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It's the holiday season, the time for giving and receiving gifts. If one of those gifts turns out to be a netbook--an inexpensive, ultraportable notebook computer--then you've got some work ahead of you. To get the most out of your new netbook, there are a number of tweaks and upgrades you'll want to perform. In this netbook starter guide, we show you 10essential things you should do after powering up your system for the first time. This checklist will save you from worrysome troubleshootingin the future and ensure that you make the most out of your portable companion computer.
If you’re looking to give your netbook a little more juice, there’s nothing that works better than a quick hardware upgrade. Here are three things you should think about upgrading on any new laptop, and especially netbooks.
In terms of bang for your buck, a memory upgrade is almost always your best option. For relatively little (you can get a 2GB stick of DDR2 RAM for under $50), you can double your netbook’s memory, which will usually mean a very noticeable increase in speed.
If you’re looking for faster startup and program launching, you may want to consider upgrading your netbook’s HDD to an SDD. 64GB SDDs are available for around $150, and should be plenty of storage for your OS, apps, and a smattering of media. If you only plan to use your netbook for web-browsing and word processing, you can get by with a 32GB SSD, which run around $100.
In either case, consider investing in a 2.5” external hard drive, which will provide you with all the media-storing capabilities at a low cost per gigabyte.
Although we always recommend that our readers build their own PCs, that's simply not an option with netbooks. Unfortunately, that means that with a netbook you have to put up with the inconveniences of a retail computer, including bloatware.
Bloatware is software that is useless near-useless, which companies pay system-builders to include on their machines. It can include media players, toolbars, and trial subscriptions to online services. In reality, all they do is slow down your machine.
But don’t fear, because it is possible to carefully excise all the unwanted software from your machine. To find out more, check out our guide about how to decrapify your PC.
Of course, if you happen to have an extra Windows install disc and your netbook came with a Windows serial number, it’s always best to simply do a clean install of Windows. Check out our guide on using Vlite to install a stripped-down version of Windows.
Comments are closed on this article
Nikronus
December 30, 2009 at 9:15am
1.5: Trim Windows From Windows. Install Ubuntu:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-netbook
lccurtis1
December 31, 2009 at 1:10am
I have been using a netbook for over a year now and I come to realize the people who state netbooks are no good or secondary computers which have no purpose are the same idiots who say Microsoft is evil and think and open source OS is the best thing since sliced bread. The truth about Netbooks is they are more than capable to use as a main pc I started in the computer industry over 16 years ago and the Netbooks of today are much faster and more capable then the Pentium 4 systems which where used to run MAJOR ORGANIZATIONS FOR YEARS. so when I hear that Netbooks are not real computers it makes me wonder where did these ding bats come from? Where you living in the last decade or so between the years of 1995-2007? Netbooks can out perform any system from that era hands down. The average PC user does not need anything over 160 GB HD 2 Gig or Ram to surf the web and shop on eBay. So to all the guru's out there making the claim that Netbooks are useless STFU I do believe being in this business for over 15 years qualifies me as an expert and I see a great use for a netbbok I actually use my Acer Aspire One D250 all the time as my main unit and I have not experienced any issues with performance I also have it dual booted with Win 7 Ultimate and Jolicloud and it runs like a charm. The deal is, if you don't want a netbook don't buy one and stop talking about them as if there just some cheap little crappy machine that serves no purpose because for some of us they do. Another point why go out and buy a 10lb laptop for $400 bucks when you know damn well its not going to do much more than a netbook because guess what? the manufacture who makes the top selling netbook also is the manufacture of that cheap 16-17 inch laptop being offered for $400 and being that netbooks have solidified there presence in the netbook market I very much doubt if there trying to kill it.
jwalch.hawk
December 24, 2009 at 9:42pm
Just for the record, F11 also works in Opera, Chrome, and IE8 (couldn't say for Safari). I know you guys are religiously attached to Firefox, but sometimes your Firefox tips work in other browsers too.
gecko525
December 24, 2009 at 10:08am
It seems to me that the real mark of a power user is not necessarily having the biggest baddest machine, but having a setup that provides YOU with the most productivity or usefulness for your money. If you don't like netbooks, fine, don't buy one. Some people find them useful, I know I do, I work in theatre, and to be able to edit my docs, and stay in touch with out having to find power or a place to set it is fantastic. Pick what's right for you, and don't give other crap for doing the same.
Dexter243
December 23, 2009 at 3:56pm
i have all ready replaced my acer1 win xp with win 7 ult and i have to say wow
i still have the 1gig ram and the 160gig hd and it runs great
if you want to see a acer1 running win 7 ult got to and watch the video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMbHJ1sG3EM
snapple00
December 23, 2009 at 1:48pm
Netbooks will always be pointless.
But you gotta love people that think they actually need them. Like how did you live before you were able to waste more time surfing the web on a less powerful laptop..?
Who
December 23, 2009 at 4:16pm
Why does everyone find this so difficult to understand, they're not meant to replace laptops. I commute to college, so when i'm in classes 7 hours a day, it's nice to have something handy like a netbook. If someone travels all the time on business, they might not need the power of a laptop, but the still need the base features offered by a netbook. Netbook =/= laptop!
Marshmallow64
December 23, 2009 at 2:27pm
I do not see them as completely pointless. For me I already have a pretty powerful desktop that I use a majority of the time. The netbook is good for travel, when going to a friend's house, etc. It is also quite useful when watching TV on the couch and you want to do some basic chat or webbrowsing.
Sure a regular laptop can do the same things and more, but the additional weight and price is unnecessary in my opinion
Who
December 23, 2009 at 12:00pm
I'm waitin for the 1005pe and my 9+ hours of internet surfing without plugging in :D
