Netbooks burst on the scene a few years ago and were initially marketed as a low-cost alternative to a traditional laptop. They were usually configured with a smaller amount of memory and hard drive capacity and ran a free operating system such as Linux. This saved the additional cost of paying for an operating system like Windows, which can add quite a bit of cost to a traditional laptop. They were also smaller than a regular laptop and had smaller and less sophisticated displays. Netbooks were initially designed and marketed as a cheap alternative to a laptop for schools and underprivileged countries so that they could have access to portable computing power.
The curious thing that happened was that the normal mobile user started buying them and using them instead of their traditional larger laptops. As this market continued to grow, manufacturers spent more time on designing an ever more sophisticated Netbook that today rivals a traditional laptop in functionality. Along the way, corporate clients and small business owners saw potential in Netbooks for their mobile computing needs and started to adopt them.
The main advantage for using a Netbook for a business is cost. These Netbooks are typically much less expensive than a traditional laptop and offer their employees almost the same functionality. This cost savings is due to a number of factors such as a small screen and lack of a CD/DVD drive. These Netbooks offer a great value and allow most mobile employees to accomplish everything that used to require a more expensive laptop. In some cases these Netbooks can be as low as half the price of a similar notebook and still provide all the functionality that a users needs.
Interestingly, the lack of a CD/DVD drive is also a bonus for most businesses since it limits how much a user can modify the Netbooks with new programs. Most companies try to maintain a “standard” image for all of their computing platforms. This makes it easier to troubleshoot problems and keep track of upgrades. If a user installs a lot of additional software on their laptops, it may cause problems with other programs that have been installed by the company. By not having a CD/DVD drive on the Netbook, it helps to limit the amount of non-standard software that gets loaded on the computer and also helps ease troubleshooting problems.
Another major advantage that the Netbook offers a company is its long battery life. While this may not seem like a big deal at first glace, it means that their employees can work longer between charges. This makes them more productive since they will have access to their files and the internet for more of the day and waste less time with this powerful portable computer in charging mode.
By integrating Netbooks into their portable computing inventory, a company can take advantage of all of these benefits immediately. This helps lower their cost for computing and helps their employees be more productive for more of the day.