Believe it or not, I have never really had a laptop -- anything that comes into the house that falls into that slot is snatched up by the kids. No more. As of today, I have a tiny little 11.6 inch Acer Aspire One with full-sized key board, 250 GB hard drive and 2GB RAM. It's a slower Intel® Atom™ processor, but the machine itself is just 2.8 lbs. and 1" thick, has a camera and 3 USB ports, Wi-Fi, and a 720p HD screen.
The machine cost only $300, and came with Windows Vista and Microsoft Works. Though I hate Vista, the price-gouge on Macs is intolerable, and Windows XP is on the way out. Vista's bugs will get sorted out in time, I suspect.
Some may wonder "What the hell is an Acer?" Acer is the largest manufacturer of laptop computers in the world, and the second largest computer manufacturer in the world, behind Hewlett Packard. These folks own Gateway, the maker of hard drives, if that tells you anything. For those of a flora and fauna bent, Acer is also the genus name of the maple tree.
I do not yet know how well this little baby works in the real world, other than I can get Internet, and I can answer email and do some writing at coffee. The screen is terrific, and I am getting used to the keyboard and pad -- always an issue with a new machine. I have to register a couple of new bits of software tomorrow, and figure out how to make sure I get the most recent version of McAfee virus protection on the system, but I think it will all work out. Fingers crossed!
This post is being done on the new "Netbook," by the way -- wireless and without power cord. Look ma, no hands!
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