Looking at 2008's Ten Best Netbook PCs

There's no doubt that 2008 belonged to netbooks and netbook- related products. During that year, netbooks came of age and emerged as a vital, and a vitalizing, segment of the PC industry. It was the year in which Asus, the prime mover of the Eee PC, saw one rival after another threatening to take away the company's stronghold in the netbook market. More than fifty netbooks were released in 2008. Of these, we have selected ten for a closer look. Here are the top ten netbooks of 2008.

Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 netbook showed up in one the sorties attended by Dell's CEO. It was a good way to tease the netbook crowd. Effectively since then everyone eagerly awaited the release of the Inspiron Mini 9. And the wait was all worth it when Dell finally released its first ever netbook, the

Dell Inspiron Mini 9. This netbook is among the nicest looking netbook ever to hit the market and Dell has even partnered with Box.net to offer buyers 2 GB of free online storage.

Key Features of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9:

• Intel Atom Processor N270 1.6Ghz
• 8.9-inch LED display (1024x600)
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB SSD
• Wi-Fi and optional Bluetooth
• Windows XP Home Edition
• 4-cell battery

Another highly anticipated netbook last year was the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. This small and lightweight netbook features easy-to-use interface, a well built form factor, and nicely design bezel and netbook body. While Lenovo successfully delivered a good and trusty netbook to compete with other netbooks, the IdeaPad is not without some minor flaws. But these flaws are the usual problems encountered with portable machines and include heating up temperature, toy-like over all look, only two USB ports and most important of all, just a 3-cell battery which can only max out 3.5 hours of usage time.

Key features of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10:

• Intel Atom Processor N270 1.6GHz
• 10.2" WSVGA AntiGlare TFT (1024x600)
• 1GB RAM
• 160GB HDD
• Windows XP Home Edition (SP3)
• 3-Cell Li-ion battery

I'm really wondering why it took HP so long to come up with another netbook after coming out with a great 8.9-inch metallic HP Mini Note 2133? The HP Mini 1000 is not a direct successor of the Mini Note 2133 since it was officially announced that its successor is the 2340. But it still is a major upgrade from the specs and features of the Mini Note 2133. Actually I'm seriously thinking of getting the HP Mini 1000 or the Acer Aspire D150 for my next netbook upgrade. Additionally, one notable feature of the HP Mini 1000 is its nicely laid out full keyboard which even prompted CNET.com to call it as the best netbook keyboard ever. (Price: $699.78)

Key Features of the HP Mini 1000:

• Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.6GHz
• 10.2" diagonal WSVGA HP LED Brightview Infinity Display (1024 x 600)
• 1 GB RAM
• 60GB HDD
• Windows HP Home
• 3-cell battery

When Asus released the Eee PC 1000H last year, it has the largest LCD screen display for a netbook at that time, as well as the biggest capacity SSD of 40GB. But then, others follow suit and released their netbooks with larger SSD storage and similarly size LCDs. The good thing was that Asus was able to set the mark once again. The only gripe of Eee PC fans with the 1000H was its relatively steep price. In fact, Asus initially planned to sell if for around $600+ but decide to finally release it for around $599. Soon after releasing the Eee PC 1000H, Asus followed it up with other upgraded models to suffice the needs of users. (Price: $468.78)

Key Features of the Eee PC 1000H:

• Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.6 GHz
• 10.2-inch diagonal LCD
• 1GB RAM
• 40GB SSD
• Linux OS
• 6-cell battery

Among the netbook manufacturers who challenged the Asus dominance in the market, it was Acer which gave the Eee PC the toughest challenge. Good thing for Asus, the Aspire One was introduced when Asus was about to introduced the bigger Eee PC 1000 series. It's Eee PC 900 series was way ahead of the Aspire One and Acer's entry might have prompted Asus to release a bigger netbook. The Acer Aspire One became such a big hit because it carried the fan base of its bigger regular notebook counterparts. And the Aspire One's longer battery life was well appreciated by users.

Key Features of the Acer Aspire One:

• 1.6GHz Atom N270
• 8.9-inch LCD
• 1GB RAM
• 160GB HDD
• Windows XP
• 6-cell battery