The war against netbooks?

7 Jul 2009

The Technologizer has an interesting post today about The War Against Netbooks. In reading it I have a few points to make, but probably not the points you might think.

Are the sales numbers real?

I know you might have a problem thinking the word disposable applies to computers, but in the world of computers, netbooks are as close to disposable as you can get. Coming from someone who has bought and then sold a netbook (so has my wife) I wonder what the numbers would look like if you changed the metric from “Netbooks Sold” to “Netbooks Usage.”

When I look at my web analytics based on screen resolution, I see something interesting. First let’s take a look at netbook screen resolutions (This is the top 5 best selling netbooks via BestBuy.com, excluding duplicates in different colors):

Model	Resolution
HP Mini	1024×600
Asus Eee PC	1024×600
MSI Wind	1024×600
Dell Inspiron Mini	1024×576
Gateway Netbook*	1366×768

*Although Gateway calls this a netbook, it has a 64-bit Athlon processor, 2GB of Ram and an 11.6” display, I would argue this is a laptop.

So the basic thing we learn is that the common netbook screen resolution is around 1024×600. So let’s look at the browser statistics for my website for the last 3 months, by screen resolution:

Screen Resolution	Unique Visits
1280×800	7,964
1024×768	6,638
1680×1050	6,542
1280×1024	6,491
1440×900	5,835
1920×1200	3,323
1920×1080	896
320×396	823
1600×1200	751
1152×864	732

That’s 44,572 unique visitors, and netbooks aren’t in the top 10. If we expand it out to the entire 290 resolutions that visited my website in the last 3 months, 1024×600 came in 15th with 379 visits. For those math nerds out there, that’s .8% of my readers read on a netbook.

What is a netbook?

Let’s be frank for a second. A netbook is a cheap ass computer. They have underpowered CPUs, not only small, but very low resolution displays, anemic ram, slow hard drives, and are usually made out of extremely cheaply made plastic cases. In my experience, defining charactaristics are small, nearly unusable touch pads, cheap and unreliable touchpad buttons, poor fit and finish (web cams not quite aligned to the holes) and in my opinion, very limited use.

I purchased an MSI Wind for my wife and I both, and less than 4 months, I sold it to a friend and bought a $579 HP laptop at Best Buy that I am infinitely more happy with.

The argument that Harry McCracken (man that’s gotta be a fake name!) makes is that Microsoft and Intel do not have the right to qualify what a netbook is. I say they do. If the computer manufacturers want to reduce the quality of PCs this far, and limit their usefulness this much, why is Microsoft obligated to provide their flagship versions of their operating system at way below market value to laptop and desktop users?

Why should intel be forced to give away processors that would sell at higher prices for laptops just to allow PC makers to produce cheap crap computers.

I don’t buy the logic and I won’t buy another netbook. To me the iPhone is a much more useful “cheap” computer.

As with many other conversations I have had on these types of topics lately, I come to one conclusion. It’s a good thing the people who write these articles, and leave the anti-Microsoft and anti-Intel comments do not have to actually run businesses.

What would happen if someone who made settings in aluminum went after the diamond manufacturers to sell diamonds at zirconium prices so they could sell their rings cheaper? It makes as much sense. Your product is your source of income, protecting the value of it is hopefully your #1 priority.

The end result

What do I think of netbooks? Obviously not much, but I have a different reason. What I have noticed, is that netbooks have seriously lowered the bar for what is acceptable build quality. Now that lower bar is creeping into laptops. Just like the eMachines craze a half dozen years ago crept into the Gateway and Dell lines, the bargain basement machines show companies that consumers as a whole aren’t as discerning as we might hope.

That allows them to consistently use lower quality parts, cheaper labor to build them, and operate at profit margins that only continue that cycle until we find ourselves pushed towards Apple or boutique PC manufacturers to get machines that won’t fall apart in a year.

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Tags: Netbooks

4 Responses to The war against netbooks?

Timothy Warren (timw4mail)

July 7th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

Although I agree that Netbooks are cheap laptops, and in some ways don’t make much sense, they do have advantages over regular laptops:

- They are much more portable
- Some have superior battery life to almost any regular laptop (6 – 8 Hours)
- They are efficient at web browsing, for battery life v. performance, for example.

As far as build quality goes, I’ve got an Asus Eee PC 1000HE, and I previously bought one of the original netbooks, the Eee PC 701 2GB Surf. I have not noticed any of the build quality issues you are referring to, and in fact, they seem to be some of the best “laptops” as far as quality that I have seen recently.

Really, I think part of the drive to Netbooks really has been price. I actually did programming on my 701 2GB Surf, I had the OS on an 8GB SD card, and away I went. Were it not for resolution of 800×480, I probably wouldn’t have purchased the new netbook. I’m actually reasonably tolerant of slow machines, having gleaned a lot of free “junk” computers. My largest two gripes, screen resolution, and battery life, were solved by the 1000HE. The thing I don’t like about the 1000HE is the keyboard, I actually liked the feel of the keyboard on the 701 better.

Anyways, my gripe with the netbook industry is the limitations. Although I do agree with your point about quality, I also think prices will have to rise again, if and when we regain some sense of financial normality. What does the amount of Ram sold with a machine matter in terms of performance with Windows XP? Not much, considering, that 1GB is the standard, and limitation. I also miss the trend of Linux that was the norm for the first Netbooks. Really, as long as the “laptop/netbook” is limited with the CPU/GPU combination like is common to current netbooks, it doesn’t matter what the other specs are, because it really isn’t going to run any faster.

For me, the most limiting factor of a computer is the horizontal resolution. As much as I like the iPod touch, I can’t say its nearly as useful as long as it has such a low resolution.

I do agree that the trend has gone toward using lower quality, cheaper parts in all aspects of electronics. LCDs have gained ground over CRTs mainly because they are cheaper to manufacture, and manufacturers didn’t want to have to continue to make more expensive CRTs, despite what redeeming qualities they may have had. The trend toward the cheap is most evident in keyboards. I bet you can not find a mainstream computer that has a decent (read individual mechanical switch) keyboard. It used to be you could get a heavy, durable case, and a semi-decent no-name PSU in an inexpensive (this is all relative of course) computer.

Unfortunately, the consumer at large cares about cost above quality, or real usefulness. The unhappy netbook users are the ones that didn’t know what they were getting.

I don’t realy know if I was coming to some big point or not, but that’s my take on netbooks.

Justin

July 7th, 2009 at 8:10 pm

I’ve been looking for some insight on netbooks from someone that has actually owned one. I was on the fence for few days about whether or not I needed/wanted one, and decided not. With the impending speed/RAM bumps, I may still end up with one, but just to piddle around with from time to time. I hadn’t considered poor build quality, but I guess that makes sense.

indie

July 29th, 2009 at 1:00 am

I own note book and its great. I surly prefer it on laptops

Arod

July 29th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Hi J. You’re old coworker here. I don’t disagree with you for the most part, but I’ve read a few of your blogs on netbooks and I’ll give you a different point of view.

First, I think part of the push with netbooks isn’t about specs & price, but the social impact of the new technologies. When we started out, there were games and business, but computers have been blurred these days with basic living; not so much for us but the latest generation. With Skype, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc., the computer has become the new telephone (and more). (Not just from a heavy users point of view. Kids these days are obsessed with it.) Specs, price, and fit/finish just doesn’t matter when it comes to basic living. (Of course, the latest generation is probably more appearance-concious and it does matter more so than the old telephone, but that’s secondary IMO – even if they don’t realize it (or have to).) The result is that a device has to be made that is more convenient than the previous standard, relatively large, expensive, ‘complicated’ laptop. It may be a netbook, phone, PDA, wristwatch, UMPC, or any other new device, but something will emerge. The iphone is on the right track, but we all know the complaints there. In the meantime, there will be plenty of task-specific devices as well as general “computers” trying to do those specific tasks.

Second, price is an issue. I’m fortunate from a financial and a knowledge/experience perspective that I don’t have to worry too much about it. Sometimes, I forget how limited some people are. My friends/family mention many problems and I begin to respond with just get a new ($400) PC (desktop or laptop). Then I realize that they can’t afford anything close to that. And back to my first point, it’s almost a necessity these days. So, they need a very cheap option to do the basic “necessities”. As has been proven, both by the current netbooks and us budget-PC-building hobbyists, mass-producing such a device with a fully-functional 7-year old OS, for a low price is possible.

The one thing I will disagree with is that the netbook is pulling down the quality of other laptops. First, many low-quality laptops have been overpriced for some-time. Second, people will pay for higher quality devices. (You and I know plenty.) I compare it to the Yugo, VW bug, or original Hyundai. Some people need cheap transportation and those vehicles didn’t lower the quality of the BMW’s/Mercedes. They also increased in quality (except for the Yugo) and can compete with the more expensive cars now. Any degredation in quality is probably just basic laziness and greed with society in general.

I believe the current laptop craze isn’t so much about customer demand as it has been pushed for some reason by some “one”. There is a social explosion on the mobile PC and getting people to have that mindset seems to be the primary goal. Once everyone can’t live without it, then price may not matter as much. The cell phone is a good example. While the options make it an apples-oranges comparison, no one in 1980 would’ve considered paying the cost of a cell phone, plus usage if it didn’t seem so necessary now.

So overall, you’re correct with the limitations and build quality. But there is a place for the current netbooks. Of course, all this may be moot with the newer, cheaper, lighter ‘laptops’ hitting the market. I think consumers and manufacturers alike are realizing all of these points of view as a natural evolution with technology.

Sorry for the long response, but since I never respond, I thought I’d go all out. Have a good one (and so far, I’m loving Windows 7 – even on my netbook.