Netbooks Covers

Which netbook for writers?

I am an aspiring writer. I bought a dell inspiron 1545 last year for my birthday because I didn’t realize how big it was until I started using it (it’s bigger than 15 inches wide). It’s waaaay too big for me! I need something more portable, so I’ve been looking at netbooks. I’m interested in something that has a lot of memory for my stories and songs, but that also has a pretty cover. I’m looking at the dell inspiron mini 10 (you can find or make a skin for it at att.skinit.com)– it was in seventeen magazine for a ‘college shopping checklist’ because “it can handle all the basic paper-writing and Internet stuff”. Is this a good tool for a writer? Do you know any better ones? All I’m going to be using it for is my writing and also iTunes. Thank you for your help!!

Keep in mind that netbooks are extremely underpowered. They generally have slow processors, small hard drives and not much RAM. They’ll get you by for basic word processing and web browsing, but not much more than that. Watching videos, for example, can be a chore on many netbooks.

As for which brand to get, try getting your hands on one. The biggest issue will probably be how much you like the keyboard, since they are notoriously small. You’ll want 2GB of RAM, if possible, and the Intel Atom N4xx series CPU, if possible.

Gaston Hillar on Intel Atom Developer Program: Developer Perspective