My eldest daughter is starting college at the end of August. This means a summer full of preparations, including getting her new netbook computer ready.

I bought her an Asus Eee PC mainly because of the price point, $229. That’s one of the lowest priced netbooks I’ve found. I realize that means the bells and whistles are extremely limited, but she has a desktop to do the heavy lifting. And there’s always the possibility that she’d lose it carrying it to and from class. This model, I can replace. A MacBook or a fancy Sony netbook, not so much.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not aware of the tech pro...