my netbook needs a desktop companion

I'm shopping for a netbook companion. Computer makers are working their business plans and they may not be good for me. Maybe for you. Desktops are in my sights. My netbook is not a stand alone unit because it is not graphics robust.

Netbooks are popular. Microsoft does not want you to run Linux on them so they offered XP for cheap. XP netbooks are everywhere. Now MS wants to dictate the netbook niche as under 10", under 2GHz, under, under, under. They want the slightly larger size to be higher profit margins for themselves and their partners. You may want cheap but MS wants profits.

The next big thing in netbooks is the power sipping chipset with graphics capability built in. Intel has the G40 and NVIDIA has the Ion.

XP is not optimized for either. Vista is but who wants that? Windows 7 is optimized. You may want the right pairing.

Let's look at the playing field. XP and Intel's Atom 270/280 have paid for their development. Any further sales mean gravy, bottom line gravy. They want the consumer to keep ladling the gravy and not stop just yet.

Windows 7 is ready but OSX Snow Leopard is jumping in ahead of them. The OSX SL is actually a large $30 service pack so no big deal. If the consumer wants to play hopscotch, Microsoft wants to draw the lines. Relegate the netbook to under, under. Let it be cheap. Designate a higher category with more profit and better stats to appeal to all those who want more. Lots of posts about wanting more. That's okay with MS if they can scratch a little more profit out of Win7 versions.

If a netbook maker wants to use a power sipping chipset, could they now boost the CPU a little. Why not use Intel's dual core Atom 330? Better CPU, better graphics, better screen and better profits. Call it a small notebook. Is that good for you? Do you think you will get what is good for you?

My first need is a robust graphics capable computer. A desktop that can take video feeds and convert formats, edit them and make them into a variety of my uses. Word processing and browsing are incidentals.

I don't need a video capable netbook. Today's netbook and likely next year's netbook, if Microsoft has its way, suck at that anyway.

My main netbook use is as an offline computer for personal tasks like language study, health records, entertainment, Skype, and, incidentally, some browsing.

The hardware needs to be adaptable. I need to swap hard drives easily. Sealed units don't work for me. The 1000HE and 901 have a large bottom door with easy access.

I really like my Asus 1000HE and Asus 901 which I already have. Small, efficient, accessible. I don't know if they will make it through the next three or four years. The netbook reliability is just not known yet.

What I need are two desktops to go with my two netbooks. Now. Why? Because I'm working now. I'm looking at a double-dip, worldwide follow-up-wave recession as soon as the governments quit spending. Several more years before people pull out of their current loses. I want to be positioned for several years of lean times. So, I'm shopping. What will get me through the next few years? A robust graphics desktop as a companion to my netbooks.

[ThisIsNot]

So are you validating your reasons for wanting a desktop or are you looking for a recommendation? You don't have to validate anything here. You could even purchase a Disney labeled Asus Eee PC and no one could really say anything to you.

I do agree with your reasons behind wanting a desktop though. I would rather have a powerful desktop paired with a netbook than a powerful notebook. A quad-core desktop can be purchased (with a 21-22" monitor and something more powerful than the dreaded Intel X4500HD) for less than $1000 these days. You would have to spend at least $1500 on a notebook to get a higher end dual-core processor, forget about quad-core on a notebook unless you want a desktop replacement gaming unit that is really expensive and gets about 5 minutes of life on a single charge.

Most of the time, when people are on the go, they simply want to surf the internet and check e-mail. That is overkill for a 2.5GHz dual-core notebook as even a Celeron 900MHz processor can surf the internet just fine (although the GMA 500 and GMA 950 make Flash web browsing kind of limited). You could probably spend about $1000 and get a quad-core desktop with at least a 20" monitor and an Asus Eee PC 1005HA. Plop down another $150 or so and you could get a pretty good PCI-express dedicated graphics card that could handle Crysis rather nicely.

Thanks for jumping in here TINman. Since I have two Asus netbooks I'm just posting in the Asus section all sorts of things I think about Asus and do with Asus to help fill up this space. In fact since I have had so much free time I've been posting all over the place except that annoying Linux thread. Time to turn toward the Sun.

I've built a good desktop at home but I can't always be at home. In fact, I have to finish up my summer break next week to go back to work. I spent today installing a 500GB HDD in my MacBook, installing Leopard, iLife '09, Final Cut Express 4, QuickTime Pro, VLC, Firefox, Skype and, as soon as I can find that iWorks disk around here, I'll install that too. Snow Leopard is cheap enough so I'll buy a copy but I won't install it yet until I find out more about it. You've got to watch the one hand that gives when the other hand takes.

It's fun getting the computer ready but the bad thing is my wife is getting ready for her travel. We may not see each other for a month.

I haven't yet decided to take the Asus 1000HE or the 901 with me. Both do very well but the larger netbook I call BossUgly will likely get the nod.

I'm posting about computer noise in the General section. Give it a whirl since you are going back to school and will be typing in the classroom. TTYL Thanks for all your helpful posts.