CrunchGear’s Ultimate Guide to Netbooks

crunchgear.com

2 points·vaksel··3 comments

I don't know how "ultimate" this guide is if it doesn't include any information about Acer who is devoting much of its effort towards netbook technology. Not to mention Samsung, who are also releasing solid products and have the background in mobile technology to pull something off successfully.

Also, the author's comments in the article come off extremely defensive as people are pointing out his shortcomings. He seems to have completely missed his own point and is resorting to snide remarks.

Avoid Linux, at least the pre-installed versions. Sorry, Linux nerds, but it’s true. Buy an XP model and install Ubuntu or whatever later, but don’t get the Linux netbook because it’s cheaper.

So CrunchGear is advising you to pay for XP and then install Linux. If you're going to reformat anyway, this makes no sense.

You forgot the critical part right after: Maybe Chrome OS will change all that, but Linux-based netbooks are usually running some wonky, kiosk-oriented installation, making them nigh-on unusable.

I got an HP Mini 1000 a few months ago with XP preinstalled and only because the HP Mini that came preinstalled with Linux had a crippled distro on it with no command line. What the heck is Linux with no command line? It was some "user friendly" version that was to me unusable. And the price difference: the hardware for the XP version was marginally better than the linux version, so it was negligible. So, if I could spend a little more on the slightly better version and end up reinstalling Linux anyway, it's not worth getting Linux preinstalled.

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