I carried out an experiment over the last few days. I've been searching the market for a sub $400AUD netbook that runs the latest Intel N450 processor and Windows 7. Bluetooth would be nice but I have a tiny dongle I could use so that's not a showstopper if missing.

After quite a bit of searching online and in a couple of popualr retail outlets I discovered that such a machine is amost impossible to find. There were some HP 110s around that were close to what I was looking for but either they still ran Windows XP or the still had the older N280, or even worse the N270, processors. Heck, some of these older specification units we selling for over $600. As contributor David Hague learned - make sure you shop around and understand what you are buying.

Perhaps I'm being unreasonable but the netbook category was founded on compromises between features, power and price. We were all prepared to forgo a large display or oodles of storage in order to get our hands on a unit that was cheap enough to not make us panic of the device was dropped or lost.

With the increased prices comes competition. All of a sudden netbooks will be faced with competition from the ipad as well as low cost notebooks. If netbooks are to survive as a category then they will need to fo a coupole of things. Firstly, the cost will need to come down. One obvious way is for someone to get their act together an produce a Linux distribution that doesn't scare users off. For example, software installation needs to be streamlined so that users don't need to understand how to set up Synapric to look at new repositories when they want a new peice of software. They'll also need to sort out the whole "which distribution am I using so I get the right installer" conumdrum.

• Manufacturers need to find ways to pull costs down. I know that's easier said than done but what about dropping ethernet ports? Who uses a fixed network connection with a netbook?
• Smaller packaging to reduce shipping costs.
• Cheaper external finishes. After all, these are utility devices and not fashion accessories.

Unless prices come down so that the overlap between entry level notebooks and netbooks is reduced or removed, the netbook market will shrivel up and die.

By Anthony Caruana

Comments(1):

1. Netbook & the iPad

   It occurred to me the other day that rather than being seen as an oversized iPhone or iPod, the iPad is indeed a natural competitor to netbooks. Its size and the comparatively decent-sized touch keyboard would mean it could fulfil most of what a netbook does but be easier to handle... at least once it gets past the first version and has proper wifi etc. So tough competition is on the way for netbooks, I imagine. What would really help is a clear dividing line between netbook and notebook... some of the manufacturers seem to want to have their cake and eat it too, and it's confusing to the buyer. Tim www.aerohaveno.com

   Monday, February 08, 2010 Tim