Netbook vs Laptop
Netbook and Laptop are portable computers. Internet has become ubiquitous these days and people require it to be with them everywhere. Keeping in mind that mobility is the prime necessity of modern lifestyle, laptops were introduced quite early. Today laptops have become very commonplace and a majority of people own tem or at least have knowledge about them. Laptops are portable computers which have the monitor hinged to the keyboard which can be opened to work just like a desk top. For portability, it operates on battery that can be charged to let the user work on the laptop for many hours continuously.
Netbook is a recent phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. It is actually a miniature laptop or mini laptop that retains most of the characteristics of a standard laptop while decreasing the size and more importantly, the cost of the device. People also call them subnotebooks or ultraportables as they are very light in weight and work like a personal digital assistant. With a starting price of just 150 pounds, these Netbooks have become a rage these days. Now that we know that both laptops and Netbooks are similar devices, what are the differences between the two? And why is one in the market if the other is performing all the functions of the other?
Well the question can be answered thinking about high flier executives who are most of the time shuttling between one or the other flight and they also need to be connected with their office or bosses. They need to send or receive files and also need to be working even in flights. So the netbook’s main purpose is to cater to the needs of this segment of the population and this is why they are meant to be as small, light and portable as possible.
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Differences between Netbook and Laptop • Optical drive is what makes laptops heavier and costlier. Most of the netbooks lack an optical drive. Those using netbooks really do not need a CD or a DVD drive and removing such a drive meant that netbooks could be made lighter and smaller. • Instead of the traditional hard disk drive that is found in laptops, netbooks depend upon solid state storage of data. Solid state drives are similar in nature to storage devices such as USB. They do not require spinning magnetic platters commonly found in hard drives, which is why netbooks are so small and ultra lightweight. • Netbooks have smaller screens as busy executives do not need screens to watch movies or videos. They need it to send or receive emails and for this they can easily make do with a smaller screen. Even for browsing, a smaller screen is sufficient which makes notebooks smaller and lightweight. • So while multitasking, projecting PC content to TV, creating and editing images and videos, encoding music, watching HD movies, running complex office software etc is possible on a laptop, these are the missing features on netbooks. Despite their limitations, netbooks have become increasingly popular because of the ease with which they can be carried around and also because of their almost similar features with laptops. |