The Netbooks Are Coming! But For Who?

I am writing this post on a laptop that is no bigger than a bible you find next to a hotel bed. The screen measures 9-inches diagonally and the lilliputian keyboard requires my hands to be almost touching each other as I type. When I leave the New York City Starbucks I am sitting at I will toss the 2.2-pound system in my purse; I left the charger at home this morning, even though it weighs less than a pound, because the little guy gets 3 hours of battery life.

What I can do on this mini-notebook, which is priced under $350, is surf the Net (thus they are being called netbooks, by many). While I write this post in a word processing program, I frequently flip over to Firefox 3 (perhaps soon to be replaced with Google's Chrome) where I have my Facebook page open in one tab and Gmail open in another. I am also chatting with friends over AOL Instant Messenger and listening to streaming music over Pandora with a pair of headphones I have plugged in to one of the laptops few ports.

Here is what I cannot do with it. It doesn't have a DVD drive so watching a DVD or popping in a CD-ROM is out of the question. It has a limited 4GB solid state hard drive so I cannot store hoards of pictures or videos and I surely cannot run a video editing program with the amount of onboard processing power. For those tasks, I have larger, more expensive Sony VAIO laptop at home.

Size matters and small is in. Or at least laptop manufacturers are hoping it is because arriving this month from the likes of Lenovo and Dell (Acer, ASUS and HP already have their own minis on the market) are a slew of these very mini-notebooks - also dubbed netbooks, ultra-low-cost notebooks or more cleverly liliputers. The computer makers are betting that there is a need for inexpensive laptops with limited features.

The category was jump-started last year when Taiwanese computer maker ASUS introduced its $300 Eee PC. The Eee PC was a hit and 350,000 were sold in only a few months. ASUS might have been first out of the gate, but it didn't take long for the PC and industry giants to follow suit. And its easy to see why with research analysts at Gartner predicting netbooks sales to hit about 5.2 million globally this year and eight million in 2009.

I have seen (and reviewed) lots of mini-notebooks in the last few months and for many of the early tech adopters they have become all the rage. But my question has been: who are they really for? ASUS claimed its first Eee PC was meant as a first time PC for kids. Then HP hit the market with its sleek, silver Mini-Note 2133 and targeted the education market (at least in marketing). MSI did the same with its Wind. And Acer recently lowered its Aspire one to $349 for back to school shoppers.

But, despite being designed for use in education, about 70 percent of the market for cheap laptops is expected to be consumers, Gartner says. That's right the buying will lie with customers like me, who want a low-cost second or third PC or a product that's more than a smart phone, but half the size and feature set of a laptop.

I have also argued that they have appeal for the mobile professional. However, my father, a successful business man, bought an Eee PC a few months back. While he doesn't mind using it for a 3 hour train ride from New York City to Boston, his colleagues just don't see the point in it. They would rather take along the 15-inch Dell business laptop.

While I have been sitting here sipping my iced Latte and typing this post at least two men have approached me saying they love the small and "cute" laptop. One told me he would love to get one for his 10 year old son. The other told me he'd love one for himself to use for working on at the park. Maybe netbooks are for everyone. You tell me, are the netbooks coming for you?

Comments

[SeriousBlack]

A good combo solution is a netbook and GoToMyPC. I have my desktop computer at home connected to the net via 6 Mbps cable, and anywhere I'm at with my ASUS Eee PC 900 where I can connect to the net (like in a hotspot) I can do any heavy lifting type processing on the machine at home. The response on the machine at home is not bad if the Eee net connection is reasonably fast.

[HS72]

Am totally digging the Netbooks. The Mini 9 is very close to making me buy one; only thing I am still holding out for is longer battery life. The sweet spot for me would be around 6 hours on a charge; the Eee PC 901 does this but is more expensive.
With the rate at which these devices are flooding the market, I'm certain I won't have to wait long.

[Tinsdale]

Joanna,

I think you are right about the future of the smaller laptops and mini Netbooks. Size and weight are becoming more important as we become more mobile.

I have been interested in using the "Thin Client" laptops that have no hard drive, simply an operating system. Coupling the "thin" laptop with a secure encrypted biometirc USB flash drive for data storage and a two factor authentication USB access device to have secure connectivity back to my office. This is mainly due to security issues that could result if my laptop was lost or stolen.

I believe Dell has some models equipped with the Wave/Seagate technology for seamless hard drive encryption so that may be an option as well. Now, based on your article, I may also seek encryption tools to use with these Netbooks or review the Dell Mini9 to provide the heavy duty security I need for my portable devices.
Thanks for the info!

[Bhutan]

"...But for Whom?" is the correct grammar

just saying...

[Joanna Stern - Huffpost Blogger]

By the way, I wrote this post on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. It was launched just today, but I had been reviewing it for about a week. If you are interested in it check out my full review: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/dell-inspiron-mini-9-linux.aspx

[KenGirard]

Netbooks are not for everyone in every situation, but then neither is a Porsch.
I am perfectly happy with a 5 year old Thinkpad as it does everything I ask of it. And I don't try and ask it to play the latest games, or edit videos.

Rather then hauling around a laptop that does everything under the sun, get external versions you can share between all your computers. External DVD player/burner, external hard drive, etc. Only take the parts with you that you think you will need, and only have your battery power used by the parts you are using.

Tip: If you want more memory, buy a thumbdrive to use with your netbook. It is cheap and means that each person can have their favorite software with them on any computer they use. Joey has all his games on his, Sally has all her favorite music, Tom has his novel, and they all use the same netbook.

[SneathLane]

They're not laptops, they're thightops.

And yes, I want one! I'm contemplating the slightly larger but still tiny EEE with the 32 GB solid-state drive.

These do everything I need to do when I travel - full features, long battery life, small footprint.