How to Compare Netbook | Prices & Sizes for Your Mini Laptops

If you are looking to buy a laptop, the need to compare Netbook prices (laptop prices) is crucial, especially if you are an average user on a budget.

Average users tend not be overly concerned about the features and performance capabilities of their laptops but are rather more concerned about the cost.

Of course, cost itself is dependent on many factors such as CPU processing power, hard drive space and the material from which a notebook or laptop is made etc.

If you are still not convinced for buying the laptop over the desktop, here you go – Laptop Vs Desktop.

So given all these variables,

How much should you expect to pay after you compare Netbook prices?

To answer this question simply, you can compare laptop prices according to the various size categories in which laptops come in.

Compare Netbooks

The popular categories we’ll look are netbooks, tablet PCs, ultraportable, thin and light, midsize and desktop replacement laptops.

1. Compare Laptop Prices- Netbooks

Netbooks sometimes called Mini-laptops, or subnotebooks, first entered the scene around 2007 when Asus launched the Eee PC. Since then, netbooks have been a very hot trend.

Their very small sizes and in many cases, embarrassingly low cost, have made them a huge hit with average computers users and with people who hitherto, could not afford laptops.

But is a netbook right for you or should spend more on a more traditional notebook?

2. Processors

The majority of netbooks use Intel’s Atom or AMD’s Neo processor. These are slow processors that offer specs of around 1.66 GHz – 2 GHz single core.

Netbooks are not designed for speed but rather to provide enough processing power to deal with basic tasks such as net surfing, send email etc.

3. Display and Weight

Netbooks range in weight from around 1.4 pounds to as high as 4 pounds. And you can also expect correspondingly small screen sizes.

The first netbooks had 7-inch screens but now, they are generally 10 inches. Many newer systems offer expanded displays such as 11-12 inches. Machines with smaller screens tend to be cheaper since LCD displays are a big cost to manufacturers.

Due to their small screen size, many netbooks experience difficulty trying to fit all the necessary pixels that common applications require.

4. Graphics

The vast majority of netbooks offer integrated graphics (which are quite slow). Their speed range from about 133MHz to 800MHz. If you go for better graphics, expect to get less battery life.

If you are looking for a gaming purpose, you need high-quality graphics. You can check out the best Budget Gaming Laptops for this year.

 5. Memory

People have usually have a doubt- whether they should go for higher memory or better graphics card.

The average netbook will give you around 1GB of memory. This should suffice if you run Windows XP on the system.

If however, you want to run the more resource-intensive Windows 7, you should be more apprehensive about buying a netbook.

6. Hard Drive

The typical system will have a capacity of around 160GB for a regular hard drive or 16GB solid-state drives (SSDs). However, some manufacturers offer 60GB or 80GB without passing on much savings to the consumers.

We recommend that you go with a system that offers at least 160GB if you plan to use your netbook for storage.

7. Features

Fewer ports and connections. Many have their DVD drives removed. Generally, the cramped keyboard that is difficult to type on. Look for netbooks that offer large and curved keys.

8. Price

How much does a netbook cost?

You can get netbooks for under $300 but some of the latest models can cost $400 and as high as $1500.

The “higher-end” models have additional features such as slightly larger displays (11 and 12-inch), better graphics and screen resolution. These additional features have put some netbooks in direct competition cost-wise with full-featured low-cost laptops.

We recommend that you go for a netbook that is priced between $400 to $500 ranges. The majority of them are priced within this range and this is where you’ll find the optimum balance between price and performance.

Compare Netbook Prices- Conclusion

Is a netbook right for you?

Yes, if you are just looking to do basic things such as web surfing and want to spend as little money as possible on a laptop.

These machines are very portable which make them great to use whilst traveling. However, their keyboards are small and cramped which can make them uncomfortable to use for full-time computing.

If you are particular about performance or enjoy gaming, a netbook is not for you. Rather you’ll have to spend more money on a larger, more powerful laptop.

Earlier we have shared some of the most essential and basics tips for buying a new laptop. You can give it a look before making your choice for your new gadget.

That said, there are some more powerful netbooks. Some have dual-core processors rather than single core, can run the resource-intensive Windows 10 Edition and even play games.

I hope this article will guide you to compare Netbook prices and sizes.

Gadgetlaptop
Comments (11)
Add Comment
  • Kay Hosein

    I was just looking for this type of article, but was not able to find one.It really helped me a lot to choose the best mini laptop for myself.

  • Britt Hakanson

    The dell mini laptops that I wanted to buy, don’t appear t be available anymore, can you recommend another?

    • Elizabeth Diane

      It depends on how you will use your laptop. If you want just a mini laptop for web browsing and emailing, Lenovo Ideapad or Samsung Chromebook would be perfect for light task.

      Hope this helps

  • Lyn Arendt

    I want to buy a laptop for coding. Can you tell me how much RAM should I take?

    • Aniruddha C

      Myself Python developer so I think I am right to pitch here.

      Depends on your programming language and environment you are gonna use for your coding project.

      For mastering coding I would recommend going with Linux. Coding does not require high end configuration unless you are using any graphics in your project. Today,s any decent laptop (RAM more than 4GB) you can go for…

  • Brenton Bustard

    Being an iOS developer, I’m thinking of purchasing a MacbookPro 13′ with touch bar base model. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

    • Aniruddha C

      MacbookPro is very light and good for coding. As you are iOS developer, you might be familiar with the iOS echo system. It seems to be good choice, mate.

  • Joetta Lai

    I disgaree about the OS Part. I’m running Vista on my Wind with merely 1.25 GB of Ram and it does the job for me pretty well.In fact I found it to be a lot more usable than XP. More importantly Vista has resulted in a better battery life and with SP2 coming soon I would be on it only increasing.

    • Aniruddha C

      Joetta, Thanks for putting your views. The configuration you need for the system, is solely depends on the purspose you are using for…

      For example, for Gaming and other Graphics related stuff, you can not go with 1.25 GB of RAM. At least you need 4GB RAM. On other hands, you can do all the data entry related jobs, playing musics easily with low configuration laptop. And Windows OS are always best fit for this and Microsoft proved it many times.

  • Lashaunda Lint

    I’m looking to buy the HP Stream 14 but not sure if it suits me. In a few weeks, I’m going to canada for like a week and need a laptop for my personal stuff. I’m not sure because I have seen alot of people saying things like “It’s So slow I had to return it” and stuff like that. Please Help!

  • Odis Tregoning

    For the power category, is there going to be any discussion of the mobile xeon laptops?
    8) By being inclusive of so many scenarios, you defeat the purpose of an article like this.