Six things we'd like to see in future Netbooks

Netbooks: the next generation

(Credit: Asus)

Netbooks now comprise 8 percent of the laptop market, but are we satisfied? Intel says no: its "Pine Trail" roadmap (that's the code name for its next-gen Atom processors) reveals plans for an integrated CPU/GPU, with claims of saving space as well as battery life. While the graphics power likely won't be as impressive as an Nvidia ION processor, it will change the landscape of a pretty fast-growing field. Here's what we'd like to see in the near-future of Netbooks. Sound off and tell us what you're looking for--that is, if you're looking for a Netbook at all.

1. Better video. While Atom processors can handle YouTube and some HD video streaming (kinda sorta), there are no DVD drives on these little guys. Video-playing (especially streaming) needs to be silky-smooth, even in HD. Until then, Netbooks will never be truly great portable media devices, which they ought to be. After all, Web browsing is most of what we do with computers.

2. Smaller, please! But with larger keyboards. The whole 11.6-inch and higher trend is disturbing because it's making semi-bulky Netbooks even larger. While it's nice for some applications and those who want an affordable 12-inch laptop, this whole XL Netbook trend takes away from the whole gee-whiz "look how small my notebook is!" appeal that made Netbooks an overnight hit in the first place. What we're really saying is: make better use of the size. Edge-to-edge keyboards and edge-to-edge screens should become the norm, and with better engineering, we'd like to see 10-inch Netbooks become even thinner and more compact. A Netbook could feel like a small paperback book, not a portable VCR.

3. Adopt modern operating systems. XP and Linux make Netbooks seem a bit lost in time, and honestly, a 10-incher at 1,024x600 gets crowded for programs made for larger screens. How about an optimized upgrade? Consider the iPhone OS: its great success was designing an interface specifically created for the size and ergonomics of the device's screen. In fact, hey: a modified iPhone OS wouldn't be a bad idea at all for a Netbook. While Windows 7 is aimed at going multiplatform, we also hope it considers optimizing the experience for smaller screens.

4. Get even cheaper. A large part of the Netbook appeal, to this point, has been price. At a cost of $43 for an Atom processor versus $133 for a Core 2 Duo, machines can be cheaper. But we want cheaper still. The challenge: come under 100 bucks. Already, Dell's got a $299 Netbook, and HP's got a subsidized Mini through Verizon. As "Pine Trail" makes its way through the Netbook landscape, it would be really, really great if those old Atom N270 processors could be discounted into ultra-cheapie models.

5. Explore the tablet. Is that so wrong? Opening a minikeyboard and screen can solve some mobile writing issues, but a regular smartphone can do many of the tasks we associate with "mobile computing." Make the screen larger (for instance, a tablet), and have an optional keyboard (software and/or otherwise), and perhaps we'll have a more media-friendly mobile PC than the bulkier, thicker Netbook population. Is this Apple's plan? Perhaps. But it should, possibly, be everyone's. We're already starting to see some touch screens hit the Netbook space: Dell's education-targeted Latitude 2100 offers it as an option, and the Asus has a swiveling touch-screen Netbook on the horizon. It's only the beginning.

6. Be more like phones. Phones are our future Netbooks, and it's becoming clearer every day. Android, BlackBerry, and the iPhone OS are developing new ways to get tasks done in palm-size miniapps. Interfaces are being revolutionized. Meanwhile, Netbooks are using the same flip-top keyboard-and-screen concept that's been circling around since the days of the original PowerBook. The more future-oriented design, the better (like the dual-screened Asus prototype shown above, provided it doesn't suck down batteries like Dr. Pibbs).

[forever4now]

Netbooks/tablets should include typical smartphone hardware (touchscreen, 3G, GPS, accelerometer, compass, etc.) and support cell phone calls and SMS. This would enable a lot of exciting new applications that are not even possible on the existing generation of netbooks/tablets.

Imagine making/receiving phone calls with a Bluetooth headset, while your netbook/tablet is in your purse/backpack.

[blusky08]

Anything under 12" is already approaching a critical level in terms of convenience/usability. Not to mention issues of carrying multiple devices. Rather than a 10" or less netbook, I'd prefer more processing power/features in a handheld for basic on-the-go tasks (iPhone type device for example) with a full-sized, detachable, folding keyboard as an accessory. This would give ultimate portability yet allow access to the device using a monitor and keyboard at home.

[ncprince]

I agree that larger sizes are not what the market wants; keep it under 10 inches

[kingrah1]

i like 13' and 17' notebooks

[streamline35]

Agreed, I got my msi wind because of the size and cost. If I wanted to pay more for a larger computer, I would get one with some power too.

[c|net Reader]

Wow! I've never seen 13 and 17 foot notebooks. Those things must be hard to lug around!

[Proud_Geek]

That's what she said.

[wanorris]

It all depends. There was a market for 11-12" ultraportables before netbooks came along, but it was really small, because the entry level models were pushing $2000, and the best ones were over $3K, which means they're really only status toys for executives. Now that you have a growing selection of 11-12" ultraportables under $1000 (sometimes well under), I think you'll see more people consider one of these as a primary computer -- or at least as their notebook adjunct to a desktop.

I agree that they're probably not really netbooks anymore, but for someone who needs better resolution than a standard netbook (i.e. 1280x800 or 1366x768) and still wants a portable that's light enough to carry everywhere, these tweener systems are perfect.

Ultimately, this may end up being a larger market than 10" netbooks, just as 10" units quickly outsold the tinier 9" models.

[drfelip]

I think there is a market for 11-12" cheap laptops. The tablet aspect and optimized GUI have a lot of potential.

[dubito]

I think netbook manufacturers should be courting WiMax providers which have more reasonably priced data plans. Also what about integrating with your car for GPS and audio streaming?

[scorpio0]

yeah, wireless is the key. they obviously named them 'net'books for a reason, and i think once manufacturers bump up the video quality and once the price of solid-state drives drops even lower, netbooks will carve out a useful niche as ultra-portable media servers.

we should remember that these devices are still in their infancy. that is to say nothing about the prehistoric OS's that most are running.

no doubt whatever happens in this segment, it will surely impact heavily on the larger (double entendre) pc market.

[kingrah1]

I dont even want to see a netbook in the future, personally, i think its a childs(pretend) laptop.
They all suck so badly.

[forever4now]

Perhaps you are expecting more from them, than they are intended to do.

[streamline35]

I agree with forever4now - it sounds like your expectations are a little too high. Personally, I would never use mine has a primary computer (screen is too small, and it can't play games), however, it is pretty much the best secondary computer I could ever hope for. I use my desktop as my primary computer, and my netbook as my mobile computing solution. It's so small and light that I can easily take it around campus all day, it's 5+ hour battery allows me to use it through three 1.5 hour classes in a row without charging it, and its $400 pricetag was within my student budget. If you know of any other laptops that are under three pounds, get over 5 hours of battery life, and are priced in that range ($400) that I can use for surfing the web, taking notes, answering emails, and other light tasks, please let me know.

As a side note, I don't really understand why you care. If you don't like them, don't get one, but I don't really see why you care enough to come bash them. It's not like they are even a competing product or something (like the apple vs MS wars). I would never get a desktop replacement laptop (I'd rather just get a cheaper more powerful desktop computer), but you don't see me complaining about or insulting them.

[Myshkin57]

They are not children's laptops. In fact, i think they're quite the opposite. A child wants something to play games a head of something to make documents. Netbooks are great for making documents and lousy for playing games. And, they're also great for people who actually want a laptop they can carry around rather than just take from one spot to another and leave it there for awhile.

[BigGuns149]

With the general trend of ever increasing CPU & GPU performance I think your criticism is becoming less and less valid and for a lot of people who certainly are adults it already is invalid. A lot of average consumers aren't out editing video or other high end content creation.

In a few years we will be seeing sub $500 notebooks that are capable of outputting HD video with acceptable framerates. That being said for what a lot of adults use a laptop for a lot of current netbooks already are sufficient. I worked with a lot of clients and most aren't editing video, playing Crysis, or doing 3d modeling. Most of their common tasks (eg. creating documents, browing the web, etc.) run fine on current Atom processors to say nothing of what the next generation holds.

[Hellcat]

Numbers 3 and 6 could have been put together. One is saying it should use a newer OS and use the iphone OS and the other is saying it should be more like phones.

This is the way netbooks will go anyway. Their already talking about putting Androild on netbooks and if Palm is smart they'll make a netbook with NetOS on it. I also hear that companies will make netbooks with Arm processors which will make them cheaper yet and then it'll be easier for them to fun this hardware instead of modifying them to run on PC hardwrae. Give it time.

[streamline35]

I have no doubt we'll see palm and android OS's on netbooks eventually, I but I doubt the market for windows netbooks will ever die. It's just way too convenient to be able to run just about anything on a netbook you can run on any other computer (minus power hungry programs). Same reason why the linux netbook market isn't taking off. I even tried ubuntu netbook remix on mine, and while its now my second choice it just had a few fatal flaws that keep it from being my first OS choice over windows 7 (a couple of those flaws involving windows specific programs).

[streamline35]

I think the OS will be a non-issue once they start putting windows 7 on them. I've got on my netbook right now, and I like it even better than Ubuntu Netbook Remix (which would be my current 2nd choice of netbook OS). Seven runs as well as XP on it (it dual boots between the two) while looking like vista, and providing a UI that trumps either of them. The new dock-like taskbar that windows 7 uses is absolutely perfect for my msi wind because it uses so much less space per window/program than xp's taskbar, and provides a much better interface for switching between windows.

[Brent212]

The only thing I really care about that will prevent me from ever considering one until it's changed is more storage. Are there netbooks with big HDs? I haven't really looked lately, but I'm just assuming they're all little 32 giggers or whatever.

[Myshkin57]

They mostly have 160gb now, though I don't know why people want so much storage on them.

[streamline35]

I have a 160gb in mine (as are just about all of them these days). It's entirely too much space, I barely use of any it.

[lccurtis1]

Brent212 Please do some research prior to making idiotic statements as you just made. Netbooks have been utilizing 160 gb HD since last summer. I own a Acer Aspire One 8.9 and I have a 160 gb HD. What really kills me is that the average users are all really light computer users even though they want everyone to think that they are power users. If you have any technical aptitude you now what a netbook can and can not be used for when you purchase it and the only thing I say it cant be used for is heavy gaming because if you upgrade the memory to more than the standard 1 gb to 2 or 3 in some cases it would be a nice standard gaming device. So in short there is really not much that netbooks can't do.

[BigGuns149]

A lot of the larger netbooks use 2.5" HDDs, which go up to 500GBs. Since the resolution on a lot of the netbooks is so low I don't really understand what exactly one would need an enormous amount of storage if you can't take full advantage of it.

[Brent212]

I guess I was thinking of UMPCs, which is more along the lines of what I'd get. 160 would be okay if I were to just put music on it, but I'd also like to get my video collection on there.

And icurtis, calm down little guy. I said I wasn't sure that they all had small storage. I don't care enough to research, since I'm not even looking to buy one. If my comment bothered you, while I'm sure you don't have much else going on in your life, you don't need to waste time responding to it, especially since I didn't state that anything I was saying was a fact. No need to get your panties in a wad.

[countertorque]

Isn't it Mr. Pibb's?

[peco412]

Yeah, I think he meant either Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb. My son mixes Mello Yellow and Sprite to make a ****-colored drink he calls the Bear Grylls.

[nutjob]

Netbooks are the pet rock of tech these days. My HTC phone with 16GB card does everything a decent netbook does. Getting a Samsung i900 phone and you get mote stuff than in most off-the-shelf netbooks. I will stick with my phone and 15 inch laptop.

[illegallydead]

Can you type for extended periods of time on you HTC or i900? Try taking notes on a smart phone in a class. Really. Try it. Thus, the netbook market. I could see maybe using a roll-up keyboard paired with a smartphone, then it might just be bearable, but still, the market exists, and I see it continuing to do so as the component prices continue to fall meaning even more powerful netbooks for even cheaper...

[Hellcat]

I agree, I was just saying that it'll happen. You'll see Android running on netbooks. Now the thing that would be interesting is if WM 7 is made to not only run on phones but also on netbooks. I don't think they'll do it with 6.5, 6.5 is just a filler OS until WM 7 comes out. But WM 7...if its a total revamp of WM...I can see MS running it on netbooks and it may work well.

[Myshkin57]

I actually think the video playback is pretty decent on my netbook. I play Hulu on it all the time with the 480p setting without any difficulty. And, once the screen is that small, I think there's little difference to be seen in resolutions that are just a little bit higher.

[scythie]

They really should improve battery life. No to 3-cell, I say. With those pathetic things, they barely last beyond 2 hours, which is pretty standard even in mainstream laptops.

[streamline35]

The 6 cell on my wind lasts over five hours. On the new eee pcs, the 6 cell lasts 6-7 hours (in real use)

[BigGuns149]

A lot of netbooks are starting to offer 6 cell extended life batteries that can do 7+ hours in real world use. Once netbooks move to a more efficient chipset we may see the battery life get to acceptable times even on the 3 cell batteries.

[zarkobiz]

How about an anti-glare screen? I won't buy a netbook until there is one like that. Glossy and highly reflexive screens add worthless bling while crippling the product. I recently tested a netbook at work and when I had a window behind me, trying to read from it with all the reflections on the screen was a painful experience. Thanks, but no, thanks. Returned to manufacturer stating we don't need to mess with our users' eyes.

[obvio-capitao]

Since computers reached a certain speed, I stopped worrying about processor and memory.

Here's a perfectly fine $250 netbook specification:

- Display: 10 inches
- Battery: 8 hours
- Storage: 8 GB SSD
- Weight: 1 kg
- Processor: 800MHz
- Memory: 512MB

As you can see, comfort and portability are the most important factors.

I'd be more than happy with a 800MHz/512MB netbook as long as it had a decent display and keyboard. All I need is a browser, really.

A Linux/ARM netbook would fit the bill.

[pithenumber]

http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/faqs.htm

this is the closest thing to your specs, its $300 or $400 depending on the model

[the_iceman]

Netbooks are a growing and exciting type of PC that I can't wait to see improve. Some netbooks feature a 1.3 MP webcam built-in, most cell phones these days can beat that. I agree w/ the size thing, they dont need to be larger than 10", but you could improve resolution and video card. I'm waiting for USB 3.0 & Windows 7. Increase the battery life w/ fast recharge times, make the keyboards closer to 100%, come down in price (200-300 range) Make it easy for users to increase ram, up to 8GB max. Would it be too hard to make an additional cost option to include a firewire & esata port for added flexibility?

[streamline35]

USB 3.0 - you could be waiting a while, especially for netbooks. Trust me, you don't want increased resolution on those screens - everything would be too small. What they have now is pretty much perfect for that sized screen. They could throw a moer powerful video card, but that would be at cost to you (money-wise) and battery life. Windows 7 is already out in release candidate form - I have it on my netbook, and I love it so much I would never use any other OS on it. You can get netbooks with 7+ hour battery life at this point, but faster recharge times are up to the battery manufacturers/researchers. 2GB of ram is really all that is practical in them (I have 2 in mine, and it rarely breaks the 1GB barrier running windows 7). Any more ram would be useless because it would be bottlenecked by the processor and video.

To me, it kind of sounds you just want a full fledged laptop, but at the cost of a netbook. Don't we all.

[acarswell]

How about a universal standard battery for netbooks/laptops? So when your battery dies, you can replace it anywhere like at a 7-11 or even a vending machine for essentially the cost to recharge it, plus a reasonable markup?

I know, too much to hope. We can't even get manufacturers to standardize on an AC adaptor.

[BigGuns149]

You would first have to get companies to standardize on notebook chassis. Even if you did that (a huge if) I have a serious doubt that they would be quite as cheap as you desire. I guess you could use non-rechargeable batteries, but that would be an incredibly penny wise and pound foolish idea. A lot of people like the idea of using non-rechargeable batteries until they add up how expensive this "cheap" option really turns out being.

[SGinOR]

These are filling the niche between the pocket size of the smart phone and the power of the laptop. Leave them fairly small with the battery / feature trade offs necessary. Even at the $300 price point they really need to be absolutely convenient to use.

I'd like to see:

10 inches max
1024 resolution max (anything more is too small to see)
16 - 32G solid state storage (I want instant red to go)
Backlit keyboard (I want to be able to use it in low light)
Webcam (well ... OK)
3-4 hours of realistic battery life
3lbs max
Ability to sync with Exchange email and calendar
Ability to make calls in a pinch
~ $300

Just want to browse, check my calendar, and do the occasional document. Don't care who's OS or word processing software it will run as long as I can integrate documents at my MS based work.

Cell providers should be all over this .... the Verizon / HP offering isn't it. And I'm not willing to pay upwards of $30 per month on top of my cell subscription and hardware costs.

My two cents

[BigGuns149]

You were talking about a quite realistic idea until you said you weren't willing to pay $30 for a data plan because data plans below $30/month are pretty rare and so limited whereas bandwidth that most people I have met virtually always go for ~$60 plans.

The towers for high speed wireless networks aren't cheap. Unless you want a pretty tiny data cap <1GB/month I don't see your idea of such a cheap plan being realistic.

[C433Z]

That's EXACTLY what I had in mind. An iphone-like device with more power, combined with a wireless, foldable keyboard.

[C433Z]

Here's my wishlist:

Style/Design of upcoming Asus Eee 1008HA (seashell)
Battery life >= Eee 1000HE (rated 9.5)
OLED touch-screen (this is a ways off, but eventually I hope)
Nvidia Ion GPU (or equivalent)
Dual Core Atom processor (or whatever they call their next-gen line)
<= $400

I'm think that these a fairly realistic within the next 5 years (except for OLED screens).

[BigGuns149]

Except for the OLED touchscreen I don't think wishlist is very far off. Heck, even in the OLED touchscreen will probably be available for those willing to pay a premium in the next 5 years.