Netbooks: if you really want to go for a netbook, then it only depends on which size you want to go for for.

8,9″: Asus eee PC 901 (like mine, with 12 GB SSD instead of conventional hard disk, Bluetooth & N-Draft WiFi), 1,1kg

10,2″: Asus eee PC 1000H (and other 1000s) with 160 GB HDD and a bigger keyboard, 1,5kg

10,2″: Samsung NC10, sometimes without Bluetooth, but else like all other netbooks – ONLY: it has the best keyboard. 1,4kg

I initially wanted to go for the NC10 and kept looking for it, then I at one poing decided to save the money for a decent 13,3″ successor to my 15,4″ notebook and then suddenly I was weak, started looking for a netbook again and came across this 8,9″ eee which I managed to secure for “just” 216,- EUR. So, for half the price, I even settle with the 8,9″ one.

The alternative are IBM X30 or X40 12″ notebooks which are quite cheap and also have a PCMCIA slot for 3G UMTS cards (so there’s no USB dongle on the side of the computer) but only last 1-2h used and maybe 3-4h new. Bigger screen + rotating hard disk = higher batter consumption. And some of these older IBMs dont even support WPA on the WiFi.

I am also waiting for more 1280×800 netbooks to hit the market. 1024×600 is fine though and even the Atom CPU is good enough for most tasks. I think these netbooks are nice mobile surf stations that just do the job. The 8,9″ is a bit small sometimes and typing on the keyboard is not as fast as on other, bigger netbooks.

I am also using a lot of portable software to keep read/write processes as small as possible on this SSD disk.

Oh, and I think that both the 1000H and the NC10 have a bright enough screen for surfing in sunshine aka Java House & Co.

And really, if netbooks are the only affordable machines that have decent battery runtime, then they are still better than 2nd hand IBM X30, X40, nc4200, HP nc 2400 and so on.

If money wasnt the issue, I’d prolly go for the NC10 next time.

Please keep us updated over the next months on the X6-60MD mouse. I wanna get a new travel-mouse, and you know A4tech is one of my sweetheart brands.

As for the packaging, that’s the province of marketing Mad Men, so you know some dumb-dumb Westerners have decided all that plastic promotes sales.

I’m considering a netbook for that upcoming trip I told you about. I’ll start looking at the ASUS line, but if anyone wants to point to other sweeties, let me know. (I am, for now, an XP junkie so no-thanks to Macbooks.)

You may be surprised to learn that träwelling wis Doitsche Bahn only takes ~ 3:40h for Frankfurt < => Hamburg, and to Minga it’s even less (03:10h). Hii ni sawasawa, sindiyo?