Netbook Deal News
ASUS R051PX - Intel Atom equipped netbook with nice specs for a really ... - Australian Personal Computer
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Netbook Navigator Nav 10T Windows 7 tablet emerges - Mobiletor.com
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Asus Zenbook UX21E-DH52 - PC Magazine
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Why Microsoft May Want the Netbook to Die - PC Magazine
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MSI Introduces Wind U180 Netbook With Cedar Trail - Hot Hardware
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Netbook suit goes to Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. - Evansville Courier & Press
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The netbook lives! - BetaNews
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HP Announces Mini Netbook for Students, Business Users - PC Magazine
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YCC provides temporary cell phones - Yale Daily News
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Rayovac Laptop Battery Rebate! - Sioux City Journal
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Information on Netbooks:
A netbook is a very small, light-weight, low-cost, energy-efficient laptop, primarily used for internet based services such as web browsing, e-mailing and instant messaging. They are also suitable for light use running office and educational software although they lack the power of more expensive subnotebook PCs.
History
The concept of the netbook stems from subnotebooks, while the term itself
was introduced by Psion in 1999 and re-introduced by Intel in the first
quarter of 2008 shortly after they withdrew from the OLPC Association.
In 2007, Asus unveiled the Intel Celeron-based ASUS Eee PC range running a
customised version of Linux (or, user installed, Microsoft Windows XP) on a 7
inch color screen. These machines measure just 8.9 × 6.5in and have
less-than-full-sized keyboards. The Eee PC has been a top seller on Amazon.com
and is often sold out in retail stores. The EEE's success is largely
attributed to the relatively low price (around $350/£230/€300) compared with
standard-sized laptops, which easily priced above $1000 at that time.
In mid February 2008, Everex launched its VIA chipset based CloudBook, running
gOS. The CloudBook is based on the VIA nanobook reference design. Unlike its
closest competitor, the Eee PC, the CloudBook uses a hard-disk. The design of
the cloudbook is optimized so it can be held in one hand while typing, or in
two hands when using the mouse-cursor control, with the left thumb controlling
the two "mouse buttons", and the right thumb a small trackpad, both mousepad
and keys are placed directly under the screen.
On April 3, 2008, Microsoft announced a program to extend the availability of
Windows XP in "ultra low-cost PCs", past its original deadline for ending the
support of this operating system, as long as hardware developers deploy it on
systems with limited hardware specifications. Commentators have seen this
announcement as a market movement both to prevent mobile PCs eating market
share of full-featured desktop and laptop PCs, and to stop the advance of
Linux installations on this format.
In June 2008, MSI launched the MSI Wind PC, with features such as Bluetooth
and a 10" LED, backlit, 1024x600 screen. This new laptop is the first built
with Intel Atom low power technology and competes with the HP 2133 Mini-Note
PC which has a 8.9" screen and is capable of a higher resolution. Both laptops
are offered with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (from Novell) and Microsoft
Windows pre-installed; HP offers Windows Vista on their laptop while MSI ships
with only XP Home edition.
Hardware
The form factor of a netbook is smaller than that of a notebook and they are very light in weight. A typical model weighs 2 to 3 lb (about 1 Kg). Common features include a small screen (usually around 7-inches to 10-inches diagonal), wireless connectivity, but no optical disc drive, and a smaller sized keyboard (usually 80 percent to 95 percent of normal size). There is also a trend of using solid-state drives instead of traditional hard disk drives
Software
Netbooks typically include a pre-installed operating system, either a
custom version of a GNU/Linux or Windows XP Home Edition.[11] Many advanced
users can be found heavily active on Internet forums discussing the
installation of their choice of operating system (such as Ubuntu Netbook Remix
or Windows XP Professional). Various netbook manufacturers are said to be
catching on, and now pre-installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Netbooks are capable
of running full office applications; however, users often rely on applications
and services available on the Internet (known as cloud computing) instead, as
there are usually fewer hardware requirements.
While Windows XP should have been replaced on all new computers by 2008, the
upcoming netbook series with limited capabilities did not fulfill the
requirements for Vista. Thus Windows XP Home is still available, currently
extended from June 30, 2008 until June 30, 2010.
Microsoft qualifies ultra-low cost personal computers (ULCPCs) as systems
matching the following hardware classification requirements:
Memory: Shipped with 1 GB RAM or less
Screen: 10.2" or smaller
Storage: 80 GB (although this limit seems to be increased up to 160 GB for HDD
by now) or 16 GB SSD
No tablet PC functionality
DirectX version 9 graphics processing unit (GPU) or below
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) S4 sleep state is optional
Sales
Netbooks have begun to take market share away from laptops and sales are
expected to increase up to 50 million by the year 2012.
Netbooks were thought to be returned more frequently than ordinary laptops
according to MSI's director of US Sales, Andy Tung who alleged that
Linux-based netbooks are returned four times as often as Windows-based ones,
suggesting the excess over laptops is attributable to the purchasers'
unfamiliarity with Linux or lack of software support. However, this only
reflects MSI's data because ASUS's CEO Jerry Chen believes the Linux and
Windows versions have similar return rates while ASUS netbooks returns are
low.
Overall, the Linux market share on netbooks has increased over notebooks,
especially in Europe where the demand is higher for Linux.