horzo

December 01, 2008 at 4:03pm

I can definitely see the use of netbooks for in-class note taking and travel if you don't need to run anything resource-intensive. Using it as a primary PC? Hell no. Considering how cheap they are, who cares?

mikemckay

December 01, 2008 at 4:18am

its the portability!! im a student with a normal laptop and a netbook and i would MUCH rather take the netbook to school on days when i am just taking notes or doing something on the internet and do not need something more powerful to run sql management studio express or visual studio etc. the battery life is way better too which means in addition to carrying a smaller and lighter laptop around, often i dont even have to take the power brick with me either, which takes a LOT of extra space and is usually a pain given the size and shape of the brick and power cords. the power brick for my normal laptop is bigger than a 500ml soft drink can....with the netbook its about as big as half a deck of cards. people dont usually pay much attention to the power bricks and their size/weight but when you are on the go its important too!

Wildebeast

November 30, 2008 at 8:19pm

I've been watching broken/repaired used laptops sell on eBay for a while. 

I think there is a market for cheap, light machines that are internet & productivity app capabile.

Maybe not power-users, but for retirees & adolescents (or pre-adolescent) ---something like a MacAir, with just enough specs to run the office suites, internet, maybe a little multi-media --it sounds pretty good.  It doesn't need a huge screen, touchscreen, or even be all that light.  --Just fill the necessities & not be so expensive that loss or damage means you have to save over several pay-checks before you have a working unit again.

I suspect the OEMs ignore this possiblity, because they'd rather sell machines in the low price-range that are "borderline," with chipsets and other parts that they want to sell at a "just get rid of it," price.  (Kind of like computer printers --without the expected payday from ink cartridges.)

Maybe they literally can't make a profit on an inexpensive machine, without loading it with second-rate parts.

Is there some other reason you can't get a netbook with an Atom, a 14 inch screen, and a semi-standard sized keyboard???  I haven't heard yet, if they are sticking these in the EEpc yet.

JMG760

November 30, 2008 at 6:25pm

As soon as Intel releases a dual-core atom atleast 2GHz with a 800 fsb I will be satisfied. And companies like ASUS equiping their netbooks with a decent videocard that can atleast play all of the new games on a netbook is awesome. No GEEK can go wrong with that setup. But the single-core atoms running at 1.6GHz are worthless. Netbooks can be use for almost any task at hand except burn cds but now a days who uses discs, but you can always use an external optical drive if you still need that option. Netbooks at the moment do not have the power to replace your typical laptop but having one can be more convenient for its compact size and battery life; compared to a $300-$600 laptop that can be bulky with old hardware that has a lower battery life. Until Intel comes out with its dual-core atoms for netbooks higher than 1.6GHz will be a relief of satisfaction, for now we can only dream.   =, (

scuzzo

November 30, 2008 at 5:26pm

I don't understand why people want to pay $300 for something that wants to be a laptop when it grows up. I can Craigslist an add for a laptop for the same price and get twice the machine. If I kick in an extra $100 I can get a new laptop. None of any of this makes any sense to me. It's just like throwing good money out the window. I understand they are "ultra-portable", but why would I want to carry around one of these things when I can't even use them to do anything other than the very lightest work.