Netbooks, by definition, have been around for years now, and while the vast majority have left the 7- to 9-inch realm, hardly any have bothered to show up with a respectable 720p panel. Furthermore, hardly any have deviated from the
strictly held hardware line, which generally
consists of an Intel Atom N270 / N280 processor, GMA950 graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive,
Windows XP and far too few USB sockets. Oh sure, we've seen an
Ion-based machine trickle in every now and then, and AMD definitely has our interest piqued with
Congo, but we're honestly exhausted by the torrent of netbooks that just seem to look exactly like one another internally. This week's question is dead simple: if you had the power to flip the netbook arena upside-down, how would you go about it?
posted Sep 12th 2009 12:44AM
Add Ion, Windows 7, and maybe a digital TV tuner, and I'm sold.
I agree ION is needed. Also, 3G and HDMI! Basically I want a PMP with 1080P cababilities and basic internect connectivity.
Windows 7 is now wanted as well (but in the old days XP was good.).
I also want eSATA if costs didn;t skyrocket. I do not need VGA but if another connector is needed then DVI... however HDMI is still better.
Also, netbooks with screens larger than 10 inches is just a cheap laptop... Portability should be first priority.
The Dell Mini 10 and MSI U123T already have tv tuners.
give them ANY graphics chip capable of displaying 1080p video with HDMI-out and i'd be pretty happy. Windows 7 is inevitable. maybe throw in an Atom 330 if its not too much drain on the battery. offer some AMD/ATi options if they ever get their act together on this.
and replace that dumb Eee logo on my 1008HA with a proper ASUS one.
How do you change netbooks? You dont buy one until the hardware makes sense. I find the atom N280 ok for $400, but still waiting on real HD graphics and 2GB out of the box.
Right now manufacturers are trying hard to have us forget netbooks and buy CULV $600+ notebooks instead. I dont think they can survive selling $400 netbooks.
eSATA, CULV processors (single/dual). I wish my AOA-9in were a 10... would I want the 10 to be a 11? 12? I know 14.1'' isn't where I want to be. Here's to hoping the new CULV note-nets are a good hybrid at 11.6.
Also good price for the new CULVs.
Kick GMA950 into it's grave already.
Agree on Ion, don't care about XP-Vista-7
Throw in 720p AMOLED
Keep the price in $600 range and I'm sold.
1. Make them look nice. Just because they're small in size, does not mean they're toys, nor should they look like toys. Some are nice.
2. Ion.
3. Win 7.
4. At least a 1280 x 800 screen resolution, or very similar.
5. Give them an 11" screen. All keyboard oddities disappear, and it's still super-portable.
I'm not asking for much.
ION as we know it, is done.
Just make these damn these things 720p (at least) and smooth full-screen flash video.
Tablets! Make tablet netbooks with a digitizer capable of recognizing a pen for the purpose of taking handwritten notes.
Also, a light but sturdy aluminum unibody casing would be a plus.
AMOLED.
Netbooks are supposed to be even more portable than laptops. I find the least portable thing about my giant 17" heavy gaming laptop to actually be the reflective, power-hungry, dim, and generally unusable-in-the-outdoors LCD screen. AMOLEDs are supposed to be far more viewable outside, right? And draw a lot less power than LCDs, right? What is taking them so long to put them in laptops and netbooks already? Didn't they get the lifespan of each material long enough yet? And if they're so cheap, can't we just keep the electronics and replace the screen? Companies could offer a $50 screen replacement program or something. I'd have no problem spending $50 every other year for a brand new screen if that's what it takes to get AMOLED in my laptop.
AMOLED is a must for netbooks IMO.
DEATH TO THE ATOM : )
Hey Justin,
The Lenovo S12 is coming out and has been demonstrated on video to handle 1080p thanks to the Ion chipset. It isn't coming out until late October, so it will definitely have Windows 7 on it. It won't have a TV tuner, but it will have HDMI so if you want TV in or out, you should be able to use that to make it happen. The bad side....it's going to be $500!
Yup, and it likely won't be called a netbook anymore. Sadly, once Windows 7 comes out netbooks won't be much to speak of. Manufacturers want to charge more and since we want slimmer devices and Windows 7, no one is going to notice.
Check out the S12 (I'm sure Engadget has a video of it on here). If you're curious about the death of netbooks which will happen in 2010, you can read about it here: http://www.netbookreports.com/2009/09/netbooks-to-die-slowly-in-2010-get-reborn-as-thin-notebooks/
As I've written elsewhere ( http://mrzaius.com/blog/?p=216 ), I'd say that an IronKey-style security measures, or at least the full disk encryption w/biometric tie in found on Lenovo laptops are a fair bit more important than any of those other features, especially the seemingly useless or, at the very least, severely market-limiting digital TV tuner.
Definitely ION, Atom dual core processors, 4 to 6 gig mem capacity, HDMI, and higher capacity as well a better performing SSDs.
Add more features like a tuner and ION. Keep with the original netbook concept of sub $200 computer and you've got a winner.
Better graphic card to be able to lose the keyboad and replace the screen and the keyboard each with a touchscreen. And have it run under a minimalistic but touchscreen-friendly linux .
That would be my dream :-)
maybe a pico-projector if i can't have the screens ?
stick a dual core atom a 2.0 ghz something with at least 128mb VRAM FULL HD capable HDMI AND AT LEAST 160 GB
i mean look at the new ipod classic and make them look just a wee bit better and if its under 500 dollars i will be sold :)
Get rid of them completely?
agreed i rather a super slim 14 inch notebook like a mac book air or that lenovo one. the problem with netbooks is that the screens are to small as is the keyboards.
actually they do serve a purpose. the trouble is that some companies and some users want them to be a full service laptop computer. so what I would do is actually cut them down. I say that a netbook should be that. a (inter)netbook. forget the 1080p, forget the zillions of ports and such. forget even an optical drive. give me a lightweight machine with a killer battery life, built in wifi and unlocked gsm/cdma 3g (so I can take it to whomever I want) connectivity, etc. a machine for checking my email, surfing the web, doing some AIM (with camera would be nice). forget the video editing, forget the kick ass game worthy graphics. maybe allow some music and perhaps even download a movie or two for the plane (with a headphone jack for the audio), perhaps even an audio in that I can hook a mike to for on the road audio/video blogging. but that's it. and preferably a solid state drive so the hard drive isn't jogged off the spindle from getting bounced around in my carry on.
No, just call them what they are: Laptops. They fit on your lap, unlike the 20+ inch monstrosities of today.
@LAGal: You just described the netbook "as we know it"
@Tokenekie:
I think he's more close to the term "smartbook" as we will soon know it
I think video playback is actually sort of nice on a net/smart/tiny-laptop book, if only for flash video and smoother performance with higher resolution screens, but I agree with you in that their strengths are their high battery life and focus on internet capability
that said, I coded a java assignment on one and it wasn't a bad experience; with high-enough resolution and large enough keyboards, they make great companions for any sort of text editing, including low-performance programming
Make it a flybook.
@lagAL: If you do that than what makes the "netbook" that you envision any different from a smartphone? Honestly I fail to see the point of netbooks, especially now that smartphones are becoming more and more capable today.
More OS options:
- There is more than 1 unix/linux netbook remixes give people more options
- Windows XP Pro... This home stuff is not helping those who want to join domains
- More RAM options
- Make SSD's cheaper already
ION, 4GB memory, Dual Core Processors, High Performance SSD's as options, Linux as an option, no more 3 cell batteries, Touchscreens, eSATA port.
They're supposed to be cheap...
so you want a full fledged mid-grade/top-end laptop in a 10" form factor for $400. let me know how that works out for you.
Apparently people still haven't caught onto the whole Sarcasm craze, it's a doozie!
Somewhat faster processor, better screen resolution, tv tuner, (wimax on some)
win 7, work on the better processors. i havnt seen anything over 1.7 ghz so far. a tv tuner? why?
Keep them small, but have more dense screens, with high-quality pen-enabled touch, and normal-sized shift keys... (move the arrow keys down)
Processing-wise, something better than the Atom would be nice, though I'm not convinced multicore is necessary on such a device. Even just another half-gig of RAM would be nice, too.
Also, nipple instead of the touchpad, but that's my preference for all laptops, not just netbooks...
Your first reason is why I got my Aspire One over other netbooks. Its only the 8.9 inch but it was the only cheap one I could find without a messed up keyboard. An additional bonus is that it is dual core. One thing I do wish it had was a nubbin, I like them way better than touch pads.
more durable builds
TV Tuner
eSATA port
Atom 330
256MB+ dedicated onboard video RAM
ION. that's all i want.
Basically the high end Mini 10 but with ION and a better trackpad/mouse buttons.
Better video cards!!
Make them in a 17 inch size and incredibly powerful.
that's a laptop, not a netbook
HDMI
Seconded. I wish they'd add one to the VAIO X. That would be sick. Too bad it wont be able to do much with an HDMI even if they added it, with that damned Atom in it.
I'm totally sick to death of 1024x600. A 10" screen should be able to do 1280x720, if not higher.
...if we're going to forget that that they primarily need to be cheap, I think they should also come with multicore CPUs, more RAM, and better GPUs.
Oh, and better trackpads. Synaptic ones might be relatively great, but they're still crapped upon by Apple ones.
Amen. I love my EEE 901, but I'd love it more if it were at least 1024x768. My next netbook will be a small notebook, just for that reason.
i'd like to see a 4:3 screen. it would leave a bit more room for a better trackpad, and it wouldn't hurt to have a few extra vertical lines for the majority of use cases.
Standard 12"-LED back-lit ION + CULV with minimum battery life of 8hrs? :D