Why do some IT people get so upset about netbooks? Story after story from “real IT” people accuse netbooks of trying to take over the world by fraud or trickery or magic. What IT pundits, like the writer of Forget Netbooks, Desktops Rule, forget is that "normal” people don't care about ideology when they buy a netbook, they care about price, portability, and getting their work done. If a netbook does that for them, why does that upset the IT people?
If you want to play modern PC games, like the writer of the latest negative netbook slam, then buy a desktop. Want to have multiple monitors on your system? A desktop does that, a netbook doesn't. Want to encode video, like our snobbish writer? A netbook is not the tool for that job.
The key point these netbook haters forget is that smart people choose the tool for the job, not adjust the job to fit the tool. If a netbook does what you need, buy a netbook. If you play games and edit video, buy a high powered, and high priced, desktop. Pick the tools for the task at hand.
Hey, Mr. Desktop, how easy is it to put your desktop on the tray table in the airline seat when you travel? How easy it throw your desktop into a backpack so you can check your e-mail when at the coffee shop?
There is no perfect computer for every job you might ever need to do. There are, however, excellent choices for specific jobs. Don't look now, but your job may be handled perfectly well by a netbook.
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von Neumann Invasion
Try asking most IT people what a von Neumann machine is and they can't tell you. I worked for IBM for years and never heard the term even though he was a consultant to the company in the early 50s.The closest to the ideal is a used dual-core desktop for power and low price. Just install a new hard drive.
Then get a netbook for all portable stuff. Who needs big notebooks? LOL
Von Mach
re: Neither Netbooks Nor Desktops Are “The Answer”
I agree, everything has it own specific use. Just finding what it is to do the job is what is important. I'm a power user. To me, a notebook or a netbook don't quite cut it. When I need to encode video, my notebook is useless. In fact, it slows down to such a crawl that I take a run, walk the dog, and watch The Godfather, rather than sit around and wait for it to get the job done. It's pathetic. But a high-powered desktop is different. It gets the job done quickly and efficiently. Instead of taking hours, it takes minutes. It's great.When I want to play some video games, the desktop is my chosen weapon. Although notebooks are getting better at providing the necessary power to enjoy games, they're not quite there yet. Until they are, I'll be playing Crysis on my desktop, thank you very much.
I'd also argue that desktops provide far more flexibility those notebooks. If I'd like, I can install multiple graphics cards into my desktop and enjoy a three-, four-, or even five-monitor set-up. Just try to do that with your notebooks. And what if you really like that tower you bought? If you want, you can gut it, install all new components, and keep your rig set up in your office. You can't do that with your notebooks either.
I understand that both desktops and notebooks have their own, unique advantages. I also know that desktops are becoming less coveted in the market. But until notebooks can give me all the customization and flexibility I can get in my desktop, I'm not giving my desktop up. You can have your notebook. I'll be the guy podcasting, playing a game, encoding video, and checking multiple e-mail accounts on my five monitors, at the same time without using any instant loans.
Why IT folks are against netbooks?
IT folks know what the limitations of netbooks are, and how they are as a tools. The problem lies with the end users not being sure what they really need. We are facing this in our organization. The problem isn't that we hate netbooks, but when the end user expects it to be what it's not, and then expects IT to "fix it." They know it's cheap and lightweight, but then it becomes IT's problem when it only has a 3hr battery life or won't play some videos well. Couple that with the fact that a lot of users need something more some of the time, you start supporting multiple computers per user, which is really stretching the time limits of overworked IT staffs. I think this is the answer to the question to begin this article.