A netbook is an increasingly common substitute for a larger laptop for many computer users. In general, a netbook is a small laptop with a screen size of 10 inches or less. What they lose in screen size they make up for extreme portability and the ability to use your computer virtually anywhere. They often have a 3g wireless card built-in or may connect to the internet via standard wifi as well.

Many people who are constantly on the go are looking for the longest possible battery for their netbooks so that the absence of a power plug nearby does not compromise their ability to keep getting stuff done. The most reliable solutions are hardware: If your netbook came with a 3 cell battery, investigate if a 6 cell battery is available for it instead. While 6 cell batteries are usually a big larger and may weigh a bit more, they often last as much as twice as long. You can also buy a second battery and carry it with you. When one battery runs down, you can simply substitute a new one and keep on working.

There are few software solutions that can help as well. Turn down the brightness of the screen to the minimum possible readable level – this can have a surprisingly large impact on battery life duration. You can also avoid running computations which use a lot of processing power in order to minimize the power consumption. A solid-state harddrive, while expensive, can be a great way to boost the speed of your netbook while also saving power since there are not any hard drive platters or other moving parts which constantly drain the battery.