Updated 24 May, 2012, 10:23 am IST

Gadget of the Year 08 - Netbooks

30 Dec, 2008, 11:30 am IST | by Jayesh Mansukhani

We check out the very best products that could be found in this new segment of mobile computing

2008, in many ways, was a very significant year when it comes to mobile computing. It was within this year that laptops finally overtook desktops, as primary computing devices and a whole new category of subnotebooks more popularly known as "Netbooks" emerged.� This segment may have been new but sure saw ferocious activity when it came to new releases from manufacturers.

Sales of these Netbooks were impressive in their numbers, with virtually every manufacturer reporting huge world-wide sales, in both developed and developing nations. In such a light, we decided to kick off our end of the year round-ups with Netbooks.

Netbook of the Year - Asus EEE PC 1000H

If you have been actively following Netbooks this year, the winner should really come as no surprise. It was Asus that virtually invented this segment with the release of its maiden EEE PC, whose robust sales lead in some ways to the creation of the Intel Atom processor which is the heart and soul of just about every Netbook out there.

When we were making our choice for the top netbook of the year, we had no problem declaring the EEE PC as the top model of the year. Not only did it balance a well designed glossy body with an excellent 10-inch LCD panel that offered a lot of screen space, it also offered a segment leading keyboard that allowed for typing comfort found only on standard sized keyboards.� Furthermore Asus packed the 1000H with the Intel Atom N270 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz,1 GB of RAM, an 80 GB HDD 3 USB Slots and a Kensington Slot along with a whopping 7 hours of battery life. It even offered 802.11n, which was just the icing on the cake.

Runner Up - Lenovo Ideapad S10

Lenovo decided on making a netbook in the style of "If it ain't broke don't fix it". What we mean to say is that Lenovo chose to not mess around with some weird styling or a funky keyboard but instead stuck to the basics by offering a nice ivory-white matte finish for its S10 (which surprisingly looked very good), a very good keyboard that allowed for comfortable typing, a very usable track pad that made it among the only Netbooks that did so.

The LCD panel of the S10 was also well designed, offering very good brightness/color/contrast levels on its 10.2 inch size.� The S10 in its specifications was similar to the Asus 1000H as it offered the Intel Atom N270 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz,1 GB of RAM,� 160 GB HDD, 2 USB Slots, VGA out, multi-format Card reader and a Express card slot.� It even managed to roll out an impressive 4 hours of battery life on its 6-cell battery which is just the perfect way to top off this amazingly designed Netbook.

As my colleague Gagan who reviewed this great Netbook said "This netbook may not do anything radically new, but it does a lot right!". That just about sums up the S10 and makes it our perfect runner-up.

Best Value - Acer Aspire One

Quite frankly, we could have declared the Acer Aspire one to be a joint winner with the Asus Netbook. However thanks to its pricing, we decided that it was better off in the value segment.� Back when Netbooks had just been launched a few short months ago, Acer was the first one to take pro-active step of moving away from the dowdy designs that had been common place among the first generation Netbooks.

Acer chose to instead develop its maiden Netbook in a manner similar to their Gemstone Blue range, which offered a glossy mirror finish on the lid and the bezel with a smart matte finish around the keyboard area with a variety of colors of choose from. Though the screen was a tad small at 8.9-inches it made up in spades, by offering the best color, contrast and blackness levels that could be found and gave a vivid viewing experience usually found in much more expensive laptops. Specifications-wise the Acer could not be faulted as it had 1GB of RAM, an N270 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz, 120GB of HDD storage, three USB slots and was able to eke out 5 hours of battery life on a 6-cell battery.

Only recently Acer slashed the price of this model to Rs. 18,000 making it an absolute steal for its pricing and a shoo-in for our value Netbook of the year.

Tags: Gadget of the Year 08