Yes, it is that time of the year again. That season where students have different feelings coming into… school season. Time to stock up on books and school supplies and the latest addition to the supply list is the computer. Computers have become indispensible for students for writing papers or for researching for a project and since the start of millennium, as a note-taking device as well. But with the different types of mobile computers, which one is best for student of 2010-2011?

Netbooks

Netbooks are the smallest and most affordable. On the other hand they are also the lowest performing. Although most netbooks can surf the internet or watch movies and listen to music, when it comes to intensive computations such as gaming, these types of computers will bog down. But as a school computer, is that really a bad thing? Students will be “forced” to use these netbooks as actual work machines. Essentially, netbooks are perfect for lugging around the campus and using it as a digital notebook.

Things to note when looking for a netbook are screen size, battery-life, and comfortable keyboard. The sweet spot for netbooks in terms of screen size is between 10-to-11-inches. Any smaller and your eyes will be strained while any bigger and you would be considering a full notebook computer instead. Current battery-life for netbooks stand at 6-10 hours with some even reaching 12 hours!

This will last any student all day in school with enough time for a recharge at the end of the day. Keyboards are those components that are taken for granted but one of the most important. The keyboard is where your fingers will spend most of the time with the netbook. Just make sure that your fingers are comfortable and not cramped when typing so before you buy, test a netbook’s keyboard by test typing even if the netbook is not turned on.

Notebooks

Notebooks or laptops are the big brothers of netbooks. They offer more power as well as bigger screen real estate. Because of the bigger size, notebooks tend to be heavier than netbooks. This start of the school year is a perfect time for buying a new notebook. Notebook manufacturers have released their latest line up that features Intel’s Core i processors or AMD’s latest mobile CPUs.

For notebooks, the sweet spot on terms of screen size depends on what you want to do with the notebook. If you still want to be mobile, then a 13-to-14-inch display is more appropriate while a 17-inch notebook is more a desktop replacement than a backpack staple. A notebook with a 15-inch display is the best compromise between mobility and screen size.

Aside from screen size, a (loose) rule of thumb is that the bigger the notebook, the better the performance. For those that don’t need computing performance, the Intel Core i3 processor is sufficient for most computing needs while the Intel Core i5 or AMD Athlon II CPUs have enough power for some after-school gaming as long as they are paired with competent discrete graphics from Nvidia or ATI. Again, because of the more efficient components, notebooks have better battery life than before. Having 3.5-6 hours is the norm. Specs-wise, it again depends on what you want to do with it.

Other Notebooks

Ok, let’s go old school. As much as we have moved forward with technology, iPods, tablets, netbooks, and notebooks, there is still that one true note taking device, the paper notebook. I am dating myself, but when I was in college, notebook computers were still a rarity in the classroom and for students that were taking Information Technology, the pen and paper were the students’ best friend.

You might giggle at this option but when push comes to shove, or more precisely when the battery blips empty, there is no better option than a pen and a paper notebook.