CNET: What is a Netbook computer?
Netbooks are big news and they are here to stay. News about netbooks is always hot and we all clamor for word of the latest and greatest netbook coming along. What isn’t clear is how to define a netbook? We’ve discussed that in the past and we always seem to gravitate toward size and cost being the primary criteria determining if a device is a netbook or not. Michael Horowitz of CNET realized it is a good time to define exactly what makes a device a netbook and has published a good overview of the netbook space. His article defines a top price point of $500 for a device to be considered a netbook and I agree with that assessment. Of course Kevin is still holding out for that $800 Apple netbook. The article does as thorough a job describing the current netbook space as any I have seen so check it out if little notebooks float your boat.
well after reading the article i know why you are pimping it out.
in all seriousness though, i think all you guys in the media care WAY too much about defining this category and just dont realize to the rest of us (who’s life consist of more than computers) it just doesnt matter. you can call it whatever the hell you want, but just tell me the specs - size, weight, screen/rez, CPU, RAM, etc.
Posted by: DuPlori | October 13, 2008 at 9:23 am
DuPlori, you’re right at the end of the day it doesn’t matter much. The problem is that once a term like netbooks comes into universal use then we have to at least make sure that when it’s used it reflects what we expect it to. Some people have even called $1000+ notebooks netbooks which confuses some folks.
Posted by: James Kendrick | October 13, 2008 at 9:46 am
I haven’t read the article and haven’t spent much time on the philosophy of netbooks.
But price seems the wrong criteria. If $500 is the barrier, that makes my HP 2133 a non-Netbook… so what is it? Oh, wait… HP recently dropped the price, right? Does that mean it now *is* a netbook? And is my particular device (which was sold for more than $500) excluded, or does the new label now apply to it, too?
Posted by: Oliver | October 13, 2008 at 1:30 pm
A netbook is what the marketers and consumers make it, not journalists. The 2133 is a great example. If it’s not a netbook, then what is it? Mine has more resolution, has bluetooth, runs Vista just fine and costs more than the article assumes.
A netbook is widely accepted to be a companion device that prefers portability and price over size and power. The real problem is that we don’t really need the netbook name at all. WE already had “subnotebook” which described the class well enough already. All that’s happened is that subnotebook has been replaced by netbook to make us think this whole genre is actually something new, which of course it isn’t.
Gordon
Posted by: Gordon Cahill | October 13, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Here’s the quick and dirty definition from a WSJ article announcing Samsung’s intent to sell PCs in the US:
“Netbooks are low-cost portable PCs that offer Internet capabilities.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122397425628732157.html?mod=testMod
Posted by: Scott_H | October 14, 2008 at 4:27 am