Netbooks completely changed the laptop market.  They are cheap, portable, easy to use, and get the job done while supplying long battery life to the end user.  After the netbook craze, computers known as the nettop came out.  This is a combination of “net” from the netbook and desktop.

These are small computers that mainly have netbook parts inside.  Many are smaller than your average alarm clock.  Much of the time they are sold on the premise of using less wattage and taking up less space.  Will these nettops really catch on?

There are some significant problems with the nettop that won’t probably ever be resolved.

The first is cost.  Many of these are just as expensive as or more expensive than their netbook counterparts.  It’s difficult to spend the same money on a box that needs a plug and a monitor to run when you could just get a netbook.  Even if you never take the netbook anywhere, you still can plug a monitor, mouse, and keyboard into it.

The wattage issue looks nice, but depending on the screen that is used, this argument falls apart.  Even a 15″ LCD screen combined with the low wattage nettop is going to exceed what a netbook uses.  It is true though that a nettop will use less wattage than your traditional desktop.

Nettops primarily run Linux.  If you are a Linux user this isn’t an issue.  The mass market hasn’t yet purchased Linux computers in droves.  It works on the netbook environment, but may not on the desktop for most people since they are set in their ways.

Another huge issue is that other computers are fairly cheap today.  It’s just too easy to get a full sized machine or laptop for a little more money.  This makes it hard to buy one of these versus something else that people are used to.

Nettops are the desktop version of a netbook.  While it might seem like a nice idea, they end up being nothing more than a novelty.  When compared to a netbook, getting a netbook seems like the smarter idea.

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John has been writing articles online for nearly 4 years now. Not only does this author specialize in home improvement, you can also check out his latest website on buying home office insurance and on buying discount car insurance

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