Hottest Netbooks of the Season

Roydon Cerejo, Jun 10, 2009 1540 hrs IST

The creme de la creme of the best price vs performance Netbooks

EXPERT REVIEW

In the past, if you wanted a portable computer for just surfing and working on Office documents on the go, the answer was simple - the Asus' Eee PC was a perfect solution for those needs. Fast forward to the present and we see Netbooks creeping up all over the place like fungi after the first rains.

Today, if you were to choose a Netbook for yourself or anyone else for that matter, how do you pick one out of the myriad of options available? We are here to help. Today, we'll be listing five of the hottest Netbooks in the market that provide a balance of both power and battery life, while still being light enough to be easily carried around. This is not a countdown or anything but simply a listing of the five best Netbooks in the market that strike a good balance of comfort, performance, features and aesthetics. There are a couple of things that are common among all of them like:

10.1" LED backlit screen
6-Cell battery
160GB hard disk

The Netbooks listed here are all priced up to 26K, which is a reasonable price given the features and performance they offer. You also have Netbooks that are cheaper than 20K but that doesn't mean they offer any good value. You might as well spend a little more and get something that performs better.

So, without further ado let's check out the top five.

Asus Eee PC 1000HE

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Price: Rs.25,000

The good old 1000H gets a much deserved update which now goes by the name of 1000HE and sports a much better battery life and gets the long overdue revamped keyboard. There is slight change in the configuration as well. The new Atom N280 processor, running at a slightly faster 1.66GHz, gives the Netbook a slight boost in performance. Finally, we have Asus's Super Hybrid Engine which helps you save power when needed or overclocks the CPU when you need more juice, all this with a press of a button.

Reasons to buy it

Battery Life: The main attraction of the new Eee PC is the very impressive 9.5hrs battery life (7.5hrs actual). This 6-cell battery now packs in 8700mAh instead of 5200mAh which gives it an edge.
Comfortable Keyboard: The second reason would have to be the improved keyboard. The island like keys gives you good spacing and prevent accidental presses. More importantly, the right Shift key is finally placed properly which makes it a lot easier to use.
Finger gestures: Besides the vertical and horizontal scroll, the 1000HE offers multiple finger gestures which means you can zoom in and out or jump directly to the last page in a document a lot quicker.

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USER COMMENTS

I read somewhere that youtube or for that matter any streaming videos do not play on netbooks. Is this part true?

by Patrick, Hyderabad, on Jun 22, 2009 02:05 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is a very good netbook avilable in the market.

by Pillai, cochin, on Jun 12, 2009 02:10 PM, Report abuse Reply

You Guys been Funded by Acer or something!!!!! NO mention of the Legendary MSI Wind U123 & Lenovo S10!!! BAD BAD BAD Review.

by Anonymous, BBay, on Jun 10, 2009 04:03 PM, Report abuse Reply

Dear MDBBy....You seem to be having no idea of the netbook brands....Acer funding for getting a good review of Asus Netbooks?? quite strange. My dear 1000HE is the only Netbook available in Indian market today with N280 Atom processor. And which other netbook can boast of 9.5 hrs back up, which is the key factor to be considered while going in for a Netbook??

by P Ban, Bangalore, on Jun 12, 2009 10:35 AM, Report abuse

I agree with Anon. The Wind U123 is easily the most balanced netbook, and is a $100 cheaper than the 1000HE, yet it is not mentioned anywhere? Terrible article.

by Angad, Los Angeles, on Jun 10, 2009 11:18 PM, Report abuse Reply

Where do u get Wind U123 in India?? And why talking dollars, mr NRI??

by Dart, Blue, on Jun 11, 2009 09:02 AM, Report abuse