All the boys at CG love them some netbooks – I’m content with my mini-model AKA the iPhone – but apparently the rest of the world is snapping them up as well. Om notes that 17 of the 25 top-selling notebooks on Amazon were sub-$500 netbooks, something I’m sure the laptop manufacturers love.
Think about it: laptop sales were stagnant/falling between 2005 and 2007. Every laptop was a one-off iteration of the last – a little faster, a little bigger, a few more lights. I recall especially an Acer line famous for having blue lights. Not, specifically, a hot update.
Then netbooks came along. You got OLPC – the cute little Valley status symbol – and then the rest of the manufacturers finally figured out what to do with all the low-powered embedded systems they were, or weren’t, selling wholesale: the plopped them into netbooks.
Om said it best: the race to the bottom has begun.
And interesting t see the picture you (presumably google searched for) use to illustrate the article is the Psion Netbook, running Symbian OS (then Epoc, before rebranding) from 1999.
if someone from Psion is reading, get us a Netbook for Christmas 2009.
Also I’m not sure that manufacturers will love that cheap Netbooks are selling by the bucketload.
But what really matters is the good functioning.
No use a beautiful device that lets you in hand.
Sorry but I used the wrong way to tradução.GOOGLE
Its not only about the bottom, but a low cost – mobile phone alternative and a handy device which makes it get huge buyers!
O yea, make the cheap stuff even cheaper.
2009, Year of the Netbook – http://bit.ly/vyPg
Acer Aspire One from Amazon got to us late Nov.- loving it
I’ve yet to see a netbook in use — I imagine the low cost is what is driving sales, but are they really desirable compared to a fuller featured device?
“Are they really desirable compared to a fuller featured device?”
Most do the basics well. If what you do is processor intensive or eats screen space, you probably want a full-featured laptop. Most other tasks are fine.
Even then, I use mine for some light InDesign use and software development. The key is to stop reading about them and try one out with the applications you want to use.
Most people use their computer to only go on the Web so why spend a lot for a laptop.
the popularity of the netbooks is due to portability, kids and starbucks customers. these are people who wants to carry it around and need to have a screen much bigger than a pda. i think 2009 will see some interesting games coming out for the netbook.
by the way i used to own a psion pda back in 1996 – it was great with a qwerty keyboard.
Great to see some positives come out of the holiday shopping season. Makes sense for these portable computers to be a hit with kids……they often only use the internet functionality, and not the word processing, spreadsheets, etc. With all the external storage devices that are available cheaply, you don’t need alot of capacity on a notebook.
For the first time consumers can have a low weight, low profile, mobile computer for a reasonable price.
Netbooks bridge the gap between the 15″ 6 pound laptop and your internet enabled phone.
Check out the latest news at my site, the UK Netbook Review > NetbookReview.co.uk
The success of netbook computers this season can be mostly attributed to the economic climate. During these times, people are beginning to analyze what they truly value/need in a laptop machine.
Netbooks have successfully filled this need, providing a low cost solution with a low barrier to entry. Some of the time, knowledge of modern operating systems isn’t even required.
For more on the economic implications of this trend, check out my posts at NetbookStation.com.
no cash + notebook requested as gift = $300 netbook
its not the netbook thats hot its the price tag
i feel sorry for the thousands who got a netbook this year as a gift when they really needed a regular notebook
Maybe most of the world is finally understanding that they dont need all the GHz and Mb for browsing the web, writing short papers and reading email.
Just read that Nokia are planning on developing their one netbook. Wont be too long before Apple get in on the action
Netbooks will be the big thing of 09. They bridge the gap between laptops & mobile Internet & touchscreen netbooks offer another route for further development. And we have all seen what touchscreen has done in other areas!
Acer Aspire One from Amazon got to us late Nov.- loving it
Acer Aspire One from Amazon got to us late Nov.- loving i