Netbook v. Macbook

I was one of the college students who purchased a netbook during school. I noticed that many of my other classmates had Macs -- maybe half of them. Many of those kids who choose Macs admitted it was the first time they had ever used Apple Computers. That said, I was mostly satisfied with my netbook.

The advantage of the netbooks are obvious. When I first bought mine, Big Box stores were selling the models at prices competitive to Apple's iPhone at that time. (Now we realize how much they marked up their prices). A unbeknownst vantage with the price is that if the netbook was damaged, lost, or stolen, it would have been a minor loss compared to the loss of a MacBook.

The netbook's size suggested the use in class to take notes and maybe more portability due to it being less bulky than a conventional laptop. This was true for me, since I used the netbook more often and in more different places than a regular laptop user. In fact, I'd say that purchasing a netbook for a student majoring in computer science is essential, since those students will spend the most time in front of a screen than others.

The disadvantages of the netbook can be averted in the following. Many note the poor performance of these machines. This is avoided by not running any anti-virus program in the background. Also do not install very intensive programs into these machines such as CAD, Photoshop, or any PC games.
Also with the machines at such a low price, the materials are not the top-notch and these machines are a higher risk of failure than regular laptops.
However, the most cited criticism are the netbooks' small screen size and tiny mouse touchpad. Bypass these limitations by hooking up the netbook to a larger LCD montior and by bringing a spare mouse to use at the desk. Your body will greatly thank you for exploring these options.

Overall, I'd say that this author is correct in predicting the trend to netbooks. Once I first started using my netbook, I'd say it generated much interest around me. Would I say that the whole student population should migrate to netbooks? No, since the person has to be tech-savy enough to know how to not wreck his machine and how to save his data if the netbook fails. Would I say a netbook is better buy than a MacBook? Yes, but only if the student brings a separate monitor to use and a spare mouse.