Laptops have become commonplace in todays society, with sales outstripping desktop computers and trends towards people becoming more mobile. This pattern remained largely unaffected, with laptop sales growing every year.
Then in 2007, at COMPUTEX Taipei 2007, Asustek unveiled the 'Asus Eee PC' - a netbook designed to be smaller, cheaper and lighter than conventional laptop computers. It was a logical idea, simplify. The original Asus Eee PC, the 7 inch Eee PC 701, is still on sale but the netbook has evolved. Asus went on to expand it's Eee PC Series to include 9 and 10 inch models, the 'top-of-the-range' Eee PC S101 and used the technology from it to produce the 'Eee Top', a computer bereft of screen, mouse and keyboard which is designed to be portable. Other companies entered the fray such as Acer with it's Aspire One netbook (itself going on to match Asus's sales) and MSI - who introduced the first 10 inch netbook, the Wind, now pretty much the industry standard. Gradually the bigger players began to take notice with HP, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Dell and most recently Sony having entered the field with miniature laptops more or less mimicking the efforts of pioneering Asus. The only major company that seems to be missing from the fray is Apple, but rumour has it they're trying to produce a touchscreen model combining the Mac operating system with iPhone technology.
So the mini laptop market has already captured the hearts and minds of the manufacturers, after all the cheaper and simpler models are easier to market and sell. But what about the consumers? What do they think?
A common complaint about a mini laptop is the interface is simply too small. The keyboard is cramped with a poor layout, the touchpad is too tiny and the buttons are peculiarly positioned. Indeed, the earlier netbooks were a bit of a mess - but their more recent cousins are a far cry from the earlier attempts at producing a mini laptop. Now, the bigger players are entering the market, they're capitalizing on their rivals earlier trial and error runs, incorporating their own lines unique selling points and using their name to market their products. Today, the bigger brands 'appear' to use more of the shelf space - maybe they're more profitable... maybe consumers are warming to the idea of a mini laptop, given the sudden wash on big brands now available on the market.
Another criticism is the lack of processing power, and CD/DVD-ROM Drive. Netbooks from their early conception were designed to be simple and cheap, so the new-build Intel Atom processor was designed only to fulfill basic tasks like word processing, browsing the internet and playing light games. The advantage of having such a simple processor is that it's more efficient leading to longer battery life (also helped by having a smaller screen). The lack of a optical disc drive (your CD/DVD-ROM) is a necessary cut in order to shed the extra size and weight - and for those who really grumble about this there is a solution! An external USB disc drive costs between £20-30, or splash out on an ultra-portable notebook like the Sony VAIO TT (the world's smallest blu-ray notebook) which is only 11.1 inches in diameter.
The lack of features compared to a laptop though is a flawed argument for most people. Sure, a laptop will be able to run graphic intensive software or faster games - they have the processors to do that; but it will still remain inferior to a desktop computer. Most features on a laptop are inferior to a desktop, except for one. The portability of a laptop is its main selling point, and it's commonplace to think that's the standard. But when moving around, like a laptop is designed for, how often is it that you'd need all that computing power? All the extra features? All that extra weight and bulk? All that extra expense? Would you be better off with something smaller, lighter and cheaper - a mini laptop? (Worth adding that some features such as inbuilt webcams, Bluetooth, embedded sim cards and more aren't available as standard on laptops, whereas they are on netbooks)
Yes, there will be professionals who will need powerful, yet portable computing power, but such will tend to go towards the 'ultra-portable' range of laptop computers anyway, devices such as the Sony VAIO or Apple MacBook (for designers). Mini-notebooks and netbooks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and already in its short existence they have managed around already about 10% of the notebook market.
I predict that the mini-notebook computers are the primary portable computer device as a supplement to a desktop. Notebooks will be available from experts and will be marketed as such. Especially in these times ofeconomic gloom and doom, people are thinking smarter about where they splash their cash - so if you're looking to invest in a new laptop computer - stop, and think. Must I pay a few hundred pounds extra for those features? Do I really need them? Can I be bothered lugging that extra weight around in my bag?
Recommend : Acer AS5542-1051 Sony VAIO VPC-EB16FX/B
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