Netbook reviews: Owners like prices, but complain about screens

Ever since the netbook revolution hit gadget sites, users have been posting continiously on forums about their shiny new computers. Proud Ubuntu and Windows-based netbook owners are boasting about the small size, cheap price, and overall fun factor of their new toys. But they are also complaining about a few unexpected problems with these ultra-small computers.

The most oft-mentioned problem on many models isn't processing power or storage space, but rather screen size and resolution. Owners discover this shortcoming when they load websites on netbooks which have screens that are less than XGA (1024x768). In recent years, XGA has become the standard for most Web development, replacing the older standard from the beginning of the decade -- SVGA (800x600).

While Web pages will render on smaller screens, content is cut off on the right side and bottom of the page. Users can scroll to see it, but it's a hassle. The issue is most pronounced in the Asus Eee 700 series which has a resolution of a mere 800x480, barely enough to read most websites without excessive scrolling. Many netbooks have upgraded to 1024x600 resolutions, still barely enough to comfortably navigate the Web or multitask. The problem isn’t just that manufactures are unable to make 8.9 inch screen with more resolution, but rather that general readability becomes very difficult at high resolutions.

Users have wish lists for other netbook upgrades as well, including better storage space and battery life. The Asus Aspire One offers a 120 gigabyte hard drive, but most other netbooks have miniscule 4 to 16 gig solid-state drives. Many posts on notebookreview.com forums complain that 32 or 64 gig SSD's would be a welcome alternative, albiet expensive. Battery life is also another regular complaint -- many netbooks average 3-4 hours, far less than ultra-portable laptops which can regularly reach 5 or more.

So while netbooks are generating a large amount of excitement, many who buy them need to be willing to work around the limitiations that come with such a small computer.