What's the difference between Netbooks and notebooks?

Donna.

Be careful. Netbooks may be what you are looking for: they are small, light, and easy to carry. But, many of them have very small storage systems. Some with as little as 8 GB solid state memory. Some have as much as 160GB hard drives. But be aware also that the batteries may be so small that they last little longer than 2 hours, not enough if you plan to travel long distances. Nearly all of them lack a CD/DVD drive.

Aside from these caveats, they are the wave of the future..

Netbooks are designed for people that just want a portable machine for browsing the internet, or maybe listening to some mp3's.

If this is all you are looking for then a netbook could be just right for you. However, it is good to try something out on your PC first.

The asus EEE netbook for instance has a 800x480 screen resolution. (The newer ones are slightly higher resolution). This to me is the main reason I would never own one. You can test out if this would be something you can deal with by changing your desktop to this resolution on your own computer and try surfing the web with it. I find it hard to deal with anything under 1280x1024 resolution myself. You may not have this difficulty however.

They do have a niche though and their small size, no moving parts design and decent power efficiency make them attractive for mobile users. If size is that important though, you could even look at the smartphones, the itouch from apple or the new g1 from google. This will give you an even smaller size, and doubles as a cell phone.

"A netbook is a streamlined mobile device designed for the Internet, so you can stay connected on the go. Get up-to-date news, the latest scores and weather information, access your e-mail and social networking sites, and enjoy digital videos, photos and music.

"Netbooks may look like laptops, but they don't have the full capabilities of a computer. Instead, a netbook specializes in mobility and the Web, so it's great for travel or as a supplement to your main PC

Q: I'm considering buying a netbook (a mini notebook computer). Aside from the smaller screen and tighter keyboard arrangement, are there other big drawbacks to consider?

A: Netbook is the newest name for something that's been around for years. They're half the weight of a regular notebook PC and considerably smaller. Those are big advantages for business travelers or students who must lug a notebook on a daily basis.

As you point out, there are some disadvantages. Netbook screens are smaller than their notebook counterparts, averaging 9 inches diagonally. The keyboards are smaller, too - although not too much (the keyboard on the HP Mini-Note is only 8 percent smaller than the keyboards on the company's full-size notebooks).

Netbook pricing is all over the map. Entry-level machines running Linux operating systems start at less than $400. But a Windows-based HP Mini-Note with 1 GB of memory and a 120-GB hard drive goes for $600. If you are serious about getting a netbook, I'd shop among Dell, HP and Acer, the leading makers at this point.

Will netbooks finally make it into the mainstream? I'd say yes. In the past, they've failed to catch on because of their smaller keyboards. But to the new generation of users weaned on number pads and the tiny keyboards of cell phones and BlackBerrys, a netbook keyboard must seem gigantic.
(This is from David Einstein's computer Q&A column every Monday in the SF Chronicle. He has a lot of good answers and a lengthy archive. Well worth the trouble to read, and no, he doesn't know me and I don't know him)

hi, netbooks are the tiny and cheap way of a computer. They lack performance and come with small hard drives and rarely have windows xp or vista as an OS choice. if you do buy a netbook you are going to be 100% dissatisfied in about a day after you bought it!!

Netbooks are an underpowered computer in a notebook form factor. Netbooks are designed for basic internet access only. They are built to surf the web and get e-mail, but if you wish to do any type of computing work, i.e., spreadsheets, gaming, databases, etc., you will need a full notebook. Netbooks are built with the new Intel Atom processor which is a really low power cpu that is designed to extend battery life by minimizing performance. A true netbook will come with Windows XP installed because it is not powerful enough to run Vista. If you are just looking for something small and lightweight but with enough power to be a true computer, you might want to look at something like the HP 2133 Mini-note PC or a Samsung Q1 Ultra Mobile PC which uses a tablet PC form factor.

TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS NETBOOK NOTEBOOK
Price Under $500 $400 - $3,000
Processor Intel Atom Intel or AMD Dual Core
Memory Hard Drive (80 GB) or Solid State (16 GB) Hard Drive (80 to 250 GB)
Operating System Linux or Windows XP Home Windows Vista
Screen 9? - 10? 12? ? 17?
Weight Under 3 lbs 5 to 9 lbs
DVD / CD Drive None [cannot load software except through download] Yes; CD, DVD, Blue Ray options based on price
Webcam / Microphone Option Option
Wi Fi / Blue Tooth Yes / Option Yes / Option
Application Software Limited such as Sun Open Office Full Office Suite from Microsoft (Option)
Target Use Internet Surfing Full Personal Computing. Entertainment center with options.

Hi,
Netbooks are used basically to access information from the net wirelessly. Usually it will be 7" to 10" screen size with low hard disk capacity and comes with a low price tag. No personal informatuion are usually carried in it and therefore easy to dispose off.

Notebook in addition of accessing internet that can connected both wired or wirelessly and can be used for all computing activities. It comes with bigger/wider screens higher HD capacity and are more resourceful. People often carry personal information in a notebook that comes at a higher cost.

Hope this will claer your doubt.

Thanks

and using Gmail, and other online applications.

Not a desktop replacement, they use Intel ATOM processors with lower memory (512K - 2MB) and flash memory and/or smaller hard drives.

Smaller screens 1024x600 and smaller keyboards.

Might be just what you are looking for!

Not for heavy Photoshop use.

If you're comfortable with the keyboard, and are fine with the smaller memory (that you get with some, not all netbooks, besides, a decent-sized SDHC card should fix that), you'll have no problem with a netbook. That is, unless you want to play some recent 3d games. If you're not planning on playing any recent games, you can't beat the $300 to $500 prices on these things. I've got one already, and I absolutely in love with it. If you feel like tossing some Classic console games on it (who wouldn't love playing a bit of Super Mario every once in a while) you'll find they're great for that as well.

Even if you've got a problem with the screen size, you can always plug in your existing monitor and/or keyboard and simply use the system when you're at home like that, then take it around for a few hours on the go!

They're unbelievably durable as well! If you find someone with an Eee PC already, feel how sturdy one of those things are, I think you'll be sold as soon as you use it.

I'd say buy one without a doubt!

Notebooks and Laptops are portable computers but there is a minor difference between laptops and notebooks.

Laptop: A portable computer small enough to use on one's lap.

Notebook: A light, portable computer that is generally thinner than a laptop.

Even according to Webopedia, laptop computers are more frequently called notebook computers, though technically laptops are somewhat smaller in size than notebooks.

It's quite simple: Netbooks are indeed smaller than notebooks; we usually say that a netbook can have a screen up to 10 inches from corner to corner. Netbooks are cheap and have relatively slow processors, but this is because they are designed for more basic tasks.

You'll also find that netbooks don't have optical drives. They sometimes have Solid State Drives (SSDs) instead of Hard Disk Drives, which are lower capacity but have no moving parts and should, in theory, increase battery life and speed. The last difference is that most netbooks can run either Linux or Windows XP.

Some people look at notebooks and netbooks and think "Why should I buy a device with a 9 inch screen, slow processor, no optical drive for $500, when I can buy a full-featured notebook for the same amount?". The difference is convenience and speed. A netbook is more convenient because it is generally more resistent to the elements, it's lighter, and it usually has a lighweight operating system. The processor itself isn't as powerful, but there's much less processing that needs to be done with Windows XP or Linux in order to be usable.

Netbooks these days come with one of three processors:

1. Intel Atom. Special low-power processor, which you will see in most netbooks.
2. VIA. Another low-power processor by a chip manufacturer who specializes in this stuff. VIA actually has a reference design for netbooks, and a lot of VIA-based netbooks use this exact design. (the Everex Cloudbook and the Astone UMPC are two examples).
3. Intel Celeron M. Not a good idea - it's just a standard cheap notebook processor.

If you're just looking for a portable computer to take along with you on your travels, to check your e-mail, chat on Skype, watch some Youtube videos, write letters, then a netbook is what you want. If you're going to do intensive image editing, multimedia authoring, gaming etc then a notebook is more suited to your needs. A netbook can do those sorts of tasks too, but more slowly. Heck, even a notebook isn't really appropriate for these sort of things.

I mentioned before that netbooks often come with a choice of Windows XP or Linux. I recommend looking seriously at the Linux models. They don't contract viruses, which means your computer doesn't waste power running viruses in the background. They are often cheaper and come with SSDs, which are faster. The Linux distributions that are on these machines are right up-to-date with the latest software, unlike Windows XP which is about seven years old. They are less likely to crash or need reinstallation, their operating system uses less power because it is specifically designed for the low-power platform, and the interface is designed to be very easy to use too.

Whether you buy a Windows or Linux-based netbook, you can run the other operating system on it, but the Linux netbooks use a special modified Linux distribution to give you the easy interface and the low power use.