The once popular netbook is now on the verge of extinction.

Say goodbye to the netbook as you know it. In a couple of years, netbooks will virtually disappear from the market place, becoming the first true casualty of the tablet era. Even today there really isn't much of a market for netbooks, a category that was at the height of its popularity just three short years ago. In 2010, it seemed like OEMs were lining our inboxes with new netbooks announcements on a daily basis.

A number of factors will lead to declining hard drive shipments this year, IHS iSuppli says.

Facing stiff competition from tablets, smartphones, and solid state drives (SSDs), mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) shipments are expected to fall 12 percent this year, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli. HDD revenue will drop at about the same clip, declining 11.8 percent to $32.7 billion in 2013, down from $37.1 billion in 2012, and remaining flat in 2014.

Solid state drive (SSD) shipments are forecast to more than double in 2013.

It's going to be several years before solid state drives (SSDs) reach the same or similar market share as mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs), but in the meantime, one of those storage sectors is seeing explosive growth. According to IHS iSuppli, a new generation of lower-cost and more appealing Ultrabooks will help double the number of SSD shipments to 83 million units in 2013, up from 39 million in 2012. By 2016, IHS iSuppli believes SSD shipments will reach 40 percent the size of the HDD market.

Historically speaking, if there's one thing memory chip makers could count on, it's that a new operating system from Microsoft would lead to double-digit percentage increases in quarterly DRAM shipments. That is, until now. According to IHS iSuppli, Windows 8 will have a positive impact in DRAM shipments, but quarterly growth this time around is expected to stay in single-digit territory.