Netbooks and small computers

I just recently purchased a netbook, a Asus 1000HE with a 10" screen. It's very similar to your typical laptop computer but uses a smaller processor and can last longer on a single charge. A big point of this small computer is how long a single charge will last, on my old notebook the battery was going out, so I was used to lasting about 15 minutes before the computer died. On my more recent laptop, a larger Asus gaming laptop, the power lasts about 1 hour before needing to be plugged in. Again, it's not designed to run off batteries, but in some cases it's nice to have the option.

With the netbook, the small size and long battery life allows me to run away from power up to 9 hours. This is a great feature if I want to check the Internet from the garage, or while I'm at Starbucks, etc. It's hard enough to find a power outlet from coffee shops and this would be handy when you find that nice sofa but no power anywhere.

Of course, there are down sides as well. The smaller sized keyboard, about 93% of a full size, is harder to type longer periods. In addition the screen is smaller, a 10" is now very small, not sure if this would be great for long term reading, such as PDF files. Also the netbook lacks any media drives, you need to store everything from a USB CD-ROM or USB drive.

When I receive the netbook I'll post just how well it's going to fit my needs.