Is the Asus N10 still a Netbook for $849?

Is it still a Netbook at $849?

At what point does a Netbook become a regular old laptop? The upcoming Asus N10 has all the features we'd expect to see in a low-cost, low-power Netbook-style system, including a 10-inch screen and power-saving Intel Atom CPU.

The only catch is that electronics retailers are now listing the system as "coming soon," for a whopping $849. For that you get 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, Windows Vista, and even a GeForce 9300M graphics chip, which is a pretty nice setup, but that's a far cry from the predicted $486 to $630 range we heard about when the system first popped up on our radar.

So, is the concept of a high-end luxury Netbook an oxymoron? Or are you willing to pay regular laptop prices to mix more mainstream components with a Netbook's size and battery advantages?

[Hypercube45]

The point of a netbook is to have a laptop that you can carry around as easily as a book or a binder, that you can use on the go. That's it. You don't need to overthink the concept. What Asus has created is not a netbook, but rather, a crippled gaming laptop. At $849, I could buy 2 Acer Aspire Ones, and still have money left. I think price is also a defining factor of netbooks. People that buy these netbooks want a simple laptop for use on the go. I'm not saying that's it's a bad thing to have a high-end netbook, but unless all or most of the netbooks are in this spec range, all the Asus N10 is doing is running into the low-end laptop category.

[ajenks]

Hypercube, I have to disagree with you, as I think you have over thought the concept. Key factors in being a Netbook are small, thin, light, ease of use on the go. Price does not make a Netbook. Just as we have vastly varying price points today for desktops and laptops, there is no reason why Netbooks can't follow the same model. Just a few years ago, people would have paid well in excess of $2k for a small, thin and light laptop for portability. Now, with that said, I agree in that the vast majority of people will want the low price point to go with a Netbook, but that doesn't mean this model doesn't fit nicely in with the whole niche.

[dude7895]

@ajenks
I disagree about price not being a factor. One of the most important parts of the net book is that they are cheap enough for a snap decision.

[Prin_coh]

I would no longer consider this a netbook because its price point is too high. It's no longer a snap-decision sort of purchase, much like with the HP 2133 which is frankly far too expensive for what it does.

Having $849 isn't a bad price for a decent ultraportable, though, not when there are plenty of manufacturers who are quite happy to charge in the neighborhood of $2K for the privilege.

[geneven]

I just bought a Shuttle k45, basically a box desktop computer, for $200, so I wouldn't put $849 in my range. It really doesn't matter what you call it; I'm not willing to pay that much to do what I use a computer for.

[LogicProphet]

garbage! what good is the added ram , space, and video card if the processor is slow?This thing is an underpowered laptop.net books mean small form factor laptops that con do basic computing and a low price. If they just upped the processor and added a DVDRW drive while keeping the price then I'd say it would be a net book along the lines of Kojinsha series but they would still have a crappy battery life

[Placebo1985]

Maybe it's because I personally wouldn't pay this much for a netbook, but I don't think there's really a market for this kind of laptop. The people who want a luxury portable will opt for a Macbook Air or something in that category. I think the point of netbooks is keeping them fairly simple and definitely keeping the price down. I think this is a miss for ASUS.

[ryanrh]

Dan Ackerman needs to put his album(s) on mp3va.com so i can buy um. thanks big o and dukes!

[lagarez]

Vampires !!!,
always looking for stole people's money.

The good thing with netbooks is that you can have them everywhere, without worrying that much of it get stoolen, or damaged, because is less expensive than a regular laptop.

At the beginning whole thing suppose to start at $200, then they almost double the price, it worked, now they try to double again??

sad thing is no manufacturers are honest enough to give fair pricing !

I remember the 80's $100-$200$ computing !!

[ashwinkn]

Am I the only one that thinks that an Atom processor and a discrete graphics card is not a good idea. Netbook apps are more dependent on the CPU. I think they should stick to integrated graphics and lower the price, as the the Atom processor is barely usable for office work under XP, let alone gaming with a discrete graphics card under Vista.