Current netbooks mostly come with Windows preinstalled, but some manufacturers offer alternative operating systems on their lightweight computers. This article will cover the most common systems on netbooks. If you have additional information, feel free to leave a comment.

Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP Home is used on most netbooks which is one reason why this operating system will live on for a while. It offers a familiar system most users are comfortable with. There is a lot of software for this platform including hardware drivers and alternative software for programs which consume a lot of power. Also the battery life is excellent and especially netbooks with 6 cell batteries hold on up to 7 hours.

Windows Vista

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Edition is barely used for netbooks, it comes preinstalled on the HP 2133 Mini Note and Dell Inspiron Mini 12, for example. The reason for this is obvious, Vista is just to slow, especially when most netbooks come only with 1 GB memory. Reviews prove that Vista is not an optimal solution. However, if you like Vista better than XP, installing it on your netbook seems to be no problem.

Windows 7

Microsoft is working on a new and improved operating system which will mostly provide several improvements under the hood and a better user interface. The Windows 7 Beta is already available for download. I recommend testing it in a virtual machine, like VMware or Virtualbox. Reactions are positive so far. Although it will not likely bring a computing revolution, Windows 7 will hopefully enhance user experience. The release date will be around late 2009 or early 2010. There is also rumor that Microsoft is developing a special netbook/laptop edition of Windows 7.

Linux

Netbooks really gave Linux a boost in popularity. It comes preinstalled on several netbooks like some Asus Eee PCs or the Acer Aspire One. Linux offers a different user interface and behavior, concentrating on the most important tasks you probably do on a netbook. Different distributions can be installed like Ubuntu or SUSE, but there are also custom-build distros like the Ubuntu-like distro Easy Peasy or Fedora based Linpus Linux. On some models there might be problems with hardware drivers if Linux is not preinstalled on them. In this case, consult the Internet, the Linux community is very friendly and will help you.

Mac OS X

Some Apple enthusiasts managed to install Mac OS X on netbooks and released several how-tos for everybody to follow. Unfortunately, we will most likely never see an official version of the Mac OS for other platforms then Apples, but users reported that the Apple operating systems works fine on netbooks. There might be some issues with hardware drivers, so before installing Mac OS X check out if there are deal breakers for you. However, dualbooting with XP is supported and the community has a growing list of common workarounds. May be worth the shot for some of you.

Android

Some guys managed to get Google Android working on an Asus Eee PC. This might be an interesting first glance on the future of netbook operating systems. As Google is planning to use Android for any mobile device, Android might be ready by 2010 to take on netbooks and regular notebooks. I talked to some colleuges of mine who are working on an Android project and their opinion is that Google will first concentrate on mobile phones, but the chances are good for an operating system, too. A manufacturer like Asus could also provide a modified version of Android, so it hasn’t to be from Google itself.

Conclusion

As you can see, netbooks are fun. Even more, if you are a computer enthusiast and like to experiment. The downsides for the regular customer who try hacking their netbooks might be hardware issues, like lower battery life or unsupported ports. Also some hacks may require BIOS modifications that kill the warranty, so please be cautious. But for all the geeks and nerds out there, it is definitly a lot of fun to install alternative operating systems on netbooks.

Leave me a comment about your experiences!

Hello boys and girls, welcome to the brand new NotebookNotes.com site!
This place will be a guide to the world of laptops including a notebook and accessories database, product reviews, user reviews and a tech blog. Let me give you a brief introduction what’s the matter with this site.

First, some lines about me. My name is Michael Szumielewski, I am 21 years old and live in Munich, Germany. Most of the time I develop websites and make crazy stuff on the web. Currently, I am studying business informatics at the Munich University of Applied Sciences.

By the way, I have to thank my friend Adrian from university who came up with the idea for the domain name. Thanks, buddy!

Main features

To the site! The most important feature of NotebookNotes.com is the product database which covers notebooks and laptop accessories. The database will be updated periodically with top notebooks and useful accessories, such as external hard drives, monitors, printers and a lot more.

Every product will have a review section, where I will add reviews which will have more or less the same format and are supposed to help my readers make a buying decision.

If you own a product from the database, you can write an user review and rate the product. This will make the site more interactive and gives everybody a chance to share their experience. This feature is in development right now and should be ready soon.

Last but not least, I will be writing in this tech blog about topics concerning laptops, software and accessories. There will be useful tips and recommendations on how to improve your computing experience. I’m looking forward to start with this thing.

At this moment, the site is in beta mode, because of the lack of some important features and a small product database, I’m constantly working on. However, I hope that by the end of February everything will be set up like I want it to be. Then I can really start to promote NotebookNotes.com

My goals

I have two big goals for this site, exactly in this order: delivering value and making money. And having fun while doing it :)

I love tech stuff and I am sure this will give me the strength to make this an awesome site for my readers. To make the most out of it for you, I need feedback and new ideas to improve it and make it more helpful. So, please feel free to leave me a comment at the end of this post.

When it comes to money, I assure you there will be no scam advertising here. As far as it is possible, I will try to deliver topic related and complementary ads. Also, some part of the money will be reinvested in this site for contest and the possibility for me to go to trade shows like CES and make live coverage.

So, as you just read, I’m pretty psyched about this project and can’t wait for your feedback. You can also follow NotebookNotes.com on Twitter, where I will cover additional news and useful tips about notebooks.