With Windows 7 comes Netbook, notebook confusion
Dell, Acer, Intel, and others together are, in effect, creating a muddle of light laptop categories as part of a not-so-well-orchestrated marketing strategy, according to an analyst. This is expected to become particularly acute when a deluge of new Windows 7 laptops hit the market this week.
Acer 11.6-inch ultrathin looks like a Netbook but it's not.
(Credit: Acer)Acer offered a graphic example of this recently when it introduced a small, inexpensive Windows 7 notebook--the Aspire Timeline AS1810T--that, from all outward appearances, looks like a Netbook. But it isn't--at least as defined by Intel. It's a new category of laptop called an ultrathin.
"There's a lot of confusion that Intel has created and they haven't really segmented the market that well," according to Bob O'Donnell, an IDC Research vice president.
And it gets more complicated. The inexpensive ultrathin is, in turn, competing now with the expensive luxury laptops, like the Dell Adamo, according to O'Donnell. "Ironically, what's actually happening we think is that the (ultrathin) is actually killing the high-end ultraportable," O'Donnell said.
Here's the problem: any given Windows 7 laptop with an 11.6- or 12-inch screen could be a Netbook, an ultrathin, or a high-end ultraportable, each with distinctly different price-performance characteristics not readily apparent to consumers.
"There's too many overlapping products," according to O'Donnell. Intel tried to prevent this from happening by declaring that any laptop with a screen larger than 10 inches diagonally is not a Netbook. That policy is fine in theory but does not carry over to the real world of head-butting competition among PC makers where even the subtlest production differentiation can mean a leg up on the competition.
Intel says look at performance and price. "Which offers the best performance overall? That's important," said Intel spokesman Bill Calder. "Pricing is a factor too. While some ultrathin laptops including 11.6 and higher are very affordable, none are in the $249 to $399 range that typically defines a Netbook," Calder said.
Some consumers might say it's not a big deal. But it's not just a nomenclature or arbitrary categorization problem. There are big differences--not only in price--despite the aesthetic similarities.
Netbook:
- Under $400
- Low-performance single-core Atom processor
- Low-performance graphics
- No optical drive
- Limited memory and storage
- Good battery life
- Build: plastic
- Examples: HP Mini 5101, Dell Latitude 2100
Ultrathin:
- $400 to $800
- Dual-core Pentium, Core 2 Duo, or AMD Neo processors
- Mainstream laptop-class integrated or discrete graphics
- No optical drive (typically)
- Mainstream laptop memory and storage
- Good battery life
- Build: plastic
- Examples: HP Pavilion dm3, Acer Aspire Timeline
Ultraportable (luxury laptop):
- $1,200 to $4,000
- High-performance Core 2 Duo processors
- Mainstream laptop-class integrated or discrete graphics
- Optical drive (internal) in some models
- Mainstream laptop memory and storage
- Average to good battery life
- Build: metal or plastic
- Examples: Dell Adamo, Toshiba Portege R600
By sight alone, Acer has blurred--if not buried--the line between Netbooks and laptops with the introduction of Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810T. In addition to the Netbookish 11.6-inch screen, it is about 1-inch thick and weighs only 3 pounds.
But instead of a meek Atom processor, it uses a dual-core Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz) processor paired with Intel's laptop-class 4500MHD graphics chip. Other specifications are also typical of mainstream laptops, including 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard disk drive, and 802.11n Wi-Fi.
It also ships with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium and that 11.6-inch screen is high resolution at 1366 x 768, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Again, neither of these features would ever ship with a Netbook.
And like Netbooks, battery life for ultrathins is relatively long. The Timeline claims up to eight hours of battery life, about twice that of standard laptops.
The Timeline's price of $599.99 will give prospective Netbook buyers pause. By contrast, a 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One Netbook, for example, is about $350 with a single-core Atom N280 processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard disk drive, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. Cheaper than an ultrathin but not necessarily a better deal.
CEOs are not helping the Netbook cause either. Last week, during Intel's earnings conference call, Chief Executive Paul Otellini made a point twice during the call to underscore that mainstream laptops--not Netbooks--are on a sales tear, adding that Netbooks are merely "additive." There's a lot of semantic wiggle room in the word "additive" but it's clear that Netbooks are not a high-priority market, comparatively, for Intel.
Michael Dell was more blunt. Dell offered up a critique last week of the Netbook saying that the screens are too small and the performance unsatisfactory.
Though Dell's opinion is not quite as harsh as the "junky" remark made by Apple's COO Tim Cook, the consensus seems to be--even by the companies selling these devices--that the appeal is limited.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
Maybe instead of trashing the segment, the manufacturers should look at it as an opportunity to make netbooks and add-on sale to a notebook?
The Macbook is basically a desktop replacement as the unit is simply physically too big and heavy to be portable in a backpack. Besides, at $1500, I don't want to risk getting that damaged while on a trip or out and about.
The netbook isn't as powerful as the MBP, but when I'm on a trip, I need portability, not power. And I do need power, I can always remote into the MBP. I see the netbook as more of a mobile terminal to the world and not a computer. As such, it is just perfect for my mobile needs.
Who is attempting to define the segment and why along with all the players is the interesting story in my book.
The consumer couldn't give two toots what category their computer is in, besides "desktop" (big and heavy, can't carry it anywhere) and "laptop" (folds in half and I can stick it in my bag). When the average person sees a small laptop (what some would call a netbook) they never call it that, they just say, "hey cool, that's a really small laptop".
Can't we just call them all laptops, and have 7 inch laptops, and 15 inch laptops, and Core2Duo laptops and Atom laptops? Why do they all need different categories? It's pointless and for the average consumer just adds more confusion to the already confusing task of choosing a computer.
There is a simple solution. Microsoft should insist that all manufacturers place their products in predefined categories, and label these categories Bronze, Silver and Gold (and perhaps Platinum for the highest end products). These categories would define just what type of product the consumer is looking at by performance.
Netbooks would have a Bronze sticker on the box, Ultrathin would have a Silver sticker, Ultraportable would be Gold and perhaps the Luxury units could have a Platinum sticker. Then everyone would have a good idea of what it is they are purchasing. Can't get much simpler than that.
Never mind confused sales guys, we can help them too!
There ya go!
That limit works most of the time, I think.
It also ships with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium and that 11.6-inch screen is high resolution at 1366 x 768, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Again, neither of these features would ever ship with a Netbook."
Uh, you're Contradicting yourself.
The Acer Aspire One 751h does in fact ship with the exact same screen as the Timeline. There are also several 751h models that ship with 2GB RAM and 250GB HDD. Runnning Windows 7 and the right video drivers they can smoothly play up to 1080p video and are available for around $300.
Considering that several 11-inch Ion driven Netbooks are coming to market at under $400 the idea that Netbooks will be limited to 10" screens and poor graphics is a misread of where we're headed.
Yes, there is a fair amount of overlap in physical specs but the tradeoffs are pretty clear; netbooks are low-end, cheap and light with very good to excellent battery life, the utrathins are a midrange product and anything above that had better offer high-end performance.
This segmentation is hardly unusual in the PC business except that the standard good, better, best product-line differentiation has (finally!) come to the 3-pound market that used to be exclusively a premium product segment.
With Windows 7 Comes Confusion
Netbooks = low-end disposable computers for people who are happy to pay retail mark-up but are too stupid to buy an inexpensive used laptop and pocket the money saved.
The downside is that OEMs need to clearly print system configuration details, compatibilities and features on the box, and not in the misleading feature-speak that implies or leaves ambiguous features that aren't there. Here's a hint: if it doesn't definitively say in unambiguous terms on the outside of the box that the feature is inside of the box, then it's presumed to not be in the box. People have now been fooled often enough by hoping the implied feature was in the box to know better. Consumers need to either be able to read and consider the merits of the tradeoffs or engage a "trusted advisor" who wants to listen well enough to understand their current and future needs, has a finger on the pulse of the market and has an awareness of current and future technologies. There's a huge opportunity here for the retailer who recognizes the need to hire and pay for a better class of customer assistant - the kind that has more in mind than which vendor offers the biggest kickback, who can do more than push the extended warranty. The retailer who can offer "trusted advisors" has a lot better chance of staying alive or even thriving in this diverse ecosystem.
I'm afraid that Apple is going to sweep the field with their Mac Geniuses if somebody else doesn't step up to the plate - and I really don't want that to happen.
Actually, they're designed to be nothing more than a 10" screen mobile device, for when your mobile phone doesn't cut the mustard. Everything is low-performance and Low graphics when compared to something more powerful. iPhone is a complete joke compared to Roadrunner.
Why do you insist on helping the FUD? Netbooks are great for what they're mean't to do - documents and internet on the go. They don't need the graphics power or processor power of a supercomputer for that - they're based on the idea that for most people, another computer is still a lot more than they need. One nice desktop at home, and a netbook to take with you to do your report on the bus is fine - the word ultrathin simply means the computer is very thin - does it also come in a book-sized package (10" screen?)
- by hardmanb November 15, 2009 11:10 AM PST
- Steve Jobs doesn't want to sell anything that can not fit into Apple's complete ecosystem, which is the secret sauce to Apple's leading customer satisfaction. An underpowered netbook will never "just work" like other Apple products.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (31 Comments)And Jobs has no desire to follow the "cheap" commodity wars of low profit margins that lead to constant model obsolescence, customer dissatisfaction, and possibly bankruptcy. Buy an Apple product and it works satisfactorily for years.