I live in an area where we have frequent, unannounced brownouts. They can range from a few minutes to a few hours and there's no way to tell which is which until after the fact. The most frustrating part about not having electricity for more than a few minutes is that I no longer have an Internet connection for obvious reasons.

I had already planned to buy a diesel-powered backup generator for the house, and that plan still stands, but I've now added a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to my backup plans, way ahead of anything else.

Affordable Power Supplies

I have found a couple of places in Olongapo City where I can buy a UPS and I consider the prices affordable. They're not APC products, but they'll suffice if I can't find anything made by APC.

The prices range from 5000 to 10,000 pesos (or somewhere between $100 and $250 US dollars) depending on how much power I want for the backup power supply. Since I only plan to power a DSL modem and a netbook, I should be well off with the cheaper models.

Netbook Batteries and UPS Batteries

I've read in various places that a netbook battery can last anywhere from 3 to 6 hours depending on how you use the netbook (what applications you're running). Since I would only be using a web browser and a spreadsheet during that time (for my online business), I'm sure the netbook battery would last at least 3 hours. That is, provided I don't end up with a netbook that has one of those super cheap laptop batteries in it. I certainly hope not.

My plan is to have only the DSL modem and the desktop computer attached to the UPS. When a brownout occurs, I can properly shut down the desktop computer, move the Ethernet cable from the desktop to the netbook and plug the netbook into the UPS. When the UPS battery starts getting low, I can unplug the netbook from the UPS and continue until the netbook battery is near-dead.

Total Power Supply Backup Time

Based on my past experiences with UPS units and notebook computers, I'm making a conservative estimate that I would probably have at least 9 hours of backup power time using the netbook/UPS combination. The reality, considering breaks and other reasons not to be using a computer at all, is that it would probably be more than 12 hours. That just happens to be the average long brown out here due to being a scheduled brownout that I never get told about.

Plans change and I may end up doing something slightly different, or include other things in the backup plan, but that's where it stands right now.

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Since the time I wrote about some shopping comparison sites where you can find laptops, I've come across two more. Actually, the two I came across were via StumbleUpon notifications. I'm not really into social networking anymore, but there are still some people who think I am.

Spoofee.com

Spoofee.com is an odd name for a shopping site, but I guess the name isn't as important as the deals you can find there. Using the "deal search" box, I searched for notebooks and received several pages of results. Now, some of them are laptops and some are laptop accessories, but the deals are there. If you search for hot pink laptops, you'll probably find some there (I didn't search for that — I don't do pink).

The thing that struck me about this site is that they tell you how to get the best deal on each item — things like special customizations, rebates and coupon codes.

Affordable Computers

Affordable Computers is a name that sounds a bit more like a shopping site should. I didn't know what to expect when I started browsing the notebook computers category, but I can tell you one thing: These aren't "brand new" computers.

Every notebook listed shows that they're refurbished and reconditioned. Make no mistake about pricing, however, because these aren't cheap refurbished laptops. The prices look to be comparable to brand spanking new laptops coming from unopened boxes.

I don't know whether a new, unopened and untested laptop or a refurbished and reconditioned laptop is a safer purchase. It seems to me that a refurbished laptop would be safer because whatever was found wrong has now been fixed (supposedly). In my past experiences with computer components, refurbished was indeed the better route to take.

Laptop Shopping Resources

I'm sure I'll come across more laptop shopping sites as time progresses, even if I'm not looking for them. I'll be sure to point you to them when I do.

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While I was writing a post about netbook, notebook and laptop computers on my main blog, I was inspired to set up this site.

Until the beginning of July, 2009, I'll be doing some online window shopping of netbook computers. I already own a now-dead notebook computer and I don't feel like taking that route again.

Laptops

The term "laptop computer" encompasses the computer that are now called "netbooks" and "notebooks" and hybrids that are a little of both. That may sound redundant, but it isn't. A netbook is designed for a different kind of user than a notebook.

Notebooks can replace desktop computers. Netbooks cannot. Netbooks are designed to be less resource intensive and therefore aren't designed to do everything notebook computers can do. The current models of netbook computers run either Linux or Windows XP. Windows Vista uses more resources than a netbook is intended to provide.

Netbooks

Since notebooks are designed to be both portable, either wired or wireless, and can completely replace desktop computers, I won't mention anything else about them right now.

Netbook computers are designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet, not for day to day computing needs. They're primarily designed for web browsing and taking care of email. They rely heavily on remote access to Internet web-based applications.

Since netbooks cost less to manufacture and are less expensive than notebooks and desktop computers, they're poised to become more widely used than the other types of computers within the next few years.

My Quest

I'm searching for a suitable netbook computer to be used for two purposes: 1) As my backup computer, since my online business is web-based and only requires three applications and 2) As a computer than my wife can use to assist me while I'm using my desktop computer.

I am a typist. I learned to type on manual typewriters before most people even knew what a computer was — somewhere around 1975. I prefer a full-sized keyboard. The netbook I choose will have to have keys large enough for my large fingers and wide enough for me to be comfortable typing on.

I'm not concerned about the screen size. I know that I won't be getting one of the smallest netbooks because using the keyboard would keep me in a constant state of frustration. If the screen size is any indication of how big the keyboard is, I'll be looking for the largest netbook available. If I can get a good enough deal, I may even get two of them at the same time (one for the wife and one for me).

Wireless Broadband

There is at least one decent wireless broadband company local to me. I have DSL connection for the PC I'm using right now, but I want to use a wireless connection for my netbook, even if it can use a wired connection.

With the DSL provider I currently use, I'm limited to one connection and it's patchy at times. I'm required to have a standard land line in order to have the connection. With a wireless provider, I don't need an additional land line. If the wireless provider works out, I may ditch the DSL provider completely along with the land line I never use.

Share Your Opinions and Experience

If you have a laptop computer of some kind and would like to share your opinion or experience with it, feel free to send me a message using the contact form. If I write it about it, I'll include a link to your site (if you have one). You can also share your opinions on models you've looked at.

My own research is going to be web-based since I live in the Philippines and don't have access to a good supply of netbooks where I can physically examine them. I'm sure I'll find a few, but I'll still get the specs from the web.

Since netbooks and notebooks continue to evolve, I won't stop doing research when I finally get one for myself. The lifespan of any computer is finite and I'll have to replace one or more computers in a relatively short period of time — probably within five years.

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