Netbooks are poised to make a comeback this holiday season

[Shawn Knight]

Chromebooks are more popular than ever. The Google-powered portable computers accounted for more than 20 percent of all notebook sales and nearly 10 percent of all computer sales through late last year. And with the recent addition of some serious processing power in the form of fourth generation Intel Core i3 CPUs, select models now have plenty of muscle to get the job done.

Their success has got some people worried - namely, Microsoft. After facing declining PC sales due to the sudden popularity of tablets, the Redmond-based company is now having to deal with the Chromebook threat.

If you aren't familiar, Chromebooks are basically notebook computers that run Google's Chrome operating system and rely on apps and an Internet connection for most functionality. They're a step above a tablet in terms of productivity and generally carry a low price point.

But be warned, they are limited versus a traditional Windows machine which is why Microsoft is looking to get in on the budget notebook craze... again.

During a partner conference earlier today, Microsoft revealed that HP is working on a Windows 8 notebook that'll retail for just $200 this holiday season. Furthermore, Acer and Toshiba should have offerings in the $250 range that'll include Intel Celeron processors clocked at 2.16GHz as well as 11.6-inch and 15.6-inch displays, respectively.

Or in other words, netbooks are poised to make a comeback.

Their lifespan was cut short by the arrival of tablets but with that market now becoming saturated and Chromebook sales what they are, perhaps it makes sense to bring budget Windows machines back once again.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/57406-netbooks-are-poised-to-make-a-comeback-this-holiday-season.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

Of course! Everything sells during Christmas holiday. Why would anyone think otherwise? I just lost my eyes they started rolling so hard.

 

[Seventh Reign]

Sorry, but these are not "netbooks". A Netbook is classified as anything under 10" ... last I checked 11 is bigger than 10.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Sorry, but these are not "netbooks". A Netbook is classified as anything under 10" ... last I checked 11 is bigger than 10.

I was inclined to agree. But when I looked it up, Wikipedia had a range between 5" and 12" for Netbooks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netbook

Over the course of their evolution, netbooks have ranged in size from below 5" screen diagonal to 12".

By August 2009, when comparing a Dell netbook to a Dell notebook, CNET called netbooks "nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks," noting, "the specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other," and "the only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Their lifespan was cut short by the arrival of tablets but with that market now becoming saturated and Chromebook sales what they are, perhaps it makes sense to bring budget Windows machines back once again.

And after the arrival of the tablet people realized that a netbook costs less, comes with a keyboard and can sit on your lap without being held up. Maybe that touch screen isn't worth the tradeoffs and the money after all.

 

[drjekel_mrhyde]

Have you ever seen anyone with a Chromebook? The numbers seem odd, maybe they are only being sold to schools as dumb terminals or something. If they were really being sold I would think Microcenter, Newegg, and tigerdirect would be flooding my email with sales on them.

 

[Nobina]

Netbooks suck. No matter how cheap they are their performance is still bad for the price and it's really uncomfortable to use it with a tiny keyboard and screen. I'd rather carry a 15 inch laptop, it's not hard.

 

[cliffordcooley]

The way I see it, Netbooks are for kids to learn how to take better care of a real PC. Kids that have small hands and don't have issues with tiny keys. I don't see how anyone with good typing skills, would feel comfortable on a small keyboard. Someone like myself that doesn't type all that great to begin with, probably finds the smaller keyboards quite distracting. I know I do!

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

When I first took a look at Chromebooks I thought they were a complete waste of time and money but now that I've had a second look and I'm starting to see some sense and value there.

 

[Guest]

When I first took a look at Chromebooks I thought they were a complete waste of time and money but now that I've had a second look and I'm starting to see some sense and value there.

Really? So, when you're not connected to the internet, what is it then? Just an expensive brick, or is there some other offline functionality I'm missing?
I'm sorry, but native applications / operating systems are always going to have that superior experience / functionality, at least in my opinion. Plus, with the news that MS is getting back into reduced cost netbooks, what is going to be the need for this? Don't get me wrong, web applications have their useful, cross platform uses, but what's the excuse when the OS itself is basically a glorified web application? Where's the cross platform functionality if its proprietary itself? I thought cross platform was the whole idea behind the push to the web? I still consider this a poor, cheap nock off OS, with the added luxury of having Google know everything about you and their attempt to get you to expand your infinitesimally small SSD offering that comes with these things, by purchasing their Google Drive offering. Or offering all those handy adverts peppering their services. The OS may be free, thus the cheaper "laptop" offering, but that's not where they make their money out of you, no, that's all reserved for their "value added" services!!!

 

[Guest]

Lotta hate on here for netbooks.

They're not that bad. Beef up the guts, give me full blown Windows for less than 400 bucks and I'll consider a netbook. My buddy has a Chromebook and he loves it. He is a regular consumer. He doesn't need anything but an internet browser and a music player. Me, a Chromebook would drive me nuts because I'd be on a constant quest for finding workarounds for the things I want to do. Sign me up for a small form factor, cheap, full blown Windows netbook that runs pretty quick.

 

[Frank Barnett]

Lotta hate on here for netbooks.

They're not that bad. Beef up the guts, give me full blown Windows for less than 400 bucks and I'll consider a netbook. My buddy has a Chromebook and he loves it. He is a regular consumer. He doesn't need anything but an internet browser and a music player. Me, a Chromebook would drive me nuts because I'd be on a constant quest for finding workarounds for the things I want to do. Sign me up for a small form factor, cheap, full blown Windows netbook that runs pretty quick.

Right everybody here has the hate. But for a lot of people who just check email and websurf these work

 

[Guest]

Netbooks sucked... because they mostly had terrible atom processors inside and low RAM, this was specially frustrating on netbooks that came with Windows 7 (or even the starter edition) as the specs were just barely enough to run the OS. Luckily technology has advanced since then, a modern Celeron clocked at 2.16GHz should be enough for internet browsing and basic applications as long as they don't skimp on the RAM.

 

[yacman898]

When I first took a look at Chromebooks I thought they were a complete waste of time and money but now that I've had a second look and I'm starting to see some sense and value there.

Really? So, when you're not connected to the internet, what is it then? Just an expensive brick, or is there some other offline functionality I'm missing?
I'm sorry, but native applications / operating systems are always going to have that superior experience / functionality, at least in my opinion. Plus, with the news that MS is getting back into reduced cost netbooks, what is going to be the need for this? Don't get me wrong, web applications have their useful, cross platform uses, but what's the excuse when the OS itself is basically a glorified web application? Where's the cross platform functionality if its proprietary itself? I thought cross platform was the whole idea behind the push to the web? I still consider this a poor, cheap nock off OS, with the added luxury of having Google know everything about you and their attempt to get you to expand your infinitesimally small SSD offering that comes with these things, by purchasing their Google Drive offering. Or offering all those handy adverts peppering their services. The OS may be free, thus the cheaper "laptop" offering, but that's not where they make their money out of you, no, that's all reserved for their "value added" services!!!

I can only speak from my family's experience, but when our chromebooks are offline, they are used as portable media devices. when our windesktop is offline, it is not used at all ( since its only use now is online games ).
as far as "superior experience" goes, I guess that depends on what it is used for. again, I can only speak from my family's use, but when it comes to my kids / wife, they just work.my job as house IT guy has been reduced to unplugging the modem/router on occasion. no more "slow pc" issues, no more reformatting/reinstalling os due to kids "clicking thru " stuff. granted, my last experience with ms was vista ( desktop still on xp ), and maybe things have improved on that front, dont know, dont care. all I know is that with our chromebooks that problem has been eliminated. with us, a superior experience is all about the thing working, not about native apps.
as far as the "os" goes, again, for us, it really makes no difference on who makes it/its capabilities as long as it does what we need it to do, and so far, it has exceeded my expectations. for us, the added luxury is not having to worry about security issues. no more antivirus / malware / firewall / registry blocker programs to setup / update. no more os upgrade costs/expenses. ( note we did have to spend an extra $48 on a cloud ready printer ).
I did think storage would be an issue, but my kids solved that with usb sticks, and only seem to use google drive / dropbox / ms onedrive as a way to transfer files from phones to chromebooks and back.

productivity wise, kids do all their homework ( reports / research / presentations ). not sure what apps they use, but whatever they are, they are getting the job done ( according to last report cards ).
for me, my company uses all web based stuff, so everything I need to do can be competed thru any browser. one thing I did notice was when using vista/xp/win7 , was company website launched a security program b4 I could access anything. it didnt do that with the chromebook.
since we dont use gmail ( use our isp webmail ), whatever info google collects on us is no different than when we use chrome on our phones and ipads. for us, that is a non issue.
bottom line in our household is ms lost a long time customer, and I see nothing on the horizon that will change that.

 

[Guest]

bottom line in our household is ms lost a long time customer, and I see nothing on the horizon that will change that.

This whole situation smacks of the days of dumb terminals (Chromebook), and mainframes (Cloud). It really feels like a step backwards for me. I agree, as I have stated, that web applications have a really fantastic future, looking to Microsoft and their Azure platform is all the conformation I need. Its possibilities dwarfs anything else I have seen as far as cloud based computing goes, with Office in the cloud, One drive, hell even its online Visual Studio development tools are fantastic (Something I as a developer am quite keen on), but there is a limit to how large these can get, at least as far as download speed is concerned. This will be the limiting factor for many years to come. Perhaps you find it easier to use a "dumb" terminal like a Chromebook for your children, but there is such a thing as profiles on Windows, there is such a thing as restore points, there is such a thing as being prepared. If you set it up right the first time, then there is no such thing as reformats unless you REALLY screw up, something I haven't done for years, I might add and is not difficult to achieve. I also fully appreciate that most people only want to look at facebook, browse a few pages on the web, something a smartphone / tablet can do quite well I hear.

Once these cheaper Windows netbooks come out, I think if Google doesn't try to do something new, then the Chromebooks appeal as being low cost, simple to set up, especially for Business needs, will largely evaporate. It's time in the sun, will quickly fade, and that's my prediction unless like I said there is an upset of some sort...

 

[yacman898]

But there is such a thing as profiles on Windows, there is such a thing as restore points, there is such a thing as being prepared. If you set it up right the first time, then there is no such thing as reformats unless you REALLY screw up, something I haven't done for years, I might add and is not difficult to achieve.

really? same here. too bad I cant say that for my kids, parents, grandparents, neibours and everyone else that leans on me for support. tell me why a 80yr old needs to be prepared with a winbox when that same person does not with a "dumb" terminal. comparing a chromebook(box) to a dumb terminal is like comparing a model t ford to the average car today. yes, it is a car(dumb terminal), in its purest form, but everything else is different ( my point of reference: 1980's ibm mainframe/dumb terminal).
the big thing chromebooks have done/proved/shown is that for a certain demographic out there they simply don't need what ms has offered in the past. it really is that simple. and simple is really the point of a chromebook(box).

 

[cliffordcooley]

really? same here. too bad I cant say that for my kids, parents, grandparents, neibours and everyone else that leans on me for support.

Hahaha! I hear ya. lol

 

[Jad Chaar]

When I first took a look at Chromebooks I thought they were a complete waste of time and money but now that I've had a second look and I'm starting to see some sense and value there.

+1. They aren't completely useless but they can be if you are someone who does intense work and needs applications outside of the browser. But then again, who can complain... the notebook is cheap for a reason... internet.

 

[loading]

I own an old Toshiba NB305-N310 netbook. Probably the most invaluable tool I have as a roaming IT Technician.

Still don't want anything to do with Windows 8 (it's bad enough I have to work on them on a daily basis) so I'll be slapping on Windows 7 or even XP (current netbook OS).

Can't wait to see the influx, should drop the prices.

 

[bond304]

Have you ever seen anyone with a Chromebook? The numbers seem odd, maybe they are only being sold to schools as dumb terminals or something. If they were really being sold I would think Microcenter, Newegg, and tigerdirect would be flooding my email with sales on them.

I also was wondering where they got their numbers. I have a chromebook, but only because I know to upgrade the ssd, partition, and dual boot linux. I remember when CB was announced, it was widely bashed for not being able to run regular programs. That would really surprise me if it really was as popular as this article says.