A little over a month ago I sold my trusty Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop to a family friend since I found that I was basically just using it for movies and nothing else. However, I still needed some sort of mobile computer for email and basic web browsing. On my list of possibilities were one of the netbooks, a smartphone, or an iPhone. After using my friend’s iPhone now and then, and looking at the web capabilities of most smartphones out there, I decided that a netbook was probably my best option. The next question was, as often is the case, which one?

The original ASUS EEE models (700/701) only came with a 4GB flash drive for the system files. Since there was the chance that I’d be running something more than just plain Windows and IE, I needed a model that had a proper sized hard drive. Of the choices on the market at the time, the EEE 1000H seemed like the best fit. For $450 on sale I really couldn’t complain.

The basic package was great. 10″ screen, 1GB DDR2-667, 160GB 5400RPM hard drive, and 5 hours of battery life (actually using the thing). However, there were times that 2GB of RAM would be nice, and the hard drive was a little sluggish for my tastes (I’m impatient). After $30 for a 2GB stick of RAM and $90 for a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB drive - the difference is clearly noticable.

While I was at Anitec the other day, I also noticed that they had a Western Digital Blue 500GB drive on sale. I’ve had times where my 160GB external just doesn’t cut it, so having the massive portable storage will come in handy.