What did you make of your Netbook?

That is very cool. In fact it almost makes a netbook something to consider. Because until now the only use I could see for a netbook was to prop up that wobbly table in the corner.

I love my netbook, I have a 1000H also (exactly like the one above only white)

My netbook is multi-purpose at the moment, its part book writing machine (thanks to Q10 - http://baara.com/q10/) - Part Facebook, Myspace, IM machine thanks to my girlfriends laptop dying, and part mobile tech powerhouse thanks to a shit-load of free portable apps and a heap of custom software I've written myself (I'll be hopefully releasing some software to that effect soon!)

Personally looking forward to put the Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it myself!

I have the Lenovo S10 netbook and I am actually still using it with the XP Home edition which it came installed with. 

I use mine mostly for photography type stuff so the bigish (160Gb) hard drive was a factor for me when I was buying it.  I upgraded the RAM to 2gb which made it a little faster.  Main apps for me on the machine are Firefox, Tweetdeck, SlingBox Player (to watch TV in from the UK) and Lightroom 2 (For importing and tagging photos). 

I also use the netbook in teathered mode whilst shooting photos, this enables me to take photos on my DLSR and have them saved directly to the harddrive, also enables use the screen to preview them as they are taken.

The box was cool @wooly!! (he will get that joke - the rest of you listen to 2schooners next week and you'll get it as well)

That aside - I just want one because. I don't need one but would love to have one. Something in between a laptop and the iPhone chance of that happening = 0

I have a 12" iBook (384 MB RAM, 20 GB HD, running OS 10.4) which is probably better than a NetBook! No wireless connectivity though so I have to use a wireless dongle, which is annoying at times because it sticks way out of the USB port.

I also have a 17" PowerBook that I bought recently, which has 2GB of RAM and a 160 GB HD and is running OS X Leopard. I've yet to set up my wireless router, otherwise I could use THAT to do web stuff rather than boot my (dying) PC desktop.

It would probably do well for tethered photography too...hrm. Although a NetBook in a backpack would probably be more convenient for tethered shooting.

Reminds me...I need to get a laptop stand.

(There's an amusing advert on this page as I type saying "Install and Run OS X on your PC? You can!" nevermind that it violates Apples UELA.)

@davegray Oh, that's right. It was *that* box. I hadn't even thought of that.

@wadehindell That's a pretty professional use for a Netbook. I pretty much assumed that they'd only come in useful as toys. Using it as an extension of your camera is pretty smart.

@herne Those old 12" Apple Powerbooks were the ultimate netbook if you ask me. I think even now, one would give those weaksauce Intel Atom CPU's a run for their money.

Left 12" powerbook, right 7" EeePC netbook. No, they're not mine. Sadly so.

If the graphics redraw on your netbook (all os's) seems a little sluggish, then you probably have one which' GPU has been underclocked to save power.

There's a config tool for Windows, OS X and Linux: 
http://www.tweaktown.com/

Of course this does nothing for your battery life.

Wade, Yes I have that same PC and even the same color (white)

I use it for my everything PC. (not work) and I use Portable apps on it, kept the XP home that it came with, got rid of the Norton BS on it, and run avast home as per your recommendation. I kept xp on it cause I still use iTunes for everything - and until there is a program that can run my itunes bought material I will have to use it. ( realize that woollymittens recommended a netbook that ran OSX but cant remember what one)

Its small and with a 4 port USB hub, + a wireless mouse the thing is awesome. I upgraded the HD and RAM as well. (the S10 makes it easy to do with an easy access door on the bottom unlike ther netbooks)

I'm not sure this tip came directly from me, but I do know that it's very much possible to get Mac OS X working on the Acer Aspire One series of netbooks. I haven't tried it on my Asus EeePC, because I know there's problems in getting the WiFi and the sound to work and that's more hassle than I want to put into it.

I'm generally very happy running Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it, despite the little XP license sticker on the bottom of the case. For now it does everything I need done on the netbook.

I have mine hooked up to a TV and plugged into a USB hub with a mouse, keyboard and external harddrive and I fear this is slowly growing it into a media-center instead of a portable email reader.

Maybe I could use one of those netbooks for my mail and browsing... wait. 

The reasons to get a netbook keep growing, but unfortunately its inversely proportionate to the amount of money I have.  Currently I take my 17" MBP with me almost everywhere I go and its just a bit big.  Scratch that, its really too big to just throw into a bag.  Especially when you consider that the keyboard on the MBP is wider than whole netbook.  I guess the only thing other than money that is stopping me from splashing out is that I would need to use it to move around folders up to 15 GB.  That amount of data takes a while to transfer even over FW800 with my mac in target mode.

I guess it isn't possible to use it as a HDD with a screen.  However I'll happily be proven wrong.

Hope that all made sense.  Its 3:25 am and I'm having a little break from my assignment.

My two cents (from 'A netbook ain't a notebook' at www.knightwise.com)

Last week a bit of my time was spent reinstalling my Acer Aspire one netbook with the latest version of #easypeasy linux. I had "upgraded" my Netbook to Ubuntu 9.04 jaunty a few weeks ago and found the newest addition of Ubuntu to be incompatible with my 3G modem card. Now thats not unusual. Early adopting ANY ubuntu distro on any netbook system is sure to push you towards a lot of Googling around to get EVERYTHING working right away. Because I have a garden, A wonderful wife AND cradle the ruminants of a social life , I decided to forgo this quest and use a distro that was time tested on the hardware platform I was working on. So the Easy Peasy 1.1 version proved to be a rather nice choice. Packed with the much needed hardware support for the Acer Aspire one ( Wifi, sound, Webcam .. etc) it all works out of the box. Never mind that you get Flash and the other proprietary stuff that would make Richard Stallman go completely mental, preinstalled.

What you also get is the (in)famous Ubuntu netbook remix interface, that gives you a completely "different" way to work with your netbook then when you use a standard Gnome interface. A tabbed display with all your applications, large icons, all the applications run in full screen. When you are used to a classic 'start button' (or gnome menu button) down below, it can be a little bit of a strange experience. My first instinct was (as I had done in the previous times) disable the interface and use the standard "gnome desktop" that I had useed, but i changed my mind. Why ? well , because a Netbook is not a notebook.

Backpedal a few months with me when the first generations of netbooks started to hit the market. Everybody was tooting their horns how nice this was , while others kept yapping away at how 'light" these little computers where and how crappy the performance was when you wanted to play high resolution 3d games on them or render the next Toy Story movie on one of these 300 dollar devices. From day one some people got the whole idea about the "netbook" WRONG. Suppose you own one of those giant trucks they have in a quarry and you drive around tons of gravel and rocks all day long. At the end of your shift you go home and pass by an ordinary car-sales lott that has a small SUV in the parking lot. You walk in and start complaining how that little car is far too small, can hardly handle any load, doesn't have a wheelbase of at least 20 feet and that the whole thing is far from useful as a quarry hauling super-truck. Well guess what Einstein  IT AIN'T ONE ! I cannot imagine how many times I had to "elaborate" on the fact just WHAT a netbook is and how its NOT a notebook.

That not only goes for what you DO with the thing, it also applies to HOW you work with the device. No you CANT play God-knows-what latest game on there, A 3d shooter that requires a graphics card that costs twice the amount of the entire netbook is NOT an option for your Asus EEE 900 or something. Second. And the netbook interface (or the native Xandros interface) may LOOK a little "playskool activity center-ish" compared to all the bells and whistles of a full KDE interface.. but its a Nine (or even seven) inch screen for crying out loud. If  you want to cram down a complete Gnome user interface (designed for a large, high resolution screen) onto this tiny interface : Go right ahead. And while you are at it , why not ditch the interface of your cellphone and use the classic  Windows 3.1 graphical shell to navigate around your text messages. Sure it works, but its a pain in the arse to begin with. So the sooner people start seeing that the little portable NETBOOK is spelled with and E and not with an O as in NOTEbook, the sooner they will become more productive on these little devices.

So, confronted with the big icons of the "netbook remix" interface, I went on. It took me some getting used to , I can tell you that. Not having the "normal" task bar and start icon on the left hand bottom corner was pretty weird at first, but after a little while i got used to it. I thought back of what it was like before. Imagine squinting on the little 9 inch screen to locate the little bar at the bottom and try to maneuver the tiny pointer towards all the miniature icons. After following many online guides that "micro-mized" your gnome desktop environment to have thinner toolbars, smallest menu fonts and what have you.. It felt like I had just stolen a smurfs computer. This was just too darn small. Think of it. You don't run a spreadsheet with 5000 rows on a PDA, so why the frack adapt a graphical environment that was built for a big-arse screen and squeeze it onto a netbook. A netbook is not a notebook.

Application-wise its the same thing. Those of you who complain about a netbooks pretty "compact" storage capability I can only scream ( imagine me doing this in Peanuts Hysterical voice) "ITS NOT A NOTEBOOK" . What do you expect ? Having the storage capabilities of a fracking Drobo for less then 200 dollars ? Use the low price and ultraportable side of the netbook to your advantage. Extra memory sticks, external harddrives and the internet are your friend. Don't push the 4 gig solid state hard drive into obesity because you can"t see the difference ! Forget installing the 4000 programs and applications on the little netbook. Why in Gods name would you need photoshop elements on a device with a screen resolution of your average at&t terminal. I know : Perhaps its to provide you with near murderous-rage-frustration attacks because it "does not run as fast" on the little netbook, as it does on your bigg machine at home. (never mind the fact it COSTS 5 times what the netbook cost ya)

So learn to live with the netbook by using it for what it is. Some nice pointers :

- Push your data into the cloud and use your netbook as a portable portal : Gmail, Foxmarks, Google Dox, Dropbox and the hundred other web based services are your friend. Use your netbook to access your cloud-bound data. Use it as a super portable way to get to your data anywhere. Make sure you have enough means to connect to the net. Install some free wardriving tools on your Netbook to pick up stray (open) wifi or use available hotspots to do what you need to do (remember : always use a vpn, an ssh tunnel or https connections when roaming the interwebs over someone elses connection) Having "all of your emails" and "all of your data" in one single place and on one single computer .. is sooo 90"s.

- Use applications that match your hardware : You want to go ahead and install Vista on your Netbook  ? Go right ahead my friend. I'll see you in five years when you are done installing, booting up and working through all the updates. Take a look at using ANY operating system (linux / windows / whatever) on your little netbook , but just make sure that its easy and convenient to work with. By using cloud based computing ( The world in your browser) and cross platform applications (that work on your fancy macbook pro, your PC workstation at home AND your linux based Netbook) If you DO get stuck offline make sure you have some "light" alternatives to the applications you use at home. Full install of word ? Don"t think you'll be needing that. Install all the "viewers" for the common type of applications like .docx, .ppt etc , just so you can have a quick look at them when you need to. Don"t have room for the entire MS office suite ? No matter. Use openoffice or just go for a fancy version of "notepad" to do your quick type ups.

- Your netbook is your terminal : Who ever said you have to go on the road without the "full power" of your home office ? Install "logmein" on your macs or your pc and use the webbrowser on your netbook to remote control your machines at home. After hooking up your dirt cheap Asus EEE 701 to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard you can "make yourself at home". Open up Logmein, take over the Vista computer at your place and your netbook has the power of a giant. The small form factor of your netbook does not need to be a permanent feature. Hooking up a stray monitor, keyboard and mouse make working on the device a lot more pleasant.  Heading over to your inlaws for thanksgiving ? Stuck with their lame XP Sp1 computer that runs slower then a hippo on tranquilisers ? Yank the cables of all the pheripherals and shove your little portable buddy right in there.

- Your netbook keeps you entertained: when online your netbook is a perfect source for entertainment : youtube is your friend,  but why stop there: With applications like Miro (and more recently HULU) you can automatically download content to your netbook. Don"t have the storage space ? Try hooking up an external drive for that sweet sweet content. While the guy next to you is staring at his portable DVD player with nothing else to do then twiddle his thumbs, you can happily watch the content you downloaded, listen to a podcast you put on there or take a sneak peek at one of the many movies you ripped to your external drive (and chat on MSN at the same time) . Your netbook becomes your super-portable buddy to get to your data.. Online or offline.

I hope i got you thinking in this post and maybe given you some nice ideas ... So remember kids.. A netbook .. ain"t a notebook.. Luckily .. it doesn't have to be. :)

Where have I read this before?

@KW great post, I think you really hit the nail on the head a netbook is a netbook not a notebook!

I installed Easy Peasy on my Acer Aspire One after Knightwise original blog post some months back.

http://www.techandlife.com/2009/03/installing-easy-peasy-linux-on-my-acer-aspire-one-netbook/

Just installed Easy Peasy 1.1 a couple of weeks ago. It's ironed out a few bugs and I'm pleased with it so far.

I tried easy  peesy (as it is the 700 eeepc its a dog) and the orginal acer linux is better and doesnt stuff up the camera  - have tried serveral attemps of putting windows 7 but always hit a problem  - its only good for watching Irish Rugby on justintv

If you are having trouble getting the Windows 7 Release Candidate to install on your netbook, you might try bring the subject up on the official Windows 7 RC Support Forum located here:
 http://tinyurl.com/9fhdl5
It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. They are generally pretty quick to respond, and since getting Windows 7 to work on netbooks was one of their bullet points, I imagine they would want the feedback. They could probably help you get it all worked out.

Went straight onto my Lenovo S10 like a charm, I was actually pretty impressed.

As much as I fell in love with the idea I think I'm done with Atom for a while.

My E71 is ergonomically perfect for my hands and just as capable.

I finally after three rather impulsive buys, ended up with the netbook I can live with. The 9" Acer Aspire One. The 9" Asus was from before the Atom and a disaster. The 10" Asus is just too bulky to casually throw into a bag.

I'm not likely to buy any Atom based netbook on a whim anymore now. Instead I could be seduced by an even smaller and flatter "Snapdragon" netbook, which will have an ARM CPU instead of Intel.

Of course it won't run anything remotely "Windows", but I like my Linux well enough. The ARM is the sort of CPU you find in Mobile phones and requires no cooling and a lot less power.

http://www.umpcportal.com/2008/12/arm-core-snapdragon-netbook-demonstrated