There’s a report out now that’s saying the rate of failure in netbooks within the first year is significantly higher than that of laptops and desktops. Now, not having actually owned a netbook I couldn’t even start to tell you if it’s accurate or not, but having owned 2 laptops and countless desktops, I can say my personal experiences with those are surprisingly positive. They all lasted past their first year, and I only had to replace my first laptop at the 4-year mark, or thereabouts, when it quite literally began to fall apart–it was a Toshiba, what do you expect? Other than that, though, I’ve had none of my machines to this point fail on me. Would that remain the same were I to buy a netbook? I haven’t a clue. But this isn’t exactly prompting me to go and find out.
SquareTrade, an independent US warranty provider, analyzed the failure rates of more than 30,000 laptops covered by its own warranties. It found that 5.8% of netbooks malfunctioned within the first year, compared to 4.7% for regular laptops and 4.2% for premium laptops costing more than $1,000.
Sounds like my best bet would just be to buy another laptop. So who wants to go shopping with me?
2 responses to “Reasons not to buy yourself a netbook, number 5489.”
I think it must depend on the manufacturer of the netbook, honestly.
My Asus Eee (900HA model) with the stereotypical notebook specs and Win XP home is still going on strong nearly a year after purchase.
I mainly use my netbook for web browsing, email, and occasional light gaming (I can run The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind beautifully). If you’re on a budget and you’re not running anything really resource heavy, I’d go for a netbook.
You’re probably right. Although, I’ve seen my share of Asus hardware go sideways as well so I dunno. Shit luck, perhaps?