Netbooks: Revolutionizing the Computer Industry

Relatively new computer devices emerging in late 2007, early 2008, netbooks are storming markets with attractive pricing, competing with their laptop and notebook forefathers. Used mainly to surf the web and perform small computer functions, consumers now have the option to have a dulled down laptop that will meet their computing needs at a fraction of the cost.

The netbook philosophy is to utilize the Internet applications such as presentations, spreadsheets, word processing, and even storage, as hard drives have just recently increased up to 250 GB from 160 GB. As these are actually larger hard drives for netbooks, some are even justified to come with solid-state drives that are fast and small, but usually do not exceed 32 GB. Netbooks are not powerhouse machines, but are portals to internet-based applications and products.

As storage space remains predominantly low on netbooks, so does memory and processing speeds. Processors are, on average, at about 1.6 GHz. Additionally, a traditional netbook provides about 1 GB of memory, while 512 MB is not uncommon. After all, these machines are not designed to run much more than an Internet browser, which ultimately keeps cost down.

Consumers that are seeking these cost-effective computers thinking they are just getting a miniature laptop may be in for a surprise. Users of netbooks will not find any optical drive on netbooks, as not only is there no room in a 7″ to 10″ sized machine, but it also defeats the “gateway to the internet” philosophy. Netbooks, however, do come equipped with USB ports for external hard drives or USB drives.

The evolution of netbooks has been quite mind boggling for manufactures. When they were first introduced, manufacturers were adamant about keeping features and specifications of their netbook products at a minimum, as to not intrigue their laptop consumers to switch over to a less expensive product. This marketing ploy has been less effective recently as less expensive, and profitable, netbooks have impacted sales of laptops and notebooks. Computer manufactures are now faced with investing more effort into less profitable netbooks to compete with their adversaries.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEM), such as Microsoft and Intel have had to meet the demand of netbooks, and have developed products for these tiny marvels of computers. Microsoft has introduced Windows XP at low costs for netbook users, and even claims that their operating system is running on 96% of netbooks. Linux has also introduced an operating system to the netbook market, but only shares less than 10% of consumer’s OS purchases. Intel’s Atom processor line offers small, low-energy, as well as, lower powered processors for netbooks.

On average, netbooks are hovering around $300, and are inexpensive alternatives to laptops due to their reduced computing capabilities. As a gateway to the Internet, netbooks are finding themselves in homes that never had a computer before, and are revolutionizing the computer industry.

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Tagged with: laptop • laptop computers • mini notebooks • netbook • netbooks

Filed under: Computers and Technology

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