The $330 and above netbook market is dead
It’s hard to believe that it was less than a year ago when higher end netbooks still commanded $600 and maybe even above. But if you bought a netbook in the last month or two for $400 or more, this is a good time to kick yourself. Last week a premium netbook should fetch well below $400, but that market just died with the arrival of cheap $400 Acer Aspire AS1410-2285 ultraportable.
The AS1410-2285 has the following notable specifications.
- Dual-core 1.2 GHz SU2300 “CULV” processor
- Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics chipset
- 11.6″ LCD w/LED backlight
- Full size keyboard
- Windows 7 Home Premium x64 edition
- VGA and HDMI port
- 6-cell battery
- Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11 a/b/g/n
- 0.87″ to 1.18″ thick and 3.08 lbs
- 160 GB 2.5″ SATA HDD
- 2 GB RAM
- Two real mouse buttons instead of a cheap imitation MacBook button that works like garbage.
- Did NOT see anything about BlueTooth but you can buy one of those tiny dongles for $10 or less if you get a bargain.
This is the sort of specification that would have probably fetched close to $2000 just two years ago but the “race to the bottom” has been won by Acer. While I’m sure this saddens those in the notebook industry, consumers are rejoicing. I saw an ad over this weekend for a netbook with Windows 7 “Starter Edition” for $368 so I feel for the poor guy/gal who buys it.
It’s worth noting that the HP Mini 311 netbook with NVIDIA Ion still sells for $400. While the NVIDIA Ion LE graphics chipset in the Mini 311 is about 79% faster than the GMA 4500MHD in 3DMark2006, the Atom CPU in the Mini 311 CPU is slower than a dual-core 1.2 GHz SU2300 especially for multi-thread optimized workloads. So which product is better depends on your preferred workload, but I personally don’t take gaming on netbooks too seriously.
A netbook which is also a real laptop. Refreshing.
@Charles N. Burns
It’s technically not a netbook since it doesn’t use an Atom chip. It’s got a Penryn-class Core 2 45nm CPU which runs at about half the speed of my X200 laptop costing nearly 4 times as much. But honestly, that’s fast enough for most tasks with the exception of maybe doing real-time 720P H.264 video encode/decode which is necessary for HD video conferencing. But the built-in webcam doesn’t really support that detail level anyways.
While gaming on Netbooks could be a market, the screen size and lack of power is simply not convincing. I couldn’t think of a reason to sacrifice a quality hardware just to shrink the laptop a couple of pounds to game on the road. Most of the gamers I know would rather have between a 15″ and 19″ laptop while the rest of the notebook market want something in a smaller form factor.
Then again, after InfinityWard and Modern Warfare2 debacle, I see little in the market of PC gaming if the game designers are going to lock the PC gamers out of openness of the platform that allows them to develop their own content.
George while the Atom processor is normally the marker of a netbook, not all Netbooks have Intel Processors. There never really has been a definition of a netbook. This would still fall under the sub-notebook market as the laptop is closer to the specifications of other sub-notebook.
As for the single mouse button, you can’t really credit Mac with that anymore, they moved on. But I did love that feature on my ASUS Eee 701 before I gave it up.
@nucrash
Oh I don’t give Apple “credit” for the single-button mouse; I BLAME them for it.
@George Ou
hahaha. love it
Netbook manufacturers just don’t get it.
The problem with netbooks is the size of the screen. If you go 10 inches, you might as well use your cell phone.
Intel’s policy to restrict screen sizes on Atom processors is a measure to prevent cannibalization of its own higher margined ultraportable market(ie Macbook air).
If you are going to use core2 ULV CPUs like the Acer one, you should aim for a 13.3 or 14.1 inch LED screen to target the macbook air market. 2 more inches of screen shouldn’t cost more than 50 dollars, and you can get a $500 laptop that will compete very well against Macbook air. That’s the ultimate market that’s lacking in options right now.
@TS
There are many Netbooks with 11.6″ or 12.1″ displays. So your theory doesn’t hold water.
There are 14″ models for $399 with Windows 7 Premium and running faster dual-core processors. But guess what? A lot of people still want something more portable than a 14″ notebook and they want something with better battery life. 11.6″ is just fine if you have good eye sight and they want something small and easy to handle.
@George
Hey what’s up man. I haven’t been able to find a Atom 330+Ion+14.1 inch screen ultraportable for $399 yet. I doubt I can find a dual core ULV+Ion+14.1 inch for $400. Otherwise, I would have bought one
BTW, the Dell Studio 15 is pretty tasty with a i7 1.6Ghz for $999.
Basically, what I want is this Acer laptop in Dell Adamo-style thin casing and 14.1 inch LED for $500(It is probably doable, if they dropped the Windows 7 license and went Ubuntu or OpenSolaris free license and used the extra $150 to upgrade the case and screen.) If you look at the specs the Dell Adamo is 1.2Ghz too, so probably the same hardware as this Acer.
So if Acer ups the screen to 14 inches, and ups the style and price to $500, I would buy that in a sec.
@TS
http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=32664&adid=8494870&subid=27213666&type=
Try that. $399 dual-core 14″ with Win7 Premium.
I am aware of those 35W TDP cheap laptops.
The point is that I am looking for the 8W Atom330 or the 10W SU2300 ULV in a Adamo style case.
@TS
Why? Why do you want such a low powered laptop when you can get 7 or 8 hours out of a battery with a similar form factor and more powerful processor?
Are you the same guy who wants a Mac truck with a 4 cylinder engine?