No. 1 in Netbooks? Not Asus but Acer

Asus created the Netbook category a little over a year ago when it introduced its first Eee PC. Acer jumped in this past summer with the Aspire One and has overtaken Asus for the top spot in the Netbook market. According to research firm DisplaySearch, Acer sold 2.15 million Netbooks in Q3 for a 38.3 percent share of the Netbook market. Asus moved 1.7 million units for 30.3 percent market share. Not only did Asus have a head start in this horse race, but it also has a much larger stable of Netbooks. It seemingly releases a new Eee PC model every other week, while Acer has but a few versions and colors of its 8.9-inch Aspire One.

HP sits in a distant third with a 5.8 percent share of the market, followed by MSI (5.7 percent), and Dell (2.8 percent).

On the whole, the Netbook category grew 160 percent in Q3, which is good news, given the current state of the global economy, but not all that surprising when you consider that the category has gained momentum with many of the big names jumping into the fray.

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

[mattumanu]

Wait a second. I thought everyone had changed their minds about net books. Didn't even Intel bite the hand that buys their Atom processor in these net books by saying they think it's not a good experience? Something about, "it's good for about an hour".

What a crock. I've never seen the beat of the companies today who are only interested in innovating THEIR WAY rather than how their customers would. I'll tell you, being able to put a 2 pound netbook into the same bag with all my other important books and papers is wonderful, and contrary to popular belief, I can do a lot of things on it besides check email and surf the web. Put a copy of Audacity on it and plug in a microphone and I can do on the street interviews for my podcasts for less than the price of most portable recording devices. I can also edit those interviews together right there and upload them to the server, or send them to the radio station, all on a device that should something happen to it, I can replace it without going into debt.

Is this the right place to rant about this? Yes and no. Yes because I've rarely seen a category of computer take off so quickly and yet be so vilified at the same time, even by those who are making money off of it. (Do you hear me intel? AMD? What's your malfunction this time?)

[strykernyc]

2nd ^^^^ that.... no one could have said it better

[Mark_Anderson]

Totally agree - sling it in your manbag and you're off and about. They're great little machines for on the go computing.

[Renegade Knight]

Pet Rocks sold as well but there was no future in them.

For proof I offer that netbook keep growing larger. When they are large enough they are now mini notebooks which are actually something you can work on.

I think that folks like you may have a valid use for them. They won't go away, but they will peak and the market whil shift. Heck I forget what came before netbooks OMDB? Samsung and Sony seemed to be the onely ones making them. At least these knocked the prices down for the 'super small' catagory of real computers.

[oooh5615]

I think MSI should be merged with Medion here because they both sell essentially the same MSI Wind netbook.

[winexz]

Why does ACER sell more, Acer models are keeper. The Asus EEE have the longest battery life, twice as good as the competition. I do everything on my EEE that is did on my HP, except it works better. 5 hour battery life (not using wifi) so it is great for travel writing and blogging. They need to start marketing them to schools (K-12), then they will become big.

[Mikeybabes]

All praise to Asus for inventing this market that everyone has lept into. The functionality is great, such as the Asus 1000H with 6 cell and Wifi N support, but the designs are falling behind a lot of the new entrants. The HP Mini 1000 and the new Samsung are positively sexy in comparison.
Come on Asus, sex up your Netbooks and I will buy.

[johnalbe]

I have read as much as I could on the current crop of netbooks, and after all is said and done the Samsung NC10 looks the best.
Pros: 10.2" screen vs: 8.9" is a big plus. 160GB/ 2GB std. , 6 cell battery life with reports to 8 hrs. std. , Wi-fi std. , Bluetooth std. , Keyboard configuration the best. , Balance OK and lower weight. Brand recognition. Upgradable components without voiding warranty.
Cons: Color choices limited. Marketing poor. Slightly more expensive
Overall the pros outweigh the cons IMHO.
I'm buying the Samsung

[johnalbe]

Sorry, the RAM is 1GB not 2GB Oh! and I for got to mention the Webcam is std. That's the killer.

[perontopsp]

i got my NC 10 2 weeks ago, never looked back, go for it, its a great purchase, and remember dont rely on cnet, they are most differently bias against it.

[gocguy]

johnable - i bought the samsung last week! i did a ton of research as well and have been following the evolving netbook market ever since feb/march of this year. as you said, everything is better spec wise on this thing, and its been great so far for the price. i picked mine up for around 450 on newegg...

[kidmaliksi]

Gocguy,

You chose very well GocGuy. Do you mean the Samsung NC10? The NC!0 is the best reviewed netbook worldwide that only American reviewers have not heard about. It makes you think how out of touch American reviewers are, even the CNET reviewers here. After they skipped on the Samsung, I don't think I can believe any of its reviewers.

Everybody knows that it is Acer. Only CNET treats the brand with low esteem and always give its products underrating because Acer is not pay for CNET sponcer.

Everybody knows that as well.

It is the best netbook. The reason it got underrated from CNET because Acer does not pay you for sponser.

[ctenoriopdx]

I'm very happy to hear that Acer is at the top of the market when it comes to netbooks. I first got acquainted with them when Asus started selling theirs. I really needed something small and light that can keep me connected. I used to carry my laptop everywhere and it ended up hurting my shoulder and my elbow. Then I bought a Palm TX. Great choice but the battery never lasted enough. I was about to buy the Asus netbook last summer, but when I saw it at the store and tried to use the keyboard I realized it was not for me. Besides the hard drive only had 8 GB. Now I bought the Acer Aspire One with 160 GB hard drive, 6 cell battery and 8.9"screen. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. It has so many nice features like a built in camera and a microphone, just like bigger laptops. I think that for the price I paid I couldn't have bought a similar machine with all those features. I highly recommend it. I wish that the people from CNet took the time to update the information on their review section. The information provided there is about the first version with only 8 GB hard drive and 512 Ram.

[ice82]

Yes, the first version with 8GB SSD and 512MB RAM is not powerful enough to provide positive 'experience'. You'd have to see for yourself, but the new version with 160GB and 1GB is a pretty good value if you can pick one up on sale.

[sfjon918]

honestly as a first time acer owner (i just purchase the Acer Aspireone AOA150-1987 3G) from radioshack and i have to say this netbook is great.. only drawback at first, you had to sign up for att 3g data plan (2yr contact) but the netbook was $99 **only for the aoa150-1987 atom 1.6, 1gb of ram and 160gb hard drive i paired it with a 6cell battery, with 3g on i get about 5.5 hours with wifi about alittle over 6hrs

[jarturof]

Of course Acer is king, better netbooks, that actually are laptops on small size at bargain price, with huge memory not a few GB

[comp_nerd99]

I researched these net books because my hp notebook went to crap. I liked that Acer jumped into the market and was the only brand i really heard of in the market. This was right when the dell came out and the lenovo and hp were dated for release but not yet available. I purchased the better Acer with the 1 gb mem 6 cell battery webcam, 160 gb hard drive, for 350 bucks which was a steal in my mind. It is small but the size is perfect for on the go computer users. the screen is not to small and keyboard is easy enough to type on. It takes about a day to get used to but i find myself typing just as fast on it then i do on my full size hp. I just did not trust the asus brand to tell you the truth. it is so new to the market. same with the samsung. although they seem like great machines, they are still so new. Acer is a world leader in manafacturing computers. I am not an acer fan boy, i usually go with sony products. But to me the acer is cheaper and gives you the highest quality experience. I have used the webcam almost everyday to chat with people on MSN. i have itunes installed, i run a 3g AT&T internet service, i use pandora and youtube flawlessly. I also run microsoft office business edition. It does all of this flawlessly. It isnt as fast as a normal notebook but it shouldnt be and its not slow. It handles these applications better then expected. I highly suggest this net book to anyone who is searching for a netbook. It is now the leader in the category and theirs nothing to slow it down. asus does release a new netbookevery two weeks. how long will it take for your model to be forgotten. Acer is just solid in every category

[ywkhgqo]

im sorry, but asus is by no means a new company. They have been making PC components for a very long time. Asus was also the first to create the netbook. You seem to have a vendetta against asus like they personally insulted you and they are out to get consumers. They are a fine company and one people SHOULD trust. I've dealt with a lot of pc companies and asus is by far the most accommodating.

[stevent1992]

Their netbooks might be fine because very little goes into designing and building them, but it?s their full fledged desktops and laptops that are crap.

[comp_nerd99]

I didnt say anything bad except when i think about PC's i don't think of asus at all. Yes they invented the netbook. but the netbook has evolved from the stupid thing asus came out with. it had no hard drive space or power and the intel atom wasn't out yet. The acer cam out and asus released a new netbook with pretty much the exact same specs and price point but by then it was too late and acer already gained all the momentum. That is why they are winning the race.

[wespj--2008]

Acer might be #1 is sales, but the Asus netbooks are better:

http://tech.spotcoolstuff.com/computer-laptop/acer-vs-asus