- Posts tagged Netbook
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The small MacBook Air is NOT a netbook
Holy Mackerel this thing is fast! 46 tabs in Safari and 21 in Chrome; 18 open applications, including hogs like Safari, Mail and iTunes. No spinning beachballs!
Netbooks are slow and cramped, the 11" MacBook Air is not. The above was running on a stock model with 2GB memory.
In addition to the above, Ars Technica has an article answering questions about the 11" MacBook Air and their comments on performance are positive.
Official performance reviews will provide something more definitive, but it's already clear the 1.4GHz (minimum) Core 2 Duo is ahead of the same-speed processor from years ago (i.e., we should know not to get caught up in clock speeds by now). Further, with flash-based storage and Nvidia 320M graphics, it shouldn't surprise people the MacBook Air is not a performance dud.
Meanwhile, with cheap graphics, slow hard drives and under-powered Intel Atom processors, it shouldn't surprise people that netbooks define "performance dud".
Intel admits iPad may dent PC sales
"We think tablets are exciting, and we fully welcome their arrival," the company said during the call. "Apple has done a wonderful job reinventing the category."
Don't worry, guys. I'm sure all it'll take to derail the iPad train is a faster processor.
A Faster Processor Will Save Netbooks? Um, No.
[Acer Taiwan president Scott Lin] believed the dual-core Atom N550 would keep the category going as it gave about 50 percent more performance without hiking the cost, giving users a reason to pick one over a tablet.
So the strike against netbooks vs. tablets is performance? Since when?
The strike against netbooks is the same as it's always been. They aren't laptops, and they aren't cheap laptops. They're cheap cheap laptops. They possess little of what's best about a laptop or tablet, and it seems consumers began to notice.
This isn't new, netbook sales growth started slowing down many months ago, before the iPad realistically could've had a big impact.
No, Mr. Lin, this isn't about cost/performance ratio, it's about the netbook being an idea whose time has gone. Don't look for sustained sales growth upward. The downward spiral began as "real" laptops got cheaper and more desirable. The iPad is simply the proverbial nail in the coffin.
Notebook Market Shrinking Possibly (But Not Necessarily) Due to iPad
When it comes to Apple, Katy Huberty's track record is not good. So if her note was purely supposition I likely wouldn't post about it.
But it's not for Huberty that I noticed this. Rather, it's for the data she's using. Unlike posts that use projections going out a year or more, the above graph is based on historical data. In terms of the data, there are no assumptions based on recent trends continuing, the competition standing still, etc. It happened.
Further, we're not talking one datapoint from which conclusions are being drawn, we're talking six continued declines (since 35% in February). It's difficult for any rational person to deny there's a bona-fide trend going on.
Having said that, even though the data is real, it doesn't mean conclusions drawn regarding the root cause are. As the article points out, it could be due to no breakthrough performance having occurred in laptops recently, or that the economic climate is postponing purchases. I'm not convinced of the former, but the latter can always play a part. It's possible the economy is causing many to hold off purchases until the holidays, when there's more "pressure" to buy and better deals to be had.
Still, just as the trend is undeniable, so too is the fact that it started at the time of the iPad's availability, and has continued downward amidst the iPad's continued climb. And it's hard to believe this is just economics, since the $500 starting point for an iPad is well above all netbooks and many notebooks.
Whether the sole cause or not, it's not unreasonable to credit the iPad as having more than a passing involvement with what's going on here.
Reality Check: Netbook Sales Growth Slowing Drastically
The above chart speaks for itself.
The article makes a case that the iPad contributed to this, but it's simply too soon to conclude anything like that.
I believe netbook growth keeps slowing as people find out what they really are: cheap cheap laptops. I don't think the majority of people knew what they were getting. They expect these things to do what a desktop or laptop does, and are finding out it's too slow and ill-equipped for the job. As it turns out, you really do get what you pay for.
A netbook may still be fine for a tech or gadget geek who's prepared to deal with its limits, but not for the consumer who thinks they're getting a good ol' laptop when they're not. I think the word is getting out, and the netbooks' wild ride is over.
HP Slate is 'meh'
[Conecti.ca's] conclusion? "The official verdict is meh." Yeah, ouch. Apparently the Slate's biggest strength is also its greatest weakness -- it's essentially a touchscreen netbook, and that means that while it can run everything including Flash, it can be "slow and annoying.
Can this possibly be a surprise to anyone not in denial? These doofus Windows tablet devices are netbooks with the keyboard snapped off. Using a desktop OS not only too bloated to run well on their relatively slow processors, but unable to fully realize the experience of a touch UI.
The old ones sucked. The new ones suck. Future ones are gonna suck.
Bill Gates said you can't just build a new OS for tablets, but he was wrong. It was wrong about tablets eight years ago, and it's still wrong today. It's actually sad to see a company like HP follow a path that a decade of devices has proved time and again is... wrong.
iPad alternatives? Only if you stretch the meaning of "alternative".
So, before you get up on Saturday morning and run off to purchase that iPad, you may want to peruse the best current (as well as coming) alternatives we've rounded up after the break.
Um, none of these are "alternatives" to an iPad. They're laptops, netbooks, or vaporware. And the JooJoo can't be considered an alternative, it's web-only.
The best these can be considered "alternatives" to is spending $500 in the first place. That's true, but so is buying three tickets to a Cirque De Soleil show.
Right now the iPad is one-of-a-kind, no matter how many pundits blather about "tablets" having been around for 10 years. Those are laptops running a desktop OS with the keyboard snapped off. You don't build the new paradigm with the old paradigm's thinking.
There's no other device with a ground-up touch OS, thousands of apps, accessories, and ecosystem, from a company with off-the-charts support and customer satisfaction scores.
This doesn't mean you have to like the iPad, or that there aren't other ways to spend your cash, or that there'll never be alternatives. But there aren't any now. You'll have to wait a while for the cheap fakes.
Netbook Sales Growth Sagging: What Took So Long?
The sales growth of netbooks, priced from $200 to $500 and resembling shrunk-down laptops, slowed markedly in the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC.
This should come as a shock to no one, but of course it will. The netbook is a cheap cheap laptop, OK? That's all it's ever been. Nothing more, nothing less. Laptops went from well over $1K, to cheap laptops in the $600 range, and netbooks brought them down to $300.
Those lower divisions brought cheaper components, lower quality, weak processors, etc. They had to. For some that might be good enough, but it doesn't change the fact that netbooks are a significant compromise to the laptop they emulate. For many, the netbook brought disappointment when they found out there really is no such thing as a $300 laptop.
As for manufacturers, they found out that, while they could brag about sales in terms of number of units, there's little profit. No wonder the big names are scaling back.
