CES 2010: Netbooks Are All The Rage At Show

Netbooks are all over CES like pinstripes on Munchkins. Everywhere I look here are tiny little rigs with awkward little keyboards and track pads the size of an Equal packet.

I need to be honest, up until about a month ago I was entirely unaware of netbooks, itty-bitty computers designed primarily for web and media tasks. But once I had a label to put to these things I started to notice them everywhere, in the airport, at Starbucks, in teens school backpacks. They were everywhere and I'd simply missed it.

Here at CES I can't get away from the things and I've probably seen 100 new models here that cover every personal preference from Euroslick to Anime. In fact the netbooks I'm seeing here look more like fashion accessories than productivity tools. Sure, some folks are definitely treating them as smaller, more portable laptops that enable them to work on the road. Still I'm looking at a product offering that seems to treat these newer netbooks more like a really powerful iPhone and that's looking like where this niche is headed: a purchase as the Nth computer in the house to place under the kitchen cabinet or in Jimmy Jr's messenger bag.

Intel looks like they are jumping on this niche powerfully and deliberately. The Atom processor is specifically targeted at netbooks and their new (still in beta) app store is explicitly aimed here. Their app store in particular underscores how people are using these machines, forgoing the all-things-at-a-time approach and instead looking for a single-threaded experience. After all, it's what the tiny screen real estate requires.

All in all, my personal preference will likely stay with my iPhone for mobile apps, and my laptop for things like writing this post? I find the netbook keyboards just a little too small for my hands. But there is a lot of energy and innovation being poured into this category and I expect it to lead to some very cool things.

 

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Comments

[Chris Skaggs]

06:22 PM on 01/11/2010

This is the only post I've seen that seems to note what is obvious to me - at the $25-$400 price point, these machines are not small laptops - they are glitzy toys.
Don't get me wrong - I know they have horsepower - but the public is not picking them up as work machines, they are soccer moms and seniors who have always wanted that cheep machine for nothing more than email and facebook.
The people who will flock to these rigs are not traveling business people because they will see the price point and conclude (fairly or unfairly) the machine is too weak to use for serious things.

[Silverwolf72]

03:55 PM on 01/12/2010

My wife has one for school and unless your wanting to play high end games on there is really nothing that these small netbooks can't do. So I see them more as why do I need to pay $1000 for a regular laptop that is way bulkier when one of these cheap small laptops can do the same job!
Do you really need a 3Ghz, 8Gig of ram machine to do word processing, excel, surf the net, ect...?

[John Bergquist]

04:55 PM on 01/13/2010

From what we saw at the show and the power of the intel atom processor, I would say the new netbooks could easily compete with entry level laptops. For most use, they offer everything one would need. I do admit I am enamored by the possibilities of what apple is cooking up for their iSlate.

[Paramendra Bhagat]

05:06 PM on 01/11/2010

Good insight about keyboard.

[oldgeek1]

03:17 PM on 01/10/2010

The new netbooks at CES use less power and have more power. The keyboard although smaller than a regular laptop makes them useable in 3 lbs or less package. The press area at CES tells the story, more netbooks than traditional laptops. A table may have some initial wow factor but a small footprint, with a keyboard, WIFI and full net connectivity, Netbooks have strong appeal.

The e-books also had a strong showing and have some real appeal. BTW I don't believe the hype that CES drew more people than last year but that was just my own perception.

Las Vegas now looks like the GOP, smaller, lacking attendance and in denial blaming everyone else for their excess

[John Bergquist]

05:19 PM on 01/10/2010

oldgeek1,
Look at any college classroom as well. Netbooks are being chosen for their size without sacrificing the tools larger laptops offer.

Great comment on Vegas. Our cab driver from the airport even blamed the mob being driven out for the state of affairs now. A bit of perspective skew there I would say.

[Lowell Thompson]

04:22 PM on 01/09/2010

John,

Now that you've finally got hip to netbooks, fuggedaboutit.

The new thing is tablet/ebooks.

http://buythecover.com

BTW: What rock have you been buried under for the past week? People on Pluto are pre-ordering the rumored Apple iTab.

[John Bergquist]

11:22 AM on 01/10/2010

No Rock at all Lowell. Netbooks are still gaining ground. Last year 5.6 million netbooks shipped in the 3rd quarter of 2008 (Gartner and Display Search). While many will turn to touch screens (and intel and others had several tablet type netbooks debut), a large portion of the customers still prefer a netbook. I admit I wished I had one on my crammed flight home from CES. One last thing rumors of the Apple iSlate were almost as numerous as 3d displays.