Intel VP says netbooks are "fine for an hour"

Intel's never made a secret of the fact that it developed the now-ubiquitous Atom chipset primarily for mobile devices and low-powered netbooks for at emerging markets, so it's not totally surprising to hear Intel sales VP Stu Pann say the company doesn't see netbooks as potentially cannibalizing sales of its existing processors -- but we are a bit intrigued by his seeming dismissal of netbooks as everyday machines. According to Stu, a netbook with a 10-inch screen is "fine for an hour. It's not something you're going to use day in and day out." That's probably true, of course, but it's harsher language than we've heard from Intel in the past -- and it's more or less in line with AMD's recent decision to ignore netbooks entirely in favor of more capable machines "above that form factor." Of course, Intel execs can pretty much say whatever they want as long as the company is basically the only player in the netbook game, but we think a lot of people actually are willing to use a netbook as their primary machine, especially in this economy. Could you handle a netbook as your daily driver? The comment box awaits.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

[edude95 @ Nov 29th 2008 10:20AM]

I'd say an N10 with an external disk drive would be fine.

[justin bailey @ Nov 29th 2008 11:12AM]

I switched over from a 'high power' (at least when it was bought) Asus notebook and now use the Lenovo S10. It is my primary computer and have yet to go back to my desktop. I have even converted some DTS movies to AC3 with my notebook with no problems. So to answer your question, yes, I do see them as replacements to higher powered notebooks, assuming you're not needing high powered GPU or CPU. Most of us, despite what intel or AMD wish to think, use computers for basic daily activities.

[silverblackvoid @ Nov 29th 2008 11:59AM]

Stu is right.netbooks are just fine for an hour or so.
when doing serious number crunching nothing compares to the 14-15 inchers.

[Mario @ Nov 29th 2008 12:31PM]

"I switched over from a 'high power' (at least when it was bought) Asus notebook and now use the Lenovo S10. It is my primary computer and have yet to go back to my desktop. I have even converted some DTS movies to AC3 with my notebook with no problems. So to answer your question, yes, I do see them as replacements to higher powered notebooks, assuming you're not needing high powered GPU or CPU. Most of us, despite what intel or AMD wish to think, use computers for basic daily activities."

I agree. If you are often out and about, a netbook with a big HDD is ideal. Partner that with a 20" monitor and keyboard/mouse when you need more screen real-estate and ergonomics, and you've got the best of both worlds.

An Atom running Linux is fine for doing everything other than playing games. And it's cheap!

It would be better if they used even less power, and could thus last longer on battery. I look forward to seeing what ARM will come up with. Intel could do with the competition, and the ever growing ultra-low power sector is its only week-spot.

[Mark @ Nov 29th 2008 12:48PM]

"Stu is right.netbooks are just fine for an hour or so.
when doing serious number crunching nothing compares to the 14-15 inchers."

A couple of years ago, the word was:

"when doing serious number crunching nothing compares to a desktop."

Or...

"when doing serious number crunching nothing compares to an IBM Mainframe."

[Bobby @ Nov 29th 2008 12:52PM]

sitting on big ass while typing on tiny keyboard makes you look funny.
I agree guy made a point ....

[edude95 @ Nov 29th 2008 12:54PM]

@ justin and mario:

You guys are completely right. I thought of the N10 right away because it is one of the few netbooks that can play games.

[eggothewaffle @ Nov 29th 2008 1:28PM]

Hmm, "Fine for an hour."

My girlfriend says the same about me and she hasn't yet left me for a bigger, hotter, and more expensive guy!

[Jo @ Nov 29th 2008 2:44PM]

I have an asus 900ha, which has 1.6 ghz processor and 160 gb hardrive, it isn't qute enough for me but I bought one for each of my parents and its more than enough for them for everyday use

[Don @ Nov 29th 2008 3:20PM]

So everyone was begging for 6 cell batteries, and we got it.. supposedly 6-7hrs
Wonder where fine for an hour came from?

He must have really big fingers or really bad eyesight

[Chris @ Nov 29th 2008 3:24PM]

@eggothewaffle

She probably has a desktop somewhere else...

[madhaxor04 @ Nov 29th 2008 11:13PM]

Honestly, I use an Acer Aspire 1 whenever I'm not on my desktop, and it has suited all of my computing needs. It goes everywhere. Weighing in at just over 2lbs, I'm never afraid to take it anywhere. It has enough power to manage my Access databases, surf the net, and check my email. So yes, I do use it daily for more than an hour.

[Owen @ Nov 29th 2008 10:23AM]

I bet I could use a dell mini 9 (with ubuntu) as my daily machine. I'd just need a hard drive.

[Robert @ Nov 29th 2008 10:40AM]

I got a Dell Mini 9 at the beginning of the month and since then, I have switched entirely over to using it. I use it for school and play an occasional hour or two of World of Warcraft. Even with a 16GB SSD I'm fine; coupled with a 16GB SDHC card it works like a charm. For heavy gaming, I always turn to my XBox360 + Call of Duty: World at War - never fails to satisfy.

[Davidr @ Nov 29th 2008 11:26PM]

I did that. I brought my 3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 PC dualbooting Slackware/Windows XP and an MSI Wind with a 1.6GHz Atom also dualbooting Slackware/Windows XP to college. My PC turned out to become a nice stand for my Wii and my laptop has been coming with me everywhere.
I have had one productivity issue; people keep interrupting me to tell me how awesome my laptop looks. Seriously, I could get so much more done if this thing didn't look so amazing.
Although, me and one of the french professors are on good terms, he uses the Acer Aspire One and loves it.

[Shinigami @ Nov 29th 2008 10:23AM]

I'd love to use a netbook as my "day in day out" machine, if the battery can last the whole day and if it is fast enough not to slow down my work.

[JC @ Nov 29th 2008 10:23AM]

Honestly, I have a Macbook Pro, and all I do is surf the web and check my mail. I think a netbook would have sufficed.

[Sarig @ Nov 29th 2008 11:26AM]

Could you live with the massive loss of screen real-estate, and the much smaller keyboard?

[JohannesG @ Nov 29th 2008 5:39PM]

Similar here. bought a macbook pro couple of months ago and I always feel bad when carrying something with such a big price tag around. I've even dropped it once. I am a video game designer and I am pretty sure that a netbook would be enough for my portable needs. It's just crazy to carry around a portable computer with a +2000$ price tag. a netbook accompanied with a proper desk would be a perfect mix.

[Jonathan Tyler @ Nov 29th 2008 2:10PM]

Same here.

I bought some games for it just so it feels useful, but the EEE PC 701 I had did the same thing that I do every day on my giant MPB.

As for screen size I could live with smaller, but not 701 smaller!

[TitaniumMan @ Nov 29th 2008 2:10PM]

Then you should have bought a Macbook Air, since you probably bought it for the looks.

On the other hand people want to know that they can rely on their daily machine for everything , even if they don't need all the features all the time, and that is the problem with netbooks.

[JeffEd @ Nov 29th 2008 2:13PM]

I think 720p and 1080p movies and trailers... large library of lossless audio.... having 20-30 browser tabs open along with other applications and perhaps music playing too.... that's when it's good to have that macbook pro instead ;-)
That said, I have one too. And I also have an MSI Wind with OSX. My plan is to sell the Wind sometime soon, it was always a hobby machine. But I have to say, if I'm lying in bed watching a movie or hulu it's awesome.
Here's some pros:
- It weighs almost nothing. Less than 3 pounds.
- The screen resolution is 16:9 ratio, so Hulu/TV Shows are full screen, no black frames anywhere.
- Even playing video you can get a few hours (yes, hours. I've gotten over five with wifi on the whole time.) out of it, and the little guy is maybe a little warm, but just barely.
- LED screen has excellent contrast. Not MBP quality but better than a lot TFT laptops I've used.
- great for checking IMDb and chatting if you're watching a film on the couch or from afar.

I'm actually having a hard time parting with it. I think it would be enough power for the majority of users when I think about it.

[TNP @ Nov 29th 2008 3:51PM]

Wow: a refreshingly honest admission from someone who drank the black-turtleneck flavored Kool-Aid.

[yesyes @ Nov 29th 2008 10:41PM]

MacBook Pro (Price) = Netbook + External HDD + 22" Monitor + Keyboard&Mouse + 2.1 Speakers (Price)

[xeryc @ Nov 29th 2008 12:31PM]

I agree with Intel's VP. I could never get use to the idea of using a small screen all day long or day in and day out, i have a blog and i'm planning to buy a netbook but only to make posts when i'm one the streets or for a casual comment aproval or something like that, nothing more.

[elyfant422 @ Nov 29th 2008 10:24AM]

I use my Wind everyday at school. Autocad, 3d max and photoshop. Never had a problem.

[Richard Lai @ Nov 29th 2008 10:47AM]

Just out of interest: what kind of complexity are your CAD works of? I've never imagined that netbooks are capable of doing such work! (or that it would be a smooth experience)

[Elora HRanma @ Nov 29th 2008 11:00AM]

I saw a lot of architects using AutoCAD in the Pentium era. Has it really changed that much since then to require more than 1.6 GHz and 1GiB of RAM?
Of course, I know Office worked in the same systems and the latest versions would just laugh at you if you tried, but have professional tools turned as power hungry and user (read: eye-candy) oriented ones? Except for render times and memory requirements (which 1 or 2GiB should fix), I can't see Gimp or AutoCAD requiring anything better than a Pentium 3.

[elyfant422 @ Nov 29th 2008 11:07AM]

I use autocad architecture 2009 for my class work, the only problem is the screen. Autocad needs 1024 x 768 but it stills runs after the little popup saying so, other than that everything works just like it would anywhere else.

[Nick Ritch @ Nov 29th 2008 12:44PM]

Same here, I've had my wind since the first shipment went out and I rarely use anything else.

[JZ @ Nov 29th 2008 5:32PM]

I find it hard to believe that a netbook can be used as a CAD station. Besides the massive lack in memory I simply cant imagine working with more then 1 viewport in such a tiny screen. In my office most cad-stations are equiped with dual 20 or 24inch screens with some serious crunching power behind it and all this you do with a netbook?
That said it also kinda hits the essention of the netbook, its nice for looking up some stuff on the internet or kicking out a mail but I really cant imagine typing a lot. Not only is the keyboard simply sized for girl hands but the smallness of the screen is also a pain in the ass if you want to read a lot on it. For myself I worked with it for a short period and pulled out my Lenovo 200S out again, a littlebit bigger, a littlebig heavier but atleast a full keyboard and proper batterypower. I often got the idea that netbooks are the laptops for those who can't afford a normal laptop or simply buy one because its more reachable for those who are normally hooked on their desktop.
The odd thing to me is though why would Intel who is the biggest supplier of the Atom CPU's tell the world that the product which uses their CPU is poor. Intel benefits massively from the netbooks.

[Staz @ Nov 29th 2008 2:15PM]

Same, I use Catia, AutoCAD, maple with no problems at school. If however the product is complex in catia, i just remote desktop to my pc (Phenom 9950, 790FX, 2x4850 ;-) ) at home. The only thing that I cant do with this combination is play the newest games at school, which i wouldnt do anyways. Oh and San Andreas works on the wind, just for when i travel though. Wind is upgraded to 2 gigs of ram and 320gb hdrive.

[Connor @ Nov 30th 2008 3:46PM]

I love bringing my Wind to class, the things just so damn portable. Plus I get to have a chuckle at all the people who bought gigantic desktop replacement laptops and bring them to lectures.

[Patrick Austin @ Dec 1st 2008 12:50PM]

While the software may run fine on a netbook, the amount of resources it consumes is directly proportional to the complexity of the project. Loading a 3D file depicting a toothbrush for a class on AutoCAD is very different from working with a million square foot building and the topography of the land it's on.

A professional user of arch/engineering/graphic software will use absolutely as much processing power as is available 'cause it's always advantageous to have just a little bit more detail to work with.

[avis @ Nov 29th 2008 10:26AM]

well, there are people out there who just want to check emails and download audio/video for their mobiles/mp3 players..their numbers may be half a billion.. netbook is the best value for the money..will Intel/AMD ignore them, netbook is game changing product and has created new category of customers

[Cory W. @ Nov 29th 2008 10:27AM]

I've been using an old IBM ThinkPad X24 as one of my main computers, purely because of the small size. It is a 1.13GHz Pentium III with 384mb of memory, and it runs XP and Office'07 just fine. While I don't know how I'd handle the keyboards on some of the smallest 9-inch netbooks, the AspireOne, Dell mini9 and Dell mini12 all seem like they'd be great little machines, and probably far more capable, in general.

I just need/want the mini12 to start shipping with an XP option, and maybe an SSD. eeePC 1000 also looks nice.

[John Bailey @ Nov 29th 2008 10:01PM]

Similar thing here. I got a reconditioned T42 a while back. I was very seriously looking at a netbook, and this is about the same kind of price and spec, but with a full keyboard/screen. Realistically, for surfing and email, it is perfect. no need to switch on my desktop, and I usually have it in sleep mode all day, and hibernate at night. Less power used, more convenience. I still have my desktop for anything requiring some power.

What AMD and Intel are sweating about is the fact that for most home users, and quite a few business users, power doesn't actually matter after a certain level. A 1.6 or whatever processor is just fine for web media, DVDs and casual flash type games. The big dual core 2gig + rigs that they want to sell everybody are just plain overkill. Outside enthusiasts, people have been herded to the upgrade treadmill for years. One computer wears out, they get a bigger faster one for roughly the same price when a cheaper one would have made more sense. They must be really cursing Asus right now.

[Jeff Lipes @ Nov 29th 2008 10:28AM]

Could I handle it? Sure.
Would I put up with a small keyboard for that long? Nope!

I think the comments are pretty fair. While netbooks are awesome, I would never give up my Thinkpad. I've been spoiled.

[Keaton @ Nov 30th 2008 4:30AM]

I totally agree! I had a Gateway convertible for two years. It was okay.
Then when it was destroyed so I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad T400...
I had no clue what I was missing out on.
Before I kinda slogged through things.
But now, I have an excellent keyboard, a beautiful screen, stunning battery life, etc. etc.

You don't know what you are missing out on till you've had a really great laptop.

I think it's the same for people who buy Netbooks. They are handy and get the job done. But a really good laptop makes your experience so much better.

A Netbook will never replace a decent Laptop made by Dell, IBM, Apple, etc.
I think consumers will see phones quickly become the replacements for the "Netbook".

[Mobius_1 @ Nov 29th 2008 10:29AM]

I think he's saying that so AMD doesn't make a competitor to the Atom. :)

Really though, I can see myself getting a netbook sometime in the near future, its much nicer than a heavy laptop, and not so expensive that you'd keep two eyes on it every second.

[Saad Rabia @ Nov 29th 2008 10:29AM]

All your netbook are belong to us.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 29th 2008 11:09AM]

In Soviet Russia, you belong to your netbook! :p

[y3k.nik @ Nov 29th 2008 10:30AM]

I like a big screen to work on, even if that involves checking emails and surfing. Give me a vga out on a netbook.. and I will last with it.

[Justin @ Nov 29th 2008 10:32AM]

My main PC crapped out on me way back and I relied purely on my 7" eeepc for about 2 months. I maxed out all the ports with usb keyboard/mouse external monitor, big ass sd card, external speakers, and a usb hard drive. I was able to get all my office work done just fine, no different from my desktop. I only needed to overclock it when I did graphic and video (yes I did that on an eeepc) editing. Overall it worked just fine as a temporary replacement. When I got bored I could even fire up quake3 at a high resolution to kill time. So I think it's totally possible with the new netbooks that have much larger screens.

[Oli D @ Nov 30th 2008 7:38AM]

But can it run Crysis....

Oh God I'm lonely

[Phaseon @ Nov 29th 2008 10:35AM]

I think netbook's are something that halts the progress of technology. Things are supposed to be getting bigger,performance wise and smaller,size wise. Instead netbook's are like a side distraction which everyone has fallen in love with,mainly for their mainstream appeal with people who do not require a powerful machine but a sort of "internet terminal" with basic added services.

Althought I so agree with him,this is probably just a fad that will pass,just like webtv or furbies.

[Jeff @ Nov 29th 2008 10:40AM]

This seems like a silly idea. Why should we care about 'technological progress' in this market? Mobile processing is not something that will change the course of events for humankind. If we were talking about supercomputing, I would agree with you. However, the netbook movement is driven primarily by those who want something cheap to use when they're on the couch.

[Ashwin @ Nov 29th 2008 10:43AM]

Netbooks have a purpose. They are designed for people that want an ultraportable, but do not want to pay the rediculous prices that decent ultraportables come with. For taking notes in class or at a business meeting, or anytime you just want to do one thing, a netbook is perfect. Also, the technological advances that go into netbooks, are one day going to benefit higher end laptops with the advances in chipset and processor technology that made these possible.

[bhtooefr @ Nov 29th 2008 11:59AM]

You are forgetting, of course, about low power consumption - yet another thing that we should be innovating towards, and netbooks do have rather low power consumption. (They have low battery life because they also have tiny (cheap) batteries.)

[KarlW @ Nov 29th 2008 12:01PM]

They're also good because they're cheap. It's fine to just chuck in your bag and go off with.

I always keep my MacBook in a polyester sleeve. It's a bit of a pain, but I got some scratches before using it. I wouldn't care about that as much on a cheap netbook.