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Designing The Ultimate Netbook
Harden writes "TrustedReviews has an interesting take on what the 'Ultimate Netbook' ought to be. From the article: 'How to solve a problem like the netbook? To my mind, despite nearly every manufacturer taking a stab at the thing, none has yet quite distilled my idea of what the Ultimate Netbook would be. This is partly because, until recently, not everyone had a clear understanding of what a netbook was meant to do, but also because manufacturers have all been far too busy jostling for market share to put a lot of thought into the finer details.' What would your Ultimate Netbook include?"
The Netbook needs to be cheap. Preferably in the $150-250 range. It should have a low to medium-end CPU, at least 256 MB of RAM and should run Linux (or if it has a high-end CPU at at least 512 MB of RAM, XP). It should have Wi-Fi out of the box, and a decent video card. It should have a minimum of 3 USB ports, and should be relatively shock resistant.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Why is it that the 'original' netbook - the XO1 - can get 9-10 hours of battery life, even with a basic NiMH (rather than Li-ion) battery, and yet all the followup netbooks seem stuck at 4 hours tops? Even with the new ultra-efficient Atom processor, most new netbooks seem to have a relatively heavy power draw. I wish somebody would sort that out.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
it would include a price tag of below $300... And linux please.
Everyone has different needs and tastes. Some want a smaller package at the cost of features and screen size. Some of us want a little more hardware available and can't see a 7" screen anyhow. Many Japanese would be happy with a 4" netbook even if it had a 200Mhz arm processor. Most Americans would complain. This is why Asus etc have so many models and sizes. Trying to jam everyone into one model is like Henry Ford with the model T. He lost market share because he thought one car would be enough choice for everyone.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
The good things about the netbook market are affordability, GNU/Linux and free software. Microsoft and Apple do not really have systems for that range.
An Apple Netbook wouldn't be affordable and it would include the usual Apple restrictions and digital rights violations. No, thanks.
I read the article. I got about 2 paragraphs in and read this little gem:
Since when the hell was the iPhone the definitive Phone? I'm honestly not trying to troll here, but it's widely documented that although it's great for web browsing and such, the actual phone aspect of it fails on nearly all points. It doesn't do MMS, it doesn't have bluetooth for anything other than headsets - hell, the shitty Windows Smartphone I had 4 years ago did everything the iPhone does today (and more), with the only exceptions of a multi-touch screen and 3G (Because it wasn't widespread back then). Honestly, what am I missing here?
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
I'd like to see a brand that positions itself as the "under $100" Notebook and delivers at least the same specs as the EEE PC 4G.
In other words, instead of trying to replicate a laptop, just cram everything you can for the price. They could then update the product every year; at that price you can afford the upgrade often.
Probably not going to happen, as it would kill margins. But all the current machines will be available second-hand sooner or later and should reach that price point.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
If I worked in marketing and was given a netbook to sell, I'd probably target non-laptop users - people who don't own a computer at all right up to those who have a modern desktop at home, but no mobile solution for casual web browsing and email. People who don't have a real need (or the budget) for a smartphone, but would quite like something that they could carry around the house with them rather than being tied to a desk.
I think trying to market it as an out-and-about internet and email solution is a non-starter. You'd be better off with an iPod Touch.
I thought the point was to be small and portable with long battery life. Get a Nintendo DS if you want to play games. The most "serious" graphics I expect are some desktop effects, and maybe watching a movie.
Yeah, pretty much. I just bought a netbook for school, and there's really not a whole lot I could or would improve on. The article has some interesting ideas, but nothing groundbreaking. Yes, I too would like my car to come with a 3.5L, 300 horsepower engine with a turbocharger and get 40 miles to the gallon! But you know what? I drive a Honda. I have a 2.0L naturally aspirated engine with 210 horsepower, and I get 27mpg local/36 highway. That's frikkin' good enough. Yes, I know the technology is out there to get all those extra fancy doodads, but what I have now satifies everything that I really need in a car. Much like my Acer Aspire One.
The only thing that I've changed on my Aspire One is operating system. I switched from Windows XP to Ubuntu, and that was a fairly straightforward install for even a computer noob like me. I'm even happy about the price - I paid $350 for my Acer Aspire One with the 120GB harddrive and 1gb RAM. I haven't quite jumped on the SSD bandwagon yet - my brother works for a company who manfucturers SSDs, and in his opinion, the technology isn't sufficiently mature yet.
The build quality of this is great - I throw it in my backpack, and have been lugging back and forth from school almost every day. The hinges are stiff enough to feel sturdy, and there's no wobble, unlike my $1600 Fujitsu S-series laptop that I bought 4 years ago. I daresay that this is a much better purchase, and the specs aren't too different either. Granted, there Fujitsu is 4 years old, but this laptop is literally a quarter of the price, and yet the harddrive is 3x bigger! If we continue to compare my Aspire One to my old Fujitsu, it seems that even the keyboard on the Aspire One has a better tactile feel. Nothing I would change there.
People stop me to tell me "... that is the TINIEST laptop I've ever seen!" and girls squeal about how cute it is.
So based on the suggestions from the article, would a trackpoint mouse be all that much more awesomer? Not really. (It's a take it or leave it kinda thing.) 1280 x 800 resolution? Again, meh. Everything on my screen is already tiny enough with 1024 x 600. 1GB RAM, Atom processor, wifi, ethernet, usb ports, blah blah blah? Got that already, minus Bluetooth connectivity. Those are like "standard features" on a car. 6-cell battery? Already an option, and one I don't really find that I need. Last but not least, HSPDA? Dude, I don't even know what that IS, and I don't think I really even need it anyway. And the price of course - we would all like to buy a new Subaru STi for the price of Honda Civic - but dude... you know it just ain't happening.
Oh, and I LOL'd at the "Apple iPhone of netbooks" analogy. The Apple iPhone didn't blow anything out of the water. It just had a better marketing campaign. Considering most people at my school have never seen a net top before (they gawk at mine, and their eyes bug out when I tell them it was only $350), I suspect that the first company to really aggressively market the low-price net top will be hailed as the "the iPhone of net tops."
So, he says he wants:
all day battery life
HSDPA (and a contract is okay) so he can surf the web anywhere
bluetooth
He says he doesn't need:
ability to play games
great sound quality
a lot of RAM or storage
It sounds like he just wants a web-enabled cell phone. Google's/T-Mobile's Android G1 should be perfect for him.
As for me, I'd like more memory, because I know I'll use it. I don't care about HSDPA, because I'm not about to enter into yet another cell phone contract. I don't care about bluetooth, because I'm not going to use an external mouse. I want pre-N wireless, because I'm going to be using it sometime in the next couple of years.
An Apple Netbook wouldn't be affordable and it would include the usual Apple restrictions and digital rights violations.
You're talking about Apple circa 1992. The MacBook is quite affordable and doesn't have any "digital rights violations" that I can see.
$1000+ isn't "affordable" in the sub $400 netbook category.
Apple has entered this field; it's called the MacBook Air. It's expensive, it's heavy, and it has limited connectivity options.
For heaven's sake folks, the Air isn't a Netbook - its a regular 13.3" widescreen form-factor laptop (which is about the minimum size for a full-sized keyboard and better-than-XGA display) that's been made super-slim, and then made to look even slimmer by clever design. Its aimed squarely at well-off Mac users who want a small laptop to supplement their iMac, don't want a MacBook Pro (pretty, but relatively hefty) but fancy something a bit more "executive" than the regular MacBook. Its no power-house, but it has considerably more grunt than most netbooks. The connectivity is stripped out because it is assumed that you'll use WiFi and Bluetooth (there's a clue in the name). The seriously expensive SSD option is intended to give HD-equivalent capacity. Its main competitors would have been smaller, sexy and equally expensive ultra-compacts, and the killer features would have been the keyboard, and that it slipped into a briefcase designed for A4/Letter documents better than a smaller-but-thicker computer. Yet, somehow, the reviews always put the Air head-to-head with the $300 EEE PC 701, rather than $3000 worth of carbon-fibre bonsai from Sony.
Just for the record, I own 0 (zero) MacBook Airs and 1 (one) EEE PC 701 (and am tempted to upgrade to a 901) - but I just find the comparison bizzarre.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
It's still pointless to compare new to used though. Give it time and you'll be able to pick up used eeepc's for cheap too.
Size is still a major issue in that device class (probably in any really). The eeepc can easily and safely be held in one hand, fits into a small bag, and doesn't take up space you'd use otherwise.
Price is also very important. We had very small subnotebooks for years before, but they were expensive as hell. People expect smaller but less powerful equipment to be cheaper, quite rightly IMO.