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Best options for netbooks with Android

By Mark , updated on June 4, 2014

Android is usually an OS aimed at smart phones and tablets, being a mobile operating system par excellence. It’s odd to see Android on a laptop or netbook, but this doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen once in a while. The main reason for not running Android on a laptop has to do with hardware. Most netbooks and mini laptops run on Intel or AMD processors, which are built to work on a x86 instruction set. Android, on the other hand, was built for mobile oriented processors, using the ARM architecture.

However, in recent times, ports to x86 have been made available and some users choose to run Android as a secondary OS on their laptops, mostly in order to have access to the thousands of Android apps available via the Android Market only. But there was a class of devices (now mainly defunct) named smartbooks, that were meant to run Android and other open source software, trying to offer all the candy associated with a mobile device: great connectivity, portability, long battery life, all these in a package that’s cheaper than the one you’d have to pay for a netbook or laptop.

Smartbooks were out muscled out of the market by netbooks and tablets, but some brave pioneers still remain and we’re going to talk about them later on. As for the class as a whole, it offered pretty decent perspectives a couple of years ago. You had a tablet with a keyboard, basically, running apps tailored for smart phones and tablets, so a pretty makeshift device which had its share of charm.

Toshiba AC100 smartbook running Android

Toshiba AC100 smartbook running Android

Also, Android is built to take in less power than Windows, but offers in return quite mediocre performance. They weren’t built for HD playback or gaming, but for browsing the web and fooling around with Android apps. About that- there isn’t a solid port for Honeycomb yet and most netbooks running Android run older versions, like Froyo, which are considered obsolete even on smart phones.

Currently, you can install Android on a netbook by getting the x86 version of Android and installing it as any other OS on your computer using a tool like Unetbootin that lets you boot from a USB drive. As for netbooks running Android out of the box, probably the most well known is the Toshiba AC100, a 10 inch netbook running on Android 2.2 and a Tegra class processor. It comes with 32 GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM, basically the setup of a mainstream tablet…last year.

The Lenovo Skylight was a promising smartbook...but Lenovo let it slide

The Lenovo Skylight was a promising smartbook…but Lenovo let it slide

The good thing about the AC100 is that it can run on a single charge for about 8 hours and comes with a HDMI port, just in case. Don’t dream about using this for heavy use, but for browsing the web and playing Angry Birds, it will do just fine. The smartbook goes for about 320 pounds in the UK, which is pretty expensive, but if you’re after this kind of device, there aren’t that many options to choose from.

Compaq and Lenovo had big plans with smartbooks, but kind of let them go. Compaq planned the Airlife 100, which was supposed to run on a Snapdragon processor and Android, while Lenovo ditched the fairly promising Skylight for their line of Android tablets instead.

If we’re to stretch it a little, we might consider the Eee Pad Transformer the most accomplished Android netbook out there. When paired with its docking station keyboard, the device looks and works exactly like a netbook- not to say it probably packs the best display to ever land on a netbook. More, recent Honeycomb upgrades allow you to connect a mouse to the tablet, thus making for an almost identical user experience like on a netbook.

The best Android netbook to date is a tablet

The best Android netbook to date is a tablet

The breed of netbooks with Android seems extinct, as most people prefer to go either for an Android tablet, which comes with glorious touch input, or for a netbook, that comes with the full perks of Windows most of the time. Still, considering that Android has been tailored to run on Intel or AMD processors as well and can represent a decent alternative for when you’re bored of Windows.

So take any 10 inch netbook (here’s a rundown of the best you can find right now) and get on a version of Android. The ride might not be great, but at least it will be different. Let us know how does Android feel on your netbook if you already tried it in the comment section below.

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Mark is an Editor here at tlbhd.com . He's studying Screenwriting and Production in "sunny" London and in his spare time, he works as an IT editor for a couple of mobile publications, like this one.

1 Comment

  1. Andrew John Hoffman

    September 27, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    liked the Asus Transformer so much I bought one for my son for his 18th birthday to use at Uni and for work. He has an Htc Incredible S which I thought he could tether up the same way I use my Torch/Playbook. My son says he’s been very impressed with the build quality.

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