Joy of Netbook

Netbook deals @ ecost.com/circuit city.com

2009-12-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

There are some pretty good deals at ecost.com and circuitcity.com Ecost has a $249 Lenovo S10 and Circuit City has an Acer bundle that includes a wireless mouse, optical drive and a carrying bag for $329. Feel free to check out both. I have ordered previously from both sites w/o issue.

Cheers and Happy Holidays.

State of the Netbook (Speculation and Fact)

2009-11-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Nice article from ZD addresses the smarmy conjecture juxtaposed with the cold, real and stunning data... Dead? Really? Also check out the last couple of paragraphs (I highlighted in YELLOW)...

Can the best-selling category of the PC market really be just a fad? A junky joke? A stunt to prop up the PC market created by Intel?

Jason Hiner at TechRepublic seems to think so. He proclaims:

Netbooks — those underpowered mini laptops with 7-inch screens and unusable little keyboards — are a dying fad. However, the legacy of the netbook will be that inexpensive notebook computers are here to stay, and they are lighter and thinner than ever.

Analysts and pundits will continue to use the term “netbook” but I’m going to argue that the device that we originally called the netbook is being phased out — and thankfully so.

I have a netbook. It’s small—9 inches—and it now belongs to my daughter. My hands are too big. The screen is too cramped. And I’m inclined to think that Jason’s right. The netbook is just a passing fancy.

And then I follow the numbers. Look at all the people buying netbooks. NPD’s DisplaySearch reckons that netbook sales surged 264 percent in the second quarter from a year ago. Revenue for the overall notebook market declined. Here’s the scorecard.

Meanwhile, check out Jason’s talkbacks. It’s a love affair—and they all couldn’t be sent by the netbook fan club.

The special thing about it that makes me happy is that it’s small and so handy. I don’t need to play games or do lots of complicated things on the street. But this one is just 100% what I need and I will never give it up.

And.

I bought a Dell Mini 9 in 2008 and have never regretted it. It’s small enough to carry in my purse, boots up quick, and maybe it’s because I have small fingers, but the size of the keyboard has never been an issue.

That said, it is not my main PC, nor would I ever try to make it such. I bought it to browse the internet and do some light word processing - the heaviest lifting I have ever asked it to do is stream movies across my wireless home network - and it has always performed flawlessly.

And.

I bought mine due to travel restrictions imposed by the airlines on a trip to Australia in 2008 and love it. I use a regular laptop/notebook as my main computer at home but it is too big and heavy to travel with. The Netbook allows me to use almost all my programs, some engineering, spreadsheets, topographic maps and GPS routings. I even use it at home with my wireless network, sometimes in bed at night while reading books on exploring Utah so I can see the topographic maps and the satellite pictures of the area. No it doesn’t replace the desktop notebook but darn near.

Are these people bonkers? Nope. Intel’s financial results—partially fueled by the Atom chip that powers these little devices—tell the tale.

Also see: All netbook reviews

Netbooks aren’t for me, but apparently there are a ton of allegedly confused consumers still buying them. Dell and Microsoft have downplayed the netbook to some degree, but what else are they going to do? After all, the netbook is a margin killer.

So what’s the future of the netbook? It’s way too predictable to envision lightweight notebooks replacing the netbooks. Netbook 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 are likely to have different form factors. Perhaps the Droid and the iPhone are really your netbooks. Perhaps Apple redefines the netbook category with a tablet. Perhaps people keep buying the current versions of netbooks. Netbooks will hang around and probably thrive because people like second and third computing devices. The form factor may change, but the market niche isn’t going anywhere.

Cheap Laptops at Wally-World

2009-11-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

In the topsy-turvy craziness of cost/function/niche/netbook/laptop game, no stone is left unturned. Witness the Wal-Mart Special below:

To heck with netbooks. Walmart’s got plenty of retail weight to swing around, and that’s manifesting itself in the form of a $298 HP Pavilion G60 laptop.

With a 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900 processor, the 15.6-inch WXGA laptop is no barnburner. But it comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, 3GB memory, 250GB storage, LightScribe DVD burner and Intel GMA 4500M integrated graphics.

It’s not a bad deal for someone who just needs the basics. (Or is it?)

This isn’t the first time the megaretailer has teamed up with HP. This summer, it offered a $298 Compaq laptop as a back-to-school special that flew off shelves faster than you can say “subsidy.”

Turns out that three is indeed a magic number — three hundred, that is.

Again, I don't think the competitive aspect is in play here. A cheap, heavier, bulkier and marginal laptop does not a netbook slayer make. The price is the ONLY comparison here and I don't believe it plays to the same buyer.

THOUGHTS???

eBay and Netbooks

2009-11-03T06:30:00.001-08:00

Long time, no speak my friends. Great video from CNBC. John Donahoe from eBay mentions netbooks SEVERAL times in this interview. Yes he is riding the "buzz word" train to some degree but the fact that THE LARGEST E-COMMERCE SITE is pitching netbooks can only help. I have embedded the video below and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

We'll see how Q4 goes in terms of sales numbers but my take is that the netbook market share will jump again as Netbook 2.0 is coming along with more options to address the micromarket feature sets.

Embedded Wi-Max chips in Netbooks

2009-10-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

According to an article from embedded.com, the wi-max adoption is also being pushed by hardware manufacturers (see below). This can only lead to more variety as Netbook 2.0 starts pushing adoption rates even further. With the embedded chip, Wi-Max sures up its adoption and a crucial piece of the netbook, wi-max, cloud convergence. Interesting times and exciting news...

Mobile WiMAX has emerged as a leading choice for 4G cellular technology, and now meets the requirements of new smart phones, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and notebook PCs. It provides efficient broadband connectivity for multiple services such as data, VoIP and video streaming with carrier-class QoS, supporting the needs of mobile broadband now and for years to come.

Adding WiMAX connectivity to mobile products delivers broadband speeds greater than 1Mbit/s for all these services, while maintaining the form factor and battery life of existing 3G devices. Broadband speeds are opening a number of new categories of devices such as MIDs, ultramobile PCs (UMPCs) and netbooks. WiMAX subsystems packaged in self-contained modules simplify the integration of this wireless technology.

As nationwide WiMAX networks are built and costs continue to decline, even more possibilities become practical. Consumer products ranging from automobiles to appliances could benefit from the use of WiMAX ()Figure 1, below). Several of the existing choices include notebooks, handsets, netbooks, UMPCs, and MIDs.

Figure 1: A Mobile WiMAX module must include a WiMAX baseband PHY device, media access control (MAC) chip, RF devices and power amplifiers.

Notebooks, handsets
The basic form factors for introducing Mobile WiMAX subscriber products were USB adapters and PC cards aimed primarily at notebook PC users. These products have worked well with the first WiMAX base stations in large cities and metro areas, where mobile users wanted broader access than Wi-Fi hotspots could provide.

Since the first USB adapters and PC cards, the mobile wireless market has shifted its focus to mobile handsets and other devices smaller than notebooks. Although there are no standard definitions for various types of mobile handsets, a couple of terms have gained acceptance in the industry: smart phones and VoIP handsets.

Smart phones support e-mail and Internet access in addition to the capability of a basic handset. By including multimode capability— 3G and WiMAX—these phones give customers seamless voice and data service as the WiMAX network is being built out.

At the other end of the handset spectrum is the low-cost VoIP handset, where traditional voice communication is the primary application. WiMAX is the only viable wireless technology for wide-area connectivity and in some cases, these handsets may include a few other basic functions such as messaging or very simple data transfers. The primary market for VoIP handsets is emerging countries, where the wired infrastructure is poor, and most people need voice service before any other application.

Netbooks, UMPCs
Netbooks are small notebooks with 7-inch to 10-inch LCD screens that provide mobile Internet and e-mail access. Typically, they use Windows or Linux OS and can support applications similar to those on notebooks at lower performance levels. Wi-Fi and other connectivity is standard today, and future netbooks will add WiMAX.

Developed by Microsoft and Intel, UMPCs are mini-tablet PCs with touchscreen displays measuring 4inches to 8inches. Most run Windows XP Tablet OS and cost less than $1,000. UMPCs are found in vertical markets such as medical and hospitality.

MIDs
Introduced by Intel, this small portable device is bigger than a smart phone yet smaller than a netbook or UMPC. The goal is to offer the best mobile platform for accessing the Internet and e-mail as well as supporting multimedia applications. Although technically interesting, these devices have yet to reveal whether consumers are willing to carry a third device in addition to a smart phone and notebook PC.

The rest of the article can be viewed via the link above. Thoughts??

2nd Net-b - Asus 1000HE

2009-09-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

So round one of my netbook experience was with an ill fated Lenovo S10. First the HD/Motherboard failure now the screen cracked and Lenovo informed me it is considered "user generated" which equals "voids warranty work". So to get the S10 mobile - $149 USD out of pocket. Hmmm, the economics don't really make a lot of sense - brand new S10 - $299 or $149 for new screen... Basically, my experience with Lenovo has been about a 6 - 7 out of 10. The S10 has not run nearly as well once it came back from the HD/Motherboard debacle and I would have to agree the construction is marginal. But I digress...

As I have now retired the S10 to the kids/desktop replacement machine, I needed a new and BETTER net-b. Enter the Asus 1000HE. I purchased this machine gently used about a week ago and I have to say, Lenovo - you've been served. The 1000HE is genetically similar under the hood - Atom N270, 10.1, 1 Gig RAM, 160GB HD, WinXP but that is where the similarity ends. The Asus has a much better build quality so far. The case is shiny not flat. It feels sturdier the 6 Cell battery slightly elevates the back like a regular keyboard so it is neither bulky nor uncomfortable. The keyboard it self has better tactile feedback. The touchpad is usable but no touchpads are what I consider "good". The fan is noticeable but not overbearing. Battery life is solid. Will probably look at a Win7 Upgrade at some point but so far, so good.

More to come.

Netbook/ULV/Ultrathin/Apple - Debate continues

2009-09-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

And the battle continues - ULV/Ultrathin laptops vs netbooks. I think this homogenized view of the small laptop/netbook space generally misses the simple fact that they are niche markets.

Some people want small/lightweight/long battery life/web based apps/inexpensive = netbook.
Some want small/powerful (native app intensive)/inexpensive = Low priced laptop
Some want super thin/super light weight/better performance/not price sensitive = Ultrathin
Some want longer battery life/mix of cloud & native apps/small/lightweight/cost conscious = ULV
Some want an Apple - Touch driven??? = TBD

But just for kicks - the debate continues from ZD:

Are netbooks too portable, inexpensive and popular to beat?

Brooke Crothers writes on his CNET blog that the netbook’s popularity is perhaps too great to overcome by the burgeoning ultrathin laptop market, and takes Apple COO Tim Cook to task for bashing netbooks in April for being too cheap, “junky” and slow for the upmarket Apple brand.

That Apple’s got a tablet PC in the pipeline is hardly a question at this point. But Crothers wonders: with lots of reliable, polished netbook models on store shelves, will a lack of a netbook take a bite out of ultrathins — and Apple?

He writes:

There is just too much marketing momentum now behind Netbooks at large PC makers–and in retail. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, and Acer all are pushing Netbooks. And in Japan, easily one the largest PC markets in the world, the Netbook is a hit–despite initial resistance from Japanese PC makers–for all of the same reasons cited above: small, light, inexpensive–and add fashionable.

Why the popularity? The same argument netbook proponents have made since the very beginning: though some may be disappointed by netbook performance, they’re sufficient for most consumers - home, educational or business — to accomplish basic, mostly web-based tasks.

Of course, no one’s more happy about that than Intel, which has a near-monopoly over the category thanks to its Atom processor. And since the $500 to $1,000 ultrathin, ultra-low voltage laptop segment hasn’t quite distinguished itself from traditional notebooks and netbooks (confused yet?), it’s hardly a threat to the diminutive netbook.

Meanwhile, it’s Apple’s loss, Crothers writes:

Apple’s products and marketing are good but not infallible. And the lack of a Netbook may come back to bite Apple at some point. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next month. But maybe next year. One of the Best Buy customers eying a Netbook made a comment that was a powerful counterpoint to all the Apple Mac-PC ads. To paraphrase: “You have to pay an arm and a leg for Apple (pointing to the Apple corner), I’m trying to make a practical business decision here.”

The way I see it, there’s value in both a small form factor and a thin profile. In other words: I believe netbooks will remain reasonably popular and ultrathins will grow in popularity. Traditional laptops, on the other hand, will (for all but performance applications) be phased out of the market.

And so the battle rages on... Netbook vs Cheap Laptop

2009-08-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, netbook vs laptop. On the price point, the argument is somewhat compelling depending on your needs. Clearly the netbook advantage and differentiator is PORTABILITY. But processing power and an optical drive is NICE so the Low Price Laptop steps up. HOWEVER, if you are looking at a netbook AS A low priced laptop and portability/battery life is of no consequence, you are looking at a Netbook for the WRONG reason - PRICE. Let the debate continue...

Specials for fully-featured notebook PCs with $299 price tags are helping laptops stake out ground against the popular 10-inch Netbook segment in a tough economy.

With bigger screens, optical drives, much more memory and some graphics horsepower to speak of, the $299 laptop is, believe it or not, giving 10-inch Netbooks a run for their money, reports Brooke Crothers for CNET.

Penny-pinching consumers are noticing, too: Walmart’s $298 Compaq laptop was an instant Internet sensation, and Best Buy’s $299 Acer laptop promotion went the way of the Dodo just as quickly. (It later offered a 15-inch Toshiba laptop for as much as $329.)

Why is this so notable? Because finally, the full-sized (and -featured) laptop is competing with the Netbook on its main selling point: price.

Sure, Netbooks are smaller, and that’s why many people consider them convenient. But for many back-to-school shoppers looking for a deal, the choice is clear: when it comes down to spec-for-spec value, a full-sized laptop with beefier specs will offer more bang for the buck.

Best Buy’s Toshiba promotion, by the way? Specs were a 2.20GHz Intel Celeron processor 900 (1MB cache, 800MHz bus), 2GB of memory, DVD-RW/CD-RW drive, 15.4-inch screen, 160GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm), 802.11b/g wireless, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, and Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Edition operating system, Crothers writes.

In other words, this is hardly the diminutive Netbook anchored by the popular 1.60GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU (512KB cache, 533MHz bus) with nary an optical drive, sizeable HDD or graphics worth speaking of.

Would you buy a full-size, full-feature $299 laptop over a 10-inch Netbook?

You can participate in the poll @ ZD Net

Also, a quote from my favorite movie of the summer so far:

"NOT AT THE TABLE CARLOS"

Touchbook??? Apple 10" Touch

2009-07-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

According to AppleInsider Blog, it appears a giant touch may well be the next iteration of smart phone/netbook device. Should be a very interesting launch. The synergy with carriers is starting to raise more eyebrows as the network becomes as important (if not more important) than the device itself.

Some highlights and thoughts from Sam Diaz:

The blog is reporting that Apple has plans to launch a 10-inch, 3G-enabled tablet, kind of an oversized iPod Touch, if you will. Because it would be 3G-enabled, there’s also growing speculation that Apple is tapping Verizon to be the carrier partner. Remember: the exclusivity agreement between Apple and AT&T only applies to the iPhone. (see update below)

Of course, none of this has been confirmed by Apple. Still, AppleInsider doesn’t just attribute the information to a source but rather, in a WSJesque way, cites “people well-respected by AppleInsider for their striking accuracy in Apple’s internal affairs.”

What’s most striking about this rumor is that it also includes information about the Steve Jobs Seal of Approval, which doesn’t come easy around Cupertino. The back-to-work CEO has reportedly signed off on the device and “cemented” it into plans for a Q1 launch next year.

With all of that said - and recognizing that no one is officially commenting about the device or fielding on-the-record questions - I offer the following thoughts to ponder, based on what I’ve read in other postings today.

The price becomes an issue because it would have to be cheaper than the lowest-priced laptop in the lineup ($999) but likely would be more than than $500. Anything less than that would put it on the comparison charts against the netbooks, which COO Tim Cook has called “junky.” At the same time, with a wireless carriers involved, subsidies will likely drive down the price even more.
Is it a oversized mobile device or a small-sized laptop computer? Well, that could depend on 1) whether it’s powered by Mac OS X or the iPhone OS and 2) the type of chip it has inside. The AppleInsider post has some good historical insight into the issue over the chip choice (in the latter half of the post.)
I wonder what this means for the Crunchpad, the tablet device that’s the love interest of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington these days. That device, a 16mm thick tablet with a 12-inch screen, is expected to retail for about $300 and will be available “as soon as possible.” A post on CrunchGear this week, reporting on rumors of Verizon powering an Apple tablet, ends with blogger Peter Ha writing, “We (as in Michael and CrunchPad Inc.) better get on their horse and get the CrunchPad out.”

Keeps things interesting. More to come...

ATT announces netbook lineup

2009-07-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

From engadget, AT&T announced it's netbook lineup. The announcement is not that groundbreaking other than offering choices for the subsidized netbook plan. Pricing is still fluid.

Sprint Announces $.99 Netbook w/ 2yr Plan

2009-07-07T05:21:00.000-07:00

Not a really big surprise, Sprint is getting into the subsidized Netbook market. As wireless providers have done with (and continue to do) smartphones, they are waving reduced (now nearly free) hardware with a 2 year contract for data services. There obviously is a cost associated with the device but taking the total cost of the data plan and saying that's what you are paying is not a true TCO since you are getting a service that would cost you basically that amount for data to your smartphone or a 3G modem for your own laptop. I think we will continue to see this trend (and even free netbooks) by all the providers as the adoption rates continue to rise, the variety of options expand and data becomes the network of choice for the masses.

YOUR THOUGHTS???

It’s a race to the bottom.

Best Buy and Sprint have teamed up to offer a Compaq-branded HP Mini 110c netbook for only 99 cents when you sign a two-year data contract.

Normally, the system would run you $389 at Best Buy, no contract, and buying a similar model with Verizon (or a comparable one from AT&T) would still set you back $199. (Or, for free, if you sign up for Verizon’s Fios.)

But as you might have guessed, Sprint and Best Buy make their money not from the hardware, but the contract, which at $60 per month would cost you $720 per year, or $1,440 over the life of the contract.

The Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX offers a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of memory and a tiny three-cell battery. It weighs about 2.6 lbs. and is 1.3 in. thick, and it has a built-in camera and microphone, 92 percent-size keyboard, 3 USB ports, a 5-in-1 card reader and Intel GMA 950 graphics.

(Or, you know, you could save yourself the trouble and buy yourself a proper laptop.)

Does this Mini netbook have enough of a miniature price tag to get you to commit?

2009-07-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

More diversification within the Netbook (pre-2.0) world. Cheaper or stronger/faster? You choose. As we approach the Holy Grail of Q4, we are seeing iterations/splinters/niches/diversifications appear at a very impressive rate (think of all the challenges of Netbook 1.0 - no optical drive (available now), limited OS (Win7), touchscreen (soon), smaller (check), larger (although a little more opaque - avail now), Processor options (avail). And so it continues...

Story from ZD:

There are two ways to address the limitations of netbooks: 1.) offer less-costly notebooks, or 2.) give netbooks a little more muscle. Both are now happening.

The ultra-thin laptops based on Intel’s ULV processors or AMD’s Athlon Neo are an obvious alternative to netbooks, and they’ve already received lots of coverage. Dell took a different approach with the Vostro 1220, which it announced earlier this week. The Vostro 1220 is also based on a 12.1-inch display, but it uses standard Intel mobile processors. At 0.9-1.5 inches thick, it’s not as thin as the HP Pavilion dv2, for example, but it is still highly portable weighing 3.4 pounds (with the 4-cell battery). Interestingly, Dell claims the 6-cell is good for 9 hours of battery life despite the fact that the Vostro 1220 does not use the ultra low-voltage chips.

The Vostro 1220 starts at $729 with a 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900, 2GB of memory, Intel GMA 4500M HD integrated graphics, 160GB hard drive and Vista Home Basic. The 6-cell battery adds $60. That’s more expensive than a 12-inch netbook–the Dell Mini 12 starts at $500 with Windows XP–but you also get more, including an internal DVD drive. There aren’t many standard 12-inch business ultraportables in this price range, so Dell deserves some credit for trying this out. I haven’t seen any full reviews yet, but it will be interesting to see how the Vostro 1220 stacks up.

Meanwhile plans to boost the performance of netbooks are in full force. Lenovo had already announced plans to offer a version of its IdeaPad S12 12-inch netbook with Nvidia’s Ion chipset. Now Samsung has confirmed that it will release an 11.6-inch netbook, the N510, with Ion later this year. Nvidia’s chipset promises to improve the performance of Atom-based PCs by replacing the integrated graphics with the GeForce 9400M GPU, but to date it has largely been confined to nettops such as the Acer AspireRevo, not netbooks. Samsung already sells a 12.1-inch netbook, the NC20, through Newegg.com for $510 with a 1.3GHz VIA Nano U2250, 1GB of memory, 150GB hard drive and Windows XP Home. I’ve also tested the Samsung N10 and N20 10-inch netbooks, which have received positive reviews.

2009-06-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Interesting article on the blurry line of what constitutes a net-b or an UPL. Personally, it is interesting how the evolution of the netbook space is evolving. As Netbook 2.o is most likely a late Q3/ early Q4 drop date, time is drawing nigh to get your market differentiating product in front of consumers.

The final paragraph (in B/I Yellow) does a good job of summarizing where the general consensus is about netbooks (10" Atom, XP/Win7/Ubuntu, light weight, battery life, $300ish). On the other hand all the models listed below in the 12" category (different processors, varying OS (including Vista), lower battery life, and hover around $400) are more inline with a low cost laptop or UltraPortable Laptop.

It will be nice to see how this all plays out as the economy lurches forward and people starting looking at their computing wants/needs.

All in all, these are 2 different niches - Let the games begin!!

Market researcher NPD says that consumers are confused about the difference between a netbook and a notebook. It’s no wonder.

In the world according to Wintel, the distinction would be fairly clear: Netbooks have 10-inch or smaller displays, use Atom processors and 1GB of memory, and run Windows XP. Notebooks are bigger, use “real processors,” have 2GB or more, and run Windows Vista. But PC makers have refused to stick to the script. Nowhere is this more evident than in 12-inch category, where things are getting more muddled by the day.

The latest example is the Gateway LT3100, a 12-inch netbook that first caught my eye at Computex in early June (Acer had apparently been showing it off even earlier), but has only just been released. From the outside the Gateway LT3100 looks like any other 12-inch netbook. It measures less than an inch thick, weighs a little more than three pounds, and comes in a couple of colors (in this case, black and cherry red). But inside this model is completely different. Here are the specs for the $400 base configuration, the Gateway LT3103u:

11.6-inch WXGA (1364×768) LED back-lit display
1.20GHz AMD Athlon 64 L110 processor
2GB of memory
ATI Radeon X1270 integrated graphics
250GB hard drive
Windows Vista Basic SP1

The Acer Aspire One 751h has the same display size and resolution, but looks a little more like a typical netbook with an 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520, 1GB memory, a 160GB hard drive and Windows XP for about $380 (with a 6-cell battery). The Dell Mini 12 uses the same processor and 1GB of memory, but it starts at $400 with a 12.1-inch display (1280×800), 40GB drive and Ubuntu Linux. A Windows XP version with a slightly larger hard drive is $100 more. Asus refers to its 12.1-inch model, the S121, as a notebook, even though it uses the same Atom Z-series chip and is basically a scaled-up version of the Eee PC S101 netbook.

Why exactly all of these use the Z520 rather than the Atom N270 found in smaller netbooks is a mystery. PC makers claim the Z-series results in all-day battery life, but the performance falls short of even the N270. The new Lenovo IdeaPad S12, on the other hand, has all the “proper” ingredients of a 12-inch netbook: 12.1-inch display (1280×800), Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive and Windows XP starting at $500. That sounds straightforward enough . . . until Lenovo releases an S12 with Nvidia’s Ion chipset, which swaps Intel’s GMA950 graphics for the GeForce 9400M GPU. That configuration will cost more and have shorter battery life, but it should offer better performance.

The Gateway LT3100 is also a bit of a surprise because AMD had previously indicated that it was not going after netbooks. The Athlon 64 L110, which did not appear the company’s roadmap, is a 1.20GHz single-core processor with 512KB of cache paired with the M690 chipset. Instead AMD has been focused on its Neo processor for low-cost, ultra-thin notebooks. The HP Pavilion dv2z, a 12.1-inch laptop, is currently the only model that offers this processor. It starts at $599.99 with a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40, 1GB of memory, Radeon Xpress 1250 chipset, 250GB hard drive and Windows Vista. The Pavilion dv2z is now also available with two dual-core Neo processors: the 1.6GHz Athlon Neo X2 L335, which has 512K of L2 cache, and works with either the Xpress 1250 chipset or the MS780G with Radeon HD 3410 graphics with 512MB; and the AMD Turion Neo X2 L625, which operates at the same frequency but has 1MB of L2 cache, and is available only with MS780G and the more powerful graphics. To further confuse things, AMD says this Neo X2 is a custom chip, not the standard “Conesus” dual-core Neo processor the company plans to release this year as part of the platform previously known as Congo. I expect to see that platform on more 12-inch laptops.

Of course, Intel has its own solution for this niche: its ultra low-voltage (ULV) processors. This isn’t really a new area for Intel–the company has been selling low-voltage and ultra low-voltage chips for years, but they were typically only in premium laptops with displays of 13-inches or smaller. What is new is that you can now find these chips in laptops such as the MSI X340 or Acer Aspire 3810 Timeline that cost well under $1,000. Right now, these are mostly 13-inch laptops, but there’s no doubt that Intel’s lower-cost ULV chips are designed to compete directly with AMD’s Neo in this emerging category. Both provide an alternative to 12-inch netbooks for a bit more money.

The bottom line: there are a lot of choices at 12-inches, arguably more than in any other laptop segment. There’s a good argument for the latest 10-inch netbooks–they’re highly portable, have nearly full-size keyboards, offer sufficient performance for basic communications and productivity tasks, and cost around $300. Notebook prices are dropping fast, but still no laptop can match that price. But there’s a real difference in performance, and most users who want a 12-inch display (and Windows Vista) will be better off spending more for a true notebook.

Ubuntu on a netbook

2009-06-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

Good read on an installation of Ubuntu on what I would consider a "sub" netbook (from the ZD-UK). Read on:

One of my neighbors had seen my HP Mini-Note, and said that she thought something like that would be good for her. I was planning to talk with her about it in detail, to be sure that she knew what she would be getting, the advantages and limitations of such a netbook. However, before I had the time to do that, someone gave her an ASUS Eee PC! She came to me with it last Thursday, asking if I could configure it so that she could connect to my WiFi network.

It seems to be one of the original 701 models, the label on the bottom says "Eee PC 4G". It has very small screen (something like 7"), an equally small (Swiss German) keyboard, and a touchpad with NO buttons (!). It was loaded with a rather dated version of Linux, in German, some sort of Debian or Debian derivative, I didn't take the time to try to identify exactly what version it was. All of this might sound routine to those who have experience with the ASUS Eee PC, but this was the first one that I had every actually worked on.

I decided to reload Linux from scratch, for several reasons - primarily because I couldn't get it to connect, perhaps because it didn't have WPA2 encryption, and I thought that if I was going to have to go to the trouble to update such an old Linux, I might as well reload it with something much newer anyway; also, the owner is not a native German speaker, and would prefer to have the system in English anyway; also, and not least, I had been looking for an opportunity to try UNR on a very average computer user, and both she and the netbook fit the bill.

I initially booted it using UNR on a USB stick, and it came up beautifully. The excitement and satisfaction on her face when she saw how much nicer it looked (and that it was in English) made the effort really worthwhile. After confirming that all the important bits worked properly, I went ahead and installed from the USB drive to the built-in 4GB SSD. As we had no interest in preserving the existing operating system, and I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for her, I simply let it overwrite the entire disk with the new UNR installation. It created a 3.5GB ext3 root partition, and used the remaining bit of the disk for swap. Everything went smoothly, and it was installed and running in well under an hour.

The "Acid Test" part came about because I did all of this on Thursday evening, and I was leaving for the weekend on Friday morning. So she was going to be on her own with it for the critical first few days. I don't like to do that sort of thing, but in this case I didn't have much choice, and she had a desktop system to fall back to in case it didn't work, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

When I returned Sunday evening, she said that she had been using it very happily. Startup and connection to the web via my WiFi had worked just fine, and general web browsing had been good. The only significant problem she had was that she wanted to watch some videos in Firefox, and I had not installed the Adobe Flash Plugin. What she told me was that when she tried to watch videos, it said a bunch of stuff that she didn't understand and which she found quite intimidating, so she didn't go any further on that. That confirms my skepticism about those who say Ubuntu (and others) "make it easy" to install Flash (and other packages) when necessary - I have always thought that many, or most, ordinary users would be afraid to try, even it if looked trivial to us "experts", and would most likely then retreat to Windows and say Linux was "too complicated" or didn't have everything they needed. I wish there was a "Mint Netbook Remix"... sigh.

Anyway, I installed the flash plugin packages, and of course then her videos played in Firefox just fine. She said that the sound was a bit odd - well, no surprise, considering the Mickey-Mouse speakers built into the Eee PC. I gave her a headset to plug into the audio jacks, and that solved that problem. (Hint: in this case, I avoid using a USB headset, because I don't want to confuse the Linux audio configuration even more.) I also gave her a USB mouse, so that she didn't have to fight with tapping on the touchpad.

So, now she has been using it for a couple more days, and she is as happy as a clam. She had no problem understanding and using the UNR desktop (which I still find unpleasant), so I suppose that means they have done a reasonable job of creating something for ordinary users, not experienced Linux administrators. I consider it to be a rather old, under-powered and limited capacity system, but she thinks it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and could hardly be happier with it. I think that shows that what ordinary users are interested in is solutions, not the absolute latest, flashiest, fastest hardware.

She has now brought it back and asked me to install Skype on it. Again, despite my personal reservations (objections) about Skype, it is what it is and she makes good use of it to communicate with her friends and family in the U.S., so I have now installed that. The text and audio functions seem to work, but the video doesn't work yet - I suspect that the drivers for the built-in camera aren't loaded yet. If anyone has experience with this old Eee PC and can offer some tips on that, I would appreciate it. I will return it to her this evening, and I will advise her to use the free communications for Skype, but NOT to risk one cent of her money with them.

So, all things considered I would say UNR passed this initial Acid Test with flying colors. I'm sure that I will hear plenty more from her about it, and I will be watching to see how she gets along with it.

Smartbooks - ARM/Android Tweeners???

2009-06-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

Good thorough article on the good/bad/ugly from non-netbook manufacturers. It is interesting how fragmentation continues to occur as niche markets/narrowcast product offerings increase.

What do you think about smartbooks?

Great idea or maybe a little too "thin sliced"?

The tech industry is always looking for the next big thing: Bing is gaining on Google, the Palm Pre will dethrone the iPhone, and so on. One of the latest “next big things” is the duo of ARM and Android which, if you buy the hype, will wrest the PC industry from Wintel’s grip.

Because it has the DNA of smartphones–most of which are based on ARM designs–this new type of netbook is supposed to offer many advantages over Intel Atom-based models including a fast boot time, always-on wireless broadband and all-day battery life. Qualcomm–one of several wireless companies developing chipsets with ARM cores for this new market–has coined the term smartbook to distinguish these devices from netbooks.

Smartbooks were the talk of the recent Computex show in Taiwan. Qualcomm said 15 companies–including Asus, Compal, Foxconn, HTC, Inventec, Toshiba and Wistron–are working on 30 different devices using its ARM-based Snapdragon platform. The first Snapdragon product, the Toshiba TG01, is actually a smartphone for Japan, but the company showed several smartbooks as well including an Eee PC running Google’s Android. In its meeting room, ARM was demonstrating smartbook and nettop prototypes using application processors from Qualcomm and Freescale with various Linux distributions. Acer announced it would be the first to ship an Android netbook, albeit using Intel’s Atom, sometime next quarter. Competitors such as HP and Dell have previously said they are experimenting with Android as well (now HP may even be working on Snapdragon-based Minis).

But don’t run out to Best Buy looking for a smartbook just yet. Despite all the announcements, there are still major technical and business challenges to using both ARM and Android in netbooks. Here are five big ones:

1. Performance
The multimedia application processors from companies such as Qualcomm, Freescale , Samsung and Texas Instruments that could be used in smartbooks are all based on ARM’s Cortex-A series design. By smartphone standards, these are very powerful processors. They have CPUs that run at speeds of around 1GHz or more, support WXGA displays (1280×720) and can play 720p video. But it’s still too early to tell how ARM-based smartbooks will perform in comparison to Atom-based netbooks, which themselves pale in comparison to sub-$1,000 ultra-thin laptops based on Intel’s ULV processors and AMD’s Athlon Neo. Early impressions have been mixed, but there’s really no way to tell based on the prototypes that I spent a few minutes with at Computex. Smartbooks aren’t even out yet, and Qualcomm has already announced a faster chip with a 1.3GHz ARM core, manufactured at 45nm, which it claims will deliver 30 percent better performance while using less power. The performance of smartbooks will no doubt be fine for typical smartphone tasks such as e-mail and Web browsing, but it will be interesting to see how it handles productivity applications. There’s one area where smartbooks should easily outperform netbooks: battery life. Both ARM and Qualcomm have been promising all-day battery life.

2. Consistent look-and-feel
Now that Microsoft has put to rest rumors of Windows 7 for ARM (though not entirely), smartbooks are left with Linux, which has made inroads on servers, but never seems to get any real traction on client PCs. Notebooks with Ubuntu Linux or other distributions have gone nowhere. Netbooks were probably the best chance for Linux in a long time, but today the vast majority of mini-notebooks ship with Windows XP. Whether you love or hate it, Windows looks and works exactly the same on all netbooks and PCs. The same isn’t true of Linux. There are several distributions, and each one has many different interfaces. PC makers also put their own stamp on this with interfaces such as HP’s Mi (Mobile Internet) on its Mini netbooks. At Computex, I even saw a 10-inch smartbook from Pegatron, a contract manufacturer, with a Freescale ARM chip running Xandros Linux with a Windows XP “look-a-like” user interface.

Linux boosters see this customization as a big advantage. Trust me, it’s not. The smartphone model–lots of operating systems, lots of carrier customization and apps–won’t work well on smartbooks. When you start-up a new PC, you should have a reasonable idea what the OS will look like and how it works. That’s the idea behind Intel’s Moblin v2, which I saw running on many different Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Linpus and Novell’s SUSE Linux–all with the same basic look-and-feel. Google’s Android has a ton of buzz, but it looks to me like it still needs a lot more work. Frankly the Aspire One netbook running Android under glass at Acer’s Computex booth wasn’t very impressive. Even ARM admits that Android isn’t ready for netbooks yet.

3. Software and hardware compatibility
No Windows 7 means no Windows apps. There are lots of good Linux alternatives, such as Sun’s OpenOffice, but they still need to be ported from x86 to ARM. Adobe and ARM have been working on a version of the Flash Player since last fall. At Computex, Qualcomm announced that several developers, including RealNetworks, Zinio and Xandros, are working on version of their software for Snapdragon. There’s also the question of how smartbook software will be distributed. Carriers will no doubt try to promote their own applications and services. A better solution for these always-on devices would be to use the same app stores that work with smartphones. But that means Android Market, for example, may need to support versions of the each application for every display size and resolution, processor and operating system. That sounds messy, and potentially confusing for users. Hardware compatibility is another big challenge. When users plug-in a USB peripheral, they expect it to work. That’s simply not the case with many Linux PCs. If smartbooks can’t connect to printers and digital cameras, it will seriously limit their utility.

4. Local storage
The first netbooks came with small SSDs, and many PC makers are still pushing configurations with 8GB or 16GB SSDs. Often these are paired with Linux configurations. Bit for bit, SSDs cost far more than hard drives; a 64GB SSD costs three times as much as a 160GB laptop hard drive. But a hard drive also has a minimum cost–perhaps $35–because of all the parts. By contrast, 8GB of flash memory currently runs about $16, so a low-density SSD actually cuts costs. The theory is that we’ll all use Web-based apps and cloud-based services to store our stuff. But buyers have voted with their wallets, and they want netbooks with real local storage. The same will be true for smartbooks. The only catch is that some designs may simply be too small for standard 2.5-inch laptop drives, which means they’ll be forced to use pricier 1.8-inch drives. In that case, a 32GB SSD may be a decent low-cost solution with a lightweight Linux OS, but forget about the 8GB or 16GB SSDs–no one wants them.

5. It’s the service, stupid
Perhaps the biggest problem with smartbooks–and subsidized netbooks–has nothing to do with the hardware or software. Instead it’s the cost of wireless data service, especially in the U.S. Netbook data plans from AT&T and Verizon currently cost $40 to $60. That’s obviously on top of whatever you’re already paying for your smartphone, which probably offers similar e-mail, browsing and social networking features. Eventually the wireless carriers will need to offer bundles similar to cell phone family plans, in which you can add lines for reasonable monthly fee. The data caps on these plans are also going to be a big issue. Verizon Wireless has already increased the data cap on its $40 netbook data plan from 50MB to 250MB, and lowered the overage charges. Hopefully other carriers will follow suit (though AT&T is getting lots of flack for not reducing prices for the iPhone 3G S). Smartbooks and netbooks with integrated 3G also don’t make much sense if you also own a laptop. In this case, it’s better to have a USB broadband modem so you can use one wireless account with both mobile devices (unfortunately there aren’t many laptops or netbooks in the U.S. with a SIM card slot). Another option is Novatel’s MiFi Mobile Hotspot, a portable wireless router for CDMA (Verizon, Sprint), and now W-CDMA, networks. It isn’t cheap, but it is very flexible since it works with any WiFi-enabled device, and can connect up to five devices at one time.

All of these are, I suspect, reasons Qualcomm and others are pushing the term smartbook to avoid a direct comparison with netbooks. Smartbooks will be a bit smaller, they’ll be geared specifically to “always-on” applications, and they will cost less than $200. Netbooks are more like mini-PCs; they can handle all these communications tasks but are general-purpose devices that cost more. At least that’s the theory. The problem is that AT&T and Verizon are already selling netbooks for $50 to $200 with a wireless data contract. If I can get a netbook for the same price with a larger display and better performance, and it runs Windows 7 and works with all of my apps and peripherals, why would I buy a smartbook?

Ultimately smartbooks face the same “in-between” challenge as netbooks, only to a greater degree. Make a smartbook smaller and more limited, and it’s just a bulky smartphone. Make it a little bigger, add more features, and tweak the performance, and it competes directly with netbooks and ultra-thin laptops. In this case, a few extra hours of battery life isn’t likely to be enough to overcome the limitations of ARM-based smartbooks running Linux.

That’s not to say I don’t like the smartbook concept. The growth of netbooks demonstrates there is demand for an inexpensive, highly-portable computing device. And having more choice in mobile computing is always a good thing. The idea of a netbook with a design similar to the Sony VAIO P series that is always connected with all-day battery life for under $200 is pretty appealing. But to be successful, smartbooks will need to address these issues.

Notebook price point alert - Interesting marketing

2009-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just received this email from TigerDirect and guess what? It's a solid deal on a pretty impressive notebook. Nothing shocking except the marketing fluff surrounding the deal (listed below):

What’s the difference between this eMachines AMD Athlon 64-bit notebook and a netbook? Big difference. A much bigger screen – 15.6-inch WXGA display that’s great for watching movies, viewing your photographs, working on spreadsheets for work. A dual layer super-multi DVD burner you can use to create your own video, store twice as much info (movies, image -- you name it!) as an ordinary DVD drive. Netbooks don’t have optical drives. And everything else that a netbook has, but more powerful and more practical for using at work or play. Plus, this laptop comes pre-installed with Microsoft Office 2007 – all you have to do is buy the license kit to activate. Bigger and better screen. Powerful processor. Huge Optical Drive. Dual Layer DVD burner. And a price tag that’s so low it’s crazy!

At only $349.99, why not order a couple? One for work and one for home? Or you can purchase one for all your department heads, or your top sales people.

Are you serving our country overseas? You will LOVE this laptop. And we have the best APO shipping in the world. And our customer service is all based here in the US, so if you need us you’ll hear a friendly voice from home. $349.99...that’s a $150.00 instant savings!

Think about all you can do with this new eMachines notebook PC. You can travel the globe with a virtual office at your side. Use the Wi-Fi to network with your colleagues, send e-mails to your family, or work on that Power Point presentation you’re going to make at your next seminar. Watch the latest Hollywood movies or foreign films on the brilliant display. You’ll see great graphics thanks to the ATI video card – all the action scenes will be smooth as silk.

Savor these specs! AMD Athlon 64 TF-20 1.6GHz processor. 3GB of DDR 2 memory. A 250GB hard drive. Dual layer DVD burner. Wifi. Super 15.6-inch screen. Windows Vista Basic. All for only $349.99.

Before I finish let me highlight 2 key features. First, it's got 3 gigs of RAM. That means it's got more memory than tons of laptops that sell for twice as much. Yep, I'm not kidding. You're gonna get a great laptop that will outperform more expensive alternatives. Plus, you spreadsheet fanatics will love this. A full numeric keypad. Most laptops don't have a full keyboard so entering numbers usually sucks. But not on this baby. It's a feature you'll love but only if you hurry!

Mondays get you down? Find it hard to do your work without daydreaming? Well, make those daydreams come true. Order the new eMachines eME625-5192 notebook PC today!

We’ll probably have them in stock on Tuesday, but there’s no guarantee. What I CAN guarantee is – you’re getting a phenomenal new notebook PC. You’ll enjoy the industry’s very best customer service. Great shipping. And incomparable value. Order now and I’ll ship it to your front door, no matter where that is.

Specifications:

AMD Athlon 64 TF-20 1.6GHz
3GB DDR2 Memory
250GB Hard Drive
DL DVD Burner
Windows Vista Basic
1 Year Limited Warranty

Click here to view complete specifications.

Thoughts? Going from pushing netbooks as the "economic choice" to "this laptop smokes a netbook" Will have to see who all follows suit.

Microsoft "dancing" on ARM based Netbook OS

2009-06-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

Some Microsoft execs remind me of politicians: They really know how to dance around a question in a way that allows them to maintain they aren’t lying.

This week’s soft shoo was courtesy of Bill Veghte, Microsoft Senior Vice President of the Windows Business. Not only did Veghte manage to dodge repeated questions about Microsoft’s planned pricing for Windows 7, but he also completely avoided answering questions about Microsoft’s plans to provide Windows on ARM-based netbooks. His avoidance really got me wondering what Microsoft is hiding here.

From the transcript of Veghte’s June 8 appearance at the UBS Global Technology and Services Conference:

QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about the opportunity on the netbook side? How big you think the opportunity is on ARM-based netbooks? Where do you see that market eventually going? Is that something that is of interest to you? Would you port there? But can you just maybe size that market, and how you think about that market in terms of your strategy?

BILL VEGHTE: And just to make sure I understand, in the context of ARM netbooks?

QUESTION: ARM netbooks.

BILL VEGHTE: Okay. I think one of the things that is important, as you think about the market, is what is the user doing with the device? From our perspective, we think there are PCs, and we think there are phones. In that context, if they want a PC increasingly that is connected, but they still want, as that PC is connected, they want to be able to have an entertainment experience, a media experience, a productivity experience, a communications and sharing experience, and to date that feels very similar to what a PC does….

I think we’re going to go through a period where there will be a variety of experimentation, and certainly we will compete vigorously, vigorously in the market to make sure that any of the netbook class PCs that they that customers, consumers can enjoy the full Windows experience. And at the same time be absolutely … I don’t know what the right word is, no complacency, watch every device, watch every ODM, every OEM, and listen and learn to what we think the customer usage behaviors are.

I give Veghte points for resisting the temptation to try to force Microsoft’s new preferred term for netbooks — low-cost small notebook PC (or small notebook, for short) — on conference attendees. He also didn’t use Microsoft’s latest line that Windows 7 is currently not available on ARM-based systems.

The UBS conference questioner was smart; he asked Veghte about the company’s plans for porting Windows — and not just Windows 7 — to ARM. I’ve been wondering lately if Microsoft is (or was) attempting to port not Windows 7, but Windows Vista, to ARM. But as the transcript shows, Veghte acted as though he didn’t hear the word “ARM” at all….

So where does all this political-speak leave us? Here’s what we do know:

Microsoft officials are big on talking up the company’s three-screen consumer vision, with Microsoft targeting PCs, TV (via its IPTV offerings) and mobile devices (which include, but are not limited to phones).
Microsoft is classifying netbooks as PCs (in spite of the new rumored screen, processor and drive limitations it is attempting to impose on OEMs, so as to curtail which x86/x64 machines will qualify for lower per-copy Windows 7 pricing).
Windows isn’t available on ARM devices/systems. But Windows Mobile already runs on phones with ARM processors.
Microsoft is working on at least one project to port Windows Mobile to MIDs, Mobile Internet Devices, which are a class of mobile device that fall between a phone and a PC.

(Can MIDs be classified as netbooks? Are all netbooks MIDs? Why is Microsoft porting Windows Mobile to MIDs instead of plain-old Windows? All good questions to which I have no definitive answers)

Will Microsoft end up porting some flavor of Windows to ARM-based netbooks, especially if Google’s Android and/or other Linux variants start eroding Windows’ share? Or will Microsoft, instead, roll out a new Windows Mobile/Windows Embedded flavor for ARM-based netbooks and slap a plain-old “Windows” label on it? Other guesss are welcome….

ARM smartbooks, Android netbooks, ULV laptops, Moblin and more from Computex 2009

2009-06-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

Not really a surprise that Netbooks would be the biggest story @ Computex due to the close manufacturing ties but the interesting nugget is the diversification that could spawn netbooks 2.0 - (feature functionality changes (touchscreens, OS options, processor changes, peripherals etc.)

From ZD:

The biggest story at Computex 2009 this week was netbooks, and in particular netbooks that use alternatives to Intel's Atom and Windows. A Lenovo IdeaPad S10, for example, is running a version of Linux with Intel's new Moblin V2 operating system.

Acer to sell Android netbook PCs in Q3

2009-06-04T10:01:00.001-07:00

We'll have to see how this launch goes and what impact it will have on OS options - However, anytime there is another OPTION and another player getting behind the netbook format - It's a win. Don't know how well a smart phone OS will scale to a non-phone netbook but should be very interesting...

From Reuters:

* First company to launch netbooks using Google's Android

* Move could threaten Microsoft's market dominance

* No prices yet, but analysts say Windows XP costs about $25 (Adds details, quotes)

By Kelvin Soh

TAIPEI, June 2 (Reuters) - Acer Inc (2353.TW), the world's No. 3 PC brand, plans to sell netbook PCs that run on Google's (GOOG.O) Android operating system, posing a potential threat to Microsoft's (MSFT.O) Windows.

Acer was the first PC vendor to officially announce that it was making Android PCs, weeks after it said it planned to launch smartphones -- mobile phones packed with advanced computer-like capabilities -- on the same platform later this year. [ID:nLM681177]

"Today's netbooks are not close to perfection at all. In two years, it will all be very different," Jim Wong, Acer's global president for IT products, told a news conference at Computex, the world's second-largest PC trade show held in Taipei.

"If we do not continue to change our mobile Internet devices, consumers may not choose then any more."

Wang declined to give any shipment targets or prices for the Android netbooks, which will run on Intel's (INTC.O) low-cost and low-performance Atom processor, but said the company would continue to ship netbooks with Microsoft Windows.

Netbooks are stripped-down PCs optimised for surfing the internet, and usually cost around $300 each. A computer running on Android could be cheaper as analysts have previously said PC brands pay about $25 to install Windows XP into each netbook.

Android could cost less as its open source nature means developers and brands are free to use it and change it to suit their own needs.

"When we are doing this new Android netbook, we are not going to make the other one go away," Wong said. "Both systems will still remain available to customers, and one will not go away because of the other."

Analysts said it was still too early to say whether Android could really threaten the dominance of the Windows operating system in the PC world, pointing to an absence of software and applications that support Android.

"We'll still have to see what kind of applications the Android software can run on and how stable it'll be," said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Securities.

Android, an open-source software that is meant for mobile phones, was first used by HTC (2498.TW) in its smartphones, but many PC brands, such as netbook pioneer Asustek (2357.TW), have expressed interest in using it in its netbook computers.

The announcement came after Taiwan's market closed. Acer's shares ended 0.83 percent higher, outperforming a 0.07 percent decline in the main TAIEX index . (Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Writing by Lee Chyen Yee; Editing by Nick Macfie)

The new "Wave" - More cloud apps/less native software = netbook

2009-06-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Great article on Google wave. Of notice (amongst a plethora of great functions) is the WIM #1 (in yellow below). As more functionality is enabled online (via a browser or small footprint native app) - the value prop of netbooks just continues to grow.

(Per my earlier post about the "perfect storm" - we have 2 of the 3 necessary components showing very tangible results (netbook diversification/adoption and more cloud based apps) Now if we could just see some traction in the WiMax/Connectivity arena... (Btw, did anyone catch the Verizon ads running for subsidized Netbooks (HP Mini)? - Don't know if 3G will provided a ton of value add right now but the price point is getting better with a $40/month starting price data plan)

Google is a remarkable company. Need proof? Just consider how reliant we are on Google Maps to find our way around the world. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because Google empowered a couple of brothers, Lars and Jens Rasmussen, to open up the developer APIs to the mapping engine.

These same two brothers announced yesterday at Google I/O developer conference a new technology for communication and collaboration. This new collaboration engine unites email, instant messaging, blogs, wikis into a single hosted onversation. Check out the demo here and the announcement here.

These conversations or “Waves” take place inside Safari, Firefox, or Chrome and look like email on steroids. (Lars said that they took the 40-year old model of email and redesigned it for today’s Web-based world.) But it’s way more than that. With Google Wave, Google has:

Opened a new path to reinvent how we collaborate. You have to see it to understand, but why would you need four products when one Wave will do? It’s a new conversational metaphor that will also easily support document-based collaboration.
Put the code base into open source to attract investment. Google will attract the best and brightest developers and development with this move.
Published developer APIs to allow others to embed “conversations” anywhere. In a hope to replicate the success of Google Maps, these APIs will make Google’s hosted conversations a convenient way for anybody to offer these features to customers, members, employees, etc.
Re-asserted its interest in hosting the world’s conversations. Google will host these conversations. And that means Google will be curator of more and more of the world’s converations. An awesome reponsibility for sure, and one that regulators should pay attention to. Buut someone has to do it. Why not a company with a founding culture of “do no evil?”

Now this will happen only slowly. The product will go into official beta later this year and be evolving for the next 2 or 3 years. But the path is clear, and the implications are coming into focus. For Information & Knowlege Management Professionals and for the industry, this is what it means.

What it means (WIM) #1: Don’t get too stuck on installed email clients — they can’t evolve fast enough. Notes and Outlook are fabulous tools. But they are installed software sold under a perpetual license model. And that means they can only evolve as fast as you are willing to buy licenses and deal with installation and change management. And that’s too slow to keep up.
WIM #2: Google Apps Premier Edition is worth keeping a close eye on. It’s a guarantee that Google Wave will appear in the Google Apps sometime soon, so keep an eye on what it might mean if you want to switch providers.
WIM #3: Microsoft will have yet another innovation hill to climb (and it will). Redmond will have to digest this advance, but it will shortly ramp up its own conversation-oriented online engine. It will have to make this kind of conversational advance part of its BPOS strategy at some point.
WIM #4: IBM’s approach to collaboration is looking pretty visionary. Lotus has been quietly reinventing itself over the past few years, and if you haven’t looked at Notes or Sametime lately, you need to. And with lead architect Allistair Rennie now at the vision helm, these products with their REST-ful APIs, redesigned interfaces, and Web-centric design metaphors are looking good.

New HP Netbook Offerings - Will sub-niche models drive adaptation?

2009-05-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

From Yahoo, HP is offering 3 different iterations of its mini series. (Article below). For specifics on the models directly from HP - click here. This is of interest because I feel that the 1.0 version of netbooks has already become a little stagnant. The upside is that as hardware manufacturers find new and differentiated offerings, the adaptation of the netbook segment will only continue it's exponential growth.

Now the question is - WHO'S NEXT???

ALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HP (NYSE:HPQ - News) today expanded the award-winning HP Mini family with three new models, offering customers sleek, lightweight companion PCs that come in a variety of configurations and designs.

The HP Mini 110 XP Edition and the HP Mini 110 Mobile Internet (Mi) Edition were designed for Internet-centric consumers, while the HP Mini 1101 is ideal as a companion PC for small and medium-size businesses and frequent business travelers.

The Mini 110 is as stylish as it is mobile, providing consumers with a choice of Pink Chic, Black Swirl or White Swirl HP Imprint finishes, while the Mini 1101 offers business users an elegant, sophisticated Black Swirl design.

“With these new HP Minis, we’re enhancing the customer experience by adding compelling features that allow users to interact with their Mini in a fun way,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer Notebooks, Personal Systems Group, HP. “Our broad portfolio of mini companion PCs truly offers customers choices to fit every need and every personality.”

With the broad HP Mini portfolio, including the previously introduced Mini 1000 and Mini 2140, customers have a choice of sleek companion PCs that let them stay connected from virtually anywhere. HP Mini PCs are geared toward information “snacking” and content access, versus the rich content-creation capabilities found in fully functional notebook PCs. They are a complement to HP’s award-winning families of notebook and desktop PCs.

The new Mini models are small enough to slip into most purses, backpacks or briefcases, starting at 2.33 pounds and measuring just over 1-inch thick.⁽¹⁾ With a 10.1-inch diagonal standard or optional high-definition LED widescreen display, a keyboard that is 92 percent the size of a standard notebook PC keyboard, and a built-in webcam and microphone, the new HP Minis are designed for consumers and business professionals who surf the web, check email, listen to music and need access to friends, family, co-workers or information while on the go.⁽²⁾

Models offer large hard drive options up to 250 gigabytes (GB), offering plenty of space to store movies, music, applications and files.⁽³⁾ All models support solid-state drives options as well. A convenient built-in VGA port allows users to connect to an external monitor, while a 5-in-1 digital media slot allows users to transfer files easily from various memory formats.

Powered by either an Intel® Atom processor N270 with 1.6-gigahertz (GHz) or an Intel Atom processor N280 at 1.66-GHz, the HP Mini 110/1101 line offers configure-to-order options on a number of its features.⁽⁴⁾

The three series are as follows:

The HP Mini 110 XP Edition supports up to 1 GB of memory and either a 32 GB solid-state drive or 160 GB hard drive, as well as optional WWAN. An optional Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Video Accelerator is expected to be available in July and will allow users to enjoy 1080p high-definition content.^(3,5)
The HP Mini 110 Mi Edition is a simple-to-use mobile companion with an HP-developed interface. The Mini 110 Mi comes with applications that enable web browsing, email and online video from the Mi dashboard, minimizing startup time.⁽²⁾ Favorite websites, photos and music that are added to the dashboard stay live, and the taskbar makes it easy to switch between programs. The Mini 110 with Mi runs on a Linux operating system and supports up to 2 GB memory and up to 250 GB of hard drive storage.⁽³⁾
The HP Mini 1101 offers a wide range of operating systems including Windows® XP Home, XP Pro and Windows Vista®. The Mini 1101 offers two optional batteries: a 3-cell option for the lightest weight configuration or a 6-cell option for battery power that lasts up to twice as long.⁽⁶⁾ In addition, the optional integrated HP Mobile Broadband allows users to conveniently access the Internet, corporate intranet, email and mission-critical information around the world.⁽⁷⁾

HP Mini 110 models include the Syncables™ Desktop solution, which provides effortless, automatic synchronization of music, pictures, videos and other files between an HP Mini and a primary notebook or desktop PC.

Mini accessories⁽⁸⁾

With up to six hours of battery life, the HP BX06 Mini Battery allows users to maintain an ultra-mobile lifestyle and work, play and surf longer without losing power. The battery is expected to be available as a $40 upgrade option while configuring on www.hpdirect.com starting June 10.⁽⁶⁾

Protective and stylish Mini Series Sleeves in Pink Chic and Black Swirl protect the Mini from dust. The slim design allows easy transport by hand and can fit nicely into a bag. The black Mini Series Sleeve is currently available for purchase; the Pink Chic sleeve is expected to be available on June 30. Both Mini Series Sleeves are priced at $19.99.

The HP Essential USB Port Replicator allows customers to attach external PC devices with a single connection and is expected to be available in the United States this summer for $79.99.

Pricing and availability⁽⁸⁾

The HP Mini 110 XP Edition and the Mini 110 with Mi are expected to be available in Black Swirl in the United States on June 10 via www.hpdirect.com/go/mini with a starting price of $329.99 and 279.99, respectively.
The HP Mini 110 XP is expected to be available in Pink Chic and White Swirl in the United States on July 8 via www.hpdirect.com/go/mini, pricing to be determined.
The HP Mini 1101 in high-gloss black starts at $329 and is expected to be available June 1.

Local WRAL Story on Netbooks!

2009-05-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Making it to the local news stations - below is an article from WRAL (hope to post video segment when avail online). Nice to see the local guys (even if it is just consumer reports story)...

Consumer Reports tests tiny computer notebooks

Posted: Today at 1:00 p.m.

The smallest laptop computers have usually been the most costly.

Now, in the nick of time for cash-strapped consumers, even smaller netbooks are coming to the rescue, with even lower prices.

The typical netbook weighs about 3 pounds, has a 9- to 10-inch screen and costs $300 to $400.

But which ones truly rate? Consumer Reports tested six netbooks to find out.

"All of them performed well enough at Web surfing and e-mail, but there are some major differences in areas such as ergonomics and battery life," said Paul Reynolds, with Consumer Reports.

Testers top-rated a 10-inch Samsung NC10-14GB, which has a 160GB hard drive and an impressive 7-hour battery life, and offers the fewest compromises. But at $450, it was the most expensive netbook tested.

Looking to spend less?

Consumer Reports recommends two that go for around $350.

The 10-inch Acer Aspire One AOD-150-1165 has a long battery life, but the keyboard is a little cramped. On the flip side, the 10-inch Asus Eee PC 1000H has a roomier keyboard but a shorter battery life.

"Regardless of the model you choose, none has a built-in DVD or CD drive," Reynolds said. "And forget about demanding tasks such as 3-D gaming or video-editing. For those, you'll need a full-powered machine."

The key to finding happiness with a netbook is deciding which compromises you can live with, in order to get the benefits of a truly tiny laptop.

When you're shopping for a netbook, Consumer Reports warns that they tend to work best as a second computer, in addition to a home- or business-based system.

Apple Tablet = Touch or Netbook??

2009-05-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

According to several different sources (article below) - Apple is coming out with an "iPod touch on steroids" sometime in '10. Could be a very interesting play but I am not convinced it is a netbook. A lot of this will boil down to size and OS capabilities. Large size and stronger OS is more inline with an offering in the netbook category. Medium size and Touch OS is more inline with a beefed up Touch. Either way, I am sure the conjecture and pontification will continue as Apple plays the media like a fiddle. Certainly I am interested in seeing what they come up with...

Apple is likely to launch a tablet similar to the iPod touch, but larger in the first half of 2010. This tablet would then be Apple’s entry into the netbook race, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

In a research note, Munster handicaps the gaps in Apple’s product lineup. The gaping hole: There’s nothing between the iPod touch and the MacBook. Enter this iPod touch on steroids for $500 to $700. Meanwhile, Apple operating chief Tim Cook called netbooks junky, but never dismissed the consumer demand for them.

Munster writes:

Between indications from our component contacts in Asia, recent patents relating to multi-touch sensitivity for more complex computing devices, comments from Tim Cook on the April 22nd conference call, and Apple’s acquisition of P.A. Semi along with other recent chip-related hires, it is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile computing franchise. Specifically, we expect this to result in a larger (7″-10″) touchscreen tablet that will launch in 1H CY10. Additionally, Apple’s consistent message that it refuses to launch a “cheap” portable netbook, and its desire to differentiate itself in a maturing market before it’s too late (similar to the timing of iPod and iPhone), plus its gradual addition of multi-touch technology to all of its core products (iPhones, iPods and Macs) leads us to conclude this product will be a touchscreen tablet (not a netbook).

Also see: Are netbooks really junky?

Apple’s game plan will revolve around its multi-touch patents to cook up something different from your generic netbook. Munster’s theory makes a lot of sense. A netbook would tarnish the Mac’s average selling price and potentially cheapen the Apple brand. A tablet wouldn’t. Double bonus: A Mac tablet would compete with the Kindle.

What’s the OS look like? Munster has an answer for that too:

We are anticipating a new category of Apple products with an operating system more robust than the iPhone’s but optimized for multi-touch, unlike Mac OS X. The device’s OS could bear a close resemblance to Apple’s mobile OS and run App Store apps, or it could be a modified version of Mac OS X. We expect the development of such an OS to be underway currently, but its complexity, along with our conversations with a key company in the mobile space, leads us to believe it will not launch until CY10.

Is Apple late to the game? Not really. Apple was late with the iPod and we saw how that turned out. Ditto for the iPhone, which came five years after the first BlackBerry. Relatively speaking Apple’s netbook killer would be a fast follow.

Here’s a look at Munster’s argument for a Mac tablet and not a netbook.

2009-05-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Netbook performance (albeit a little unfairly stacked) review from ZD. Nothing new in the performance results but again the apples vs oranges debate is at hand. A net-b is not a full laptop replacement. It is a lightweight, ultra-portable (and green - due to low power usage) take anywhere device. Play in those guidlines and you will be extremely happy. Try to pit it against your 8lb laptop (at 2x to 3X the cost) and you will be UNhappy. Click here for the story - THE MOST INTERESTING READ IS IN THE TALKBACKS.

No one claims that netbooks can match the performance of laptops that cost hundreds or even thousands more. The real question is whether the performance of a netbook is good enough.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been doing some testing on five netbooks with 10-inch displays: the Acer Aspire One, HP Mini 2140, Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and Samsung N110 and N120. These five netbooks have nearly identical specs–1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB of memory, Windows XP–and consequently they turned in nearly identical performance scores.

It’s no surprise that they can’t match the performance of a premium thin-and-light such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X301. But I also wondered how they would stack up against more direct competitors such as the HP Pavilion dv6 series, a mainstream laptop, and especially the Pavilion dv3, a low-cost 13-inch thin-and-light. Though these both cost more than netbooks, they still come in well under $1,000 and offer significantly more features.

There are several reasons why netbooks don’t perform like notebooks. First, the Atom chip has a single processing core and it runs at a slower frequency (1.6GHz) than most mobile processors. (The exception would be some of Intel’s low-voltage and ultra low-voltage chips, such as the 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400, used in relatively-expensive ultraportables.) Atom is also based on a simpler microarchitecture–it has about the same number of transistors as the Pentium 4 circa 2001–so it lacks many of the enhancements in later designs such as the Core microarchitecure. Second, netbooks top out at 1GB of memory, while the average PC has around 2.3GB of memory, and even low-priced laptops often include 3GB.

Compare this typical netbook configuration to a mainstream notebook such as the Pavilion dv6. You can get the dv6 for as little as $580 with an AMD Athlon X2 dual-core processor, but the retail model I used for comparison, the Pavilion dv6-1030us, has a 16-inch (1366×768) display, 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400, 4GB of memory, Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics and a 320GB hard drive. At $750, it costs significantly more than a netbook, but it also offers a lot more. The Pavilion dv3z, a 13-inch thin-and-light, is closer to the netbooks in terms of portability, if not price. The $980 configuration used here included a 2.3GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 ZM-84, 4GB of memory, ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics and a 320GB hard drive. Recently HP seems to have shifted to an Intel-based configuration of the Pavilion dv3 which currently starts at $650 (after rebates) with a 2.0GHz Pentium T4200, 2GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive.

My first set of tests involved relatively large Excel 2007 spreadsheets performing tasks such as Monte Carlo simulations (used to determine pricing of stock options), pivot tables (for visualizing data), and other common arithmetic and statistical analysis functions. Some of them are custom tests and others were provided by Intel for use in benchmarking processors. On most tests, the netbooks took more than twice as long as the dv6-1030us and dv3z to complete the same calculations.

Multitasking is another area where the performance of netbooks pales next to notebooks. In this basic test, Word 2007 compares two versions of a large document in the background while PowerPoint 2007 saves a presentation as an XPS file, a Microsoft Office 2007 file format similar to Adobe’s PDF. I’ve also run this test with other tasks, such as image editing and audio encoding, going on in the background, but in this case, it’s unnecessary. The difference is already pretty clear. This lends some support to Microsoft’s assertion that Windows 7 Starter Edition will only run three concurrent apps because netbooks don’t have the muscle for heavy multitasking.

Finally I compared the audio encoding performance of netbooks to a premium ultraportable, the ThinkPad X301. The simple test measures the time it takes for iTunes to convert 20 audio files (a total of 527MB) from MP3 to AAC format. Despite its relatively high price ($2,000 and up), the ThinkPad X301 isn’t an especially powerful laptop because of its low-voltage processor, the 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo SU9400 and integrated graphics, but it still handily beats netbooks on this test. (By the way, the fastest system I’ve tested, a $999 Dell Studio XPS desktop with a Core i7 processor, was able to encode all 20 files in less than 10 minutes, compared with more than an hour for a netbook.)

In the past, I’ve also run some tests using Adobe Photoshop CS3 to auto-correct a batch of high-resolution images and convert them for use on the Web, as well as benchmarks such as CINEBENCH and POV-Ray that take advantage of multi-core processors and discrete GPUs. Netbooks aren’t designed for these applications, of course, and I didn’t even attempt to run these tests, but this gives you an idea of some of the limitations. Then again, you may be able to find workarounds for some tasks. For example, you can run Adobe Photoshop Elements on a netbook, or use an online photo editing package such as Picasa, Picnik or Photoshop Express, and these probably meet the needs of most users. But anything involving real 3D graphics or gaming is pretty much out.

Granted, these are all fairly intensive tasks, but they illustrate the real performance difference. More anecdotal testing is probably closer to typical netbook usage. I’m sure that all of these netbooks are a bit slower to boot up, shut down, and open and close applications, but not to the extent that I really noticed it during weeks of regular usage. I did, however, notice that it took netbooks longer to open large spreadsheets or Word documents. Aside from that, all of these netbooks felt sufficiently responsive on basic productivity tasks using Office 2007, as well as e-mail and Web browsing. They also handled standard-definition video using both Adobe Flash (YouTube, Hulu.com) and Microsoft Silverlight (CBS Sports, NBC Olympics) just fine, but immediately choked on high-definition video. As far as editing video, technically netbooks can run entry-level editing packages such as Windows Movie Maker (included in Windows XP), Corel VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you’ve already decided on a netbook, performance is a non-issue. Since nearly all netbooks use the same Intel platform, there is virtually no difference in performance. But if you are choosing between a netbook and a laptop–even a budget laptop–you should know there’s a significant performance penalty. That’s on top of all the other differences such as display size and other features.

Having said that, it’s overstating the case to argue–as Intel does–that netbooks are for viewing and sharing content, while notebooks are for creating content. The reality is that the performance of netbooks is “good enough” for the documents, spreadsheets, blog posts and even standard YouTube clips that most users need to create or upload. That’s one big reason for their surprising popularity.

Living with a netbook: Toy or tiny notebook?

2009-05-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Very good points discussed in this article (be sure to check out the talkback discussion from users). I don't agree with everything but do agree that a definition of "What a netbook is/is not" needs to be defined. Misconceptions are everywhere as well as mis-categorization (under powered laptop, toy, laptop/desktop replacement).

There is no denying the popularity of netbooks, but there’s still much debate about who’s buying them and for what purpose. Netbooks were conceived for emerging markets–along the lines of the OLPC’s XO laptop and Intel’s Classmate PC–but they turned out to be more popular in developed countries. More recently, Intel has downplayed them as “toys” that may complement, but won’t cannibalize, real PCs. Still, as netbooks become more capable, it’s almost certain that some consumers are choosing them over pricier ultraportables.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying out five netbooks with 10-inch displays, the Acer Aspire One, HP Mini 2140, Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and Samsung N110 and N120. Some of these have been available for some time; others such as the Samsung N110 and N120 are new. Lenovo just announced an updated IdeaPad S10-2, which is thinner and has a slightly larger keyboard, but has the same basic specs.

I’m not going to write separate reviews of each netbook–most of them have been widely reviewed and I’ll include links to some of these. I’m more interested in how netbooks compare to notebooks in real-world use. What’s it like to use them for extended periods? How much performance do you give up? And what features are missing? Over the next couple of days, I’ll post my thoughts on the design, performance and features of these netbooks.

Though netbooks have only been around for a little more than a year, they’ve changed drastically since Asus announced the Eee PC in June 2007. The original Eee PC had a 7-inch display, a low-voltage Intel Celeron M processor, 512MB of memory, 2GB of flash storage and Linux. Asus planned to sell it for $199, but the final version ended up costing significantly more.

Nowadays nearly all netbooks use Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom N270 paired with Intel’s 945GSE Express Chipset with integrated graphics. Some notable exceptions include the Samsung NC20, the only netbook from a major computer company that uses Via’s Nano chip, and the Sony VAIO P series and Dell Inspiron Mini 10, which use Atom Z-series chips (this week Dell released an updated Mini 10 with the Atom N270). Most netbooks come 1GB of memory and the tiny SSDs have been replaced by more practical 120- or 160GB hard drives.

While Linux is still an option on many netbooks, the market has settled on Windows (Microsoft says more than 96 percent of netbooks now use Windows). There are a couple of reasons for this. First, customers had trouble adjusting to Linux and return rates were high. Second, when Microsoft realized Vista was a poor fit for netbooks, it dusted off Windows XP and made it available at a very low price–as low as $15 according to one report–eliminating one of the big advantages of Linux.

All of these changes have resulted in netbooks that look and act a lot more like notebooks than the original Eee PC. The large displays have sufficient resolution to properly display Web pages and productivity applications. The keyboards are nearly full-size and most companies have done away with the tiny, odd-shaped keys that made them frustrating to use. The hard drives provide room for most digital photo and music collections. And Windows XP is compatible with most software and peripherals.

Not surprisingly, sales of netbooks have grown fast. Here’s a slide from Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s presentation yesterday at the company’s annual Investor Meeting that puts netbook growth in perspective:

But just because a netbook looks like a notebook, doesn’t mean it performs like one. Even when compared to relatively inexpensive laptops, netbooks pale in terms of performance. For example, Excel tasks that typically took 30 seconds to about 1 minute on the mainstream HP Pavilion dv6t took 2.5 to 3.5 times longer on the netbooks. (The dv6t starts at $650 with a 16-inch display, 2.0GHz Core2 Duo T6400, 2GB, Intel GMA 4500MHD and 160GB hard drive.) Even the HP Pavilion dv3z, a 13-inch thin-and-light that costs about $730 with a 2.3GHz AMD Turion X2, finished these tasks in about half the time.

The differences are even more dramatic when multi-tasking, and highly-intensive tasks such as huge spreadsheets, HD video playback and video editing, and 3D gaming are not feasible at all. Incidentally there’s virtually no difference in performance among netbooks, which is what you’d expect since they share the same components. I’ll post more details on my test results separately. The point is that netbooks are fine for basic communications and productivity tasks, but there’s a real difference in performance versus a true notebook.

Though most netbooks share the same specs and performance today, that will soon change. Intel will reportedly release a new Atom processor and chipset in September. Acer, HP, Dell and others are experimenting with netbooks based on ARM processors using Linux-based operating systems such as Google’s Android. Despite Intel’s insistence that netbooks have 10-inch or smaller displays, Dell already sells a 12-inch netbook, and Acer and Asus have plans to offer 11.6-inch models. These will compete with new, low-cost 12- and 13-inch laptops using AMD’s Athlon Neo or Intel’s CULV (Consumer Ultra Low-Voltage) chips. Finally, before year-end, Microsoft will release Windows 7, which includes a version for netbooks. The result of all of this will be more choice in terms of price, features and performance in both netbooks and ultraportables in the second half of this year.

Wi-Max built in - for 2 Dell machines - hmmm

2009-05-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

According to the dell blog, they are now offering wi-max built in for 2 models. The entire story is below:

Recently, we began offering WiMAX as an option on three two laptops that we sell to consumers in the United States:

Correction: The correct details are that we are offering WiMAX as an option on two laptops, not three like I originally had stated. I should not have included the Studio 15. My apologies for any inconvenience.

WiMAX is a wireless technology that’s built to deliver wireless broadband for notebooks and mobile devices. The biggest benefit compared to Wi-Fi is range. WiMAX can provide access over much further distances comparatively. We’re working with Clearwire to provide WiMAX service to customers in the United States. Currently, WiMAX is supported in areas within two states: Portand or Atlanta (Update from Lionel: Doh! Neither Portland or Atlanta's a state) and areas within the city Baltimore. Click on those links to check if WiMAX is supported there. Clearwire also has plans to expand to several more cities throughout 2009 and beyond.

Once it’s available in more cities, you won’t have to spend time looking for hotspots. Compared to mobile broadband, WiMAX offers flexible service offerings. You can get a day pass or go month-to-month with no long-term contracts required. WiMAX is fast too—it offers peak download rates of about 13Mbps and up to 3Mbps upload speeds. Beyond that, our internal WiMAX options all support 802.11n. For more background on how WiMAX technology works, take a look at this Intel demo video.

US customers who order a Studio 15, 17 or Studio XPS 16 will see a WiMAX/ Wireless-N combo card option for a $60 upgrade price from the 802.11g default wireless option. Click on the screenshot below to see a larger version.

WiMAX is not the only option for future connectivity. We're also looking at a technology called Long Term Evolution (or LTE). Expect to read more about these technologies in the future. Either way, we're going to have more wireless options for customers moving forward.

It's definitely getting more interesting and as Wi-Max roll outs continue, there will be a scramble to provide more hardware for connectivity. It is always a good sign when hardware manufacturers are adding the functionality BEFORE the roll out is complete... That equals by in and a call to action for faster roll out...

2009-05-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

As cloud spending goes up, SaaS adoption soars, netbook sales explode, we have 2/3 of the trifecta in place. Now we just need omnipresent wi-fi and BOO-YAH - It's all deadly...

With cloud computing in the enterprise we tend to think of it as being conceptual and experimental. Besides Salesforce.com they aren’t a lot of popular examples of business apps in the cloud. However, a new Gartner report says that business spending on software as a service (SaaS) will rise 22% in 2009 to $9.6 billion.

This is up from $6.6 billion spent on SaaS in 2008 and it comes in a year when overall IT spending is down 3.8% according to Gartner estimates.

See also: Why corporate IT will eventually embrace cloud computing

Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner, said,

“The adoption of SaaS continues to grow and evolve within the enterprise application markets as tighter capital budgets in the current economic environment demand leaner alternatives … and interest for platform as a service and cloud computing grows. Adoption of the on-demand deployment model has grown for nearly a decade, but its popularity has increased significantly within the last five years. Initial concerns about security response time and service availability have diminished for many organizations. As SaaS business and computing models have matured, adoption has become more widespread.”

As the chart below from Gartner’s report shows, the most popular SaaS applications in the enterprise are content management, CRM, and ERP.

One of the fastest growing segments of the SaaS market is Office Suites, which is growing from $136 million in 2008 to $512 million in 2009. This means more companies are experimenting with solutions such as Google Apps and Zoho rather than using the standard Microsoft Office suite.

Mertz said,

“Many factors are driving adoption of SaaS, including the benefits of rapid deployment and rapid ROI, less upfront capital investment, and a decreased reliance on limited implementation resources. Greater market competition and increased focus by the ‘megavendors’ is reinforcing the legitimacy of on-demand solutions. Many enterprises are further encouraged by the fact that with SaaS, responsibility for continuous operation, backups, updates and infrastructure maintenance shifts risk and resource requirements from internal IT to vendors or service providers.”

Of course, the thing to keep in perspective is that the total 2009 IT software market is $222.6 billion (according to Gartner), so SaaS is only 4.3% of the total software market. Gartner anticipates steady — but not spectacular — growth for SaaS through 2013, when it sees the SaaS market rising to $16 billion.

Sub $250 Netbook action

2009-05-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Just received an email from TigerDirect offering a $239 Netbook (refurb). Just an fyi...

12" Netbooks???

2009-05-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

Acer/Asustek are rolling out 12" "netbooks" Although the similarity is in the processor and HD size, there isn't much differentiating these offerings from small laptops and may be just a ploy to capitalize on the buzz around the term "netbooks" Thoughts???

Two major netbook players appear set to release new models with larger displays that will further blur the lines with traditional laptops.

Later this month Acer will release an Aspire One netbook with an 11.6-inch widescreen display. Acer currently sells Aspire One models with either an 8.9-inch or 10.1-inch display. A general manager for Acer in the UK described the new model in a YouTube video posted by The Register, a hardware site. The Aspire One 751 will be thinner than the current models and it will have a full-size laptop keyboard. It will start at about $560 with an Intel Atom 5-series processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive and Windows XP.

(Related: The Boy Genius Report says Acer and AT&T have struck a deal to sell the Aspire One 10-inch with a 3G data contract through Costco starting May 11–presumably at a subsidized price.)

Meanwhile, the Asia-based newswire DigiTimes reported that Asustek president Jerry Shen said his company will launch an Eee PC netbook with an 11.6-inch display later this month. Dell already sells a netbook with a 12.1-inch display, the Inspiron Mini 12.

While 10-inch netbooks have found themselves a nice niche, these larger netbooks are likely to run into stiff competition from a new class of less-costly, ultra-thin laptops based on the AMD Athlon Neo, such as the HP Pavilion dv2z, or the upcoming Intel CULV processors, such as MSI’s X-Slim series.

ARM processors and sub-netbooks???

2009-04-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

Interesting concept - but I agree with Mr. Morris in that I don't feel what has been proposed truly qualifies as a netbook. Maybe a glorified PDA with REALLY long battery life but netbook? I don't think so.

Your thoughts???

Rumors of netbooks using smartphone components rather than Intel chips and Microsoft Windows are nothing new. But we’re finally getting a good idea of just what a PC based on an ARM processor and Linux will look like.

Because the tiny ARM chips are designed for smartphones, many believe that netbooks using them will be less expensive and get better battery life than those using Intel’s Atom processor. ARM itself has said that netbooks using its technology will cost $200 and last eight to 12 hours on a charge (ARM: Heretic in the church of Intel, Moore’s Law). But it’s not clear that the first ARM netbooks–six to 10 models this year, according to ARM–will reach these lofty goals.

One of the first is likely to be the Alpha 680 from Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies, a company in China that has previously worked with Wal-Mart on low-cost Linux PCs. In an interview with Networkworld, Nixon Wu, the company’s co-founder, said Skytone will have “final prototypes” of its netbook in June, and will release it this summer. The Alpha 680 is based on a 533MHz ARM11 processor and Android, the Linux-based operating system currently used on HTC’s G1 “Google phone.” (Samsung announced an Android smartphone, the I7500, earlier today.)

Even by netbook standards, the Alpha 680 looks under-powered. It is based on a 7-inch display with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels, even as most netbooks are moving to 10-inch, 1024-by-576 displays (several are now offering 1366×768 displays as well). It will have 128MB of memory (expandable to 256MB) and a 1GB SSD (also expandable, to 4GB). Even with this low-end configuration, the Alpha 680 will start around $250. That’s less than any 10-inch netbook, of course. But you can pick up the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 with an 8.9-inch LED-backlit display (1,024×600), 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB of memory, 4GB SSD and Ubuntu Linux for $279.

As for battery life, Skytone says the Alpha 680 with its two-cell battery will get two to four hours on a charge. By comparison, the Mini 9 with its standard four-cell battery lasted 3 hours 21 minutes on CNET’s tests.

To keep the price down, the Alpha 680 won’t come with many applications. You can use Web-based applications or download apps from the Android Store, though Wu told Networkworld that some 20% of apps in the store won’t work because of compatibility issues. Uh-oh. There’s a reason why more than 90 percent of netbook buyers have chosen a $15 copy of Windows XP over a free Linux distribution.

Comparing the Alpha 680 with current netbooks misses the point, Wu told Networkworld. Netbooks have actually become too powerful, he said, and what the rest of the world really needs is a very low-cost mobile device for checking e-mail, browsing the Web and performing basic chores. That may be true, but ARM-based netbooks will still need to be competitive in terms of specs, performance and price to knock Wintel off its perch.

The Alpha 680 will be smaller and lighter than other netbooks–no surprise given its specs. Skytone says it will weigh 1.5 pounds and measure 8.5 by 6 by 1.2 inches. But so far that approach hasn’t worked woo well either with early netbooks using 7-inch displays or with MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices). Ultimately the question is whether there really is a market for a device that is neither smartphone nor notebook.

Very cool site - from a fellow netbook owner

2009-04-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Had to share a link to this site paleheretic.co.uk Headed up by Alan Lyes. He has a variety of blogs on netbooks, design, second life, etc.

From the site:

PALE HERETIC

Pale Heretic is a digital and analogue concept and IP design company, working on both our own and bespoke projects. Our services portfolio include creative concepts; graphic, interface and character Design in 2 or 3 dimensions; virtual worlds strategy and implementation; original character artwork.

We operate a number of sites in Second Life where we run a successful fashion label and we are developing a gallery space. We are the makers of the Heretic Pixies. We also provide business and design consultancy services within Second Life and offer free, open access meeting facilities.

Pale Heretic welcome the oportunity to work with you to develop strategies and beskpoke solutions. Please contact us to discuss how we can work together.

In Second Life Alan can be found working as the avatar Pale Janus.

Also has some very cool netbook wallpaper at heretic pixies

Samples below:

Check it out!!

Apple Netbook Counter Punch...

2009-04-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

Rhetorical? Possibly... Blasphemous? Maybe... Interesting???

“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”
Deuteronomy 32:10

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs. You know Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is a friend of yours. You don’t get the same sense, at this point, from Tim.

He says Apple is not interested in the netbook business “as it exists today.” The hardware is junky and the software poor. A netbook is “not something that we would put the Mac brand on quite frankly.”

Sorry, Tim. But you’ve already done it. You have a netbook, today. It’s called the MacBook Air. And it has a hard time measuring up to Windows-based netbooks, on price, or Mac OS-based laptops, based on performance.

You can avoid the facts, if you want. But the class “A” netbook on the PC side is the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. The class “A” netbook on your side is the base version of the Air. Kid yourself not. When consumers are comparing portable computers that let them move about with little weight, decent-sized keyboards and screens and access to Web, these are the machines (and Windows and Linux equivalents) that let them do so.

The MacBook Air may win style points. But it’s not that different from the Asus EE. And, in the one thing that really matters for every day users of basic portable machines, the Asus machine wins hands down. Battery life is 9.5 hours to 4.5 hours. Even if both companies’ claims are cut in half, that’s 4.75 hours to 2.25. Which would you rather rely on, throughout a day, Mr. Cook?

Particularly since the MacBook Air has a completely enclosed battery. Even you are not going to take out the screwdriver and whip in a replacement, when the darn thing does down over Detroit on the flight to New York.

Oh, the Esus also costs less than a quarter of what you’re asking for folks in this recession (can we say “depression”?) can afford to spend? And you want people to believe that an iPod Touch is a viable alternative to the Eee PC? Is that a 99-cent cannabis program you’ve downloaded?

Let’s be real, here. Apple can be a victim of its own success, again. Just like when Gil Amelio tried to take over from John Sculley – before Steve Jobs returned.

You’re leaving Apple exposed. Disdain for the competition is a prescription for a relapse into rocky, near-irrelevance that accompanied the last non-Jobs era.

Show what you can do. Don’t just knock the competition. Or, Apple will find itself again struggling to protect its high margins, from ‘low-end’ competition.’

And you will have abetted it.

Get over the acerbic analysis. Get on with a market-redefining product for accessing the Internet.

That uses both hands. Or voice alone. But not the slow tap-tap-tap of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Back in Black!!

2009-04-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

WOOOOO!!!

Got my S10 back yesterday and per the photo's below, you can see it was a motherboard/HD failure. But after spending all evening re-loading all my s/w and setting up XP (with 100 updates/patches), I am back in biz with a few items of note. Starting after pics...

1st on the radar - Apple slamming "netbooks". On the surface, it appears to be a direct slam at netbooks (and it is to a degree) HOWEVER, Apple does not want to compete in a sub $400 market (i.e. the exisiting netbook market). So how do you separate yourself from the herd? Slam the segment they reside in (calling them junky, cheaply made, poor build quality, short lifecycle, etc) BUT conversely, set yourself up to be the preeminent (and most likely most successful) player in the upscale touchscreen (bigger than an Ipod Touch but not a Macbook) UPL market.

In other words, do what Apple does. Make something different and arguably much better than what is currently in the market. Provide people with a great user experience as well as the cool factor that inherently comes with owning the latest/greatest Apple gadget and Voila - huge sales at a very profitable margin while not tangling yourself with the quagmire of the "me too" space at the lower end of the cost/function spectrum.

2nd on the radar

With the Apple statement already addressed, now it is time to dive into what the industry is saying about Netbooks. From Twice, here is an article touting the explosive growth in the Netbook segment while some marketing guy babbles about netbooks having poor browsing capabilities - WTF?? It's called a NETbook! Also, I just received an email from J&R advertising (guess what???) NETBOOKS. Wow, it just keeps going! Despite all the slams, digs, bad mouthing, the Netbook Revolution marches ON...

Viva the revolution!

Windows 7 for Netbooks

2009-04-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Nice preview to the Win7 platform (and it's limitations) and how it will play in the netbook OS space. You can click to the story here

***Quick update*** Never received my email from Lenovo about the S10 but FedEx apparently tried to deliver it today. Will blog once I have it in hand but so far I have been less than impressed with the returns process. Below are my concerns:

Why did it take 3 days to send the box?
Why did I have to call AGAIN to get a status update when the S10 was shipped out to Lenovo?
Why did the Lenovo customer service person tell me that they would email me tracking info when the S10 shipped out (yet I never received an email)?
Why did my response to the email telling me they would notify me of the tracking info bounce when I replied to them?

Updates soon...

If you’ve read anything about Windows 7 Starter Edition, your first reaction was probably the same as mine: Is Microsoft nuts? This ultra-cheap edition is intended for use on netbooks, but its biggest restriction sounds like a complete deal-breaker: it only runs three applications at once.

But I prefer to form my opinions based on facts, not press releases. So, for the sake of research, I’ve spent the last three weeks running Windows 7 Starter Edition on an ultra-portable Sony notebook. Here’s what I learned.

For starters, that three-app limit isn’t as cut and dried as it sounds. Several people who e-mailed me with questions assumed that the limit means you can only have three windows open at once. Nope. At the moment, in fact, I have 16 separate windows open at once (and multiple tabs within some of those windows as well).

Here’s the proof:

How am I able to get away with this? Well, for starters, you can open as many windows as you want from a single program. So if you want to open 15 tabs in your browser, six images in your photo-editing program, and a couple of instant messenger windows, you can do it. You won’t see this warning message until you try to open a fourth program:

In addition, some of the things you’re likely to do every day on a netbook don’t count against the three-app limit at all:

Windows Explorer windows don’t count. So you can open as many file folders as you want and even preview the contents of individual files without having any of those processes counted against your limit.
Basic Windows tools don’t trigger the limit. You can run a Command Prompt window or open Task Manager even if you already have three programs open.
Most Control Panel applets don’t count either. If you need to check your network settings or change to a different power management scheme or install a new Bluetooth device, you can do that anytime, regardless of what else is running.
Program installers run without triggering the limit. I just used Internet Explorer to download and install Google Chrome, even with three programs already open. No problem. [Update: Although Microsoft claims installers are exempt from the three-program limit, this appears to be untrue, at least in the beta I looked at. Based on some comments, I just tried to run a dozen or so installers with three programs already open. Each one failed.]
Desktop gadgets are free, too. I’ve got the Pandora playback gadget running on the Windows 7 desktop and have no trouble opening three full-featured programs as well.
Some system utilities get to bypass the three-app limit. The ClipMate utility, for instance, starts automatically and places itself in the system tray. I was able to pop up its main window and not trigger a too-many-apps warning.
Antivirus programs that run as a system service don’t count. I installed Sunbelt Software’s excellent VIPRE antivirus/antispyware suite on this system. The program icon showed up in the system tray and it alerted me several times about potentially suspicious events. I was able to right-click that icon and use its menu to scan the system for viruses and check for updated virus definitions without a problem, even with three programs open. (Trying to open VIPRE’s main program window, however, triggered a warning that I needed to close something else first.)

In short, when I used this system as a netbook, it worked just fine. On a netbook, most of the tasks you’re likely to tackle are going to take place in a browser window anyway. If you use Google Chrome or Firefox or Internet Explorer, you can check your mail using Gmail or Hotmail or Outlook Web Access, build a spreadsheet in Google Docs or Zoho, check Facebook or Windows Live, Twitter to your heart’s content, read your favorite feeds in Google Reader or NewsGator, and Web-surf till you run out of memory. All of those tasks count as only a single program, because they’re running within one or more identical processes belonging to your preferred web browser.

If I tried to use this system as a conventional notebook, running multiple Microsoft Office or OpenOffice aps, playing music in iTunes or Windows Media Player, and using third-party IM programs, I would probably be incredibly frustrated with the limitations of Starter Edition.

Ultimately, that’s the question that you’ll want to ask before considering Windows 7 Starter Edition as an option: Is this a netbook or a notebook? If the answer is netbook, you might be pleasantly surprised at what this low-powered OS can actually accomplish.

10 Netbook Considerations

2009-04-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

A quick list of considerations when looking at netbooks - some valid (size, battery, optical drive) and some not (OS - there is no $100 delta for XP) but overall a good roadmap from ZD.

1: Operating system

To cut costs and enable aggressive pricing, many netbooks are powered by Linux. Stable and reliable, Linux is also less expensive than Windows. With many netbooks selling for $400 or less, and OEM copies of Windows XP still selling for approximately $100 or more, it’s easy to see how many manufacturers are tempted to pad margins by replacing Windows with Linux.

Further, many of the netbook models featuring Windows have XP Home builds. Those systems can’t host remote connections using Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection technology, nor can they properly join Windows server-powered domains, as can Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista Business systems.

2: Display size

Netbooks are designed to be small, lightweight, and portable. One significant tradeoff is screen size. Many of the most popular models feature only seven- or nine-inch screens. Your best bet, before committing to a purchase, is to test using a sample or evaluation unit at a local retailer. Otherwise, you may be underwhelmed when such a small box arrives in the mail.

Many users find ~nine-inch displays the smallest they can comfortably use. Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9- and Asus’ Eee PC 8.9-inch screens, for example, support 1024×600 resolution. While that doesn’t match the 1024×768 resolution that has essentially become the de facto standard for PCs, it’s a tolerable exchange for portability and convenience.

3: Battery life

Netbooks grew from initiatives to build simple laptops that could be used by children in developing countries. As a result, these systems have an energy-conscious heritage, which is doubly important considering most netbooks are used away from homes and offices.

Due to differences in batteries, CPUs, hard disks (solid state versus traditional hard disk drives), and display technologies, battery life varies widely by manufacturer and model. For example, Asus Eee PC 1000HE users can receive as many as five hours of service from a single charge, whereas Wired tests found the HP Mini 2140 lasted only 2.5 hours.

4: Keyboard and pointer buttons

Small is the resounding netbook theme, and that applies to keyboards and track pad options, too. Don’t expect systems with 8.9-inch displays to include full-size keyboards. Keys can actually prove alarmingly small (yet another reason you should test a potential new purchase before buying).

When trying to stuff critical features inside small footprints, designers’ pointer (integrated track pad) options are limited. Most leading netbook brands (Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and MSI Wind) feature reasonably sized, well-working track pads. Don’t assume, though, that all models’ pointer options or selection buttons are well-designed. Be sure to review a netbook’s pointer configuration carefully to make sure it meets your preferences.

5: Storage space

Many users are accustomed to 80GB, 160GB, or even 250GB notebook hard drives these days. With such vast storage capacity, they haven’t had to limit the number of songs, graphic files, and videos they store on their personal computers. But netbooks are different. Some leading styles include only 16GB solid state drives that, once Windows is loaded, don’t leave acres of space for file storage. Consider your needs and plan accordingly.

6: Optical drive

Remember how a netbook’s theme is small and portable? One of the casualties of the low-cost/lightweight/small form factor profile is the loss of the optical drive. Most netbooks don’t have a CD-ROM or DVD drive. Instead, users must purchase a standalone USB optical drive or transfer CD or DVD images to flash memory drives or over a network to install software on a netbook.

7: Weight

Portability is the key with netbooks. Many of the most popular 8.9-inch display models weigh only two-and-a-half pounds or so. But some may sneak up on you. Rethink machines weighing more than three pounds — too many sub three-pound options are available for you to settle for needless deadweight.

8: Expansion capacity

Many users, when not traveling, want to leverage their netbook as another office system. Some netbooks are more cooperative than others. Review the specifications of the models you’re considering to verify that they have sufficient USB ports and the appropriate video and network connections for your needs.

9: CPU

Don’t be distressed when you review a netbook’s technical specs. The CPU details are not misprints. While your desktop PC may boast a 2.83GHz quad-core CPU, netbooks are anemic by comparison.

The Intel Atom is often the CPU of choice. The Z520 (1.33GHz) and Z530 (1.60GHz) CPUs are among the most popular. Although these chips can’t power demanding graphic editing programs, most 3D games, or engineering applications, they’re more than adequate for accessing e-mail, surfing the Internet, and reviewing and editing most documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

When reviewing CPU specifications, keep in mind that faster-running chips typically diminish battery life. Thus, it’s a never-ending tradeoff: performance versus battery service.

10: Integrated wireless options

If netbooks are to connect you to the cloud, they must have wireless connectivity. Any more, that doesn’t just mean connecting to 802.11g Wi-Fi networks. Many users require 802.11n or Bluetooth connectivity, while still others need their netbooks to connect to cellular networks.

Fortunately, netbook manufacturers are paying attention. Most leading brands include Bluetooth connectivity, at least as an optional component. Still others offer customers the choice of adding integrated cellular mobile broadband adapters.

If these options are important to you, hold out for a model that has the proper wireless options. The alternative is to become dependent upon a bulky dongle, and that’s quickly become old-fashioned.

PC shipments down 6.5% - But Netbooks still blowing up!!

2009-04-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

From Gartner - (and not shocking at all. overpriced laptops/desktops - out Rockin Netbooks - BLOWING UP)

STAMFORD, Conn., April 15, 2009 — Worldwide PC shipments totaled 67.2 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 6.5 percent decline versus first quarter 2008, according to preliminary results from Gartner, Inc.

“We are seeing some evidence of channel inventory restocking, particularly in the U.S.,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. “This restocking should not be interpreted as a recovery in PC end-user demand; it’s still unclear if the global PC market has hit the bottom.”

Hewlett-Packard extended its lead in the worldwide PC market, accounting for 19.8 percent of global shipments in first quarter 2009 (see Table 1). HP registered higher growth rates than the regional averages in the U.S., Asia/Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). HP’s strength derived from its solid consumer PC portfolio, including low priced mobile PCs.

Dell and Acer finished the quarter in a virtual tie for the No. 2 position in the worldwide PC market; they are separated by just 0.1 percent points. Dell was generally weighted down by its heavy reliance on the professional market, while Acer experienced a significant shipment increase fueled by low priced mobile PCs in EMEA and the U.S.

“Low priced mobile PCs continued to be the growth driver for the PC industry in most regions,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “However, we anticipate a sharp decline in industry revenues due to the lower average selling prices (ASPs) of these devices.”

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q09 Shipments	1Q09 Market Share (%)	1Q08 Shipments	1Q08 Market Share (%)	1Q09-1Q08 Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard	13,305	19.8	12,974	18.1	2.6
Dell Inc.	8,789	13.1	10,579	14.7	-16.9
Acer	8,758	13.0	6,911	9.6	26.7
Lenovo	4,430	6.6	4,798	6.7	-7.7
Toshiba	3,688	5.5	3,115	4.3	18.4
Others	28,239	42.0	33,467	46.6	-15.6
Total	67,209	100.0	71,846	100.0	-6.5

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner (April 2009)

PC shipments in the U.S. totaled 15.3 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 0.3 percent decline versus first quarter 2008. Shipments were stronger than expected thanks to strong growth in low-priced mobile PCs.

“Low priced mobile PCs led market growth in the U.S. Mini notebooks did well in the challenging economic environment where consumers’ number one priority was to save money,” said Ms. Kitagawa. “Mini notebooks continued to put pressure on low priced mobile PCs. This pressure was mainly felt in the consumer market, but it expanded into select professional markets as well, including the education segment. U.S. mobile PC ASP likely will decline as much as 20 percent year-over-year in first quarter 2009. Overall, end user spending on PCs is likely to have contracted in the upper teens in first quarter 2009 compared to a year ago.”

HP was the No. 1 vendor in the U.S., accounting for 21 percent of PC shipments in first quarter 2009 (see Table 2). HP took top position in the U.S. market for the first time since 2001. HP’s strong portfolio of low priced consumer mobile PCs helped drive HP’s growth in the U.S. home market while its improved channel programs helped it to increase share in the professional market.

Dell was severely challenged by tough competition in the retail space. This, combined with the weak U.S. professional market, dropped Dell into the No. 2 position in the overall U.S. market. Acer’s strong growth was fueled by low priced mobile PCs, its solid presence in the retail space, as well as in channels. Analysts think that Apple’s relatively higher ASP created challenges for it in the tough economy, but that its deft control of inventories limited its shipment decline.

Table 2
Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q09 Shipments	1Q09 Market Share (%)	1Q08 Shipments	1Q08 Market Share (%)	1Q09-1Q08 Growth (%)
Hewlett-Packard	4,228	27.7	3,804	24.8	11.1
Dell Inc.	3,996	26.2	4,775	31.2	-16.3
Acer	2,076	13.6	1,389	9.1	49.4
Apple Computer	1,135	7.4	1,148	7.5	-1.1
Toshiba	1,005	6.6	840	5.5	19.6
Others	2,837	18.6	3,371	22.0	-15.8
Total	15,276	100.0	15,327	100.0	-0.3

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and X86 servers.
Source: Gartner (April 2009)

The EMEA PC market experienced a double-digit decline in growth for the first time. PC shipments in EMEA totaled 22.7 million units, a 10.2 percent decline from the same period last year. The slowdown impacted all parts of the market with the professional segment declining more sharply than the consumer market. Nonetheless, consumer mobile shipments experienced some growth in select countries, with Toshiba and Acer among the few vendors to benefit.

PC shipments in Asia/Pacific registered 18.2 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 5.5 percent decline from the first quarter of 2008. The professional segment was strongly affected by the unfolding economic slowdown in the region. The home market was less affected because vendors were aggressive in stimulating demand by adjusting prices downward, bundling promotions, and conducting road shows targeting the market.

In Latin America, PC shipments totaled 5.5 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 12.4 percent decline from the same period last year. Inventory levels remain higher than desired for vendors in most countries. PC vendor inventory orders often take 60 days to arrive and few, if any, vendors anticipated such a bad fourth quarter. PC shipments remain low because of generally weaker end-user demand and because of higher than desired inventories.

PC shipments in Japan surpassed 3.6 million units in the first quarter of 2009, a 3.8 percent decline. In the professional market, PC shipment declined 18 percent as enterprises delayed replacements by stretching PC lifetimes, and small and midsize businesses were constrained by the credit crunch. The home market is likely to have grown 17 percent in the first quarter, driven by strong growth in mini-notebooks and low-end mainstream notebooks.

These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner's PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe. Additional research can be found on Gartner's Computing Hardware section on Gartner's Web site at http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/asset_129157_2395.jsp.

Contact:

Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com

About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

RIP - S10 HD Update

2009-04-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

**Quick update** - S10 shipped out Monday @ 4:00est via FedEx. Nothing but crickets since then so I called last night since I had not received any confirmation/tracking info. Basically the rep told me that Lenovo "doesn't email out information about cases" but did confirm that they received it on Wed morning and that it was being assessed. I asked for an update when my S10 is ready to go and he says, "We won't update but you can CALL IN AGAIN on Friday to check the status"
REALLY?
Another call?
He then closes the call trying to sell me an extended warranty for 3yrs @ $210 - hmmm - let's see, I paid $300 for the S10 now, and prices are already approaching $200 for NEW netbooks - so... I decided to pass. Will keep you posted as I have updates.

That's right. The HD on my S10 signed off for good last nite. Don't know what happened other than maybe a Hitachi HD isn't of the best quality or maybe there was another factor in the hardware. I have detailed the death throes and post mortem below:

Started while playing Java based games (Star Castle, Kung Fu, Galaga, etc. - that's right - kickin it old school) When suddenly the mouse started doing strange things (highlighting things, left click was opening new browser tabs, scroll was moving pages fwd/back)
Shut it down and unplugged all peripherals
Rebooted, plugged wireless mouse/keyboard/speakers back in
Same mouse issue
Went to reboot again - blue screen of death (would flash on for a sec, then go to safe mode options - picked a safe mode option - recycles - blue screen for a sec, back to safe mode page - now stuck in terminal loop hell)
Pulled battery - result = same as above
Contact Lenovo - walk through 8 different re-boot options - no dice and at this point it won't even show anything on the screen (HD won't even spin up)
Lenovo to send a box in 2-3 biz days so I can ship it out and they will change HD, test, ship back (no ETA)

So there you have it. Dunno what caused it but it certainly makes a STRONG case for BACKING UP YOUR FILES. Unfortunately I haven't done a great job of that but basically have most info saved on my MacBook as well as on a 4Gig Flash.
I'll keep the posts coming as this progresses and would ask any of you (S10 or others) netbook folks if you have experienced a HD/Hardware issue with yours.

Until then, keep your back ups current and may the force be with you...

The Netbook Effect - Great Read

2009-04-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

From the guys/gals at Wired.com, a comprehensive look at where netbooks have been (and what they were born out of), where they are and where they are headed.

Here is an excerpt on OS:

Nearly every company in the PC industry has had its game plan uprooted by netbooks. Microsoft had intended to stop selling Windows XP this summer, driving customers to its more lucrative Vista operating system. But when Linux roared out of the gate on netbooks, Microsoft quickly backpedaled, extending XP for another two years—specifically for netbooks. Most experts guess that Redmond can charge barely $15 for XP on a netbook, less than a quarter of what it previously sold for. (Microsoft corporate vice president Brad Brooks assures me the company is earning "good money" on the devices and plans to make sure its next OS, Windows 7, can run on netbooks—Vista performs poorly on them.) For its part, Intel is selling millions of its low-power Atom chips to netbook manufacturers. "We see this as our next billion-dollar market," says Anil Nanduri, Intel's technical marketing manager—except that the company makes only a fraction of the money on an Atom chip as on a more powerful Celeron or Pentium in a full-size laptop.

And the closing argument is a little on the fringe (at least for now) but interesting rhetoric any way...

Netbooks could drive production of even crazily cheaper, lighter-weight computers. "If everything you're doing is online, then the netbook becomes a screen with a radio chip. So why do you need a motherboard?" OLPC designer Mary Lou Jepsen says. "Especially if you want the batteries to last. Why not just make it a screen and a really cheap $2 to $5 radio chip?" The cloud is also probably going to get powerful in ways that now seem like fantasy. AMD is working on an experimental 3-D graphics server farm that would run high-end videogames, squirting a stream out to portable devices so you could play even the most outrageously lush games without a fancy onboard processor. Patrick Moorehead, AMD's vice president of marketing, recalls that in 2007 gamers had to buy special powerful desktop machines loaded with RAM and $600 graphics cards to play Crysis: "Now imagine you've got servers running Crysis and streaming it to an iPhone or a netbook, sending just the vectors that let you navigate the game."

Because this is the future of hardware. For a few users who need a high-performance device, PC makers will offer ever-more-blisteringly fast, water-cooled boxes with screens the size of your living room—at $2,000 a pop. For everyone else—lawyers looking for something to do on the train, women desperate for something that fits in their handbag—netbooks will dominate. It's the rise of the very small machines.

Apple Netbook Chatter - Getting LOUDER...

2009-04-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

Lots of buzz flying around about Apple (will they/won't they) launch a "netbook" offering. (I highlighted the area of interest in yellow) Below is the article from the WSJ:

More than three months into a medical leave from Apple Inc., Chief Executive Steve Jobs remains closely involved in key aspects of running the company, say people familiar with the matter.

Apple chief operating officer Timothy Cook, left, with Apple's top marketing executive, Philip SchillerChief Operating Officer Tim Cook runs the day-to-day operations at Apple, these people say. But Mr. Jobs has continued to work on the company's most important strategies and products from home, they say. He regularly reviews products and product plans, and was particularly involved in the user interface of the new iPhone operating system that Apple unveiled last month, these people say.

Apple co-founder Mr. Jobs, who is considered the company's creative leader, is also involved in the development of future projects, they say. People privy to the company's strategy say Apple is working on new iPhone models and a portable device that is smaller than its current laptop computers but bigger than the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Mr. Jobs, who was treated in 2004 for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, took a medical leave in early January, saying he would return in June and would remain involved in "major strategic decisions while I am out." But he has made no public appearances or statements since then, and it has been unclear just how involved he continued to be. Apple has been mum about how Mr. Jobs's absence is affecting daily operations.

Mr. Jobs didn't respond to requests for comment. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said: "Steve continues to look forward to returning to Apple at the end of June."

Apple's fortunes appear to be linked in shareholders' minds with the health of Mr. Jobs, and Apple stock has suffered since last summer on speculations about his condition. At the same time, Apple has strenuously argued that its management bench is deep, and that while Mr. Jobs is integral to the company and its fortunes, Apple isn't wholly dependent on him.

Scarce Information

Information on the health of Mr. Jobs, 54 years old, has long been scarce and contradictory. He has said his cancer treatment five years ago was successful while maintaining that his health is "a private matter." But concerns among investors mounted, and the share price wobbled, after Mr. Jobs appeared in public looking noticeably thinner. The day after Apple announced in December that Mr. Jobs would not speak at the Macworld trade show, where he had been the keynote speaker since 1997, Apple shares fell as much as 8%

In early January, Mr. Jobs said he had a hormone imbalance that was "relatively simple and straightforward" to treat and that he would continue as Apple's CEO. About a week later, he announced that the issue was more complex than he had thought, and said in a letter to employees that he would take a leave. He provided few details of his illness, raising concerns that his cancer may have returned.

In an interview last month, Philip Schiller, Apple's head marketing executive, declined to comment on how the company was faring without Mr. Jobs. "We're just trying to do what we do every day," he said.

People familiar with Apple's operations say they still expect to see Mr. Jobs return in June. Some of these people also say members of Apple's board of directors are monitoring the situation directly, communicating regularly with Mr. Jobs's physicians.

People inside the company, business partners and others who are familiar with the situation say life at the Cupertino, Calif., company remains much the same as it did before.

Those at other corporations who deal with the company also say their interactions with Apple haven't changed. Mr. Cook, who had already been handling most of Apple's day-to-day operations, has kept tight control over the company, say business partners and those inside Apple.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks during a "town hall" style event at Apple Headquarters on Oct. 14, 2008, in Cupertino, Calif.

Concerns among employees have also eased as its stock price has bounced back, rising 40% since the end of last year, compared with an increase of about 5% in the Nasdaq Composite Index over the same period. Shares of Apple closed at $119.57 on Thursday, up from $85.33 in January when Mr. Jobs announced his leave.

Apple's business has proven relatively resilient to the recession so far. Analysts on average expect the company to have increased its revenues by 5.9% to nearly $8 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended Mar. 31, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters, helped by the launch of new desktop computer models and a smaller iPod shuffle music player. The company will report its quarterly earnings on April 22.

In spite of Mr. Jobs's plan to return, some employees, business partners and investors are considering what Apple would look like if he doesn't. People familiar with Apple's operations have said Mr. Cook and the other veteran executives understand Mr. Jobs's thinking and have a product road map for the next several years. But these same people worry about the period beyond.

Little Turnover

Job recruiters say they aren't seeing significant employee turnover at Apple. But executives at several Silicon Valley companies say they are getting more interest than before from Apple managers, particularly those in the mid-to-upper levels. Most recently, Greg Dudey, one of the lead engineers for Apple TV software, left the company to work for Dell Inc. Mr. Jobs's health is not necessarily the driver of such job moves, according to these people.

Shaw Wu, an industry analyst at Kaufman Bros., says investors are prepared for the possibility that Mr. Jobs could play a reduced role. "Most investors have factored in a management transition," he said. "What people are expecting is that Steve Jobs would retain a chairman role, and Tim Cook would formalize his role."

—Joann S. Lublin and Justin Scheck contributed to this article.

In the same vein, there is a fair amount of press at ZD on this article as well as why Google and Apple should team up to kick ass and take names in the net-b space. All this going on while my toasted S10 just shipped out YESTERDAY via fed/ex. I'll keep you posted as things progress but so far the turn around time leaves something to be desired.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I feel whatever Apple launches (and they will launch SOMETHING) they are in the enviable position of being able to exceed the current offering in the net-b space, throw some really cool differentiators and keep it REASONABLY priced. They also have the advantage of having Jobs kick off the product announcement (in theory). Stay tuned as it should get more interesting as we round out Q2...

Update to the subsidy - Consumer Reports

2009-04-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Wow - even consumer reports is getting in on the subsidized net-b announcements. To quote the joker: "Rack em up, rack em up, rack em up!"

AT&T to Offer $50 Netbooks

By ConsumerReports.org

AT&T will begin selling netbooks with integrated wireless Internet cards, selling them for as low as $50 — with a data plan contract, of course. The rollout will begin in Atlanta and Philadelphia.

AT&T is also looking to enter the e-book market, according a company exec quoted by Bloomberg at the recent trade show in Las Vegas hosted by industry organization CTIA Wireless:

The Kindle, which lets users download books over Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network, has done a "phenomenal job," and AT&T wants to be part of that market, Glenn Lurie, head of emerging devices at AT&T, said today. — Bloomberg.com

More from ConsumerReports.org

Computer Overview

Computer Buying Guide

Verizon has also expressed interest in entering the e-reader fray, saying it had been approached by five (undisclosed) companies interested in a wireless connection like that of the Kindle.

The takeaway: AT&T's netbook announcement, along with an earlier one from Verizon, suggests these tiny laptops are increasingly being positioned as much as an additional mobile network-connected device as a supplemental computer.

It's unclear if the AT&T exec's remarks on e-readers are anything more than an off-the-cuff response to the success of the Kindle. But the notion of another carrier joining Sprint — the carrier the Kindle uses — in the e-book business is intriguing. Wireless access to content is one of the most compelling aspects of the Kindle, giving it the edge over competitors like the Sony Reader (which we've covered in the past). The other is access to the huge library of e-content — Amazon's 250,000 Kindle titles in the case of the Kindle. And to offer a compelling option to the Kindle, AT&T, Verizon, or any other carrier, will need to find a content partner with a competitive library. It isn't immediately clear who might be able to offer that (perhaps other than Sony, with its Reader library.)

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on Yahoo!

New "netbook" line ups - or rebranded upl?

2009-04-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

To go along with the discussion in our Netbook Experience Group, Acer appears to be pushing the boundaries of what defines a netbook. In my opinion once you go past the 10" mark you are really veering into ultra portable territory. What do you think??

PC heavyweight Acer, which owns the Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell brands, announced a collection of new netbooks and full-feature notebooks that spans the company’s brand portfolio.

Here are the highlights of the dozen or so new laptop models Acer introduced, with a little help from CNET’s Dan Ackerman, who was there in person:

Acer Timeline series: “Revolutionize the IT world“
A collection of 13.3, 14.1, and 15.6-inch models with LED 16:9 displays, Intel ULV processors, touch pads with MacBook-like multitouch gestures and innovative passive cooling which is said to keep the laptop’s outer surface cooler to the touch.

All three models are slightly tapered and range in thickness from about 0.9 inches to 1.5 inches, but Ackerman says they felt a little heavier than he expected. (Acer says the Timeline models range from 3.5 pounds to 5.3 pounds.) The laptops range in price from $699 to $899 and are aimed at the low-cost, high-end design category.

By using ultralow-voltage CPUs and LED displays, Acer claims that these new systems can run up to 10 hours on a single battery charge. It remains to be seen how much the user will have to hobble the system to achieve those numbers.

Quick facts:

13.3, 14 and 15.6-in. models
LED backlit display with true 16:9 aspect ratio, 1366X768 HD resolution
built-in Wi-Fi/WiMAX functionalities
Acer Crystal Eye webcamwith Acer PrimaLite technology for easy video conferences with your business contacts
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Ultra Low Voltage
choice of shared or dedicated VGA
DDR3 system memory
HDD with up to 500 GB of capacity, or SSD with up to 64 GB of capacity.

[Acer's official announcement]

11.6-in. Acer Aspire One
Filling out the netbook portfolio, the new 11.6-inch version of the Aspire One Netbook fits nicely in between the too-small 10-in. size and the full-featured laptop 12-in. size.

The new model has a standard Intel Atom CPU and a 160GB hard drive. But unlike the current bargain-basement-price Aspire One, this version has a thin LED screen and multitouch gestures. It also has what Ackerman says looks like a better keyboard and touch pad than the current 10-in. model.

The new unit is about an inch thick. No official word on price or availability, but note that Gateway is getting rebadged versions of these 10 and 11-inch Netbooks as well, called the LT20 and LT30.

Quick facts:

11.6-in. model
Intel Atom processor and Mobile Intel US15W Express Chipset
160 GB internal hard drive and a multi-in-one card reader.
2.5 cm thick
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Bluetooth connectivity and 3G
‘Soft-touch’ keyboard
Dolby Pro Logic sound
High-definition WXGA back-lit LED screen
8 hours battery life based on 6 cell 5200 mAh battery
Digital microphone and Acer Crystal Eye webcam
Multi-gesture touchpad

[Acer's official announcement]

Gateway EC

This 13.3-inch laptop will feature a 16:9 LED display, switchable graphics, SSD drives, and be less than an inch thick. Ackerman says Gateway is emphasizing the “green” aspect, with an energy-saving low-power mode and Energy Star 5.0 compliance.

No price or availability info, but Ackerman wonders if the EC can compete with Apple’s 13-in. Macbook.

More announced models

Quick hits on what else is new:

Aspire 5935 and 8935: The 18.4-inch 8935 laptop can output a 1080p resolution, True 5.1 channel surround sound and handles up to two HDDs totaling 1TB capacity. The 15.6-in. 5935 can handle a single 500GB HDD. Both support up to 4GB DDR3 memory, biometric fingerprinting, 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and optional WiMAX. [Acer's official announcement]
Aspire 3935: A 13.3-inch model with an LED-backlit LCD (1366×769) and Intel Core 2 Duo/GM45 express chipset. Has built-in Wi-Fi / WiMAX, up to 4GB DDR3 RAM, biometric fingerprints, and eight hours of use with a 8-cell battery. [Acer's official announcement]
eMachines D, E, G series: 16:9 aspect ratio LCD display with Intel Celeron or Pentium processors for all models, plus AMD Athlon option for E and G series. The 14-in. D and 17-in. G have up to 4GB DDR2 RAM, 500GB HDD, while the 15.6-in. E series can feature up to 5GB. All have wide keyboards, Wi-Fi, webcam, DVD drive and 5-in-1 card reader.
Gateway ID series: Available in glossy dark blue or matte black. Has a 15.6-in. LED backlit screen, slot-in DVD drive, webcam with a curtain, multi-gesture touchpad and capacitive hotkeys above keyboard.

RIP - S10 HD Update

2009-04-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

Quick update - S10 shipped out Monday @ 4:00est via FedEx. Nothing but crickets since then so I called last night since I had not received any confirmation/tracking info. Basically the rep told me that Lenovo "doesn't email out information about cases" but did confirm that they received it on Wed morning and that it was being assessed. I asked for an update when my S10 is ready to go and he says, "We won't update but you can CALL IN AGAIN on Friday to check the status" REALLY? Another call? He then closes the call trying to sell me an extended warranty for 3yrs @ $210 - hmmm - let's see I paid $300 for the S10 now, and prices are already approaching $200 for NEW netbooks - so... I decided to pass. Will keep you posted as I have updates.

That's right. The HD on my S10 signed off for good last nite. Don't know what happened other than maybe a Hitachi HD isn't of the best quality or maybe there was another factor in the hardware. I have detailed the death throes and post mortem below:

Started while playing Java based games (Star Castle, Kung Fu, Galaga, etc. - that's right - kickin it old school) When suddenly the mouse started doing strange things (highlighting things, left click was opening new browser tabs, scroll was moving pages fwd/back)
Shut it down and unplugged all peripherals
Rebooted, plugged wireless mouse/keyboard/speakers back in
Same mouse issue
Went to reboot again - blue screen of death (would flash on for a sec, then go to safe mode options - picked a safe mode option - recycles - blue screen for a sec, back to safe mode page - now stuck in terminal loop hell)
Pulled battery - result = same as above
Contact Lenovo - walk through 8 different re-boot options - no dice and at this point it won't even show anything on the screen (HD won't even spin up)
Lenovo to send a box in 2-3 biz days so I can ship it out and they will change HD, test, ship back (no ETA)

The Linux laptops of 2009

2009-04-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

Is linux ready to claim a sizeable share of the note/netbook market? I am not sure. The user experience needs to be streamlined and cleaned up (along with hardware issues) but competition is a good thing especially since incumbents have no reason to make improvements if there is no pressure or incentive. Below is a write up from ZDNet:

The Linux laptop business represents a Chinese industry trying to serve a Western market and getting lost in the translation.

(Shown is the Dell Inspiron Netbook with a coffee mug, actual size.)

The Chinese like cheap, and they understand the cellphone business model. When Westerners look at the product, however, we want usable keyboards, acceptable screens and compatibility with the files we used last year.

The first generation of Linux laptops ran an Intel Atom chip set. They were underpowered, but Microsoft found a way to get Windows XP on them, at $3 per copy, then Windows 7, at an unknown price, so they are less of an adjustment.

The next generation of Linux laptops will run the same ARM system used in phones, which is why Chinese makers are looking to Android, a phone operating system, as their guide.

The total hardware cost is about $20. Everything else is the case and the bling. With a 1 GHz ARM chip and $200 price point Microsoft may be unable to compete. At least for now.

Ubuntu is able to go there, and announced an alliance with ARM last year. Its kit will sport a version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix system first shown last year. A beta release of a new version shipped April 2.

Another route to a Linux laptop may be the Qualcomm Snapdragon system, shown running phones during CES. As I noted, at this point the only physical difference between a netbook and a phone is the case.

But there is an enormous difference in the buyers and their expectations. The result could be an historic disconnect between manufacturers and consumers.

All of which makes June’s CompuTex in Taiwan a very important show. It runs from June 2-6 and it’s already being called the show of the “all in one” PC.

What’s needed here are the views of Western users, not just manufacturers and OEMs. Last year’s product failed because it ignored this viewpoint.

No matter what a product’s price, its features must be acceptable to people like me. (That’s Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the left.)

Computer users are different from phone users. We have laps, we use 10 fingers, shaped in a position like piano players, and we demand not just file compatibility but a very short learning curve from the old laptop.

Those views may be carried by OEMs like HP, Dell, and Freescale, but there is another problem. Current PC distribution channels can’t handle a $200 PC. There is not enough margin there for even Fry’s to push the thing.

Cellphone channels see this as an opportunity but can you imagine getting a PC at a cellphone store, or a carrier shop? Free with a two-year contract is no bargain if you can’t get the thing to work and you can’t get support. The 20-minute sales cycle typical in a phone transaction (it’s cute, how does it work) won’t work for a PC.

The Apple iPhone bridged these retail models. The Apple Stores were used for initial demand, at a PC-like $595 price, and the second edition went to the cellphone stores, with demand pre-installed by the stores and new users.

That’s the kind of game Microsoft is looking to play with its Microsoft store, but it’s nowhere near those price points and the company has scant history moving hardware. (Mice don’t count.)

The result is that PCs are being designed and shipped, in million-unit lots, with almost no input from the consumers who will be expected to buy and use them, and with sales channels incompatible with the real market.

This could prove a disaster, one Linux may be unfairly blamed for. If Ubuntu and Android don’t “sell through” in 2009, next year’s more powerful chips could match up with a version of Windows 7, and a $400 price floor may then hold.

ABC News Segment on AT&T's Netbook Program

2009-04-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

Not necessarily the best "deal" but any time Netbooks get what is generally positive airtime, to quote Martha, "It's a good thing" Click here to link to the video page.

Below is page one of a multi page story...

Getting a laptop for the price of a cell phone may sound far-fetched, but it has become a reality, thanks to test offers from companies like AT&T for netbooks the new class of small no-frills portable computers.

The newest round of netbooks exemplify the term inexpensive. For $50 users in Atlanta can purchase one of these mini-computers from AT&T as long as they sign up for two years of high-speed Internet service. In Philadelphia, the mini-computers go for $100.

"This is something new in the united states. I mean, we've seen this with the cell phone model: Pay for the service, get a free cell phone, but with laptops, this is new," said Tom Merritt, executive editor of C-NET-TV.

Even without a subscription, netbooks have been big sellers. Amazon said nine out of 10 computers it sells right now are netbooks priced at or below $400.

"It's phenomenal. It's an awesome opportunity, especially for people who don't necessarily have a laptop and could use one," shopper Tammi Moore said.

My desktop replacement set up

2009-04-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Below are pics of my current desktop replacement setup with my S10:

SPECS:

Lenovo S1o 1Gig Ram 1.6 Atom 120Gig HD ($300)
Acer 23inch flat panel ($150)
Sony 2.1 Speakers (20w)/powered sub ($25)
MS Wireless combo (mouse/keyboard) ($25)
Trendnet Wireless G Router ($20)
HP 3100 All in One Printer/Scanner/Copier (came w/ Macbook I purchased)
Cheap computer desk - ($35 - Thx Craigslist)

GRAND TOTAL: $555

Now, I concede that there are other costs/configurations that will vary this number - but for my money - I feel this is a great setup. (Although I need to add a cooling pad/usb hub for another $25 to expand ports and keep the net-b cool).

Let me know your thoughts and BETTER YET - post pics/specs of YOUR set up.

Movie quote:

"It's friday, you ain't got no job and you ain't got sh*t to do!!"

Subsidized Netbooks - AT&T replicating iPhone model

2009-04-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

***Updated: ABC NEWS Netbook segment***
In an announcement yesterday, AT&T announced that they are offering subsidized "ultra portable" laptops (read netbooks) with a 2 year data plan in the Atlanta and Philadelphia markets. As I blogged last month, this not really new information and really only applicable to the market that doesn't already have a netbook. Below is the press release or you can click the link above. (Pricing is still out of line IMO - I would like to see a $30/month price and maybe the wholesale of bandwidth will get manufacturers to "subsidize" the data service - but we'll have to wait and see).

Atlanta and Philadelphia area residents can lighten their laptop and simplify their technology experience with exclusive new offers and services during a limited trial in select company-owned AT&T stores.

AT&T today announced that in Atlanta it will:

Offer a variety of ultra-portable mini laptops with built-in AT&T 3G wireless capabilities at promotional prices starting at $49.99 with the purchase of AT&T "Internet at Home and On the Go" broadband services.
Trial 30-minute in-store technical support — part of the AT&T ConnecTech suite of services — at select locations for customers who purchase qualifying data plans.
Feature, as part of the same trial in select stores, an Internet at Home and On the Go package that combines home and mobile broadband starting as low as $59.95 per month, including access to the nation's fastest 3G network and unlimited domestic access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi network with nearly 20,000 AT&T Hot Spots.
Pre-install AT&T Communication Manager on mini laptops, enabling customers the ability to manage their mobile and Wi-Fi connections.

AT&T is offering similar mini laptop promotional rates with the purchase of AT&T DataConnect plans in eight AT&T retail locations in the Philadelphia area.

"Broadband is not just about speed anymore — it's about mobility," said David Christopher, Chief Marketing Officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We want our customers to have Internet at Home and On the Go. Pairing mini laptops with AT&T's home, Wi-Fi, and mobile broadband offerings enables consumers to get the most from their new devices, virtually anywhere, anytime."

Mini laptops are lightweight computers that make it easy to surf the Internet, send and receive email, keep social networking sites updated and manage digital files, including photos and music.

Mini laptops available in AT&T stores include the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia. Promotional prices range from $49.99 to $249.99 with the purchase of an AT&T Internet at Home and On the Go plan, which includes an AT&T DataConnect plan and AT&T Fast Access DSL, starting at $59.95 per month. Without those AT&T services, these mini laptops range in price from $449.99 to $599.99.

With the purchase of a two-year AT&T DataConnect plan only, mini laptop pricing ranges from $99.99 to $349.99. AT&T is offering two mobile DataConnect plans in the trial, including a 200MB plan for $40 per month and a 5GB plan for $60 per month — options that meet the needs of casual to occasional data users, as well as frequent and heavy users.

In addition to mini laptops, the trial will also feature an award winning, ultraportable laptop with built-in 3G capabilities: the Lenovo X200 for $749.99 with Internet at Home and On the Go. The laptop is available for $849.99 with a two-year DataConnect plan only.

The mini laptops will come with AT&T Communication Manager preloaded to help customers manage their usage and connections. The Communication Manager will prompt customers to connect to AT&T Hot Spots when available, stores information for previously used Wi-Fi networks and is capable of displaying usage notifications.

At select trial stores, mini laptop customers signing up with a qualifying data plan can take advantage of a free 30-minute AT&T ConnecTech technical session to ensure they are ready to use their new device as soon they leave the store.

AT&T's ConnecTech is a premiere service suite of support, installation, and maintenance services that provide comprehensive remote and in-home computing and home entertainment assistance.

Consumers can take advantage of the mini laptop offers at eight AT&T retail locations in the Atlanta area.

Additional information on ConnecTech services is available at http://connectech.att.com.
For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com.

Netbooks and the business world

2009-03-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

You can't deny 'em... Although skepticism abounds from the haters and pundits... I put points of interest in bold/italic: The entire section of "When netbooks make sense" ROCKS!!

Consumer technology continues to bleed into the enterprise and influence the budgets and deployment practices of corporate IT departments. In recent years, we’ve seen it happen with smartphones and instant messaging, for example. Now it’s happening again - with netbooks.

Gartner analyst Leslie Fiering said, “[Netbooks] are coming in as companion notebooks — as second notebooks — that workers are buying themselves. The question is whether notebooks are ready to come in as a sanctioned corporate laptop.”

In a recent TechRepublic poll, 21% of respondents said that their IT departments officially supported netbooks. Frankly, I was surprised that the number was that high since so many netbooks only run on Linux or Windows XP Home, neither of which is widely supported by IT for standard client machines.

See also: Are netbooks quietly driving us to thin clients and cloud computing?

Of course, there are now netbooks such as the Lenovo S10, the Acer Aspire One, the Asus N10, and the HP 2140 Mini that are more business-friendly, but those are new to the scene and typically more expensive than average the sub-$400 netbook. However, even with these “business netbooks,” IT departments should think carefully before trying to save a money by replacing standard notebooks with netbooks - even if users are requesting the netbooks.

Here are the three big drawbacks with netbooks that you need to keep in mind before you deploy a netbook to a corporate user:

1. Smaller screen resolution

Almost all netbooks have a seriously-cramped screen resolution. Because netbooks have screens 10 inches or smaller, they often end up with screen resolutions like 1024×600. This makes it difficult to work with many modern Web pages and applications that assume users have at least a 1024×768 screen.

While it can be a pain to have to do extra scrolling on a netbook, that’s not the game-breaker. The problem is that many custom applications and pop-up Web windows lock the size of the window. So if your screen isn’t big enough to handle it then the app or page becomes nearly impossible to work with.

There are even times when operating system windows and dialog boxes are too big to fit on the screen on a netbook. For example, the OK and Cancel buttons in a dialog box might be unclickable because the window is too big for the screen. When this happens, the average user will get pretty frustrated and could end up having to reset the system.

2. Cramped keyboards

For business users that do a ton of typing, netbooks can be extremely frustrating. Users will find that netbook keyboards have keys that are smaller and closer together, and far less friendly for business-class typing than Lenovo ThinkPads, HP EliteBooks, and Apple MacBook Pros.

The other problem with netbook keyboards is that, because they are so cramped for space, they often use non-standard keyboard layouts. Thus, the function keys, arrow keys, forward delete PgUp/PgDn, etc. can be in strange places or missing altogether. Some of the places the keys end up also interfere with the standard placement of other keys such as Backspace. This can take a lot of getting used to and it can be a significant productivity drain when the user regularly goes back-and-forth between a standard keyboard and a netbook.

3. Limited multitasking

The Intel Atom processors that power most netbooks are actually surprisingly capable. When working with one program, such as a Web browser, word processor, or e-mail client, the average user won’t notice much difference between the performance of a netbook and a standard laptop PC.

Where the netbook starts to have problems is when you’re working with a bunch of applications at a time, such as running your e-mail client in the background while editing a presentation and carrying on an IM conversation. Of course, the other thing that hurts you on a netbook when you’re doing this type of multi-tasking is the lack of screen real estate (see No. 1).

When netbooks make sense

Despite the three drawbacks listed above, this doesn’t mean netbooks don’t have a place in business. You just need to be aware of these limitations and then only deploy netbooks where they make sense in order to avoid bad deployments.

To help you get a feel for which industries, usage scenarios, and types of users are the right fit for netbooks, here is a selection of comments from TechRepublic members who have implemented netbooks or are seriously considering it:

art (Network administrator in Pennsylvania): “We use them as loaners and haven’t had a user request a full sized laptop since we first got them. I like the Linux models because I can create unprivileged borrower users who can’t damage the system. If they crap up the borrower account, I just delete and recreate the account. People like the portability and long battery life. 10″ is the minimum size for keyboard use. Borrower/travelers don’t care about slower CPU or storage size because the stuff they are doing doesn’t tax the hardware, and they really aren’t saving a lot of their stuff locally anyway.”

pierreclark (CIO in Illinois): “I am in the hospital right now waiting on my daughter’s birth. I’ve been here for five days. I’m typing this on my Acer Aspire One w/140 gb hard drive. Since I’ve been here, I’ve written dozens of e-mails, two reports and two PowerPoints (both of which I presented on supplied LCD projectors) using the full [Microsoft] Office package installed on the machine (although my personal favorite is Open Office). I consider this Acer almost the perfect PC; I would not have been able to get as much done on a big notebook which would have been very inconvenient for me to carry. Netbooks are selling on price and because they are incredibly useful for nearly every category of pc user.”

b.kinney1 (IT manager in California): “90% of our office uses laptops, while those who have to grind out compute intensive work (video edits, et cetera) use workstations. When those Desktop people go to meetings, they don’t have laptops to present their info, and leaving shared systems in each conference room is just begging for someone to start installing games for after hours. The middle ground is to get a few Netbooks for these people, and utilize tools like LogMeIn to provide access to their applications, data, and the like. I don’t see tools like Citrix supporting heavy apps like video editors over the WAN, plus the fact that this sort of work demands things like large monitors, compute performance and such. Pushing the files around (raw MP4 for example) is a network chore. Providing a netbook has worked for me.”

Tiger_Cane (IT manager in Florida): “My company, while not officially supporting any netbooks, is currently looking at them due to the steep price increase our computer vendor has presented us with for thier latest ultramobile laptop. Additionally, I know at least 3 of us (there may be more) that are using personaly netbooks while on travel since our remote infrastructure is Citix/VPN based (which I consider to be a cloud-like environment already) and any computer we take is going to really be a ‘dumb terminal.’”

K12TechDir (IT manager in New Hampshire): “I manage the IT Dept for a public school and we support netbooks owned by the district. We upgrade XP netbooks to XP Professional for us in Active Directory, and also have deployed an entire grade level of Linux netbooks on a 1:1 basis of netbooks to students.”

dcolbert (IT manager in Ohio): “Price sells Netbooks. It is the sweet spot for a machine that you throw in a back-pack and expose to hostile environments on a constant basis. MOST of us are very uncomfortable with lugging a $1200-2000 notebook with us EVERYWHERE we go. Most Notebooks spend MOST of their time safely in a desktop. People ask themselves, “Should I bring my notebook”. The netbook turns this upside down. With a Netbook, you find yourself asking, “should I leave it”. Obviously there are still concerns and it is still expensive, but you’ve marginalized your risk considerably - and the PC is easier to replace if something unfortunate does happen to it. Losing a Notebook, not only are you potentially out the price of the notebook, but you’re going to have to purchase an equally expensive replacement. With a Netbook, the same thing applies, but the loss and the replacement are both easier on your wallet.”

CodeCurmudgeon (Software developer in Kansas): “While we do not support netbooks at this time, a whole lot of our users are using full-grown laptops which, on account of their age, have specs well within the netbook range. Face it: The specs on three year old laptops are pretty much the same as a netbook, and we’ve got a fair number of folks still using FIVE year old laptops. Of course, we’ve been pushing thin clients since the Y2K conversions, first semi-thin clients with Lotus Notes/Domino, and now absolutely thin clients with Oracle 10g.”

david.valdez (IT manager in Oregon): “I am honestly expecting to migrate many, if not all, my desktop users to nettops in the next two to three years, but I work in an industry that is largely still run on green-screen emulators (automotive), so this isn’t a surprise. Further, the vast majority of applications in my industry are either Telent or Web-based, so nettops make sense. As for netbooks, we’ll definitely look at using those for the occasional and casual mobile users, but will still use true notebooks for regular mobility customers.”

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT* Asus 1004DN w/ Optical Drive!!

2009-03-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

Apple had better hurry if they want to cash in on the feature/functionality holes in the current net-b offerings. A netbook with an optical (and we'll have to see about pricing/battery life/weight as an end of April launch date approaches) is a big step forward. Yes, optical drives are not ABSOLUTELY necessary but they are a great addition and eliminate the need for bulky external drives. Wonder if the other manufacturers will follow.

From the Asus website:

Bringing Versatility and Expansion Capabilities to Users with Intuitive Ease and Comfort

Taipei, Taiwan, March 28, 2009 – Versatile, Intuitive and Elegant. These are the qualities found in the Eee PC™ 1004DN, an ultra-portable mobile internet device which provides mobile computing flexibility through intuitive interfaces and input methods while shrouded in an avant garde style. The Eee PC™ 1004DN is the first in the Eee PC™ range to feature a Super-Multi optical disc drive, enabling users to read and write optical discs for convenient data back-ups. A power-efficient Express Card slot provides expansion capabilities, along with plug-and-play compatibility and auto-configuration access. An ergonomic keyboard provides users with a more comfortable typing experience—even for prolonged periods—and the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) technology lengthens users’ entertainment and computing experiences by providing them with extended battery life while on-the-go.

Elegantly Designed with Functionality and Expandability in Mind

The Eee PC™ 1004DN is reminiscent of an artwork in motion, a subtle blend of tastefully selected materials brought together to present a sense of sophistication and elegance through contemporary design. Sporting a high-gloss UV LCD cover constructed from a combination of cutting-edge alloys, a lightweight yet robust frame is achieved while maintaining an exquisite exterior design. Within this delicate cover, an equally high-gloss bezel frames the 10-inch LCD display that supports 720p high definition playback for more vibrant and vivid visuals. With gorgeous brushed aluminum gracing the palm rest and an electroplated frame bordering the keyboard assembly, a hint of class is added to an already astonishingly beautiful design. Not just elegant, the Eee PC™ 1004DN is also highly versatile—being the first Eee PC™ to feature a Super-Multi optical disc drive (ODD) that reads and writes data to DVD or Compact Disc media while maintaining the same mobility factor. An Express Card expansion slot provides compatibility with USB 2.0 and PCI Express, providing thinner, faster and lighter modular expansion options to users.

User-centrically Designed for Intuitiveness, Connectivity and Convenience

An ergonomically designed keyboard provides users with a typing surface 92% that of a conventional desktop keyboard, and also features a larger “Shift” key for a smoother typing experience. The Eee PC™ 1004DN also features a multi-touch touchpad for intuitive and interactive control over multimedia playback, or surfing the Internet without using a mouse. A digital array microphone and a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam allows users to communicate with their family and friends with ease, while an intuitive software suite with applications such as EzMessenger lets users synchronize data and communicate with their friends without an Internet connection. Data Sync allows users to synchronize their Eee PC™ 1004DN to their desktops with much ease, and Eee Splendid provides users with 4 different visual modes for an enjoyable viewing experience while conserving battery life for all-day entertainment. Last but not least, a convenient Font Resizer lets users view their documents and browse the Internet effortlessly by allowing them to adjust the size of the fonts presented on the display.

An All-day Companion with Fingerprint Security and Wireless Connectivity

The Eee PC™ 1004DN features the ASUS Data Security System (ADSM) which allows users to log-on using their fingerprints. Not only does it recognize multiple fingerprints belonging to the same user, it also allows him or her to encrypt a single folder with the same security system. 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth® connection allow for faster Internet connectivity and pairing to other Bluetooth®-enabled devices respectively. Helping users enjoy more entertainment and surf the Internet is SHE, which intelligently monitors energy usage and helps extend the battery lifespan up to 5.9 hours*.
* Subject to system configuration and prevailing usage.

Specifications

Display	10” wide active matrix LED backlight TFT, WSVGA 1024x600 pixels, 252K colors max
Dimensions	277mm x 194mm x 27.4-34mm
Weight	1.45kg with HDD (with 6-cell battery and ODD)
Battery	Li-Ion 57.72WHrs - 6 cells, 5200mAh
Processor	Intel® N280 1.66GHz Processor with 512k L2 Cache FSB 667MHz 2.5W TBP thermal
Chipset	Intel GN40 ICH9Mb (Integrated GMA 4500M graphics core)
Main Memory	1 x SODIMM socket for expansion up to 2GB DDRII DRAM
Storage	Up to 1.8” PATA 120GB, 4200 RPM
Communications	Built-in Bluetooth® v2.1 module 802.11n Support Antenna x 2
Camera	1.3 Megapixel Video Camera
Microphone	Array Mic
Keyboard	Keyboard: W:254mm chiclet type
Audio	Hi-Definition Audio CODEC Built-in high quality stereo speakers

3G Internet Options - coming soon??

2009-03-31T04:50:00.000-07:00

There may yet be hope for reasonably priced high speed Internet connectivity in the near future. According to the WSJ, Sprint, Verizon and ATT are looking to offer up "wholesale" connectivity to hardware manufacturers - allowing them to re-sell the service at presumably lower rates than the ridiculously over priced ($50 - $60/month) that is offered by the carriers now. It will be very interesting to see who comes up with the best value in this wholesale model - I would think getting to the $20 - $30/month is the sweet spot for most consumers (I know I would be willing to pony up an extra $20 for 3G connectivity until the WiMax coverage is built out). There are 3 things that make this an interesting play:

1. The carriers get to sell underutilized capacity and not deal with the billing, customer service and ancillary services while picking up large pay outs from the manufacturer wholesalers - Point Carriers

2. Hardware manufacturers (and especially the early adopters for adding 3G) gain a market advantage to sell more boxes and in the process, pick up a recurring revenue stream - Point Manufacturer

3. End user consumers (which are the focus of this entire model) have an option to pick up a reasonably priced data option for their non-smart phone devices, thereby incentivizing consumers to purchase more hardware and additional services that the carriers had originally priced out of their budget range.

All of this sounds good in theory but there are caveats. The main ones being price (will there be a compelling story and price point) and equally as important, service. It's great if you and get a cheaper data plan but if the support is lousy (from customer support, to billing, to application support) then it will languish. That being said, with the economy being where it is and with everyone looking for ways to tap new markets, there is nothing but upside to both carriers and manufacturers as long as they get it right.

We shall see...

Movie Quote:

Narrator: Tyler, you are by far the most interesting single-serving friend I've ever met... see I have this thing: everything on a plane is single-serving...
Tyler: Oh I get it, it's very clever.
Narrator: Thank you.
Tyler: How's that working out for you?
Narrator: What?
Tyler: Being clever.
Narrator: Great.
Tyler: Keep it up then... Right up.
[Gets up from airplane seat]
Tyler: Now a question of etiquette; as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch...?

Asus T91 = TOUCHSCREEN

2009-03-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

According to many tech sites including bit-tech, Asus is preparing to launch a touchscreen netbook in the 2nd quarter. I have listed the specs below and you can click through the link above for the full review. It appears the price point is going to be in the $600-$700 range but we'll have to wait for launch specifics.

8.9" glossy LED-backlit WSVGA (1,024 x 600) screen
Intel Atom Z520 processor
Intel US15W chipset
1GB DDR2 memory
10/100 Ethernet
802.11 b/g wireless (n not confirmed)
Bluetooth
32GB SSD
Windows XP Home Service Pack 3
Optional 3G data connectivity, GPS and DVB-T TV Tuner
Integrated webcam (resolution not confirmed)

A touchscreen netbook widens the appeal of netbooks and I must admit, it looks VERY COOL. Have to see how it performs and what the price shakes down to (and hopefully a 10" version will be avail as well). What are your thoughts? Functional? Worth the coin? Wishful thinking???

10" Netbook Show Down

2009-03-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Very thorough article from Laptopmag.com comparing the major contenders in the 10" netbook segment. Some of the results are a little nit-picky but overall a good assessment of the segment. I believe the 10" is the best mix of function, price and size. (Of course I may have a little bias since I own a 10"). - That's what SHE said.

Feel free to add your input and Happy Friday.

Movie quote:

"Okay. There, you see the star is me, right there, and I'll be in there. The X is Anthony. Bob, you're the zero out here in the car."

OnLive and Netbooks

2009-03-25T20:44:00.001-07:00

According to this article from Yahoo about OnLive - a new way to play high end games without the expensive and bulky gaming system, they even recommend playing these on a netbook...

What if you could stream top-end games to your TV, just like a Youtube video that you can control? You'd never need to buy a console again.

That's the future envisaged by Palo Alto startup OnLive, which plans to launch a groundbreaking gaming service this winter. OnLive will supply players with a small set-top box, not much bigger than a Nintendo DS, which will plug into your TV and your home broadband connection. From there, you can start playing games just like those on the Xbox 360, PS3 or PC -- but with no install time, no waiting for downloads, and no need for big, noisy, expensive consoles cluttering up your living room. OnLive's service can be continually upgraded, too, so you'll never be stuck with obsolete hardware again.

Skeptical? So were we, until we actually sat down and played with an OnLive box last week. Even a blisteringly fast racer like Burnout Paradise was totally playable over the service, and top-spec shooter Crysis: Warhead -- which normally requires an expensive gaming PC -- ran excellently too. It's all rolled together with a slick interface that requires just a few button-presses to get playing.

OnLive Pictures

OnLive also includes some features you might associate more with your DVR than with a gaming console, including a Replay feature that lets you save the last ten seconds of your gameplay, and send it to your friends.

PC gamers aren't left out, either: OnLive's service can be accessed with a browser plugin from either Mac or PC platforms, works identically to the TV version, and has hardware requirements so low you'll be able, the company boasts, to play the most advanced of games on a $300 netbook.

OnLive has already signed deals with an impressive range of partners -- including EA, Take-Two, and Ubisoft -- and promises to have an up-to-the-minute selection of games when the service launches. Along with Burnout and Crysis, we spotted Grand Theft Auto IV, LEGO Batman, and Mirror's Edge among the games on offer, although the lineup will likely change before the service launches.

There's a catch, though. Being an online, streaming service, OnLive is only going to be as good as your Internet connection. High-definition resolutions will require a higher-end broadband connection, and if your service is prone to drop out unexpectedly, you're probably going to wind up frustrated. Even if it works, all that streaming video's going to add up over the months, and heavy users might find themselves the receipient of some unwelcome attention from their ISPs. Modem users, needless to say, need not apply.

OnLive won't talk price, other than to say that they'll be competitive with subscription services like Xbox Live. The box itself is simple and cheap to make, they told us, and it's easy to imagine it being thrown in with subscriptions -- rather like a cable or satellite TV set-top box. Games will most likely be available to rent or buy, and with free demos that don't need to be downloaded.

Samsung's N310 Premium Netbook

2009-03-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

With offerings like this from Samsung it shouldn't be too difficult for Apple to roll out a gamebuster in the $600+ range. I mean who in their right mind would drop that kind of coin for a Netbook with the specs listed below:

Here’s the tech spec on the N310:

Processor: Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz, 512KB)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP3
RAM: 1GB
Display: 10.1 “WSVGA (1024 x 600) Super Bright glossy, LED Backlight
HDD: 160GB (SATA 5400 RPM)
Network: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n; Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
HSDPA/WiMAX/WiBro; 10/100 Ethernet
GPU: Intel GMA 950
Battery life: Up to 11.5 hours (6-cell); up to 5 hours (4-cell)
3-in-1-card reader
1.3-megapixel camera
3 USB ports
VGA port
Integrated mic, microphone input and headphone jack
Antibacterial Keyboard with SilverNano Technology
Weight: 1.23 kg
Dimensions: 262 x 184.5 x 28.0 mm

Am I missing something here? Can you enlighten? Yes it is a cool case but a $300 premium???

C'mon Apple - Fire AWAY!!!

$199 Dell Mini???

2009-03-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hot off the presses... Dell is offering a bare bones mini for $199 (pre shipping/handling cost). Although the stats are in line with what you would expect for this pricing (512MB Ram, Linux, Small 8GB SSD, no camera, white ONLY) with shipping you can get out the door for $220'ish with 1 year of support. Hmmmm, wonder how the Intel Atom pricing may affect this. I priced one with the options of a "standard netbook" (1G Ram, Camera, 32GB SSD) and it is basically $350+ which is about the going rate. Interestingly enough - with this configurator, you cannot go with a standard HD or XP.

Getting more interesting everyday. Suddenly OLPC seems much more feasible.

Keep you posted...

Atom Chip Prices and Netbooks

2009-03-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

According to Digitimes, Intel is considering a price hike on its Atom N270 processor (core to most every netbook on the market). Why not surprising given the state of the pc industry as a whole - it would be incredibly shortsighted to slam the brakes on the one segment that is experiencing explosive growth to bolster a single quarter's earnings. However, we are talking about a chip giant and a supply/demand scenario that could inflate (but imo, more likely slow the price decline) of netbooks. So it may take longer for there to be a $200-$250 netbook on the market and could fuel ARM based netbooks that will not run Windows to take the low cost segment of the market.

Interesting ZD article here. I have posted a quick excerpt below:

"Why does this matter? For one, it shows just how hot netbooks — and the low-power components that run them — really are. So much so, in fact, that Intel can raise component prices on this segment while the rest of the laptop market is seeing falling sales, narrow profit margins and oversupply thanks to a global downturn (though the trend is supposed to eventually reverse, that hasn’t quite happened yet)."

What are your thoughts on pricing, Intel chipset and alternatives?

Tethering your iPhone

2009-03-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

According to Gizmodo, you can now tether your iPhone to your net-b or laptop. This is very interesting because of 2 factors (both of which will take some time to be clearly defined):

1. Will ATT charge for tethering on "unlimited" data plans? - (and if history proves anything - this will be a RESOUNDING "YES!" ATT is not interested in you maximizing your usage at the cost of a very lucrative additional revenue stream - say to the tune of $60/month for data on your laptop with a 3G card, so I can't imagine there won't at the very least be a "tethering fee" attached to this but we have to wait and see).

2. Will this push ATT & other providers to either offer more reasonable data plans, allow tethering or accelerate WiMax deployment? Again, no providers are incented in any way, shape or form to allow you to maximize a service you already pay for at the expense of another service they are getting revenue for today. I tend to believe - much like the explosive growth of netbooks, they may be forced to concede some ground on this. Ideally, they could bundle it into your voice plan, potentially subsidize a net-b or similar device and lock you up for a 2 year agreement therefore making you happy and contractual keeping you as a customer for 2 years at a higher monthly rate than phone/data plan only.

As the economy continues to lanquish, it will become more interesting each quarter as revenue expectations ratchet up on these companies. I will be watching this very closely and keep you posted as this evolves.

Hit me back with your thoughts.

Movie quote:

"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God**** it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

Linux down, Android up?

2009-03-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

It appears that Linux adoption is lethargic at best. Many users just aren't as familiar with the Linux experience and if you think about it, it is not surprising when the core audience is just looking for a cheap computer. Basically, it breaks down like this - given an option of either THE operating system almost everyone has used and is familiar with OR an unfamiliar (although potentially more robust) operating system - people will "go with what they know" This is just a basic fact - neither right or wrong. That is not to pick on Linux. ANY "different" operating system is going to face the same challenge. Change can be good but adoption rates will only increase when a "must have" feature/function option drives change.

From ZD Net:

Linux is losing ground on the netbook front, but there lies opportunity for it in smaller, dedicated Internet-enabled appliances, said an Ovum analyst.

Laurent Lachal, open source research director at the U.K.-based analyst firm, said in a research note, Linux is not doing as well in terms of market share, compared to when it made its debut on the netbook market.

Lachal said: "After a strong start, Linux netbooks have now been overtaken by Windows netbooks and Linux is lagging increasingly behind in terms of sales."

While the first netbooks came with Linux OSes, manufacturers started finding Windows-based devices more popular, with customers finding they could not get accustomed to the Linux interfaces.

In the Philippines, Asus dropped Linux on all of its Eee PC models in the country because Filipinos were not taking to the Linux OS well.

But Linux could find its market as an OS for smaller, handheld Internet-enabled appliances such as Apple iPod Touch, said Lachal. The iPod Touch is a device similar to the iPhone but without telephony capabilities.

Linux, having had more success and a longer history as a phone OS, may be more suitable for such devices, said Lachal.

He added that Linux-based Android could be better positioned in this segment, with "increasing support" from the developer and ISV (independent software vendor) communities.

Google's recent revenue-sharing announcement for the Android app market is also expected to help raise developer interest in the platform. The increased variety of apps may also make Android more attractive to consumers.

Thoughts? What is your net-b running?

Movie quote:

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

Lenovo learning "Pocket Yoga"

2009-03-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

An interesting format for another Net-b iteration (albeit with a somewhat questionable name - "pocket yoga" sounds like an updated version of the world famous/infamous "pocket pool"). Above is a pic from ZD (short article here). I like the theory on this but it also has a little PSP/DS look to it that I don't know if I care for. Otherwise, a nice addition that shows manufacturers (whether they want to or not) are dedicating r&d to this segment, so Kudos, Lenovo!

Definitely a fresh take on the net-b segment and I think we will see more innovation/market differentiation as Apple decides what it will inject into the segment. Otherwise it is a zero sum price war to the end. As this segment matures and evolves, there will be opportunities for innovation and functionality upgrades from all the manufacturers. I am sure there will be functionality focused versions, design/ergonomic focused versions and segment busters that turn everything to "11".

What are your thoughts? Also, as a net-b owner what ancillary, peripheral and accessories are YOU most interested in?

Movie quote (St Patty's tie-in = Brian Cox aka O'Hagan):

ac: But our shenanigans are cheeky and fun!
Thorny: [referring to Farva] Yeah, and his shenanigans are cruel and tragic.
Foster: [after a pause] Which... makes them not really shenanigans at all.
Mac: [in a silly voice] Evil shenanigans!
Captain O'Hagan: I swear to God I'm going to pistol whip the next guy who says, " Shenanigans."
Mac: Hey Farva what's the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy shit on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?
Farva: You mean Shenanigans?
Mac: (handing gun to O'Hagan) OOOOOHHHHH.

eee Remote Back Up service

2009-03-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

***As a follow up to my post here, eee has an online back up service geared to the Net-b market. You can check it out here Although this does not address the a/v and attack aspect, the fact is new ancillary niche products are being launched SPECIFICALLY for the net-b segment. Good stuff and I'm sure there will be more to come...***

Google Voice, Bluetooth and Netbooks

2009-03-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a trifecta to me. Imagine having one super portable device, a portable take anywhere number and soft phone client on your net-b (Insert beachfront dream here). The mobile office is finally here. Once Wi-Max is widely available, there will be no stopping the mobility of the masses. See info below on the Google Voice updates:

(from Sam Diaz's blog here.)

Up until today’s announcement, Google really hadn’t done much in terms of enhancing or upgrading GC’s features. But with the upgrade to GoogleVoice, there will be new features that I hadn’t even considered. Among them:

Automated voicemail transcriptions: Users can choose to receive free fully-automated transcriptions of voicemail messages that become searchable in the Google Voice inbox.
SMS messaging: Google Voice numbers can now accept SMS messages and forward them to your mobile device and in your Google Voice inbox and reply from either one, as well.
Conference calling: If you’re on the phone and get another call, you can merge them - linking up to six people on a single call.
International calling: Place calls from your line and pay for them using Google Checkout
New forwarding features: Set up custom rules that allow you to determine when and where calls are routed, forcing calls to voicemail late at night, ringing on the cell phone only during off-peak hours and at the office during work hours.
Gmail Contacts: Google Voice integrates contacts from the Gmail address book.

I’ve been a fan of GrandCentral for a long time, largely because I see it as useful tool for the mobile and virtual worker. The Web economy has created an always-on, always-connected, always-available sort of work mentality. The new tools in Google Voice allow the flexibility of being connected no matter when or where without losing the capability to disconnect when it’s time to step away.

Google Voice is a free service. Existing GrandCentral customers will migrate over in the next few days and the service - which had been in closed beta - will open up to users in the U.S. over the next couple of weeks. It will be integrated with Google accounts (meaning your Gmail user name and password will work).

AWESOME!!

Netbook security and how it fits into today's workplace

2009-03-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Not really earth-shattering news, but (surprise) if you don't run a/v, firewall or keep your security bulletins up to date - you will get hacked. I provided a truncated version of the article from Telcommunicationsonline if you want to read the whole article. Below I have highlighted some areas of interest and after the article - see my feedback.

by Kelvin Soh, Reuters Newswire
Wed. March 4, 2009

TAIPEI (Reuters)

GROWTH CEILING?

Netbooks were a glimmer of light in the tech sector last year, and IDC research firm says they could dramatically outperform the overall PC market in 2009. It forecasts netbook shipments will more than double to nearly 21 million units this year, compared with about 4 percent growth to 305 million units for all PCs.

Netbook pioneer Asustek believes its models already include built-in security features and other options that are sufficient for the typical user, said Samson Hu, who runs the company's netbook operations.

"We've got a tie-up with Symantec where users who want to can pay a little more for that additional security," he said.

"We've received lots of good feedback from users, but of course, everyone should be aware of Internet security issues when they are connected to any network."

Some experts say netbooks' inability to run effective security could crimp future growth, scaring away lucrative corporate users who regularly deal with sensitive data. Corporate buyers now account for more than half of all PC sales.

"For most companies, they'll still choose conventional laptops that allow them to run software that protects the information hidden inside it," said Eric Ashdown, senior director for security strategy and risk management at Accenture.

"If I'm somebody doing corporate IT work, I wouldn't be looking at netbooks as a viable option. I would need more security, which they can't offer right now."

But Ashdown also pointed out that netbooks could be protected by the types of customers that buy them, casual users who tend to store less valuable information on their computers.

"Most attacks go to where the data is, where the economic value is," said Accenture's Ashdown. "If I were a hacker, I'm not sure I would go for netbooks. What would I find there? Family photos?"

(Editing by Doug Young and Megan Goldin)

To some degree I concur with the statements above. But the "If I'm somebody doing corporate IT work, I wouldn't be looking at netbooks as a viable option. I would need more security, which they can't offer right now." statement is a little too ambiguous in that Net-b's will not replace workhorse laptops. HOWEVER, as adoption rates increase for Cloud-based apps, and Wi-Max/3G/4G connectivity rolls out, there will be NO NEED to run processor intensive apps on the machine - THE NETBOOK BECOMES A GATEWAY TO PRODUCTIVITY. Just my .02.

Btw, what add-ons, peripherals, must haves are you seeing for your Net-b? Wireless mice/keyboard, optical drive, external hard drive, port expander??

Movie quote:

Herman: You guys have it real easy. I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you’re going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.

Scale down Mac OS X or scale up iPhone OS?

2009-03-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Another guess fest on what Apple is going to do next. (they have certainly got the bees buzzing - see my earlier post on Wintek here). As I mentioned earlier, Apple is really in the best position to shake up the netbook arena. The only guarantee is that it will not be a $300 unit (my guess would be $699 to $849). Read more here.

Video for new Asus 1008HA

2009-03-10T12:45:00.001-07:00

From ZD Net Video:

Very Nice - Although a launch date and pricing have not yet been announced.

Acer Refurb - $239

2009-03-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

Another low priced net-b over at tigerdirect.com This Acer is the 8.9" so not a huge price break but it is below the $250 threshold. Looks like the smaller net-b's may well dip below $199 soon. Guess we'll see how the PC manufacturers handle the pricing going forward but it would appear that including additional features (amp up the processor/memory, screen size, graphics, ports etc) and charging incrementally may offset the sliding price drop on the low end budget models.

Apple Netbook News

2009-03-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

According to the article below from Digitimes, Wintek is working with Apple for a touchscreen netbook to be delivered in the 3rd quarter:

Wintek to supply touch panels for Apple netbook, says paper
Latest news
DIGITIMES ICT/FPD Report

Yvonne Yu, DIGITIMES, Taipei [Monday 9 March 2009]

Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch panels for Apple's new netbook, and shipments will start in the third quarter this year, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

Wintek revealed that it is currently working with Apple to develop some new products, but it said it does not know what applications the new products are for. Wintek added that no shipment schedule has been worked out yet, but shipments are likely to begin in the second half of the year.

Quanta Computer will be the maker of Apple's new netbook, the Commerical Times report said.

Wintek has reported that its consolidated revenues for February totaled NT$1.81 billion (US$52 million), representing a 25.69% increase from NT$1.44 billion in January, but a 21.65% decrease from NT$2.31 billion for the same month in 2008.

The increase was mainly contributed by rush orders from handset clients who were stocking inventories after the Lunar New Year holidays in January, market sources said, adding that sales were also helped by the fact that there were more working days in February than in January.

Wintek's accumulated consolidated revenues from January to February were NT$3.25 billion, down 38.79% on year.

Certainly makes things interesting especially since there are already Hackintosh net-b's in the market today. The 2 things that come to mind are:

1. Pricing - Even if Apple doubles up on the low-end priced net-b's (priced ~$300 making the Apple price point ~$600+) That is well below their MacBook pricing of $1,000 + Still a compelling solution for people not wanting to go $1000 in on ANY new computer.

But even if you don't get the nice fat margins on LOWER MacBook sales, you can offset that by entering the GROWING (and some would say exploding) netbook market and offer your market differentiator (OSX) and the Apple brand power without competing in the "me2" space. This should get very interesting (if true) Hmmmm...

2. Functionality - This is interesting based on the Touchscreen aspect (is it an Ipod touch on sterroids???) By entering the market later, Apple gains insight in to what consumers like/dislike and want on their net-b. Imagine if you could get more battery time, internal optical drive, more ports and a touchscreen - suddenly $600 - $700 doesn't seem out of line. Clearly, Apple is not going to market to the bottom dollar crowd but that has never been their market. They can also position synching with your Iphone, pod, touch etc.

What do you think? Do you think this (a) will happen and (b) by Q3?

Talk to me people!!

Movie quote:

"If you hold back anything, I'll kill ya. If you bend the truth, or I think you're bending the truth, I'll kill ya. If you forget anything, I'll kill ya. In fact, you're gonna have to work very hard to stay alive Nick. Now, do you understand everything I've just said? Cause' if you don't, I'll kill ya! Now, Mr Bubble and Squeak, you may enlighten me."

Sub $300 HP Netbook

2009-03-09T12:00:00.001-07:00

Fresh from my inbox (and our good friends at ecost), I just received and offer for a $289 HP Netbook (refurb). Check the stats here. While new Netbooks are still in the ~$350 - $500 range, I believe we will see sub $200 net-b's by eoy. Certainly as the refurb market starts to crank up (anyone recall the impact of refurb Ipods??), we will see prices to trickle lower.

On a related note, as I am more visible with my net-b, I am receiving more and more comments such as, "hey, how do you like it?" or "I am considering getting one as a desktop replacement, what are your thoughts?" or "How much does one of those run you?" It appears these devices are gaining traction and will only continue to gain marketshare regardless of economic circumstance.

So to all you window shoppers - get in the game! You'll be glad you did.

Movie quote:

"My name is Turkish. Funny name for an Englishman, I know. My parents to be were on the same plane when it crashed. That's how they met. They named me after the name of the plane. Not many people are named after a plane crash. That's Tommy. He tells people he was named after a gun, but I know he was really named after a famous 19th century ballet dancer."

Moore's law and the PC Industry

2009-03-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

Below is a post from Adrian Hughes (link here) about the PC market and Moore's law correlation. I highlighted the Netbook paragraph. Also, it appears that Asus is in talks with Qualcom about a their chipset. Asus is also culling the 7" model of their line up.

Cheap, low-powered PCs seem to be the consumer’s choice during these hard economic times. Problem for the OEMs is that the margins on these low-spec systems are razor thin. Has Moore’s Law caught up with the entire PC industry?

Go back five years and the laptop and desktop computer market was split into three distinct sub markets - budget, mainstream and high-end. While high-end had the highest margins, OEMs made most of their money from mainstream models. The margins for budget systems were low but since most of these were little more than junk, that seemed appropriate.

Fast forward to today and things are different. High-end still offers OEMs the largest margins, low-end the smallest margins, and OEMs still hope that mainstream sales will dominate sales of low-end systems. Problem is, Moore’s Law has driven the computing power of low-end budget systems to a point where they are more and adequate for the needs of the average user. In fact, thanks to Moore’s Law it’s getting to the point where low-end is the new mainstream, and since margins are razor thin for these types of systems, This is good news for consumers, but bad news for OEM’s bottom lines. And to make matters worse, even games aren’t driving the high end like they used to, which could well be down to the fact that many PC games are actually ports of console games, and all the major consoles are now getting a bit old and in need of a refresh.

It seems that this shift to lower-powered, lower cost systems could hurt Apple, especially if NPD data for January is accurate. For January the data showed that while for Windows-based systems the revenue unchanged compared to January ‘08, while for the Macs revenues dropped by a massive 10.4%. Another takeaway from the NPD data is that over the same period Mac revenues fell by almost twice as much as unit shipments, showing that people are now going for lower-priced units.

I have to be honest and say that I only see things getting worse for OEMs. Take netbooks. Even a humble system such as Samsung’s NC10, with its 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU and 1GB of RAM, is more than capable of running Windows 7, along with a raft of the most popular desktop application. This is a system that costs around $450. Throw in a keyboard, mouse, external CD/DVD drive and a flat panel screen and you have system that’s an acceptable desktop substitute for many people. A year from now these systems will more powerful and likely cheaper than the current raft of netbooks. Before long you’re got a system that’s up to the demands of casual gaming, and then the budget and mainstream sub-markets will have merged. Again, good news for consumers (assuming that enough OEMs survive the bloodbath to allow for competition), but bad for the OEMs.

The sales pendulum is continually swinging, but right now it’s heading in the direction of cheaper systems. OEMs are going to have to have to get used to thinner margins and scrabbling for market share.

Movie quote:

"Yo, This tastes like p*ss and flies, don't it?"

Bonus for knowing this one - makes me laugh everytime.

Why Apple doesn't need to make a netbook (yet)

2009-03-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

From Silicon.com, an interesting perspective on why Apple has not jumped into the Net-b arena - YET. We'll see how much market share net-b's need to gain before an Apple iteration makes an appearance... Article posted below or link here.

Minority Report: Two good reasons Apple doesn't make a netbook

Don't expect it on the bandwagon soon

By Seb Janacek

So why hasn't Apple jumped on the netbook bandwagon? Seb Janacek has a few ideas…

As netbooks continue their inexorable rise up the wish lists of gadget hounds, businesses and ordinary folk alike, the clamour for Apple to join the market continues to increase from all sides.

That's despite both Steve Jobs and interim CEO Tim Cook categorically denying that Apple is about to enter what has been described as a 'nascent' market.

Jobs has also suggested that the iPod Touch and iPhone is in essence a kind of netbook, based on what they are commonly used for. He's not fooling anyone though.

Starting from essentially zero market penetration in late 2007, by the end of last year, roughly 10 million netbooks have shipped, according to IDC. They now account for seven per cent of all portable PCs, an extraordinary growth rate in a short time.

So what defines a netbook?

Jobs may have a point in that the Touch is great for web browsing and email, is lightweight, has wireless and is relatively cheap.

It's not ideal for office or productivity tasks. I'm a fan of the soft keyboard and will happily 'tap' out a hundred words or so of an email but a longer document is painful.

But at what cost? It's a loaded question.

Firstly, as Jobs claimed late last year, Apple doesn't know how to make a $500 Mac that 'isn't a piece of junk', as it's not in the company's DNA. Consider the current Mac Mini. A mere $100 above the $500 price point and it looks overpriced, probably because it is.

Secondly, Apple would undoubtedly sell bucket loads of shiny units if it did release a sub $500 OS X-powered netbook.

However, given the company would be competing in an aggressive and increasingly populated market with price being the key differentiating factor, its margins would be cut and its profits would suffer. An anathema to the Apple board.

Furthermore, sales of netbooks would cannibalise sales of higher margin, higher specification MacBooks, again resulting in more loss of profit.

Lest we forget, Apple has somewhere in the order of $28bn in cash thanks to its aforementioned high profit margin strategy and is well placed to sit out tough economic times and come out smiling the other side without compromising the same strategy.

Appealing to a customer who focused solely on price makes no sense to Apple. Someone who cares solely about price has a casual interest in quality and that is another anathema to the Apple brand.

Perhaps the very best reason to explain why Apple isn't bothering with netbooks for the time being was illustrated in a report from retail analysts Channel Checkers.

The firm surveyed Apple stores to track sales of iPod and Macs along with business trends at Apple stores in the US. According to their survey, 73 per cent of respondents said the top-selling computer was the MacBook Pro.

The top selling Mac in most Apple Stores surveyed was the high end MacBook Pro. The highest specification notebook Apple produces. In the US it retails between $2,000 and $2,800. Hardly low-cost netbook territory.

As we stand there are two reasons Apple isn't selling netbooks.

Firstly, Apple doesn't make netbooks because it can't work out how to make a notebook that can compete in that $500 space.

Secondly and more importantly, Apple doesn't make a netbook because, right now, it doesn't need to.

Netbooks, Wi-Max and the Cloud

2009-03-06T08:58:00.000-08:00

Based on the empirical data out there let's take a look at the break down of how these three (hopefully) soon to be converged segments are currently performing individually and then discuss how convergence can collectively exponentially scale sales/revenue.

1. Netbooks: The hardware/thin client piece of the puzzle. In order to leverage the connectivity (Wi-Max) and application solutions (Cloud), you need the device - Netbooks.

Taiwan’s Market Intelligence Centre (MIC) had 2008 worldwide sales of netbooks at 8 million units, and predicted sales of 18 million units in 2009, which is 128% growth.
Gartner’s netbook numbers are more conservative. It predicted that worldwide netbook shipments will grow from 5.2 million in 2008 to 7.8 million in 2009. That’s 50% growth, compared to just 15% growth for the entire laptop market and a 21% decline in shipments for desktop PCs.
IDC reported that netbooks accounted for 30% of all laptop sales in Europe during the fourth quarter of 2008, with 3.6 million netbooks sold.
In 2008, netbook sales were still roughly about 10% of the global PC market, in terms of units sold. That leaves a lot of room for growth.

Clearly the message here is, netbooks are the fastest growing segment of the PC market and continued growth in sales volume and marketshare is expected if not being undeniable.

2. Wi-Max: The connectivity solution (forget fixed wireless, 3G, wireline, phone as a modem). High speed connectivity anywhere/anytime lets you leverage your netbook to connect to the applications you run from the cloud. The pipe is coming. From Clearwire:

Expand mobile Wimax network to cover up to 120 million Americans in 80 markets in 2010.
Bring Wimax to Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle in 2009.
Launch Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Houston and San Francisco area in 2010.
In addition to the recent dual-mode 3G/4G wireless modem to be launched with Sprint, Clearwire plans to launch a personal hotspot that combines Wimax service (Clear service in Clearwire parlance) with Wi-Fi enabled products.
Meanwhile, Clearwire is leveraging its Intel partnership to have nearly 100 mobile Wimax devices on the market by the end of 2009.

I highlighted point 5 to reiterate the continued play of Netbooks (as the Atom chip is an Intel product). Clearly Intel has a vested interest in diversification of hardware leveraging its chips but Netbooks are a large portion of that market and will only continue to grow.

3. Cloud computing: Once you have the hardware and connection in place, you need to be able to access your data, applications and email (business and personal). As SaaS/DaaS/PaaS gains traction (bolstered by a grim economic landscape), more applications are being developed in the cloud which in turn evolves behaviors (think twitter, facebook, linkedin, google apps, and even OS providers beginning to test the cloud). As you can see below, the migration is happening now:

According to the Pew Research Center's Internet Project (9 page PDF of the report is here http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Cloud.Memo.pdf):

56% of internet users use webmail services such as Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo! Mail.
34% store personal photos online.
29% use online applications such as Google Documents or Adobe Photoshop Express.
7% store personal videos online.
5% pay to store computer files online.
5% back up hard drive to an online site.

Overall, 69% of online users have done at least one of these six activities, with 40% of internet users having done at least two of them.

Convenience and flexibility are the watchwords for those who engage in at least one of the cloud computing activities listed above:

51% of internet users who have done a cloud computing activity say a major reason they do this is that it is easy and convenient.
41% of cloud users say a major reason they use these applications is that they like being able to access their data from whatever computer they are using.
39% cite the ease of sharing information as a major reason they use applications in cyberspace or store data there. At the same time, users report high levels of concern when presented with scenarios in which companies may put their data to uses of which they may not be aware.

90% of cloud application users say they would be very concerned if the company at which their data were stored sold it to another party.
80% say they would be very concerned if companies used their photos or other data in marketing campaigns.
68% of users of at least one of the six cloud applications say they would be very concerned if companies who provided these services analyzed their information and then displayed ads to them based on their actions.

The “cloud computing” data comes from a survey of 2,251 adults between April 8, 2008 and May 11, 2008. Some 1,553 respondents in the survey were internet users and the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for results based on internet users.

Obviously all three of these technologies are heading in the right direction. However, I believe if they collaboratively (either via direct co-marketing or at the very least developing strategic partnerships to move from products specific sales to holistic solutions) that the growth curve will be even stronger regardless of the economic challenges. Whew! What do you think???

Movie Quote:

Frank: "Recent research has shown that empirical evidence for globalization of corporate innovation is very limited and as a corollary the market for technologies is shrinking. As a world leader, it's important for America to provide systematic research grants for our scientists. I believe strongly there will always be a need for us to have a well articulated innovation policy with emphasis on human resource development. Thank you."

Frank: What happened? I blacked out

Pritchard: That was interesting. ha ha. Thank you very much. And, uh, your rebuttal? Mr. Carville.

James Carville: Oh... It... We... have no response. That was perfect.

Frank: That's the way you do it! That's the way you debate!

Netbook as the multi-task answer to the Kindle

2009-03-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Interesting post here about using an Acer Net-b instead of the Kindle. The Kindle obviously has a cool factor but it is limited in functionality (reference Alton Brown's wisdom on uni-taskers). I mean if you really want to read books on a screen, why not use a machine that you can read, do work, network, connect to wi-fi, etc.?

Movie quote:

Don: Now Lincoln - he needed a good reason to start a war with the South. So what he did was he hired some Ninjas to come up there with their samuri swords, and their throwing stars and magic and they busted the Liberty Bell. BAM! Civil War! We're in it thick. Brother against brother. Ok, you got it? You're not gonna get this anywhere else you're gonna get it here - history class. KNOW YOUR PAST!

New ASUS (looking MACish) but you can call it mackin'

2009-03-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Asus for coming up with a sleek new net-b. The 1008HA (HA - maybe they are laughing all the way to the bank). As you can see from the pic below, it is a nice looking machine.

For all you German speaking folks (or for more pics), you can check out the site here. Also, the official press release is below:

Eee PC™ 1008HA: Style. Take It Everywhere.

A mere 1” slim and 1.1kg light, the über-stylish Eee PC™ 1008HA is the embodiment of refined mobile computing. Dressed in a luxe pearlescent casing that gives off a captivating sheen, it features a desktop application bar called Eee Docking that provides one-click access to a full suite of exclusive software including:
• Eee Sharing: Makes it easy to synchronize Eee PCs™ with other computers and share messages and documents with other Eee PC™ users - even without Internet access.
• Eee Arena: Offers easy access to thousands of songs, videos, radio stations, games, magazines and more.

The Eee PC™ 1008HA offers great user comfort and convenience with its 92%-scaled keyboard, multi-touch touchpad, instant key (for quick access to Wi-Fi and the touchpad lock), Digital Array Mic, 1.3 megapixel camera, and comprehensive wireless connectivity options (802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3.75G** and WiMAX**). It is also equipped with SRS Premium Sound
technology for pristine audio playback quality.

* Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit www.asus.com for more details.
** Available as an option.
*** Operation lifetime subject to product model, normal usage conditions and configurations.

Apparently the ASUS team is serious about bringing style to this very functional segment. It appears the eee now stands for "Easy, Excellent and Exciting" I like it!!

Movie Quote:

"Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?"

Save the Netbooks

2009-03-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Not really an earth shattering "grassroots campaign/david vs goliath" situation but noteworthy none the less. A site has been set up to "Save the Netbooks" due to Psion Teklogix emailing and threatening various people about trademark infringement.

Directly from the site:
Psion Teklogix has sent "literally hundreds" of cease & desist letters (sample) to netbook manufacturers and retailers (as well as bloggers and journalists) giving them until the end of March 2009 to "transition to a different descriptive term".

(I posted on this earlier but apparently the battle is heating up - You can re-visit the post here). Let's keep the information flowing and see how this plays out.

Movie quote:
Louise: How did you get here?

Johnny: Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to fowl to frog, to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, amo amas amat, quid pro quo, memento mori, ad infinitum, sprinkle on a little bit of grated cheese and leave under the grill till Doomsday.

Deal or no deal

2009-03-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Interesting article over at Yahoo. I do find some of the data and logic compelling and must agree to some extent about the recommendations on #5 - Netbooks. I don't feel it is necessary to say "no deal" on Net-b right now.

But I will concede that in all likelihood a ~$199 price point will arrive and likely sooner rather than later (at least somewhat driven by cost/margins - HOWEVER - take a look at my previous post about the PC industry tanking in all other categories but one. And that one category's sales more than doubling in a recession riddled '09. That equals substantial demand at the current (yet slowly decreasing) price points). What does this all mean? Will a $199 price open the floodgates and bring in the masses? Who knows.

Just a quick final thought, pondered from the manufacturer perspective. Would I rather downgrade flagship brands in my laptop/utlra light categories to fit into a downgraded price point OR start with a baseline Netbook and offer upgrades to allow for greater customization and increased price points and larger revenue upside? Hmmmmm...

Movie quote:

"Here are just a few of the key ingredients: dynamite, pole vaulting, laughing gas, choppers - can you see how incredible this is going to be? - hang gliding, come on!"

And

"Does the fact that I'm tryin to do it for you - do it for you?"

PC sales to see worst fall in history - Gartner

2009-03-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our friends at Gartner (article by ZDNet), for a Captain Obvious article - PC sales are tanking WITH THE EXCEPTION of ONE SEGMENT...
Wait for it...
Wait for it...

Then scroll past the gloom and doom to paragraph 3 - and

TA-DA! There it is. One growth segment, dare I say an OUTPERFORMING segment (doubling sales figures of '08) - but we already knew that didn't we??

Movie Quote:

"It's not about the money... It's about sending a message. Everything BURNS"

How do you tote your net-b?

2009-03-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

Per my much earlier post, I did extensive searching for a net-b backpack and was severely underwhelmed by the amount of variety/selection/options. Don't get me wrong, there are a plethora of options for toting your net-b but it breaks down like this:

Low end of the spectrum - poly sleeves (basically glorified envelopes, made slightly oversized out of koozy/packing material) Check a sample here. Typical price range is ~$10 - $20

Mid-range - cases (these can be hardshelled or soft and typically upgraded materials (including leather) and add a pocket or storage space on the exterior) Check a sample here. Typical price range is ~$22 - $33+

Upper end (for lack of a better term and staying with an experience/cost grading scale) - backpacks (very limited offering for backpacks specific to the netbook. I found a handful of netbook specific backpacks but the look/feel/price wasn't very compelling) Check a sample of netbook backpacks here. Typical price is ~$30 - $50+

After much consideration and search/comparison, I ended out selecting this SwissGear Computer Backpack. I must admit I was very impressed with all the feature/functionality/coolness this bag provided save on issue - SIZE. It is a full sized backpack. The laptop/netbook section works fine but the footprint is well, fullsized. The up-side to that size is you can carry all the bells and whistles for your beloved net-b (external drive, cooling pad, external speakers, wireless mouse, etc).

To all the net-b OG's out there - Whatcha sportin'? Give me a shout back!

Movie quote:

"Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!"

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews

2009-02-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

A couple of interesting articles about 10 inch Netbooks and a 24 hour "test drive" of a Dell Mini. Good information and views on the netbook experience. Although there is some slant to the articles, overall it is a good place to start gathering information if you are in the market for a new net-b (that's right - net-b - you heard it hear first - the name needs to be smaller since the product is all about size)!! Let me know your thoughts on anything listed and your feedback is always the most important!

Movie Quote:

"First of all, don't be callin' here like you some straight up G, cause I'll cut ya balls off and hand 'em to ya, patna. I had to warn you too many times about my money, Smokey. You see, it's the principal. There's principalities in the whole thing."

Netbook - its all in the name...

2009-02-26T08:12:00.000-08:00

According to court documents, Intel and Dell are trying to force a company called Psion to cancel its trademark on netbook. The company trademarked the term for a product line they no longer manufacture and released back in 03 - 04. Not really all that newsworthy other than the fact that trademarks are a fascinating beast.

Movie Quote:

Kate: I'm curious, is it strictly apathy, or do you really not have a goal in life?

Peter: I found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya... it feels phenomenal.

Hackintosh anyone?

2009-02-24T05:58:00.001-08:00

Nice walk-thru from the folks at Gizmodo on how to "hackintosh" a dell mini to run OSX. EULA implications aside, very straightforward and compelling if you don't like the Win/Lin options currently available on Netbooks today. Personally, I have a MacBook and a Netbook and enjoy having both OS avail. I currently have XP on the Netbook and let's face it, if you have been in the corporate world at all - you have familiarity with XP so why fight it?

As for Win 7 - waiting and watching to see what the pro/con list shakes out to be. Any thoughts, questions, comments or anyone who has actually run the Hack???

Movie Quote:

"Oh, you... You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptible, aren't you? Huh? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever"

Android Netbooks???

2009-02-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

It appears ASUS is looking to release a Netbook running the Android OS from Google. You can view the article here I don't know exactly what this means other than more flexibility from the Netbook platform. Why not?

Imagine a future where you have all the options below:

OSX

Win

Linux (in all its itireations)

iPhone

Once you throw in WiMax - It's a whole new ball game. The convergence machine is grinding forward albeit ever so slowly. I think good things are on the horizon, economy be damned!

Movie quote:

I am reality. There's the way it ought to be, and there's the way it is. Elias was full of s. Elias was a crusader.
Now, I got no fight... with any man who does what he's told. But when he don't, the machine breaks down. And when the machine breaks down, we break down. And I ain't gonna allow that... in any of you. Not one.

Fresh from my inbox

2009-02-21T13:45:00.001-08:00

We all knew Wally World was getting in the netbook game (no suprise). Now it appears Sam's is running a special for the Dell Mini (here) $245 shipped!

Wow, now more than ever there is no reason not to get yourself one of these.

Movie quote:

"Wow. Mr. Environmental is also a hunter. That's got to be an interesting combination."

"I hunt quail. They're overpopulated in this region and they're decimating the grubworm population. You got a f'ing problem with that?"

"Not nearly as much as I do with the attire that you have on, or just your general point of view towards everybody. But hey, let's go kill some birds. I'm psyched"

$100 Netbooks - Coming soon???

2009-02-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

A new player says they are jumping in the ring with a ~$100 netbook running Android. The company Freescale (a wireless chip manufacturer) says it will run open source OS and is aiming for a $100 pricepoint. Read more here.

Hmmm, the market keeps getting more interesting.

As I continue on this trek, I will close each post henceforth with a movie quote - DO YOU KNOW IT?? If so, lmk...

"What are they gonna say about him? What are they gonna say? That he was a kind man? That he was a wise man? That he had plans? That he had wisdom??? Bullshit man"

(btw, this is a gimme)

More on the "$99" Netbook...

2009-02-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

According to the article on laptopmag.com (here), AT&T is offering an Asus Netbook for $99 with a 2-year data plan (~$60). I am sure you have already done the math and said - wow what a great deal!! Thanks AT&T!! But if you dig deeper, I believe the underlying positive is that the adoption rate for Netbooks is accelerating. Sure, there are some issues to be addressed (primarily battery life and video performance) but the pricing, functionality and accessability is a getting the attention of more than just the enthusiast.

But before I veer to far off topic, what are your thoughts on the data plan disconnect? You have this great portable tool and granted there are hotspots available but sometimes you're just not in range. What to do? When will the may ballyhooed Wi-Max step up? Or when will the mobile carriers offer affordable data plans (the agrument can be made that $60/month isn't TOO bad if you are able to access it almost anywhere - which is true - IF - you don't need voice service (with email) Otherwise - tack on an additional $70+ for voice and data on your phone) That all adds up to a $120-$130+ monthly and that is tough to stomach for anyone - especially if you were frugal enough to save on the hardware to begin with...

Currently, I have been a couple of rounds with Sprint trying to figure out how I can leverage a phone data plan on my Netbook but the answer is - the PAM (Phone As Modem) or tethered solution is not available for most voice/data plans. In order to get the connectivity on your Netbook... it is - BRACE YOURSELF - $60/month - WOW! shocking I know (ever heard of price fixing or collusion???)

What are your thoughts, experiences and most importantly SOLUTIONS?

Netbooks and Wal-Mart

2009-02-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

Quick blurb about Acer and Asus selling Netbooks @ Wallyworld (not surprising but should definitely lead to more adoption)... You can check out the story here. I have included the text below:

Acer and Asustek continue expanding shares in US notebook market in 4Q08, says IDC

Yen Ting Chen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 9 February 2009]

Despite a drastic slowdown of global PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2008, Taiwan-based Acer and Asustek Computer managed to continue expanding their shares in the US notebook market in the quarter, according to data from IDC.

In the fourth quarter, Acer shipped 1.4-1.5 million notebooks and netbooks in the US market, taking up third place with a 16% share; whereas Asustek shipped about 300,000 portable PCs, positioning itself at eighth in the rankings with a 3% share, the data indicated.

Acer's fourth-quarter notebook shipments in the US represented a 57% increase from the same quarter of a year earlier, compared to an 8% on-year decline recorded by Dell, the top PC vendor in the US.

Acer shipped a total of over four million notebooks in the US in 2008, trailing Dell's 8.8 million units and HP's 8.77 million units, the data revealed.

Asustek is expected to start marketing its notebooks through Wal-Mart in the second half of 2009 aiming to push its notebook shipments in the US to over one million units compared to 650,000 units it shipped in 2008, according to market sources in Taiwan.

NExG V2 live on LI

2009-02-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

Wanted to re-post the group I started on linkedin to expand the knowledge base for netbooks. You can check it out (and more importantly JOIN!!) here:

Netbook Experience Group

Learn it, Know it, Live it (all right Hamilton)!!

OSX on S10

2009-02-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

Did a little reading over at wired.com and noticed another hack for loading OSX - this time specific to the ol' S10. You can check it out here.

Also, faithful and fearless reader(s) - what are your thoughts on running OSX? There are the obvious caveat/downside of potential crashes, no support, limited functionality and no advisable way to update software.

That being said, what is the upside? - Just to see if you can do it? An undying hatred of all things MS and Linux? The ain't it cool factor? The fact that OSX kicks a**? Or the obvious answer (for all the philosophy majors out there) - to the question of - "Why?" simply "Why NOT"?

Fire away!!

Pimp yo' Netbook

2009-02-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

According to Wired, there is a large set of Netbook upgrades and hacks as these low-cost, accessible and highly customizable proliferate into Americas homes. There are many "upgrades" from backlit keyboards, GPS, longer battery life and even an OSX hack. Check out what they dropped back in 08 on the "Joy of Netbook" as I call it...

Valentines Day Specials

2009-02-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

I was doing some more research and found a site that seems to have a pretty good aggregate of Netbook selection and pricing - just in time for Valentine's Day. The site is Onsale.com Another site to take a look at is J&R The prices are dropping - albeit slowly but anyone looking for a second (or third, fourth etc) computer should at least review the options out there.

Since I have been tracking Netbooks, the prices have continued to fall (which is good since the cost of a $400+ Netbook with lower cpu power and capacity provides little value add over a low end laptop) I don't know where the prices will level off but unless smart phones fall in pricing, (and I feel laptop pricing had already hit its floor) then Netbooks are a very good option.

Keep em mobile and keep em comin!

Update!

2009-02-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

I just ordered a Swiss Gear Computer Backpack and will post pics/feedback once I have it in house. It is a little larger than the 2 major Netbook backpack options I was able to find but it looks to be significantly more functional and a better solution to meld both business professionalism and quintessential coolness. Keep you posted...

Top 10 Netbook Accessories

2009-02-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, so now you have your new Netbook. Learning the ins and outs - likes and dislikes... Loading your favorite apps. After a few days of this, you start to pull together a list of wants, needs and gotta haves. As such, I have included a link to PC Mags list of Top 10 Netbook Accessories for you to peruse. Although these are just suggested items, some are very relavent to your Netbook Experience - (my list - in no particular order):

Samsung SE-S184M DVD Writer LightScribe
Targus Laptop Chill Mat
Belkin Swivel Hub
Belkin Laptop Hideaway

on the last item, I am still undecided. The site lists a sleeve and a case but neither of those really struck me as functional and fashionable (if you are gonna grab the newest gadget, gotta represent)! That being said, I did some research and found there is a decent variety of cases, sleeves, hideaways and carrying cases. However, I did notice a lack of backpack offerings that were economically priced and ergonomically designed.

Any thoughts, questions, comments, concerns or feedback??

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From the Asus website:

Bringing Versatility and Expansion Capabilities to Users with Intuitive Ease and Comfort

Elegantly Designed with Functionality and Expandability in Mind

User-centrically Designed for Intuitiveness, Connectivity and Convenience

An All-day Companion with Fingerprint Security and Wireless Connectivity

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MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT* Asus 1004DN w/ Optical Drive!!

Update!