Report: Windows 7 Netbook price tied to size
Intel is on the record with size limits for Netbooks. Will this restriction be tied to lower Windows 7 pricing from Microsoft? Yes, say reports.
Will Netbook pricing be tied to size?
(Credit: Acer)A recent ZDNet blog reported that the maximum allowable diagonal screen size for a Windows 7-based Netbook will be 10.2 inches. And on Tuesday, reports cited Taiwan's hardware manufacturers--so-called original design manufacturers, or ODMs--stating that Microsoft may tie screen-size limits to Windows 7 pricing.
The upshot: Netbooks that exceed 10.2 inches will not qualify for the lower Windows 7 licensing rates (e.g., Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic for Small Notebook PCs), according to reports.
Intel is already on the record defining an Atom processor-powered Netbook as having a screen size no larger than 10.2 inches.
Other maximum Windows 7-based Netbook limits in the lower-price tier include a 250GB hard disk drive or a 64GB solid-state drive, according to Tech ARP.
Processors will max out at 2GHz and have a CPU thermal design power (power envelope) that is less than or equal to 15 watts, not including the graphics and chipset, according to the same report.
There is no ostensible limit on graphics horsepower, however. On Monday, Lenovo announced the first Netbook from a top-tier PC maker that includes Nvidia's Ion chipset. If other PC makers follow with Ion-based Netbooks running Windows 7, this is expected to boost the device's ability to handle more demanding content such as 1080p high-definition video.
But challenges may arise later this year for Nvidia when Intel brings out the "Pineview" Atom chip that integrates the graphics onto the same piece of silicon as the main processor.
All of this comes in the wake of rumors that Microsoft may lift the restriction that the operating system run no more than three applications at a time.
Brooke Crothers has been an editor at large at CNET News, an analyst at IDC Japan, and an editor at The Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, among other endeavors, including co-manager of an after-school math-and-reading center. He writes for the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
Who the hell buys a 11inch netbook? You might as well get a laptop.
They are trying to save there own ***** so they don't have oems purchasing netbook licenses then using them on laptops.
Microsoft is supporting netbooks by making the license cheaper, they could've just charged the same higher fee if they wanted to.
This should be illegal.
"The problem is that you end up paying for Windows anyway.
This should be illegal. "
Absolutely right. Unless it comes with OS X on or Linux preinstalled, then it should be considered illegal. Oh wait, I forgot OS 2/Warp... and BSD. Okay, unless it offers a choice of every single operating systme on the planet, then it should be illegal. Oh, and it should shoot candy out the SD card slot too.
Oh, and it should shoot candy out the SD card slot too.
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Candy can be hard and if fired out of the slot with sufficient velocity it might injure someone. No, it should shoot pudding out the SD card slot instead. No one has ever been injured by pudding!
:-D
If a user wants to run a less bloated version of Windows on a larger box let them.
I personally hope that the big names in netbooks choose to skip the home basic/starter editions since we have already seen there machines can handle Home Premium.
You are not guaranteed a right by the constitution to buy a computer how you want it. You are guaranteed a right to have a choice whether to buy or not. You don't like it, don't buy it. Simple free market economy, which communists like you don't understand.
You don't have to use Win7, get linux or buy an apple. sheesh
I smell ... lawyers from Taiwan. From a 2008 article:
The [Taiwanese] government investigation into Microsoft will also look into complaints Microsoft is limiting consumer choices by restricting the availability of Windows XP on new PCs and whether or not pricing of Microsoft products is fair to consumers on the island.
Intel has determined a netbook will not exceed a screen size of 10".
Microsoft has deteremined that netbook will not exceed a screen size of 10".
Sounds fair to me. Anything larger is a notebook. The entire point of a netbook is to have a small, compact unit that is low powered and has just enough to get the job done. Why would you want to put a large featured OS on a product that won't be able to make use of it? Doesn't make sense at all.
if this results in a lower per unit price for the OS to the OEM's, how can people be against that?
The pricing mdoel does look mad. What valid justification can they provide for it being approprate.
Maybe something like CPU utilisation may be better, but everything else as far as I can tell is subjective.
- by NW-J May 30, 2009 1:06 PM PDT
- Maybe Microsoft would like to tell Samsung that their NC-20 is not a netbook.
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(29 Comments)Maybe advise cNet also. (see review: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/samsung-nc20-silver/4505-3121_7-33573285.html).