I must admint that netbooks are a tech that puzzled me somewhat. For a time I felt they were too small and, more importantly for me, too underpowered. Of course, what I was thinking about were mini laptops that I tested over the years - there was no netbook category. They were ultraportable laptops like a Sony UX50 or a Fujitsu Lifebook. I liked their size (for the most part) but found them to be pokey/sluggish when it came to performance. I loved the concept of the OQO as this really tiny computer you could use at your desk, plugged into a keyboard and monitor. Then, when you had to leave the office, you simply grabbed the OQO, put it in your pocket and off you go. A very appealing idea for me. The problem again, was performance. The device is somewhat underpowered. The other issue - price. You were really paying a premium for that portability.
All those things I mentioned above came back to me (mixed feelings) when I started to see this new category emerge called Netbooks. They have been taking the markets by storm though, in a time when laptops and PCs have been taking a beating. I often see articles that talk about how business users are warming to the netbook and how the overseas market has been soaring for these low powered mini devices, but still I scratched my head in wonderment.
To be honest, I'm predominately a Mac user, so the netbook initially held little appeal to me with them being Windows or Linux based. I was of course interested to see if Apple would come into this space. I love the MacAir which I occassionally use (when I can pry it away from my wife) but for me, there was a still gap that needed to be filled somewhere between my iPhone and the MacAir (or my other laptops like the Macbook Pro). There were definitely times where the lugging around of my laptop was totally unnecessary but still I took it along with me for those times where my iPhone just wasn't enough. I do more with my iPhone than I have ever done with any other smarphone, but still, I can't comfortably write a lengthy blog post or a chapter for my book on my iPhone. Surfing on the web is a joy, but it doesn't lend itself to doing research via the web. With that said, I don't like lugging my laptop around all day long only to find I used it for 30 minutes in a coffeeshop between meetings.
It was in this grey area that the netbook started to make sense to me. The netbook was really meant to be used, well, on the net! Sending and receiving emails. Surfing the web for news. Blogging on the road. Perhaps some lite editing in Google Docs (or Word....perhaps?). It was that portable device that you'd always have with you, slipped into a small bag or even a file folder and (and this is a big AND), you didn't have to shell out $2000-$3000 for. Performance mattered less because you weren't doing processor intensive activities - you were really leveraging the net and without having to break the bank.
This is why I think netbooks are really taking off - they fill that need I described above, and they fill it for a reasonable price. The ultraportables from before were (are) just too expensive for the function that they would be used for. The netbook however is coming down into that sweet spot where people will own a laptop and a netbook rather than having to choose between one or the other.
This is all very good for the end user, but I feel it can't be good for Microsoft and OEMs. The netbook market is literally a race to the bottom and you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who wins in that race. I think that is why Apple has stayed out of the netbook market so far. To deliver a low cost, mini netbook with OS X on it would kill the laptop market that Apple has been trying to build. If Apple does get into the netbook space I suspect they'll do it with a device that sits between the iPhone and the MacAir and that device will have an OS that is functionally somewhere between the iPhone OS and the the Mac OSX. My prediction is that that'll be Apple's approach to create a segment that doesn't cut into one of its other segments.
As for me, I am now testing out two netbooks and you'll have to stay tuned for future reviews. So far, one I have taken with me nearly everywhere, tucked away discreetly in a small bag I carry and twice I've taken it inside a an expanding folder that I carry with other documents (no I'm not talking about a MacAir). I must say that as skeptical as I was with regards to Netbooks, the gap that this test unit is filling for me has really been wonderful. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on my specific test in the next week or so.
If you've had personal experience with a netbook, please feel free to add your comments below, or drop me a note on Twitter. You can follow me there @mip69.
Comments