apple netbook

Netbooks and mini-notebooks are still selling, just not very well.

Market research firm DisplaySearch crunched some numbers in its Quarterly Advanced Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report released today and came up with a good news/bad new scenario for the between-a-smartphone-and-a-notebook category.

The good news is that when combined, second-quarter shipments of tablets, Netbooks, and mini-notebooks were up 29 percent in the last year. The bad news? If you take out the 3.3 million iPads that Apple shipped during that same quarter, the tablet-mini-notebook-Netbook shipment numbers sink to 13 percent fewer shipments than the year before.

DisplaySearch is … Read more

The iPad is starting to grab market share from Netbooks, a trend that may not bode well for these small laptops, according to a report from DisplaySearch on Tuesday.

"It appears that the momentum is shifting from mini-note PCs to slates," market researcher DisplaySearch said in a note. Netbooks are small, lightweight laptops, typically powered by an Intel Atom processor. Netbooks are also referred to as "mini-notes."

In the first quarter of this year, Apple shipped almost 700,000 iPads into the channel, accounting for 6.5 percent of all mini-note PCs/slates and in the first two months of the second quarter Apple sold more than 2 million iPads, DisplaySearch said.

"DisplaySearch expects that the iPad will continue to account for an increased share of the mini-note PC/slate segment in Q2'10. In the second half of the year, as additional slates are launched, the clamshell-style mini-note PC (netbook) could continue to lose share," according to the firm.

While DisplaySearch said that the low price of Netbooks have made them an attractive alternative to standard laptops, the iPad and other tablets should continue to make inroads into this market segment that has been based on more traditional office suite applications.

"With the emergence of the iPad and other slates, this segment of the market is transitioning from devices that, though smaller and less expensive, followed typical PC market trends that are built upon Office suite applications and content creation to devices that provide the ability to create content (and) is more focused on an a la carte method for selecting the software capabilities (apps) of the device and… Read more

Apple's new iPad has legions of eager fans who attribute chameleonlike qualities to it, promoting the tablet as an ideal media player, e-book reader, gaming console, and even a Netbook replacement for basic computing chores.

Most often cited is the iPad's speed, and it indeed feels very quick and responsive, and generally comes off as a powerful tool compared with a standard Netbook, which can feel sluggish even when performing the most basic tasks.

Yet under the hood, it's obvious that a typical $299 Netbook has much more powerful hardware. It's Atom N450 CPU runs at … Read more

They were virtually unheard of a couple of years ago, but now low-cost, low-power Netbook laptops are among the most popular PCs. After all, they approximate the experience of a larger, more expensive laptop at a fraction of the size and price.

But just as we've started to see Netbooks from Asus, Acer, HP, or Dell on every coffee shop table or airplane seatback tray, Apple's iPad comes along, looking very much like a Netbook screen unhinged from the rest of its body. The question is naturally raised, is the iPad a Netbook-killer?

To pull the question back a little, when the iPad was first announced, one of the questions we wrestled with was whether it should be considered a computer at all. By some standards, the iPad is essentially a keyboardless laptop, but by others, it's more akin to a portable media player, such as the iPod Touch.

In the end, we tilted in the direction of "not a computer," and the factor that tipped the scale was Apple's use of the walled garden iPhone operating system. The iPad's lack of freedom to install basic apps and plug-ins, such as FireFox or even Flash, makes this far too limited a system to be considered a full-fledged computer.

That said, when going to press events or trade exhibitions, we sometimes leave the laptop at home if it looks like we'll only need access to e-mail, some light Web surfing, and maybe Twitter or Facebook to get through the day. After all, the iPhone, Palm Pre, and other smartphones can handle those chores under most circumstances.

So, with a bigger screen, more productivity apps, such as the iWork suite, and even an optional wireless keyboard, can we ditch our laptops and Netbooks for an iPad?

The short answer is probably not.… Read more

In case you missed it, Apple on Wednesday unveiled the long-rumored and even longer-awaited iPad, a tablet computer in the same family as the iPod Touch and iPhone. Some of my friends and colleagues are excited about the device. Indeed, it features a fairly amazing design, has a 10-hour battery life, and already has 140,000 apps in the iTunes App Store that run on it. And the inclusion of Amazon's book store is a coup.

But it's not at all what it could have been.

It's not that it isn't cool--it is, technically. But I was underwhelmed. And it's not because of the rampant rumors flying around the Internet in the last few weeks but rather because there are some simple things I had hoped--and a couple I had assumed--would be featured that aren't. Here are just five of them.

The aspect ratio isn't wide screen When the iPhone was introduced, Steven Jobs specifically said it was a "wide-screen iPod." People had been clamoring for one for a while, so Apple delivered it as an iPhone component. Sure, it wasn't the actual 16:9 many wanted, but it was better than the standard definition 4:3 that the current crop of iPods was sporting.

And the latest versions of the Nano are also wide screen. Apple TV supports 16:9 natively, so why is the iPad--with 1,024x768 pixel resolution--stuck in the world of 4:3? Apple says it plays back HD video, which technically it does, but with down-converting. HD video at 720p, which is what the iPad supports, is 720x1,280. With a maximum width of 1024 pixels, the iPad really plays back true 720p--which uses 16:9, anything else isn't truly "720p"--video at 576x1,024. That's not much better than 480p.

There are LCD screens out there in the same relative size range as the iPad that are true HD-proportioned. Why didn't Apple use one of these?

Video output is supported but only at 480p I could have forgiven the limited screen size if the device offered true HD output. It doesn't. Again, why not? The new proprietary Apple processor seems powerful enough to power 720p video, yet it's restricted.

It may be to keep from cannibalizing sales of the Apple TV, a device that Apple is somehow still supporting and one that truly does output crystal-clear 720p video.… Read more

At CES 2010, Dell got a lot of attention from its concept model 5-inch slate. Though only briefly shown at Dell's CES press conference, we got a chance to play around with a demo unit behind the scenes, and came away feeling like it was a slightly jazzed-up smartphone, rather than a true tablet PC.

Although that concept device may never be released, we've spent the past two days tapping, swiping, and flipping on a new Dell tablet PC, with a 10-inch multitouch display and powered by an Intel Atom processor.

The device is actually a prototype tablet built by French multitouch technology company Stantum. The company started with a stock Dell Mini 10 Netbook, deconstructed it, removing the screen and keyboard, and rebuilt it with a resistive touch screen--all to demo its touch-display know-how.

If that sounds like a familiar concept, you may have read our review of the Axiotron Modbook, which is a touch-screen Apple tablet device made from a reconstructed MacBook laptop.

Hands-on with the prototype Turning on the tablet for the first time, our expectations were modest, as the system uses an older Intel Atom Z520 CPU, which can barely run a non-touch-screen Netbook under the best of circumstances. And though overall performance was sluggish, we were actually very pleasantly surprised by how speedy and responsive the touch interface was. … Read more

Recently, my colleague Rafe Needleman wrote a column titled "Why consumers won't buy tablets." The article was a direct reference to the long-standing rumor that Apple may be releasing a slate-style, jumbo iPod Touch this fall. Rafe doesn't really believe Apple would be misguided enough to release a tablet and that if it does put one out in the rumored $700 to $800 price range, "it will die." He also believes that, "This whole category is a nonstarter."

I tend to agree with Rafe on a lot of his points. I think tablets and tweener devices--like Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs)--that are too big to put in your pocket, cumbersome to operate, and overpriced, are problematic and have no place in the marketplace.

The reason why Netbooks have been successful is that they're cheap, and their form factor makes sense, especially for those looking to take a basic, lightweight computer out with them on the road--or just out to the patio. It's a pretty simple equation and you'd think that Apple would just follow the Netbook trend and come out with something that didn't break the mold but was sexier, a little zippier, and cost an extra $100-$200 in so-called Apple tax. What I'm talking about is a 10-inch $600-$700 Apple Netbook with a keyboard.… Read more

According to various rumors and reports, Apple's got a new slate-style Netbook in the works that may be announced as soon as next month. While we have no confirmation from Apple--or anybody else--that such a product really exists, that doesn't mean we can't do a little market survey and ask you what the thing should be called.

If the rumors are at all on target, the final product will look something like a jumbo iPod Touch. However, what's interesting is that such a PC would most likely be a crossover product for Apple and straddle several … Read more

If you've been following the Apple Netbook gossip along with us the last few months, here's the latest tidbit, courtesy of Barron's:

A "veteran analyst," albeit a very anonymous one, has allegedly seen and touched Apple's rumored "slate-style" PC, which we like to call the jumbo iPod Touch. According to Barron's source, the new product will be announced in September, released in November, and carry a price tag of between $699 and $799. As previously reported, the tablet (or whatever Apple plans on calling) is ready to go but has been … Read more