Choosing a Netbook Over a Tablet

One of the most difficult parts of buying new tech gear is the fact that so much is being released so quickly that if you buy something one month, within a few months, it's now obsolete. Many people argued--and still do--that the same could be said about netbooks. However, I'd reconsider those arguments because in reality, that's simply not the case. In many cases, getting a netbook over a tablet is really the way to go. For this argument, let's look at the ASUS Eee PC 1015PN-PU17-WT 10.1-Inch Netbook (White).  I wrote about this netbook in the Best Netbooks of 2011 post and I think it's probably one of the best available right now.

We'll break this up into a few details.

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There's nothing more frustrating than trying to write anything on a tablet. People realized that using the iPad for anything creative--such as writing a review of it--would take forever with the touch screen. Therefore, people developed keyboards for it. However, that's another cost. With the netbook, it comes with a screen a bit bigger than the iPad's and a keyboard built in. That means that you can use it.

Now, we stop for a second and yell, "But Jacob! It weighs 4 pounds while the iPad 2 weighs 1.3 pounds." I get it, the netbook weighs a little more, but we're strong people. We can carry a netbook and it won't hurt our arms. If your only purpose is light weight use, fine, get a tablet (and spend more money). But, if anything else matters, the netbook matters.

Let's continue...

Speed

It has the Intel Atom Core built in to it. The N550 is fast. But, let's not forget the RAM. It comes with a single gig of RAM, but if you want to spend a bit of money, you can buy a second gig and suddenly, you've got a pretty quick machine. The iPad doesn't have that much RAM. It's fast, but loading bigger things will take longer because it has fewer resources to work with. The netbook doesn't have that problem.

Storage and Storing

I say storage and storing because they're two different things. First and foremost, it has 250 GB of space. How much available space does an iPad have? 64GB. That's pretty pathetic in my opinion. But, the storing comes in because of the USB drives on the side. I can remove files from this device so much simpler than from an iPad. So, storing files is much simpler and more convenient. If you do anything creative--and not just play apps--you'll like that ability.

Cost

The ASUS Eee PC 1015PN-PU17-WT 10.1-Inch Netbook (White) costs only$345.99. The iPad 2 (and that's the smallest model) costs $499. Umm...What? I'm buying a device that only weighs a couple pounds less, spending more money and getting fewer available resources? AND! As a writer, I can't even compose on the iPad?

Look...I think the iPad is great. It's fun to sit on the train on my way to work and play with it. But, when I want to get some work done, I have to go with the netbook. It's stronger, faster and productivity is greater. But hey, that's just me.