Is Windows killing the Netbook?
http://www.tech-no-media.com/2009/06/is-windows-killing-netbook.html
- Posted on Monday, June 1, 2009 by Erlik -
I suspect that Windows is slowly killing the netbook concept. I realized this when I walked into a big computer shop and saw the following sign beside the Netbooksaisle: please note that these computer have reduced functionality and will not run games.
After investigation it seems that the sign was put there by the salesmen because a lot of consumer that had purchased netbooks were returning them when they realized that these small machines were not able to perform all the tasks of a full size computer, like playing games or editing video. Most of us would say: duh, of course such heavy applications would be killing a netbook processor, that is not what a netbook is for. The question is: what made these consumer believe that a netbook would be able to perform such heavy tasks.
The problem is Windows XP. The first netbooks were delivered with a customized version of Linux installed. Since the interface looked very different from Windows it was clear to most people that these were not full computers but companion devices. These devices sold well, even if they were not making a killing in the market like current netbooks are. The problem is that a lot of shops complained about Linux. Not on technical grounds, Linux is an excellent operating system and is ideally suited to netbooks, but more because it was unknown to most salesmen and consumer, and that it was difficult for an ignorant salesman to sell the OS to the ignorant consumer.
The netbooks manufacturers however had seen the potential of the small machines and decided to oblige the shops. They installed the machines with Windows XP. That's when things started to go wrong for the netbook concept. A lot of consumer made the equation: Windows equals full capacity laptop, so these netbooks are full laptops that are cheaper just because they are smaller. Of course the netbook manufacturers made a killing with these machines: who would not buy a $400 subnotebook! The problem is that these were not subnotebooks, and when they failed to play Far Cry 2or run software like PowerDirectoror Adobe Premiereproperly the returns started.
But by then the concept of the $400 mini laptopthat can replace your $700 laptophad become extremely popular, and killing it was not longer possible. What the netbooks manufacturers had condemned themselves to was selling mini laptops for $300 less than the laptops they used to sell. Also the real netbook concept of an ultra-portable companion machine to surf and perform simple tasks was getting lost in the rush to crank out better laptop replacement netbooks. These machines are better described as mini laptops and have little to do with the original netbook concept: they have larger 10 or 11 inch screen, large HDDs and more memory than required for netbook tasks.
Who can save the real netbook?
Some help is actually coming from Intel and Microsoft: Intel is now forbidding manufacturers to install Atom processors in machines with a screen bigger than 10 inches, meaning that tricking unsuspecting users into buying a netbook that looks like a full laptop won't be possible anymore. Microsoft also put severe limitations on the hardware of machines running Windows 7 starter edition, meaning that Windows mini laptop will become more expensive and will be better differentiated from real netbooks.
The biggest help for the true netbooks however will come from ARM and Linux. Manufacturers like Qualcomm are now releasing ARM based processors that are much better suited to true netbooks than the Atom processor. On the software side Linux distributions are gearing up to provide more netbook optimized interfaces and unlike Windows they will be compatible with the ARM architecture. Efforts like Ubuntu netbook remix, the HP MI interface,the Jolicloud operating system or even Google Android will soon result in a second generation of true netbooks than may end up killing the Windows based mini laptops, just like the mini laptops are now killing the first generation of netbooks.
http://www.tech-no-media.com/2009/06/is-windows-killing-netbook.html
- Posted on Monday, June 1, 2009 by Erlik -
I suspect that Windows is slowly killing the netbook concept. I realized this when I walked into a big computer shop and saw the following sign beside the Netbooksaisle: please note that these computer have reduced functionality and will not run games.
After investigation it seems that the sign was put there by the salesmen because a lot of consumer that had purchased netbooks were returning them when they realized that these small machines were not able to perform all the tasks of a full size computer, like playing games or editing video. Most of us would say: duh, of course such heavy applications would be killing a netbook processor, that is not what a netbook is for. The question is: what made these consumer believe that a netbook would be able to perform such heavy tasks.
The problem is Windows XP. The first netbooks were delivered with a customized version of Linux installed. Since the interface looked very different from Windows it was clear to most people that these were not full computers but companion devices. These devices sold well, even if they were not making a killing in the market like current netbooks are. The problem is that a lot of shops complained about Linux. Not on technical grounds, Linux is an excellent operating system and is ideally suited to netbooks, but more because it was unknown to most salesmen and consumer, and that it was difficult for an ignorant salesman to sell the OS to the ignorant consumer.
The netbooks manufacturers however had seen the potential of the small machines and decided to oblige the shops. They installed the machines with Windows XP. That's when things started to go wrong for the netbook concept. A lot of consumer made the equation: Windows equals full capacity laptop, so these netbooks are full laptops that are cheaper just because they are smaller. Of course the netbook manufacturers made a killing with these machines: who would not buy a $400 subnotebook! The problem is that these were not subnotebooks, and when they failed to play Far Cry 2or run software like PowerDirectoror Adobe Premiereproperly the returns started.
But by then the concept of the $400 mini laptopthat can replace your $700 laptophad become extremely popular, and killing it was not longer possible. What the netbooks manufacturers had condemned themselves to was selling mini laptops for $300 less than the laptops they used to sell. Also the real netbook concept of an ultra-portable companion machine to surf and perform simple tasks was getting lost in the rush to crank out better laptop replacement netbooks. These machines are better described as mini laptops and have little to do with the original netbook concept: they have larger 10 or 11 inch screen, large HDDs and more memory than required for netbook tasks.
Who can save the real netbook?
Some help is actually coming from Intel and Microsoft: Intel is now forbidding manufacturers to install Atom processors in machines with a screen bigger than 10 inches, meaning that tricking unsuspecting users into buying a netbook that looks like a full laptop won't be possible anymore. Microsoft also put severe limitations on the hardware of machines running Windows 7 starter edition, meaning that Windows mini laptop will become more expensive and will be better differentiated from real netbooks.
The biggest help for the true netbooks however will come from ARM and Linux. Manufacturers like Qualcomm are now releasing ARM based processors that are much better suited to true netbooks than the Atom processor. On the software side Linux distributions are gearing up to provide more netbook optimized interfaces and unlike Windows they will be compatible with the ARM architecture. Efforts like Ubuntu netbook remix, the HP MI interface,the Jolicloud operating system or even Google Android will soon result in a second generation of true netbooks than may end up killing the Windows based mini laptops, just like the mini laptops are now killing the first generation of netbooks.
