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Why I am thinking about buying a netbook to replace my android tablet.
I have a laptop for home use, and a android tablet as portable device. I bought my tablet little over eight months ago. While I love the touch screen, the tablet has its limitations.
For example, tablets have no java, which I would use for internet banking and my forex trading.
Also tablets obviously have no keyboard. The virtual keyboard is not suitable for typing a lot. In my opinion the only real use of tablets are surfing the internet, and reading ebooks.
Netbooks are basicly complete computers. Netbooks are great if you want to do productive things like editing word, excel, or powerpoint.
Windows, and all of the linux distributions frequently gets updated, and installing updates are a breeze on netbooks, because they are real computers. If you want a more updated android operating system, basicly, you have to buy another tablet.
If you want to upgrade the hardware on a netbook, you can easily dissemble them and do so. For example replaceing RAM is very easy. If any of the hardware has issues it is easy to replace them. In tablets, you have no such possibility.
Another important thing for me is offering spare processor time for distributed computing projects. I use World Community Grid. Tablets don't have that either. At home, when my netbook is plugged in, it could run distributed computing projects.
Also, regarding the fact that you cannot mess with the operating system on a tablet, netbooks are better, because you can install multiple operating systems, on different partitions. You cannot partition the hard drive of your tablet for some reason.
Another thing that really drives me nuts is that tablet have no file directory. I know, that is not entirely true, because if you dig deep into android, you do find different folders. When I want to download, for example a pdf file it saves it automatically somewhere, and I can open it with only one app, unless you specifically change the default app, but then all other pdf will open in that newly assigned app. File directories on netbooks are the same as any normal operating systems.
Tablets have no USB, whereas netbooks do. If you want to plug in your pendrive or your external hard drive, your can do that with a netbook. Printing and other such peripherals are a no match for the netbook against a tablet.
Regarding the operating system of the netbook I am thinking about buying, I think it might be a MacBook Air 11", although the problem with it is it it runs Mac OS, which doesn't have as many programs as Windows. Mac doesn't like flash either.
Also, finally, I am thinking about an ultrabooks too. However, because its large size, makes it difficult to hold it in my lap, but on the other hand, ultrabooks are real laptops.
So what do you think? Which do you prefer, a netbook or an ultrabook? Please share your opinion!