You may have seen the small computers that are only nine to ten inches in size. While very small, these netbook computers are very powerful machines that use newer technology to keep them affordable for most people.

At first glance, you may notice that there are several things that are missing from the netbook computer. The first you may notice is that there is no DVD or CD rom in this machine. Programs for these computers must be installed through use of a USB drive or downloaded from the internet.

In fact, though not visible, some of these computers do not have a traditional hard drive, but have a solid state memory that serves as the hard drive. This is the same memory used in the thumb drives and is smaller and lighter in weight, but does not contain as much memory as the typical new laptop computer.

The good news is that the machines can use USB hard drives if there is the need for more memory. Prices for external hard dives with more memory have dropped in the past few years. Now a 1 TB (that is 1000 GB) hard drive can be bought for under $100.

You will not find a phone modem capability for most of the smaller computers either, although all of these computers that are now being sold are equipped with WiFi connections. For home use, you will need a wireless router, but in public, the computer can access the web at almost any hot spot.

Originally netbook computers were sold with operating systems other than the current version of windows. For quite some time Windows NT was not offered on these little computers, although it was eventually offered. Now the netbooks are being sold with a netbook version of Windows 7.

Around Christmas of 2008, the price of netbook computers dropped to under the three hundred dollar mark. Black Friday of 2009 saw the prices drop to the one hundred fifty to one hundred seventy five dollar range.

The small size and weight of these computers makes the easy to carry either in a woman’s handbag or a man’s briefcase.

One of the things that has made these computers even more useful is that there have been many web based applications. Google has lead the way in many of the applications, allowing documents, photos and other data to be stored online. Since hard drive space is not required and data can be accessed by anyone with a password, work can be done on a desktop computer and accessed by the netbook.

With prices dropping and their small size, netbook computers are becoming a popular first computer for children. Younger children appreciate the smaller keyboards that make learning to keyboard easier for them. The online features make it possible for the children to play favorite video games, work online and prepare homework. Teens appreciate the small size that will easily fit into a backpack. Documents can be easily printed through any WiFi equipped computer.

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