Can a Netbook be Your Only Computer?

A recent study claimed that only 11% of consumers believed that a netbook could be used as their only computer. A full 80% of the respondents to the study felt that a notebook was a secondary device to a desktop or notebook.

I think whether you can use a netbook as your only computer really depends on what you are doing. The vast majority of computer users could easily get along with a netbook as their only computer, with a few tweaks.

The biggest complaint when it comes to using a netbook is the screen size and keyboard size. Both of these aspects are easy to remedy. You can get any USB keyboard and be working away with a full-size keyboard in seconds. Many full notebook users do this already; add in a full size mouse and you can use the same input devices you use on a desktop computer.

The other complaint is the screen size. Assuming you can stand the relatively low resolution that the typical netbook supports, you can connect an external LCD to a netbook as easily as you can with a full-size notebook or desktop computer. The majority of netbooks I have seen offer VGA out and you can also go with one of the newer USB displays as well.

The average netbook has plenty of power for the user simply surfing the net, using MySpace, or sending email. A netbook supports all of what I need to do on a computer, including sizing images with Photoshop and typing Word documents. This is all the average computer user really needs. Add a few accessories to a netbook and you can work just as you do at a desktop and then when you need to work form the road, you have a much cheaper and more portable netbook to lug around.

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