The Age of Netbooks? Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Posted by carltonstedman in ideas, netbook, pc, toys.add a comment
Even with the massive inundation of so-called “netbooks” over the last two years, most notably the last year as a top seller on Amazon, there is some concern over whether or not they will exist in the future. The author of the linked article mentions price as being the dominant feature of netbooks, but I’m a bit skeptical about this. As many commenters point out, there are other unique features to the netbook category, which some recent “netbooks” have been stretching (specifically: size and battery life).
The author mentions that people are flocking in droves to Windows-based netbooks, acting as a laptop replacement. This seems to be the case, but this market is still in it’s infancy. My own opinion would be for a device that uses largely web-based or lightweight desktop/laptop replacement programs, such as throwing out Word for Google Docs, running some user-friendly Linux (while still having enough flexibility for the power user). On disk drive size: right now, people are buying up hard-drive based systems, but moving to more data sharing across the Internet could remove this requirement, allowing faster, much less power-hungry SSDs to be the norm (while price drops on them). It has yet to be seen, but, with the (hopefully) wide-spread adoption of technologies such as WiMax offering inexpensive always-on mobile Internet access, netbooks could become their namesake.
My own intentions of using a netbook would be for a lightweight web-based portable computer. My ideal specifications:
- Small, sub-10″ screen, but VGA/DVI output up to 1080p resolutions
- Sufficient video acceleration for 1080p video output to hook up to TVs, monitors, et cetera
- Minimal SSD, largely for programs and little space used for personal data
- Very fast start-up time (out of hibernation)
- 2+ GB RAM, with RAMdisk for main applications
- SDXC (or mini-/microSDXC) slot(s) for personal data storage/transfer
- eSATA/USB combo ports
- Decent sound card, ideally with a line-out and an amplified headphone-out
- A really good keyboard and multi-touch trackpad
- User-replaceable large battery for maximized battery life
- Gigabit ethernet and WiFi 802.11n for streamed audio / video over network, UPnP
- WiMax support
- Basic software interface is browser to web applications
Most of this stuff is either available now or right in the pipeline, with minimal effort. Ideally, a distro of Linux specifically for netbooks (which already exist) could be used, with web-based computing being the norm. Something like Google Gears really has potential in this segment.
Of course, this is something I’d love to use, but I can’t speak for the market. Here’s hoping it does pan out this way!
