Posted on 01/28/2009 10:03:59 AM PST by Domandred
A little more than a year ago, the computer industry came up with a new category of device: the "netbook."
Smaller than an ultra-portable laptop and designed primarily for Web surfing and e-mail, the hope was that these light-duty machines would carve out a new market sector as consumers' second- or even third-tier PCs — the equivalent of the kitchen TV.
Ironically, netbooks sales instead took off, thanks to the sluggish economy, and now threaten to cut into the margins of higher-end laptops. The computer industry may have succeeded in unintentionally cannibalizing its own products.
The day after market-research group NPD announced some of the first blockbuster numbers for netbook sales, I sat next to a college student on the train who was actually using one.
It was the Hewlett-Packard Mini-Note. She'd paid just under $300 for it, had had it for more than a month and was just raving about it.
"I tried them all, and this one had the biggest screen and the best keyboard," she said. "On some of the others, the keyboard was squished."
Netbooks can best be described as low-priced sub-notebook computers with limited storage, connectivity and functionality. Most of them use Intel's Atom processor and have built-in Wi-Fi but neither CD nor DVD drives.
When they first were unveiled in late 2007, many industry analysts were skeptical, to say the least.
At the low end, the machines were challenged by the expanding functionality of smartphones. At the high end, they were challenged by the shrinking size of full-function notebooks. One colleague even likened the genre to the Pet Rock.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Alltel LG
Sounds like this would be great for hurricane evacuation. Take your cell phone and little computer with you...
Not too sure about LGs. If you have a PDA with an internet connection, you can find a third party program to brigde the gap without paying any extra charge.
ping
Rip your movies to mpeg4 and you won’t need the DVD player at all.
That looks like a winner, Mary. I think that’s as good as you can get. I have an Acer One netbook, which has a ‘hundred and change’ gig hard drive (that I don’t really use), and no built in bluetooth (easily remedied).
If I were looking for another one, I’d probably go for the one you’ve picked.
However, you do know netbooks don’t have a built in dvd/cd drive, right? If you’re going to netflix, it will have to be the download kind. Also, the windows xp home OS is a plus. Many of the netbooks are linux, so not real friendly to the total non geek.
It ain’t a Mac, but it ain’t sixteen hundred bucks, either.
:)
Thanks for in the info!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.