Time to drop the Netbook label
Can we all agree on something? There's no longer a difference between a Netbook and a notebook. Thanks to Netbooks' move to more features and larger-size screens, the distinction between the two can now be considered little more than marketing speak.
We recently wrote about the fall's coming battle between Netbooks--a category now 2 years old--and thin and light notebooks with consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) processors. In theory, the value of a Netbook--with its small keyboard, small screen, and lack of an optical drive--vs. an ultralight laptop with a long battery life and a full-size keyboard for roughly the same price was very low.
But now that we're actually seeing how PC makers are packaging and selling CULV notebooks (take Dell's recent introduction of its Inspiron 11z notebook) it's obvious: Netbooks are nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks.
Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook
(Credit: Dell)The distinction made some sense early on. The first Netbooks were very small, around 7 or 8 inches, and were used for little more than getting online. They were marketed by smaller brands such as Asus and MSI as super portable, inexpensive notebooks that ran Linux, cutting out much of the cost tacked on with a Windows license. But they didn't really take off until Microsoft began offering Windows XP specifically for Netbooks, long after it was no longer available on new laptops and desktops.
The big PC makers, understandably, wanted a piece of the action too, but not at the expense of cannibalizing their budget-conscious traditional notebook lines. So Netbooks were sold as a "companion device." As in, if you keep some of your data "in the cloud" as with e-mail on Yahoo or Gmail or pictures on Facebook or Picasa, and you stream music on a service like Pandora or Last.fm, you can use your regular notebook at home and use something smaller on the road that still affords access to a lot of your stuff.
But then people outside the tech-savvy early-adopter crowd started buying Netbooks in droves--16 million of them were sold in North America in 2008--because they were so much cheaper than most traditional laptops, and with XP, had a familiar operating system. Their popularity, probably not coincidentally, began to grow right around the time the economy crumbled.
Dell Inspiron 11z notebook
(Credit: Dell)Then, earlier this year, Intel started pushing the idea of ultra-low voltage processors that are inexpensive and offer better battery life. PC makers, of course, like this idea because they can package them in yet more new hardware and can charge a bit more than they would for a Netbook.
Which brings us to Dell announcing its $399 Inspiron 11z. It certainly looks like a Netbook and has a Netbook-like price, yet to Dell, it's not a Netbook. Instead, the company describes it as a notebook with a slightly faster processor, and 1GB of more memory.
Acer says Netbooks "typically" have Atom processors, weigh less than 3 pounds, have screens between 10 and 11.6 inches, and are in the $299 range. HP says Netbooks are smaller than 12 inches and intended as companion devices designed for "content consumption, while the traditional notebook PC is also designed for content creation as well as consumption."
It's clear this is mostly arbitrary. If there were a technical definition it wouldn't be constantly in a state of flux: two years ago, Netbooks would have been defined as something with a much smaller screen, at least as small as 7 inches, and a more expensive starting price.
But it's most helpful to look at one from each category side by side. Let's compare the $399 Inspiron 11z (whose price might go up slightly when the promotion is over) and the Dell Mini 10 Netbook, which I configured with roughly the same specs, but that comes out to a slightly pricier $424.
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Notebook vs. Netbook Here's a side-by side comparison of the specs for Dell's Inspiron 11z and Inspiron Mini 10. |
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| Dell Inspiron 11z notebook | Dell Inspirion Mini 10 Netbook | |
| Color | Obsidian black | Obsidian black |
| Processor | Intel Celeron 723 (1.2GHz) | Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz) |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium with free upgrade kit to Windows 7 | Windows XP Home Edition SP3 |
| Screen size | 11.6-inch HD (1366x768) display | 10.1-inch HD (1366x768) display |
| Memory | 2GB memory | 1GB memory |
| Hard drive | 250GB hard drive | 160GB hard drive |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11b/g | 802.11g |
| Webcam | 1.3 megapixels | 1.3 megapixels |
| Battery | 28 watt-hours, about 3 hours of life | 28 watt-hours, about 3 hours of life |
| Price as configured | $399 | $424 |
Color, screen resolution, battery, Wi-Fi, Webcam? The same. And they both lack an internal optical drive. The differences, though relatively small, can be summed up in the 11z notebook's 1.5 inches of extra screen real estate, a more powerful Celeron processor, 1GB of extra memory, and a larger hard drive. Plus, by getting the notebook with Vista, you have an automatic free upgrade to Windows 7. With any computer with XP, it costs around $100 to get Windows 7 Home Premium Edition.
The specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other. And the way Dell introduced the 11z doesn't clear matters up. Dell's official blog notes that "the Inspiron 11z blends Netbook-like portability with laptop-like capability."
If the specs and capabilities are essentially the same, and the size (both 1-inch thin) and weight (the 11z is 3 pounds, the Mini 10 2.6 pounds) are essentially the same, one of these is not more "portable" than the other. The only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices besides names.
Now, it's true not every manufacturer will sell a notebook so similar to what it calls a Netbook. HP sells Netbooks and ultrathin CULV laptops, as do Lenovo, Acer, and many others. But Dell's blurring of the line between the two appears to reflect the lack of clarity of the whole industry when it comes to how to balance selling more laptops, pricing them attractively when many buyers are pinching pennies, and still finding a way to make some sort of profit.
Because the definition of Netbook is so arbitrary, and because you get so much more for your money with thin and light CULV-based notebooks, it's really not hard to imagine the former flood of Netbooks to the market slowing down to a trickle.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
Can we all agree on something? There's no longer a difference between a Netbook and a notebook.
Nope, we can't cause Netbooks are sporting screen sizes between 7 and 10.2inch. That's the well known definition of Intel and Microsoft and these guys are right with it.
Guess why you are only seeing MID hardware in these larger platforms? Cause Intel don't want the OEMs to cannibalize their notebook and subnotebook sales.
It's people like you, calling these systems netbooks, which confuses the customers!
"Because the definition of Netbook is so arbitrary, and because you get so much more for your money with thin and light CULV-based Netbooks, it's really not hard to imagine the former flood of Netbooks to the market slowing down to a trickle. "
Holy **** (sorry about that) seems like you are also working for some marketing office :) Ever tried one? Ever even compared it to a netbook? Do you know about the platform and its' performance?
This is just another marketing spin to punish the most exciting market down and it's completely wrong!
My job is to review these products every day. I had about 150+ netbooks in my hand, and many culv platforms. I think the consumer market speaks out very loud, no matter how many other badly reasearched netbook rants we will see appearing.
Kinda shocking to read this article on cnet, cause it just proves that you have no clue about the market.
Personally, I see no reason for the term "Netbook" to exist. Given that the "Netbooks" have considerably more power than computers that we were perfectly happy to call "Notebooks" years ago the distinction is fairly meaningless and always has been.
By the way Net Book= smaller, cheaper because less power (thats why they run XP) note books
But I really don't see the point of the term Netbook from a pure practical standpoint. As the tech in netbooks has matched that of ultra portables (in some cases exceeded), why then do we need to differentiate computers in the same class into arbitrary subsections? They are all ultaportables in my opinion.
Just because some products have crossed the boundary doesn't mean you drop the category, you recategorize those products.
The key distinction for me was the Atom processor, so the 11z is clearly a Notebook, but form factor has to play a little as well and here again, the 11z is really close to 12", so it would be a notebook.
Look at it another way. There are a number of media servers and media PCs out there that really are no different in specs than the typical PC. Yet, while the specs may be similar...it's the activity with the device that gives these devices their name.
I've been in the IT world for the last 25 years, and have never been so baffled with the hardware market like I am now.
After almost two years of looking thru (virtual) shop windows, I thought I made my mind up and decided that, after all, actually after most of my friends and colleagues getting one, I needed a netbook.
Yes, you know, you need one when you're on vacation and the Internet spot at your hotel is ALWAYS swamped with Facebook teen addicts, and yes, bcuz your smartphone is so uncomfortable to browse with, with it's 3.8" display, wi-fi and hdsupa capabilities.
So, imagine my surprise when, finally starting to look in depth at specs, capabilities and typical use cases, I found out that, due to crappy onboard graphical chipsets, 90% of actual netbooks can't even let you browse Youtube for some streamed video content, and it'll be wise to wait for next year, when generation netbooks will be here, or just for Windows 7 Basic to be installed on actual ones.
I'm not talking about heavy graphical duty applications like Photoshop, or Premiere, I'm talking about the inability to give the user a simple, but thourough, internet browsing session.
After all, I felt relieved I waited until now, more like next year, to buy one, so that I didn't trade 300 bucks for a piece of crap with not much, except the 10" display, than what I already have in my HTC smartphone. With all this fuss and marketing hype, I nearly fell in the ole trap...
While the Netbook 'works', the slow down in doing simple word processing and browser tasks just became unbearable. With a virus scanner running in the background, I started to avoid using my Netbook. I finally decided to ditch Windows XP and try it with Linux. Let me first say that I'm a Windows guy. I have a few dual boot computers but I generally always run WIndows. Dropping Windows and installing Linux, for me, is like going nuclear. However, after I did, it made all the difference in the world. Quite simply, the Netbook does not have the processing power to handle multiple applications working at the same time. The Netbook needs to be renamed to the Linux Machine. It seems perfectly designed to exploit the weakness in Windows and the strengths of Linux. For low end machines, Linux gives you bang for your buck (or no bucks).
If you think Linux runs well on a netbook, try Win7. You'll get all the performance you want, and STILL be able to use common Windows apps. It's like the OS was designed for netbooks.
The Toshiba Netbook feels like a much more expensive computer now. If only I could get the internal sound to work right. All the Voodoo drivers crackle after waking from sleep.
Putting OS X on a netbook or any non-Apple hardware is a violation of Apple's EULA and opens you up to a civil lawsuit for depriving Apple of $599.99, the price of the lowest entry level Apple computer that runs a full version of OS X. While this is not technically illegal at this time, Apple would surely like to make it so. Apple does not approve or authorize this activity.
You will see reasonably priced netbooks sporting nine to ten hours of active use time and as much as five hours of media playback time for video and perhaps thirty hours for non-net connected audio. The notebook/laptop range is not going to sport those times without some huge expanded battery.
And as others above have mentioned, size does matter. I don't want an 11" screen! I want something that carried easily in one hand. No case, no bag, maybe just a silicone skin.
It's the same old game every school season, they try to sucker the parents looking to buy their kids a new computer with low prices and outdated hardware. They should be sued for false and deceptive advertising.
The word is McDonald's. It is spelled with an upper case D and an apostrophe. Don't insult another person's grammar and spelling when you can do no better.
After "By the way", you need a comma. Your "moneyrules" should be in quotes. After "spelling and grammar", you should have a comma. Ditto on the mkgmkg3 comments.
Bt evry1 b mkn mstakes, eh?
Drawbacks
1.You cannot play a simple audio cd/dvd/vcd /karaoke vcd/dvd when you take netbook while traveling a purchace a holiday dvd for viewing while travelling.
2.You cannot multitask ie office edit/presentation wirh multimedia comtent and to edit video content.
3.You cannot upload your holiday snaps since the memory is limited on board net books and not all netbooks support external hard drives and carrying a hardrive with all the cables is cumbersome during travelling.
4.You cannot burn images/video to store and to give it to your friiends while travelling because no opical rw dvd drive built-in.
5.The price are too much for a net book and for the same price i would buy a proper laptop/notebook
I WOULD NEVER BUY A NETBOOK FOR THE ABOVE REASONS AND FOR THE SMAE PRICE NOTEBOOK IS FOR ME
Net book is lioke driving a 3 wheeler with multiple limitations i would rather drive ANY 4 wheeler
min-mza
I have a full size laptop (for work) but prefer the longer battery life and size for taking my netbook on vacation etc. In fact I gave my previous personal full-size laptop away.
My wife, has both too; one for when she is working all day at a client and needs the full size keyboard/screen and performance of a "desktop replacement" type machine and a 3G netbook if she's just visiting for a meeting and just needs to take notes and check mail while out of the office for a short period.
For both of us we find the lack of bulk and weight a distinct advantage, and the performance no worse than with the previous generations of laptops we've owned.
I think both have a place and neither of us trust the "cloud" for our work or personal data so that's not a motivator, and the price of the netbooks mean I've bought one just to take apart and get out the dremel to play with (the aim for me is a 9" keyboard-less "tablet" portable MAME station ;-)
Sure, today you can point to Atom and say "that's a netbook." But we'll see future iterations of Atom, new Intel ultramobile processors, successors to AMD's Yukon, a Windows 7 OS that's more low-end friendly than Vista is that will all tend to blur the current boundaries. What do you call a notebook with the next entry-level processor when it comes with a 12" screen?
Of course, manufacturers will create convenient categories at any given point in time and, perhaps, netbooks will remain a convenient shorthand for whatever the entry category is.
CULV's are quite different and are targeting different customers. They use faster processors that use less power and offer more memory and more features.
Telling people that there is no difference is a disservice to the public. They may believe that and buy a netbook thinking they can do the same things as they could with a NOTEBOOK and be sorely disappointed. And although this Dell you refer to is only ONE STEP above a netbook, it is NOT the same thing.
Journalism has been so degraded. It is no wonder why all the newspapers are going out of business. Instead it has stooped to companies paying bloggers.
http://laptoping.com/intel-atom-benchmark.html
"According to the Super PI test result, the Atom at 1.6GHz is a little bit faster than the old Intel Pentium III-M ?Tualatin? at 1.13GHz, but slower than the laptop-use Intel Celeron M ?Dothan-512? at 900MHz, utilized in the Asus Eee PC. However, Super PI is a single-threaded application, while the ?Silverthorne? CPUs incorporate HyperThreading technology for improved performance of multi-threaded software."
So I still stand by my above statement unless someone can show me in benchmarks where I"m wrong. At best, performance wise, they're both kinda crappy.
"According to the Super PI test result, the Atom at 1.6GHz is a little bit faster than the old Intel Pentium III-M ?Tualatin? at 1.13GHz, but slower than the laptop-use Intel Celeron M ?Dothan-512? at 900MHz, utilized in the Asus Eee PC. However, Super PI is a single-threaded application, while the ?Silverthorne? CPUs incorporate HyperThreading technology for improved performance of multi-threaded software."
So I stand by my above statement until someone can show me in a benchmark differently.
disc-based games, then I will disagree with the author's assertion that "There's no longer a difference between a Netbook and a notebook."
- by Vegaman_Dan August 20, 2009 8:37 AM PDT
- It's all about form factor and usability.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- by Andy S. August 20, 2009 9:49 AM PDT
- Thank you, Dan. Analogies to motor vehicles always make things more clear, and should be used as much as possible.
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- by Vegaman_Dan August 20, 2009 12:50 PM PDT
- @Andy S:
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (96 Comments)Scooters and motorcycles are both two wheel vehicles designed to carry one or two people down the road at moderate speeds. The scooter is smaller, light weight, has less horse power, and is limited to slower speeds. It also costs little in comparison to many other two wheel vehicles. The motorcycle is typically larger, faster, more powerful, and more expensive. The two have crossover in some speed areas, and there are some scooters that can travel highway speeds, albeit very poorly. Just as a large Honda Goldwing is not the vehicle you would take on down to the corner store for a gallon of milk- the scooter is better for that. I also don't want to go cross country on a scooter.
Different vehicles, different needs, different applications. It's the very same thing for netbooks / notebooks.
The biggest, and frankly the only important, difference between a netbook and notebook is the existence of (or lack of) a standard size optical drive. It's not about the processor and only slightly about the screen size. You can not install any common software (MS Office, Photoshop, or any decent games) or watch DVD's on a netbook without some kind of workaround. Therefore you either just use your netbook for more or less surfing the net (as the name implies), or you buy a real notebook that can do everything.
I will admit, netbooks are tempting, but I always come back to the same conclusion. Why spend $300-$400 on a good netbook, when you can spend $350-$400 on a low end notebook that has the same specs. It is worth the extra size and weight to do more when I travel.
It's hard to tell if you are being sarcastic or not in your comments.
I've got several tablet PC's right now that do not have an optical drive, yet weigh more and are larger than most laptops and certainly larger than a netbook. With today's shift to USB storage over DVD, I don't think that's really a valid point anymore unless you wish to watch DVD's straight from the drive itself.
As for installing software, all the examples you listed offer downloads of the products from online resources and I expect that will become the norm soon enough.
I love my MacBookPro. But even at 15", it's a heavy monster and not very portable to put in your backpack. The battery is quite small for the size and performance is limited accordingly. My Acer netbook has the expanded battery and runs 9 hours easily. That fits very nicely in my backpack and is my portable system. I don't confuse the two or ask them to do the same tasks.