Symmetric Engineering Group

by Cisco Cheng

Steve Jobs will probably disagree, but we think that netbooks have a few things up on the iPad.

Steve Jobs felt compelled to take jabs at the netbook market when he announced his magical Apple iPad stating at one point, "The problem is that netbooks aren't better than anything." But don't ditch that netbook just yet. Here are 42 reasons (ranked in no particular order) why I think netbooks can give the iPad a run for its money.

1)  Netbooks are cheaper. The majority of them run between $200-$400. And after you spend all that money on accessories and upgrade options for the iPad, you'd be able to buy three netbooks for the same amount of money.
2)  With a netbook, you can multitask, allowing you to run several apps at the same time.
3)  Though it hasn't been confirmed that there is absolutely no Flash support in the iPad, we at least know netbooks have full Flash support.
4)  Netbooks have USB ports, about two to three on average. The iPad has none.
5)  Higher Resolutions. There are several 10-inch netbooks that offer 1,366-by-768 resolutions, namely the HP Mini 5102, Dell Mini 10, and Sony VAIO VGN W-Series. The iPad tops out at 1,024 by 768.
6)  Netbooks have options for bigger screens. You can get one with an 11-inch or 12-inch widescreen.
7)  Removable batteries. You can buy an additional battery for your netbook if you want, allowing it to last for multiple days. 
8)  Every single netbook comes with a webcam for video conferencing and chats.
9)  They have physical keyboards, so you don't have to spend extra money to buy a physical one that docks.
10)  Multiformat card readers are built into every netbook, so you can download photos and videos from your camera.
11)  Netbooks have the potential to support handwriting recognition. Handwriting recognition is built into Windows and convertible netbook tablets already exist, so it's only a matter of time before Wacom bursts into action.
12)  Netbooks have a clamshell design, so their screens are less likely to get scratched.
13)  Netbooks use faster processors.
14)  Yeah, spinning drives on netbooks are less durable than the solid-state drives (SSDs) found in the iPad, but they come in greater capacities; and at least you can upgrade a netbook up to a 128GB SSD. 
15)  Netbooks can easily be "modded" with more RAM, bigger hard drive capacity, or a different operating system.

See next 27 reasons here..