The era of computing has undergone a drastic change over the years and the transition still continues as we see unbelievable achievements and breathtaking technologies which are capable of turning every bit of a virtual dream into a reality. We are advancing! As we continue to dream bigger and bigger and achieve everything that we envision, the time has probably come to make sure that we leave something for our own small needs and save as much resources as possible to ensure that our future generations are not deprived of their rights.

Nettops are nothing but a small step ahead in an urge to save the power but still keeping ourselves upgraded with the technology that we are accustomed to. What exactly are Nettops? Why are they becoming popular?

Is this our Future?

In this article, I will try to cover as much as possible so that I can give a brief overview of what Nettops are! Let me begin this way: Imagine a world where we do not have power but still we have some outstanding machines and gizmos to help us do whatever we want to. Will that be a great idea? Obviously not because, such machines will then be nothing but mere junks! They will not have any capacity to work. Our society turns into a dark world and we once again revert back to the dark era of the Stone Age where we need to strike two rocks for creating some fire. The only difference would be that there will be some metallic and non-metallic useless rubbish scattered here and there!

What happens?

Nettop

Science has proved that every source of energy gets converted to power and then we make use of that to enrich our lives. The computers and the notebooks that we use are no exceptions because they use electrical energy to run and work as per our commands. The big and advanced computers which are capable of multitasking, in reality consume ample power even for the smallest of the jobs. This peculiar activity of the computers has in reality left behind a question for us to be answered and a puzzle to be solved.

I will put it in this way: Can we not do some basic computing jobs by consuming the bare minimum power and save some for our future generations? The answer is a simple yes and is provided by Intel (the makers of the chipset and the processors used in our computers). The processors and the chipsets for a normal desktop computer are known to consume a large amount of power even for the most basic computing activities like typing a letter or creating an excel file or may be even browsing the Web. It was as a solution to this problem that the Intel enlightened the world with the low power consuming desktop computers and thanks to the responsibility of the corporate companies that they took a step to make it a success.

Defining Nettop

To quote Wikipedia, “A Nettop is a type of mini desktop or small form factor computer designed for performing basic computation tasks such as surfing the Internet, accessing web-based applications and rich internet applications, document processing and audio/video playback etc.” The term Nettop was coined as a portmanteau of internet and the desktop. Compared to the original desktop computers, these Nettops are known for their light weight, their cheap price and more importantly, their ability to fulfill basic computing needs. These Nettops can complete a simple task for a total power consumption of 36 watts. A typical desktop computer would have consumed a staggeringly high 100 watts for the same work!

The Trade off

There is however a tradeoff that we need to accept. On one hand when we are capable of saving power, it also means that something else has to be reduces. The technical specifications get truncated and the processing power goes down. The direct implication is that the resource intensive applications cannot be used! There are certain Nettops which are designed to attract more of the ordinary and less experienced computer users. These Nettops have Microsoft Windows Operating system. There are other Nettops which run on Linux and can be customized for basic business activities and are more to be found with experienced users! Examples are: the Koolu, the CherryPal, the ASUS Eee Box, the Zonbu, the Linutop and the gPC and gPC mini by Everex.

Conclusion

These little miniature versions of the computers are quite helpful in saving some considerable amount of power and are very useful for inexperienced users. Let us save some power and make this world a better place to live in!