eMachines EM350

Very cheap Netbook – I bought this Netbook from Harvey Norman for $238 and received $40 cashback from eMachines. This netbook was specified with an; Atom N450 CPU (1.66Ghz), 1 gig of DDR2 RAM, a 160 gig SATA HDD, 2 USB 2.0 port, wireless b/g/n, 3 cell battery, webcam and a 1024x600 shiny LED LCD screen. The Operating system was Windows XP Home. Very impressive specifications for the price, at the time of purchase (November 2010) similar specified machines were selling for around $400 to $500.

I'd been looking at a Netbook purchase for around 12 months as my 2 other laptops are too large and heavy to carry around so the Netbook form factor seemed like a good idea. I had my reservations regarding the keyboard and trackpad but when this was advertised, it was too tempting.

For general web surfing or watching video, the laptop was fine, except for the sound quality was truly awful with a single tinny speaker, headphones or some USB powered external speakers are almost a must.

For use for word processing or for my job as a health professional, the keyboard was too small for me to type accurately and the screen size too small to be practical when viewing consulting screens and images.

After 6 months I sold the netbook and bought a larger, 14 inch laptop (ACER 4820) which has proven to be much nicer to use and weighs only 2kg. My older Dell 15.6 inch laptop weighs close to 4kg so it's quite amazing how manufacturers have been able to reduce weight without sacrificing screen real estate or performance.

Netbooks have their uses for casual users or as a secondary computer when travelling, but they are also limited in their functionality when tasks extend beyond surfing the web or watching video. Small form factor, very portable. Awful sound, cramped keyboard.