making it difficult to install store bought software. They are also restricted in the amount of memory and storage space they can have by the Microsoft operating system licenses. More detail about all of this can be found in my What Are Netbooks? article.
All of these factors make a netbook a very poor choice if it will be the sole computer in a household. While they are functional for basic web browsing, email and word processing, they are not very capable at any multimedia application including graphics, video and sometimes even audio. Anyone looking to get a low cost laptop computer would be better served by a slightly more expensive and less portable budget laptop PC. If price isn't an option but size is, then a more capable ultraportable laptop is also an option.
All of these factors make a netbook a very poor choice if it will be the sole computer in a household. While they are functional for basic web browsing, email and word processing, they are not very capable at any multimedia application including graphics, video and sometimes even audio. Anyone looking to get a low cost laptop computer would be better served by a slightly more expensive and less portable budget laptop PC. If price isn't an option but size is, then a more capable ultraportable laptop is also an option.
