Cologne - Netbooks are trendy. They are small, light, and affordable, and they offer acceptable performance. They do have one problem, though: no drive for CDs or DVD-ROMs. While this complicates the issue of installing software onto the machines significantly, all is not lost. Some programs can be started directly from other storage media like USB sticks or storage cards, or downloaded onto the netbook from the Internet.
If a CD or DVD-ROM is required for installation, then there are two other options available: either attach an external drive, or use a shared drive from another computer on the network. Simple external CD-ROM drives connected by USB cost less than 20 dollars. DVD drives can be purchased for around 40 dollars, and external DVD burners cost around 65 dollars.
External burners in the slim-line format are considered suitable peripherals for netbooks. T
