Low Cost NetBook is Making a Note in the Market

By Hadee Roslan

2008 will probably be known as the year low cost netbooks made it into the mainstream market. It all started out when ASUS came out with their first so called Eee netbook offering. The majority of hardware vendors watched from afar as the ASUS Eee made headway in the netbook market segment.

A netbook, is essentially a notebook. It looks and functions exactly the same. The main differences between the two are in terms of size, weight, and perhaps, performance. Following is what the latest netbook offerings are running on:

• CPU: Intel Atom N2670 1.6GHz
• Storage: 6GB SSD – 160GB SATA HDD
• RAM: 512MB – 1GB (Upgradable to 2 – 4 GB)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth / Ethernet / WiFi / USB
• Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics
• Resolution: 1024 x 600
• Size: 9″ – 12″
• Weight: 1kg++
• Price: USD299 – USD699

What started as just a one vendor show has now quickly become a hot topic in the IT industry. It’s just amazing how this relatively new market segment of the computing world have grown within the past year. The big players have joined in the fray. Dell, HP, and very recently Lenovo are now offering their netbook products in the market.

Why did the low cost netbook market segment became successful? How did they get to be regarded as the Best Small Laptops? The boom in this product area is simply baffling. This is because, earlier attempts to market products in this segment have failed. The previous Ultra Mobile Portable Computer (UMPC) never took off. Tablet PC took quite a while before it finally found its niche area in medical industry. What’s so special about the netbooks that people are taking note of it and liking it?

The main reason for its success is probably due to the price these netbooks are offered at. At a range of USD299 – USD699, the netbooks are affordable to a large number of the world’s population. Being low cost, many people are willing to spend and try it our for themselves. The price is also in the sweet spot for those who are looking at buying a second or third computer for themselves or their loved ones.

When ASUS came out with their Eee model, they were not trying to create a new concept of computing. They were strictly trying to create a notebook pc that is highly affordable for the masses. The Eee is essentially still a notebook computer. It’s just a stripped down version of a notebook.

By not creating a new computing concept, people are more than ready to accept what ASUS has to offer. Notebooks are a very well accepted concept in the computing world. People just need to get used to the concept that its a stripped down version of their current notebooks. A concept not difficult to swallow. You get what you paid for. Cheaper means less. A universally accepted concept.

People readily accepted what they get for the price of these low cost netbooks are less powerful notebooks. Less CPU power, less screen space, less storage space, etc. They however, still get the same functionality of full powered notebooks. They get to use the netbooks to perform their normal work, albeit with some performance degradation and limitations.

Netbooks on the other hand solves many a people’s problem with aching backs due to carrying heavy notebooks every single day. Weighing in at just over 1kg, the netbooks really does lift off a lot of burden from the shoulders of thousands of current notebook users. These people will certainly appreciate this one particular benefit of having a netbook. I know I would.

Hadee Roslan is a Computer Systems Engineer. He blogs about current events in computer technology.

If you are looking for low cost netbooks, you should take a look at the Low Cost NetBook Market. Get value for your dollars from the Best Price Netbook.

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