NetbookTech

Seems like Michael Horowitz over at CNET is pretty psyched about the IdeaPad S10 netbook. In a posting entitled “The Lenovo S10 Netbook is here, count me in”, Mr. Horowitz writes:

“The S10 is here, I ordered one yesterday and I’m psyched..

My shoulder is looking forward to carrying a 2.5-pound Netbook rather than a 6-or 7-pound laptop/notebook.”

Having used the S10 for well over a week now, I can say that Mr. Horowitz will definitely enjoy the experience of carrying around a 2.5 lb-ish netbook.

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Do you think you’re the only one with “netbook fever”? Nope.. even James Kendrick (the “jk” of jkOnTheRun) has the netbook fever folks.. and heck, he has an already small Lenovo IdeaPad U110 ultra-portable notebook!

I’ll admit it.. I’ve had netbook fever for some time now.. and I have several netbooks too! Of course.. I believe my fever has turned into a full on contagious disease.. a netbook disease mind you! Soon notebook salesmen will have to quarantine me because I’m turning everyone around me into netbook crazed folks instead of regular notebook users. I drop by the folks in Marketing and they take a look at my netbook and BAM.. it’s done. The fever has spread.. the questions abound about the netbook. What’s the cure to the fever/disease? Get a netbook!

I turn my head to the software developer sitting behind me and find out that he acquired the netbook fever too from yours truly. His decision? Get an ASUS Eee PC 1000. Yup.. the fever spreads.. it’s a contagion!

In any case.. to satisfy this disease, one has to look for a good netbook.. and thus JK posers a great question – “..decide on the perfect netbook if one exists.”

That’s not an easy task to accomplish. It seems like every netbook model out there has one small deficiency. The ASUS Eee PC 1000 seems like a great system yet it’s a bit too expensive. The Acer Aspire One certainly provides the most bang for the buck but those mouse buttons are horrendous. The new IdeaPad S10 is very very close…. were it not for the missing 6 cell battery. One could argue that the MSI Wind is a near perfect netbook (though some have complained about the keyboard).

Me.. the perfect netbook would have the following specs:

• Dual Core Atom processor – come on folks – upgrade to the Atom Model 330 processor!
• 1GB RAM if not 2GB
• 80 – 120GB HDD
• 10 inch display
• Solid keyboard with large right shift key
• Touch pad with mouse buttons BELOW the touch pad
• At least two USB 2.0 ports
• VGA port
• Wi-Fi (draft-N for the early adopters out there)
• ExpressCard slot
• Media card reader
• Small power brick
• Built-in webcam
• 6 cell battery
• Windows XP or Linux
• Good speakers
• Bluetooth 2.0
• A weight of under 2.5 lbs

Oh yeah.. all of that for under $500 dollars. Got it?

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