TECHdodo

I just read a post on TechCrunch about three reasons they don’t think netbooks are good enough. While I don’t disagree with nearly any of their arguments regarding netbooks, and still don’t own a netbook myself, I think they missed the point on netbooks.

The question one should always ask, and I have been advocating this for years, is when you think about buying something ask yourself if it meets YOUR needs. Don’t base your decision to purchase something on what other people say until you put it in context. What may not meet the needs of one person may be perfect for another. This is why I think netbooks have been selling and getting so much press. You can’t say netbooks aren’t good enough without defining what ‘good enough’ is. Not good enough for what exactly? Good enough for surfing the internet? They are good enough for that. Not good enough for word processing? They are good enough for that. If your problem is with the small keyboard, you can always plug in an external and use the built in keyboard only when no other is available. If your problem is with the small screen, you can always plug in an external and just use the built in monitor when no other is available. The fact is, for many people, netbooks ARE good enough.

For every argument the article made as to why netbooks just are not good enough, there could be equivalent arguments in other situations for why a netbook is better than the alternatives available.

Their three arguments were performance, screen size and keyboard size. They claimed Intel was re-examining the netbook market because a VP at Intel said they Originally thought the netbook was going to be for kids and emerging markets, but a lot of people had been buying them for notebooks. In that market, they didn’t see the netbook as having that much of an impact on their existing notebook market. How is that rethinking the market? That is just saying they still don’t think of them as a replacement for a regular notebook. They still think the market is what they always thought the market was. It sounds to me like they may have even tapped into a bigger market than they expected. How big is the kid market anyway? Basically they were just saying netbooks are netbooks, and they are not going to eliminate the notebook market. Who ever said they would? Certainly not Intel.

TechCrunch’s main point seemed to be that the netbook, because of its limitations, was not going to provide the average user with the computing experience they are used to when sitting at home working on their desktop or when working on a full size notebook. Again, who ever said it would? The netbook market was aimed at people for whom the diminutive size, low cost, and portability of a netbook made it more desirable than a notebook and for whom the lower performance was not as critical as the cost or size. For those people, the netbook is still very attractive.

For example, if you travel a lot, and you need something you can use on the seat tray while you are flying that can handle an eight hour flight without recharging, the netbook could be very useful. If you are a student that would like something small and light you can carry in your backpack that you can use to take notes all day while you are in school, the netbook must be a wonderful thing. I used to use a Palm with a folding stowaway keyboard for one reason and one reason only. I could use it to take notes all day without recharging. The netbook is small enough and energy efficient enough that, with a six cell battery, it could be used for that purpose while also providing access to the web and other applications that simply were not available with any prior solution and the price of a netbook. A notebook, even a small notebook, with similar size and battery life, is still much more expensive than a netbook, and therefore, for that situation, a notebook just wouldn’t be good enough.

Myself, I prefer to use my Internet Tablet for that type of situation. Hey, it runs a Linux Kernel and firefox and Skype too. I understand though that having everything in a single unit, able to run windows XP, to a lot of people, is more comfortable and more familiar. For them a netbook would be a better solution, and my solution, though better for me, just wouldn’t be good enough for them.

The small netbooks were too small for me because of their reduced size keyboards. The 10″ models seem pretty usable though. I have always preferred smaller laptops because I always know I can plug in an external screen when I need one. I have had a 14.1″ for years and I wouldn’t want anything bigger. I also have a 13.3″ now and it is just as usable as the 14.1″ and actually has higher screen resolution and a better keyboard, so it is more usable than the 14.1″. When the screen gets to the point that the keyboard keys need to be reduced, I would prefer a seperate portable folding keyboard with full size keys. The size of the keyboard in netbooks is determined by the size of the screen. While a 7″ screen may be too small to work on as permanent workstation, it is plenty large enough for a portable device. It is very convenient to have a device small enough that you can slip in a pocket. Also, the resolution they complained about, only 600 pixels high is plenty for a 7″ device. They showed a picture illustrating why it wasn’t acceptable for browsing, but they didn’t even bother to put the web browser in full screen mode when they did the screenshot. How hard is it to hit the F11 key? They also talked about how the Iphone takes care of this issue, even though it has lower resolution, by allowing you to scale the screen. In the five minutes of hands on time I have had with an Acer One, I saw you could do the exact same thing by making pinching or zooming movements on the trackpad. If the device is to be truly portable, the screen size can’t be too big. If the keyboard is the issue, then you either need to have a keyboard that expands when the device is opened, increase the size of the chassis to accommodate the keyboard, which means you might as well have a bigger screen, or separate the keyboard from the screen. Then you lose the bonus of having the keyboard protect the screen. It is all a series of checks and balances.

If you want a device to work on full time, and you don’t need to carry it around all day, and you have power available any time you need it, then maybe a netbook isn’t good enough, and you might as well get a regular notebook. If you already have a desktop though and don’t need a full power portable system when you are not at your desk, a netbook could be a great alternative to a notebook. If you have a limited budget, strict power requirements and need to have something really portable, a netbook could be better than a notebook.

The post then references a previous proposal they made for a tablet idea/project. They say an ideal device will “ditch the operating system entirely”, and run on Firefox and Skype. Really? How can you run a device on Firefox? Then they say they are going to use a Linux Kernel. Well, that is what many of the netbooks do too. So what are they really going to ditch? The Window manager? Do they want to use Firefox as a window manager on top of the Linux kernel? I really don’t get what they are saying.

Their tablet project specs are
Runs low end hardware (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
A built in battery (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
It will have a gig of RAM (like a netbook)
It will have a 4GB solid state drive (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
A built in camera for video (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
Headphone jacks (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
It will have wifi (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
A USB port (like a netbook or Internet Tablet(in host mode))
Instead of booting into a windows UI, it will boot directly to Firefox – This is really weird because they say they will use Firefox as the operating system for the device. Really? Firefox will be the “Operating System?” What is their definition of an operation system?
Their system will be able to be built for just a few hundred dollars (like a netbook or Internet Tablet)
One of their main points was, it will be able to run Firefox, and Skype (like a netbook or an Internet Tablet)

What exactly are they proposing then that is so much better than an Internet Tablet or a netbook?

They say an existing netbook is too slow and not powerful enough, but they propose building their system with low end hardware. How low end are they planning to go? They complain about the netbooks being underpowered, so are they going to use higher end hardware then the netbooks do? If so, where do the plan on saving enough money to get the price down? By ditching a keyboard? Doesn’t seem like that could reduce the cost that much. I bought my igo for less than $30 retail. They can’t be that expensive to make. Also, if they are moving to higher end hardware than the Atom, what kind battery life are they hoping to get out of it?

They don’t mention exactly what CPU they plan to use. It would be interesting to know if they have a better option that is ready to run Linux and has Firefox ready to go with full Flash support etc..

They also complain that the resolution, screen size and keyboard are too small. Since the device they propose doesn’t have a keyboard, then they can have any size screen they want. Since they made the argument that 7″ is too small and the argument that if you are going to have a 10″ screen that allows for a full size keyboard, you might as well get a notebook then they must be talking about a device between 7″ and 10″. If 600 pixel vertical resolution is not enough, they must want at least what, 768? Does that mean they want at least 1024×768. This must mean they want an 8″ or 9″ screen with 1024×768 resolution.

To try to get some more data on what exactly they were proposing, I decided to follow the link to where they are “working on their project” to see if I could see what the proposed screen size and resolution for their tablet is. The first thing that surprised me on this next page was that they propose using the gnome desktop. What? I thought they were booting straight into Firefox and “eliminating the operating system”. Here they propose using Gnome and to run that, they are also going to need a Window manager. Again, what exactly are they eliminating. A lot of the Linux based netbooks now are using Linux with the Gnome desktop.

As near as I can see, they are proposing a netbook, with a touch screen, and no keyboard for under $200. I would be all for a device like that. In fact, I will take two. Right now though, my Nokia Internet tablet is about as close to that as I think I can get. Maybe there is a reason no one is making a device like they have described yet. I know any increases in horsepower are going to have an inverse relationship to battery life, and right now I like being able to slip the tablet in my pocket and use it all day. Anything bigger and I will lose that flexibility. If I am going to lose that, I might as well get a netbook. If I were to get a netbook, I would probably go for at least a 10″ screen, because of the keyboard, which would put me near notebook territory. I already have a notebook, hence the reason I haven’t bought a netbook. If I didn’t have a notebook or a tablet though, I would definitely consider a netbook. For now though, it doesn’t meet MY needs, however, it seems for the moment netbooks really are good enough for a lot of people. I have thought long and hard about buying the Samsung nc10 or the HP mini 1000. The Acer that I was able to try a little bit was surely usable even with the smaller keyboard and the 8.9″ screen and the price is certainly attractive. It is as powerful as the notebook I was using just 5 or 6 years ago. Netbooks are good enough for a lot of things. They may not be quite right for me, but that doesn’t mean they are not right for other people and I think they are going to be around for a while.

After writing this, I was just curious to see how much small notebooks still go for since it was said, if you are going to go for a 10″ netbook, you might as well just get a notebook because they cost as much as a notebook anyway. The question though really is, do they cost the same as a 10″ notebook. 10″ netbooks can be had for under $500. I know someone who bought a 13.3 inch notebook just a few months ago and it cost over $1000. The smaller you get the more expensive notebooks are, so it would seem to get down to 10″ would be at least $1,000 or more. I decided to check a couple of websites to see what they had to offer.

I went to Circuit City, they didn’t have anything that small, but they had a few 13.3″ units. The cheapest was $979. They sell the Lenova 10.2″ netbook for only $449 and the Averetec for only $429. The smallest laptop they have is a lot bigger and costs more than twice as much.

BestBuy had a few small notebooks, none as small as 10″ netbooks, but they got closer. As you went down in size, the price went up. Starting at 13.3 inches, you can get a Sony for $1,229 in their outlet, a 13.3″ Asus is $850. A 12″ Toshiba is $1499. A 12″ Q@ is $1099.  Going down to 11″ and you can get a Sony for $2100 or a Lenova for $1800. They have 8.9″ netbooks starting at only $279 and 10″ models for under $400.

This means the only notebooks even close in size to 10″ netbooks are more than four times the cost of a similar sized netbook. This really puts the value of a netbook into perspective. If you need the power of a notebook in the size of a netbook, you are going to have to pay a LOT more for it.