How to Get the Most out of Your Netbook
One of the things that netbook owners like to do is tricking out their hardware. Mainly because the systems are inexpensive and netbook manufacturers encourage it to keep the costs down for them but still provide room for after market improvements.
So we have decided to give you some hints at some cool features that you can install into your netbook.
GPS
This is one of my favorite options for any netbook. Mainly because it allows you to have so many cool features. Installing a GPS unit on your netbook varies from model to model but most models allow this. All that is needed is for you to Google the tutorial, have a soldering kit, a few extra hours and some ambition.
Keep in mind that many netbooks are coming with built-in GPS these days so make sure you check that out before opening you netbook (not that doing so will hurt it).
Touch Screen
Here is another option that might not be as useful but still just as fun. Installing a touch screen (like the former) varies from model to model but if you have any of the major brands such as Dell, Asus, Acer or Lenovo you can easily find touch screen conversion kits on eBay for around $50.
Tutorials are readily available around the Internet for this process, and all that is generally required is some basic knowledge of how to operate a screw driver, and of course some time to make the magic happen.
More Storage Space
We can never seem to have enough space. Within the past 3 years the average storage found in a desktop and laptop system has more than doubled. The problem is that most netbook systems do not carry enough storage for most of our everyday needs such as downloading files such as music, video etc or even backing up our hard drives.
So it might be time to upgrade that tiny SSD drive you have in your laptop. Depending on what you want and can afford you can get bigger SSD models from $50-300. Just make sure that the model you are getting works with your system. This is no a one size fits all arena.
If you want a bigger hard disk drive then you will definitely save a lot more money. Most systems that come with 32GB of SSD memory can be configured with 160GB of HDD for the same price.
Over Clocking
This is totally safe so don’t panic and almost every manufacturer cover this under warranty. Some netbooks allow this to be done very easily via the BIOS. But if you’re not sure about it nothing will answer your question faster then to Google it.
Generally a 1.6 GHz Aton Processor can be over clocked to 2 xGHz. Just remember to find some way of testing out if the new found power helps to improve your “netbooking” experience. Also while you are at it, you might think about adding some new memory modules to your netbook. Most netbooks cannot accept more than 2 GB of RAM but it’s always good to check and make sure before you purchase additional memory modules.
Software Options you may want to consider for your Netbook
OpenOffice No matter if your netbook is Linux- or Windows-based, one of the best free downloads you can get is this suite of open-source productivity applications. OpenOffice is a lightweight but powerful and a robust application that competes with the expensive Microsoft Office Suite. OpenOffice.org 3 is the result of over twenty years’ of software engineering. It is an open source productivity suite that serves as a replacement for Microsoft Office. It contains the same basic feature-except and best of all it is free. The suite includes Writer (replacement for Word), Calc (replacement for Excel), Impress (replacement for PowerPoint), Base (replacement for Access), Draw (replacement for Visio), and Math (replacement for Equation Editor)
Google Chrome I am a hardcore Firefox fan when using a high-end computer, but when using a netbook, Google’s open source Chrome browser is an extremely lightweight browser that is winning ticket. It’s only available for Windows for the moment, but will be out in a Linux version soon according to our sources.
PortableApps is a complete collection of portable applications including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, audio player, sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you’re ready to go. You can cherry-pick the applications you want, or run the whole suite in under 512MB. All versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut.
GNOME The GNOME desktop environment is very popular with many Linux users, and is lightweight enough for netbooks. GNOME is Free and Open Source Software and provides all of the common tools computer users expect of a modern computing environment, such as e-mail, groupware, web browsing, file management, multimedia and games. Furthermore, GNOME provides a flexible and powerful platform for software developers, both on the desktop and in mobile applications.
RocketDock is an animated application launcher that comes highly recommend for Windows-based netbooks owners. It’s faster and more flexible than the object docks on most netbooks with an easy drag-and-drop interface. A video here for you to see exactly what you get.
TinyResMeter is a small and lightweight application for tracking system resources in operation. Netbooks normally have stripped down hardware resources, therefore this is an excellent way to get fast views of memory usage, CPU usage and so on.
VLC Media Player is a highly portable and lightweight, free, open source media player that will work on either a Windows or Linux netbook. It supports nearly every popular file format on the market and is specifically designed for portability.
