Netbooks are really going down, but not only due to the iPad | Hacker News Reader

Netbooks are really going down, but not only due to the iPad

ipadwatcher.com

3 pointsmlongo6 comments

> If you go through the netbook models currently available on the market they are very similar to the initial 10 inch netbooks.

Blame Microsoft. They dictated a set of maximum hardware specifications that netbooks had to conform to if they wanted a reasonably-priced license for Windows. Netbooks can't advance any more quickly than Microsoft wants them to, and MS has little interest in promoting cheap laptops.

I know it's popular these days to claim that Microsoft never deserved their reputation as a bully-boy, but this is an example where the Windows monopoly has a real, damaging effect on innovation.

Netbook manufacturers gave up Linux too easily. I originally got my with Linux and only replaced it with Windows because I needed to write about a Windows-only software.

Just as is currently the case with the iPad, I think most early adopters of netbooks didn't really care that they were on a different OS. They just cared that they could browse, email, use social networks, etc.

There's nothing bullying about offering a discount for low end machines, which is what Microsoft is doing. Machines that don't qualify for the discount aren't really netbooks.

My fiancee has a 10 inch netbook that she got back in 2008. She only needs it for casual browsing from the couch, and writing email. She's been looking for the right tool for the job for the last few years. She started with a Nokia n800, but she said the browser was too slow and it "wasn't a real browser". Then she got a Viliv S5 (running Windows XP) but she didn't like having to use a stylus. The netbook was fine, but needs to be plugged in now that the battery is old, and it overheats. Then we got an iPad as a gift, which she likes, but she doesn't like that it doesn't have Flash, and since it's the WiFi only version, she has to carry a MiFi around too or tether it to her phone and at 10 inches it's bigger than any of her purses and too heavy to hold for long. I've caught her several times putting it down and picking up her HTC Evo to just browse using that.

I think that if anything will truly kill off the netbook, it will be something in between an iPad and an Evo. Maybe that 7 inch iPad will be it.

Or an iTouch, or would the screen be too small?

You'd think an article about the supposed decline of the netbook would have at least one data point to support the thrust of the article.

I'm actually thrilled with my netbook which I've been using for the past year. Most of the time it sits on my desk connected to an external keyboard, mouse and monitor (all three of which suck pretty badly on the AspireOne). It's a little slow but entirely useable. Several times a week I grab it and head off to an external site where I use it to take meeting minutes. I'm happy to trade off the limitations for extreme portability. If this one died I'd buy another (although probably with an SSD drive)

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