Analysts think Apple is leaving potential profits on the table by not getting into the Netbook market. They go further to predict that Apple will introduce a touch screen Netbook style machine around September 2009….. Just in time for next Christmas.
The full story is here
Phone chip designer ARM announced announced they are getting into bed with Ubuntu to produce Netbooks (PR people called it an alliance)
“The release of a full Ubuntu desktop distribution supporting latest ARM technology will enable rapid growth, with internet everywhere, connected ultra portable devices,” said Ian Drew, vice president of Marketing, ARM.
“The always-on experience available with mobile devices is rapidly expanding to new device categories such as netbooks, laptops and other internet connected products.”
I like the sound of this, ARM need to do some work to break into the market which is pretty much dominated by Intel at the moment. So I’m hoping the new chip in conjunction with Ubuntu will lead to cheaper prices and that’s good for everybody.
The product launch is expected around June 09 at Computex.
Source: Network World
IDC Research is predicting that the Netbook market segment will be good for 50 million units by 2012. Europe has been the driving force for the growth in Netbook sales with many wireless carriers offering a free Netbook with a wireless broadband contract.
Source: Brown Knows
“Electric Feel” from Electric Vagabond has his home office set up completly based around his MSI WIND U100 Netbook. I’d never thought of basing a regular computing set up around a netbook. Using a combination of Bluetooth, a USB Hub and a standard monitor cable the setup only has three cords to dock and undock (including the power).
Check out the whole set up in detail here.
I have a confession to make, at this very minute I don’t own a netbook.
I want one, I want one really bad, I go to the shops almost everyday and practice using the keyboards and trackpads to see which one my fingers can get a handle on the easiest. I shop for a modern mans man bag that will hold my netbook yet not look like a laptop bag, just to discourage anyone that’s thinking of taking it without asking.
So if you haven’t got the idea how bad I want one, then follow me on my shopping trips. Store security doesn’t even ask to check my bags anymore, it won’t be long till they know my name and ask me to the staff Christmas party.
So why haven’t I got one yet ?
There are two reasons main reasons I haven’t bought one yet.
The first is that I can’t really justify it, I already have two 15.4 inch laptops that do almost everything I need. My day job involves working with laptops, and sometimes when I can’t avoid it I bring my 12″ Dell work laptop home.
So one would reason I have access to plenty of portable computing, but really how portable is it? Each one requires a dedicated bag that starts to feel quite heavy on the shoulders even after a mildly short walk. I won’t carry any of them with me all day if I’m only going to get to use it for an hour.
The second reason is I don’t know what I want out of a Netbook.
Everything in Netbook land is a compromise, if you want more battery life, then your Netbook will weigh more. If you want a bigger screen size then you need a bigger bag to carry it. And then when you start looking at the 10″ netbooks, you can put down the same amount of cash and get a much more powerful standard laptop.
And then there is the OS to consider. I’m moralistically opposed to anything Microsoft puts out. (that’s a rant for another day) So I wan’t to get one of the linux variants on offer, but that has two drawbacks. One, they are hard to come buy in Australian stores. Two, a 3G connection is very much on my list of must haves but no one supports it for Linux. (there are ways around it)
So over the next few weeks I’m going to have a look (on paper at least) of what’s currently available and what best suits my needs and more importantly I’m going to waste many hours trying to get the 3G modem in my cell phone to work with Ubuntu on my current laptop.
Stay Tuned.
Blogger State Your Purpose has written a review of his New ASUS EEEpc 1000H. Being a bit of a geek, as soon as he unpacked it was upgrade time. He upgraded to the maximum 2GB and swapped out the 160GB Hard Drive for the 250Gb HDD he had in his Lenovo laptop.
After he’d played with the hardware, he messed around a little to install Vista Ultimate for what he states was “better battery options”. I’m a Vista hater so I won’t make any comments, His install went pretty well with the only issue being the external volume controls not working, but it looks like there is a fix for it when he has the time.
Overall State Your Purpose seems happy with his 1000H purchase and is reporting 3 to 3.5 hours of normal use battery life out of his set up.
Computer World Columnist Mike Elgan is arguing that HP invented the best Netbook 15 years ago when they released the Omnibook 300.
While he reckons the HP Mini Note is okay he’s campaigning for an update of the omnibook as the segment killer for Netbooks.
And I can see some merit in some of his arguments.
Personally I’ll take a color screen and the wireless connectivity of the modern Netbook, but I think HP might go forward by looking backwards.
This site is completely dedicated to Netbooks, but before one can create a whole site about Netbooks one must define what a Netbook actually is.
Netbook is a new word used to describe mini laptops (or ultra portables) I haven’t been able to find the origin of the term logic says that it grew out of the words internet and notebook but when a new word evolves there is no rock solid definition of what a netbook has to be.
So what really makes a Netbook a Netbook?
ZDnet: A subnotebook computer that costs less than US$400 and incorporates an Intel Atom microprocessor
Information Week: Mini-notebooks, which are also called “netbooks,” are defined as sub-$500 systems with screen sizes of 10 inches or less
CNET: A Netbook is a new type of laptop computer, defined by size, price, horsepower, and operating system. They are small, cheap, under-powered, and run either an old or unfamiliar operating system.
Best Buy: Netbooks may look like laptops, but they don’t have the full capabilities of a computer. Instead, a netbook specializes in mobility and the Web, so it’s great for travel or as a supplement to your main PC.
Wikipediea: A netbook is a small to medium sized, light-weight, low-cost, energy-efficient laptop, generally optimized for internet based services such as web browsing and e-mailing.
If we ignore ZDnet trying to restrict a netbook to being a $400 Intel device and we look at the common traits a netbook is kind of small, kind of mobile and kind of cheap.
I think that’s a good place to start.
Ted Hanigan | 
11 18th, 2008| 
