This year has seen an increasing number of smaller laptops being released onto the market. I purchased an Asus EEE pc (Easy to use, Easy to work, Easy to play), the smaller 7” model just before Christmas last year. This was the first of these small computers released to mass market. It was bought on a whim and with the ideal that it could actually be useful and it was a lot lighter to cart around than the bigger laptops. I wasn’t proved wrong. Despite initial misgivings and the nagging thought that I had just wasted money on yet another gadget that would find its way to the dusty land of Neverused at the back of the drawer to nowhere I did find it a useful device and it actually found a place in every day use. When the bigger screen version appeared earlier this year I sold the smaller EEE and bought the next one, the 8.9" screen Asus 900. I haven’t yet upgraded it for the new Intel Atom based EEE (901, 1000) though I guess it’s on the cards.

These small laptops are very capable at the job they have been developed to do. Internet browsing, chat programs, portable media, and although the keyboards are a little on the small size for my plodding fingers, you can actually use them for note taking. I wouldn’t attempt to write a novel on any of them but casual typing of notes and syncing with the larger computers later proved ideal. It also proved its worth when travelling too. A simple headphone splitter plug (1 output to 2 headphones) and my wife and I enjoyed watching a few movies on a few recent 2 hour flights, plus listening to music and sorting out photographs from the camera. Almost all of these computers are supplied with built in wireless cards.

The cost of these devices is relatively low compared to full blown, full sized laptops and most of the devices are supplied with a Linux variant. By default the Asus EEE uses a distribution of Linux supplied by Xandros. It was ok and would be suitable for most users. Just don’t ask too many questions in Curry’s, Comet or PC World, Linux is an emerging technology and tearing the sales people away from playing with the Mac’s or Wii’s is hassle enough but when Linux questions are posed the deathly blank stare is enough to scare anyone into buying a Vista laptop. I took a copy of Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) Linux and specifically modified it for the EEE pc. I released my version to the public and surprisingly, it has proved very popular with over 400,000+ downloads. If you have an EEE you are free to try, http://www.eeebuntu.org

Dell are scambling to get on the boat too. There is a new small Dell computer coming to a Tesco near you very soon. It is of similar specification to most of the other sub notebooks but is supplied with Ubuntu by default and a slightly bigger screen of 12”. The newer Intel Atom based computers are supplied with a conventional hard disk of around 40GB whereas the some of the cheaper ones, like the eee 701 and 900 are supplied with solid state disks of up to 20GB. Solid state disks have no moving parts and work in similar fashion to memory cards, flash cards and USB pendrives. There is concern that the Solid State Disk (SSD) will wear out but you would have to write to it non stop, 25hrs a day for about 3 years before it does. In other words, not in the lifetime of the computer.

With prices falling I am sure there will be a growing take up in these smaller devices especially when people realise that they only use their PC for browsing, email, chat and media. You won’t find these devices running Vista as it is too resource intensive for the little computers. Although Microsoft, seeing where the tide was flowing and not willing to concede in any market, has extended the life of XP. The delay in the death of XP has been imposed with limits being placed on hardware specification. It is only available on these small computers provided the specification doesn’t exceed that stated by Microsoft. Although this may be the preferable option for some people it does raise the price of the computer.

Prices of these sub-notebooks/netbooks range from £120 for a very minimum specification to around £350 for the highest specification range. There are good deals around and as this technology is changing so quickly there are lots of hardly used ones for sale on Ebay.

If you just browse the internet, type the occasional note, email, listen to music, watch DivX files (most of these computers don’t have CD/DVD) and chat then this could be the option for you. Being light and small it is easy to carry around, and on the later Intel Atom based computers, battery life is very much improved so you can expect anything from 2-5 hours run time.

Intel Atom is the new family of processors for small computers. They are much smaller than the centrino/pentium processors and are more energy efficient. They have been designed to provide the best usage and battery life from the computer. More details here: http://www.intel.com/technology/atom/index.htm