http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/technology/02netbooks.html?_r=1&ref=technology
Has anyone else seen people carrying around these supertiny laptops in class? They're netbooks--basically laptops that don't have much besides internet capability. I've actually seen them much cheaper at Best Buy, but that might be a model with just the absolute minimum in features.
It seems like a great idea to me--most college students don't use much more than the internet and a word processor anyway, and maybe Powerpoint. Most of them run Windows XP, which the above article suggests is a weakness, but I haven't met a single person who likes Vista, so I'd consider it an advantage over buying a PC and being forced to accept the OS that comes with it.
I found a Youtube video that has a Hello Kitty Netbook actually running the beta Windows 7, so I'd say it will hold up in the future, once this Vista silliness is done with.
Most of the people I've met who have Netbooks already own a traditional laptop, and just use the Netbook to take notes for class. That might have to do with the fact that many UMD students are upper-middle-class and can afford to do things like that. I think there's a lot of potential, though, to use Netbooks to reach out to demographics that normally wouldn't be involved in the whole "New Media" sphere of communication and interaction.
3 comments:
Netbooks are fantastic and even better are the tablet-PC versions. Many universities which provide laptops to students are distributing tablets, because you can write notes on them with a stylus or type notes, or even both, which is really advantageous.
On a similar vein, OIT is testing a program which would allow students with smart phones or iPod touches to run a program to use as a "clicker" in class instead of actually buying a clicker from the bookstore.
i'm really interested in getting one of these babies! i'm kind of old-fashioned, so i don't mind taking notes by hand, but it gets difficult in my art history classes where there are no outlines and the information comes rapid-fire.
i just don't know if it's worth it to plunk down a couple hundred for it, rather than pay a couple hundred more to get a replacement for my current laptop. (which, might i add, tips the scales at a whopping 8.5lbs!)
I think Netbooks are a pretty cool idea. Although I have a decently small laptop, I still complain when I have to bring it to class (I hate taking hand notes). For me, a Netbook would a lot more convenient to have than a laptop.
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