A buyer's guide to the top 10 netbooks

Thinking about getting a netbook, but don't know where to start? We take a look at 10 of the most popular netbooks out right now.

By Benny Har-Even, 18 Nov 2009 at 09:03

gallery

There’s a more expensive version with a glossy screen, Bluetooth and a larger battery but that puts the price up – here you’ll get a matte screen and a removable battery that gives over six and a half hours in our light use test.

If you can do without Bluetooth, it’s probably all the netbook you need.

Asus Eee PC T-91 £325 ex. VAT
asus t-91

The T-91 gets attention for its unique party trick - a touch screen display, which can be swivelled and rotated around to lie flat, enabling it to be used as a tablet PC.

Asus bundles a range of custom touch screen applications, for writing notes and drawing with a stylus on the screen. If you're creative or want to be able to take notes while walking around, the T-91 is an effective way of doing that - it's just that it’s a rather expensive way of doing it.

To make it portable, the T-91 makes do with a now small-for-netbooks 8.9in display, and that means less space for the keyboard and room only for a smaller battery - with less than 4.5 hours in our tests. Still, if you want a tablet based netbook, the T-91 is your only choice.

Sony Vaio Mini W-series £306 ex. VAT
sony-w
In our last netbook round-up we included the Sony Vaio P-series - a tiny, but overpriced mini laptop running Windows Vista.

Since then Sony has seen sense and produced an actual netbook. It’s affordable compared to the P-Series but it’s still pricey compared to the competition – but then you’d expect that from a Vaio.

The main advantages of going Sony are the superior styling and the quality HD resolution LED backlit display. The keyboard is something of a let-down compared to this though. We’re not huge fans of the W-series compared to the likes of the Samsungs and Acer netbooks of this world, but if you’re a Sony fanboy, this is the netbook for you.

Toshiba NB200-11M £233 ex. VAT

The Toshiba is something of a mixed beast. Firstly, if bling is your thing, you'll love it thanks to its garish looks. It’s available in a range of colours, and our sample had a blue finish, with a diagonally striped rippled lid - a motif that's carried over around the bezel and the trackpad.

1 2 3 4

Email to a friend

Print this page

< Previous Netbooks : Analysis & Insight Next >

1 comments

You need to Login or Register to comment.

netbooks are great

if you know what you're doing. I've got an eeepc S101 with a 10.1" screen running a Kubuntu Linux standard desktop. The keyboard is big enough for documents with a bit of practice. When I need real CPU power or access to my data files, I run the nx remote control app to my quad-core desktop with the apps running on SSD. When I'm not using it to do business, it's a great little multimedia device. People can keep their boat anchors aka laptops. I effectively have access to quite a lot more computer power than the average laptop user and a lot less to carry around.

By alizard on Friday Jun 4