Netbooks : Taking the market share away from laptops

Written by Administrator Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00

ASUS generated a lot of buzz with its Eee-branded line of products, starting with the Eee PC netbook and is responsible for introducing the netbook to the PC market as an affordable and simple laptop solution for students.A netbook (a portmanteau of the words Internet and notebook) is a small portable laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet.By late 008, netbooks had begun to take market share aw...

ASUS generated a lot of buzz with its Eee-branded line of products, starting with the Eee PC netbook

and is responsible for introducing the netbook to the PC market as an affordable and simple laptop

solution for students.

A netbook (a portmanteau of the words Internet and notebook) is a small portable laptop computer

designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet.

By late 008, netbooks had begun to take market share away from laptops. It is estimated that almost

thirty times more netbooks were sold in 008 (11.4 mn) than in 007 (400,000).

After the release of the ASUS`s Eee PC, almost every major PC vendor HP, Sony, MSI, Toshiba, Acer,

Dell have released competing models. Some companies design them in different directions away from

the original Eee PC and they got bigger, more powerful, more expensive, and have even become luxury

items. Furthermore, Windows XP has dominated over Linux as the installed operating system.

ASUS range
1.    ASUS Eee PC 701 4G: with Xandros version of Linux, had a 4GB solid state drive, a small 7in

screen, 51MB of RAM and an Intel Celeron M CPU, also available in a variety of color at a cost of $349.
.    ASUS Eee PC 900: With slightly bigger 8.9in screen, but it has more storage and RAM and is

available with either or operating system versions.
3.    ASUS Eee PC 901: based on the Intel Atom N70 (1.6GHz) CPU, Gigabit Ethernet and 80.11n

wireless networking with 6-cell battery, sleeker but heavier model has an 8.9in screen, 1GB of RAM and

was available with either Linux (0GB storage) or Windows XP (1GB storage)  operating systems

installed. It cost $47.
4.    ASUS Eee PC 1000H: with its spinning hard drive it gives little more speed than those solid state

drive-based models. Features are same as Eee PC 901 with 10in screen and little closer to a

conventional notebook but it only cost $509.
5.    ASUS Eee PC 1000HE: with new œChiclet keyboard that provides wider gaps between the keys to

improve key travel, it includes a 10in screen, 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM and an Intel Atom N70

1.6GHz CPU, cost $654.


HP range
HP was the nd vendor after ASUS to introduce a netbook to the market.
1.    HP 133 Mini-Note PC aims at business users, not students. It had an 8.9in screen, a VIA C7-M

CPU (1.6GHz), GB of RAM, a huge 160GB hard drive, and it was the first netbook to run Windows Vista

Business edition. It also had an ExpressCard/54 slot, making it a desirable choice for users wanting to

use a 3G data card. It cost $499 at release.
.    HP Mini 1001TU: with $399 price tag, smaller and cooler than the 133 Mini-Note, it is based on an

Intel Atom N70 CPU (1.6GHz), 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive and 80.11g wireless networking but a

bigger 10.in screen.
3.    HP Mini 140: features are similar to the 133 Mini-Note but an Intel Atom CPU instead of a VIA

C7-M CPU and the option to use Windows Vista Business or Windows XP.


MSI Wind U100
MSI was the 3rd vendor to enter the netbook market. With its white color, a 10in screen, an 80GB hard

drive, 1GB RAM, ran Windows XP, and Intel`s Atom N70 CPU (1.6GHz) it provides excellent battery life

through its 6-cell battery. Its price was $509 at launch.

Acer Range
The next vendor was Acer with its Linpus-based Aspire One netbooks.
Acer Aspire One: It has an 8.9in screen, weighed only 900 grams, 51MB of RAM available at a cost of

$436. It has an 8GB solid state drive installed, but also included two SD memory card slots but there is

also a Windows XP version available with 1.5GB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive for $509.
Acer Aspire One AOD 150: It is a 10.in version with 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard

drive, Windows XP, but it does have the best screen quality for a netbook.


Dell range
1.    Dell Inspiron Mini 9: It has an 8.9in screen, a solid state drive (16GB), an Intel Atom N70 CPU

(1.6GHz), and 1GB of RAM. Despite its poor design, the Mini 9 was the unit of choice for mobile phone

vendors.
.    Dell Inspiron Mini 1: It has a 10.in screen, uses an Intel Atom Z530 (1.6GHz) CPU rather than an

N70 model, runs Windows XP, 1GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive. Due to the 3-cell battery, the Mini

1 has poor battery life, and at $618 it is an expensive unit considering you does not even get 80.11n

wireless networking.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10
Lenovo`s IdeaPad S10 netbook is more in the news because the Department of Education and

Training`s choose it for teachers and students. It`s a deal set to be worth $109 million and will roll out

67,000 units.
The Lenovo netbook was chosen over other has nice styling, runs Windows XP, has a 160GB hard

drive, a 10in screen, and 1GB of RAM. Those specifications are standard, but the notebook has an

ExpressCard/34 expansion slot. The IdeaPad S10 does offer increased drive capacity which may be of

benefit when running memory intensive applications.

Toshiba NB100
It is an 8.9in, Windows XP-based netbook with an Intel Atom N70 (1.6GHz) CPU, 1GB of RAM and a

10GB hard drive. Added advantage œthe sleep-and-charge USB port for $50 it is a little overpriced, but

it is a convenient laptop to use while travelling.

Fujitsu M1010
The M1010 is small 8.9in screen, but feature-rich, as it includes an ExpressCard/34 slot. It is based on

an Intel Atom N70 CPU (1.6GHz), 1GB RAM, and has a 60GB hard drive. It costs $509.

Sony P-series
The Sony Vaio P comes preinstalled with Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Business, it

has an 8" LED-backlit display with resolution of 1600x768, weighs 1.4-1.7 pounds, with either a 1.33

GHz Intel Atom Z50 or a 1.6 GHz Atom Z530 processor, and GB DDR memory with 533 MHz FSB,

64GB or 18GB solid state drive storage. An integrated webcam is located on the upper right corner. It

also features built-in GPS, Bluetooth, 80.11 b/g/n wireless, mobile broadband, and an Intel Graphics

Media Accelerator 500 video card. It is available in four color options; Black, Red, Green, and White.

Samsung Range
1.    Samsung NC10: It uses a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N70 processor, 10." screen with 104×600 pixels

and includes 1 GB of memory 93% keyboard size, 160 GB hard drive and 6-celled battery. It also

includes an SD card slot, supporting MMC, SD and SDHC cards for additional storage.
.    The Samsung NC0: With LED-backlit 1.1" screen it uses a VIA Nano ULV Processor U50

(1.3+GHz, 800MHz), and includes 1 GB RAM, a full-size keyboard, SATA 160 GB storage.
The company claims both netbooks kill bacteria with its anti-bacterial Silver Nano ions coating on the

keyboard.