In my recent technology timeline post I bemoaned the fact that there seems to have been an innovation drought for the last few years (at least where it comes to life changing gadgets) and wondered whether the netbook I had ordered (but not received) might change that? Well… I’ve had the netbook for a few weeks now, and I think it’s a deserving addition to the timeline list. Here’s why:

• It’s small and light enough that I am willing to take it with me all the time. I’ve had supposedly class leading light laptops for years, and this simply hasn’t been the case.
• The battery is enough to get through a typical day on the road without having to plug in. That’s not a day of always on use, but for regular email and blog checks, summary notes etc. it’s fine.
• The screen might be small, but it’s sufficient, and certainly beats smaller devices for watching videos on the way home. Roll on the day when these things come with 1280×720 as standard (yes I know the laws of physics stop my eyes from seeing every pixel at the right relief distance, but I’ve had a high def screen before and liked it).
• The keyboard is big enough to type normally, and adjusting to missing and displaced ancillary keys didn’t take long. I’m still not a huge fan of trackpads, but a nice little Bluetooth mouse saves me from worrying too much about that.

All this leaves me wondering why anybody would pay >£1k for an executive laptop, when you get pretty much the same thing for <£300?

The one thing that I don’t understand is why integral 3G modems aren’t a standard thing? I’m running with an expresscard thingy, which pokes out a little less than a USB fob, and offers more control and status indicators, but this really should be built in. The cards to do this seem pretty cheap in bulk, so why isn’t it at least an option?