2010 Netbook Buying Guide: Part 2 – Price

Chance Stevens 13 February 2010 574 views View Comments

As a follow up to our lengthy part one of our buying guide, part 2 is all about money.

Price is the most variable part of this buying guide because your patience will determine the price you pay. When netbooks first come out they do so at their highest price. In as little as 6 months after it comes out you can get the same netbook for up to 30% less. This is all in anticipation of new updated models coming out which do so at full price and every 6 months or so the cycle repeats.

The biggest decision you’ll have to make once you’ve decided on the features is how much you want to lay out. With the exception of eBay, Craigslist or a garage sale the best price you’ll get on a netbook whether new or refurbished is $199. Netbooks priced lower than this appear but do so very rarely.

When you spend under $300 you will get a 10 inch netbook with 1GB of RAM, 160GB or 250GB of hard drive space, Wifi, and Intel integrated graphics.

At the $400 level you’ll be able to get the same specs that you’d find at the $300 level but with a larger capacity battery. There are a few netbooks at this price point with HDMI but they are older units. Examples of this would be the HP Mini 311 or the Acer Aspire 1410.

Once you get past $400 you’ll be able to get a 12″ netbook with enhanced graphics such as an ATI HD3200 or Nvidia ION solution. HDMI will also be included at this price. Examples of these are the Asus 1201N, and Lenovo X100e.

Even though you can get a netbook for as little as $199 they retail for as much as $800+. The extra money goes to a lot of good places. For the premium you’ll get true graphics which will allow you to play all kind of desktop games. Watching HD video online is a breeze with an advanced screen.

The best way of going about making sure you get a great price on your netbook is to time your purchase. Buying during the holidays at the end of year always provides extra savings as retailers drop their prices to get people into the doors. Other holidays to consider buying is the 4th of July, President’s Day, and Labor Day. If you aren’t able to buy during one of the times you want to make sure you buy from the right kind of store. We’ll cover that in the upcoming part 3.

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