Asus Netbooks creep ever larger in size: But do we want larger Netbooks?

How big do we want our Netbook screens?

(Credit: Slashfilm)

The advantage of having a Netbook: ultraportability and compactness. The necessary disadvantage, of course, is small screen size. Asustek's announcement that its Eee PC line of Netbooks would be expanding into the 11.6-inch range, therefore, should be good news for those who value their eyesight and wallets at the same time. They're in direct competition with the upcoming Acer line of 11.6 Netbooks.

Available by the end of the month, the 11.6-inch models are expected to comprise 30 percent of Asus' Netbook shipments for 2009, according to president Jerry Shen. Fifty percent of Asus' 2009 shipped Netbooks will still be 10 inches, which is considered the base standard for the Eee PC now.

But are Netbooks about to head into a clash with slim 12-inch notebooks with speedier processors? As Asus' trademark product has slid from 7 inches all the way to 10 inches, the physical and financial differences between them and ultraportable fuller-featured machines like the HP dv3z are shrinking. If we can get a 13-inch dual-core mobile machine for $700, what advantages (other than battery life) would a 12-inch Netbook provide?

Rather than focusing on ever larger machines running lower-power processors, would the effort be better spent on creating more cleverly engineered sub-Netbooks with even smaller screens? If consumers are already somewhat confused about the performance level of Netbooks vs. Core 2 Duo laptops, making Netbooks larger doesn't seem to be the way to make the understanding any clearer. Then again, a bigger screen for the affordable Netbook category is hard to complain about...or is it?

Sound off below.

(Via Engadget)

[jlt0x]

Of course we want larger Netbooks.

I'm waiting to purchase a Netbook with a 17" monitor and a BR-DVD-DL-RW optical drive.

[lovehandle]

How about a netbook that's IMAX sized with 28 surround sound speakers?

Very funny Mr. Wiseguy ;-P

[seamonkey420]

re: jt0x

doesn't that machine just defeat the idea of a netbook? cheap, small, underpowered?

me, i don't want a larger netbook, i'd rather just go and get a cheap $400-500 mid-level notebook or spend the real money and get a real laptop.

imo, the larger they are the more obvious their underpowered cpus will become. i have 2 netbooks, a macbook air and an HP DV6700t.

no netbook can come close to my DV6700t and its bluray and T9300 2.5ghz CPU. just my .02 :P

[sonymaster101]

the macbook air is small and underpowered, but it is NOT cheap. Its just one of those things that are cool, but too expensive to be justifiable. neither is the pc you mentioned either, but rather, they are simply notebooks (standard laptops, actually more expensive ones compared to what the average purchaser might buy)

just my .02 :P

[wusupjohn]

length of the Sloan wall minus a few inches

[TechnoMan475392]

Giz reader too?

+1.

[Evolverz]

ogod

[gl4540]

The term netbook doesn't really matter in the consumers eyes. What is an SUV? 20 years ago, it's a truck with a covered bed, now it's whatever it is now. The point is, the consumer will drive the demand, not the terms.

Another automotive example: The size of the Honda Civic, the quintessential compact car, was significantly smaller than it was 30 years ago, but it's much larger now, almost a midsize sedan, and still called the Civic. The reasoning for it is to keep a audience attached to a brand. If you bought a Civic 20 years ago, you probably would be willing to buy another one now. If you buy a Asus One netbook now, you'd probably be willing to buy the 17" inch version 10 years from now.

Techie people just want to find a reason to nitpick.

[tmoore71]

The size being quoted is the diagonal screen size...Of course everyone wants a larger screen. That doesn't mean they want a larger net book. They need to focus on the technology to get that screen edge to edge!

[kalel130]

The attractiveness of a netbook is clearly in its small size and portability. 7-9" is the sweet spot. Anywhere past that like the 12" it becomes as much as a hassle to carry that around as it does a regular work notebook. I don't get it - they should be making smaller, thinner, faster netbooks in the 7-9" range. So why are they doing this? Oh, right, they're trying to sell netbooks to the public repackaging them as bargain notebooks... we know that netbooks are low performance, but that's OK, because we get it for ease of use. Don't try aiming at the average consumer. Apple said: "A bargain PC isn't a bargain if it doesn't do what you want it to." Stick to small screen sizes.

[gabewintner]

In my experience, THE sticking point for netbooks is their keyboards, and even the best ones have been less usable and slow me down. Of course, if you're keeping things as small as possible, the size of the keyboard is limited by the screen size, so it's understandable that the keyboard on a 10-inch machine is going to be smaller. But by the same token, the screen is just a tad too small to be really comfortable to use either - reading web pages just requires too much scrolling (which is itself sometimes difficult due to the smaller touchpads). Thus MY opinion is that 11 or 12 inches is the sweet spot, both for the keyboard and the screen - I'd only get something smaller than that if I wasn't planning on doing a lot of typing on it, and even then I'd hesitate.

So what's the place for 12-inch netbooks next to 12-inch ultraportables? Apart from snappy design, netbooks can only win out on cost and weight. From what I've seen, they're failing in that: a savvy consumer will know that even a year-old ultraportable will still have superior specs to a netbook, and those can sometimes be had for the same or comparable cost. For example, the new Samsung NC20 12-inch netbook (w/ a 1.33ghz Atom CPU) is being sold for $550 by Newegg, yet just a little while ago I saw a deal for a Lenovo X61s for the same price, and that came with a 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo (see slickdeals: http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/18683 ). That's a far, far better machine. So where is the place for netbooks? At these prices, for a smart consumer: nowhere.

[ashuva]

To me a 12" netbook is awesome! Big enough screen and keyboard to be usuable - yet still lite enough to be more portable than a more powerful notebook.

[SNOOP_ROCA]

Wait, isn't a netbook just a small, ultraportable laptop? Then wouldn't a large netbook be a, um, ya know, regular laptop?

[deniceels]

Well, to me, I still say they are part of the laptop family, you know, the little guys/gals and the older (or larger(specs)) siblings. Below is what I think will look like:

Family Hierarchy
-Netbook (the infant)
-UMP (the infant - beefed up)
-Ultraportable (13" super beefed up infant multi-purpose)
-14-15" (The multi-purpose)
-16-above" (Power-house)

[UKStory1355]

"Wait, isn't a netbook just a small, ultraportable laptop? Then wouldn't a large netbook be a, um, ya know, regular laptop? "

Yes, but it would be a slow and overpriced one.

[SNOOP_ROCA]

Ukstory, you are 100% right LOL

[Forked_Tongue]

Four things that would make netbooks more expensive, more profitable, and increase ownership first dual core atom/nano processing, second hdmi out, third discrete graphics, and fourth more memory. If people could dock this to their hi-def TVs as a media center (they'll buy the wireless keyboards and remotes) combined with enough horse power and portability they could sell these at about $50+ higher than entry level laptops and sell multiple ones of these to every household. I would also recommend for them to make a Windows or Linux home server version of the netbook hardware (add a 1-2 TB of storage in place of the screen and change the form factor a little) of this so people can centralize their storage and remotely access it as well. There is a golden opportunity for any company who would like to take advantage of this situation and establish a stranglehold on this similar to the pseudo MS monopoly it's just begging to be seized yet most companies are to scared to be innovators instead of followers.

[forkboy]

I'm with gabewintner on this one...the issue with netbooks is predominantly the size of their keyboard. If one is to use these to surf and play around on the Internet, then the ability to type quickly and accurately should reign supreme. Let's face facts, short of teen girls, who has hands small enough to effectively use a sub-10" netbook?

It sounds like so many folks want to push the power and capabilities of these devices, but to what end? After all, aren't they designed to be small, portable and geared almost exclusively to getting onto the series of tubes? Who needs dual core this or HDMI-out that? Let's try and keep in mind what these devices are meant to do as opposed to what you may want them to do. If you need Blue Ray, HDMI, dual core power, etc. then buy a more powerful notebook/laptop.

Otherwise, a reasonably sized keyboard and screen along with great battery life should dictate the direction of a sub-$350 netbook.

[Myshkin57]

"If we can get a 13-inch dual-core mobile machine for $700, what advantages (other than battery life) would a 12-inch Netbook provide?"

First, battery life is a big concern for many people like me, who like to get work done outdoors. Second, if they cost about $300-350 less, that is a big advantage. Third, they're lighter, if you aren't silly and worried about an almost-obsolete built-in optical drive.

I understand that some people want a laptop that can do more than a netbook can. But, you should also understand that many of use do our heavy computing on our desktop machines and get much of the lighter work done on a netbook.

I disagree on one point, the optical drive. Optical drives are still amazingly useful and convenient, and I don't understand why some people are so intent on removing them from computers all of a sudden. I, for one, use it as a DVD player, a sharing tool, and for music so often, I can't imagine using my laptop without one. It's one of the few mediums where you can almost guarentee that the infor will be readable on any PC (except, of course, some netbooks). Of course, the whole fascination with netbooks (which, to me seem like little more than castrated laptops) seems pretty strange.

[Nicko67]

Look, you can share out an optical drive on the network and get at media that way. Or you can turn the media into .iso images and mount them up using Virtual CloneDrive. But you eliminate the WEIGHT. I want a netbook that does 1280 x 800 with video out and a 6-cell battery that's going to come in at <2.5 lbs. No optical drive is one of the sacrifices for that weight requirement -- and I can live with that. So can the missus - who got an AspireOne 10.1" for mother's day and is thrilled - except for the 3 cell battery.

[gd1294]

Net books should remain small. They need to improve on docking stations and market them with notebooks. A great docking stations with more memory, blue tooth, wii fi, Net books are made for browsing and quick emails. A great docking station would provide all of the useful tools needed for those who want office programs wireless mouse keyboard and a larger flat screen all for the home base. The coolest net book I saw was the hp model were the screen flip around and it was used a tablet touch. I was told they do not make that any more bummer.

[Renegade Knight]

Hopefully Netbooks will drive down the price of the ultra portable laptops. Until netbooks ultraportable meant ultra expensive and not much better for speed and ability.

[sweaty_taco]

The bigger the better, right ladies? Oh wait, wrong category.

[davrosthedalek]

Netbooks are no useful that is why I bought a Lenovo X61 with a 12" screen and it is only 3 lbs with a battery that lasts 5-7 hours.

[make_or_break]

Sounds like netbooks are suffering from the dreaded Swelling Unceasingly Virus (SUV) that afflicted cars all those years ago.

[bleech]

I think is a good idea.
The point [form me] of netbooks is just price for what they offer, which is mainly an upgraded typewriter with a screen.

And, be honest, it is what most people use their laptops for. So my question is... why do we have so many laptops where bigger netbooks can replace them?

[Proud_Geek]

I agree with gd1294... the netbooks need to STAY small and lightweight, but the makers/sellers can differentiate themselves in so many other ways: custom paint-jobs, docking stations, swivel screens, support & service, etc.

It's not the size, it's how you use it.