Almost a third...
That'll be a fifth then!
Almost a third of consumer-oriented portable PCs shipped in Europe in Q4 2008 were netbooks, market watcher IDC has said. Netbook shipments accounted for 20 per cent of all mobile computers shipped in the quarter. IDC's numbers cover the whole of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), but it's Western Europe where the …
A third of consumer-oriented mobile computer sales, and a fifth of all mobile computer sales altogether (presumably including business sales). Well that's how I read it - and quite an impressive statistic, if somewhat grim reading for those selling premium products into business.
What’s the definition of a “netbook” here? Is it the same as the SCC? Without that yardstick then this “market research” is just so much hot air filled with particulate faecal matter…
Is it where the computer is cheap? Sub £300 excludes half the commonly recognised netbooks out there.
Is it where the computer has a sub-12” screen? That will include the premium S101 and some extremely expensive Sony Vaios, Toshiba Porteges and Fujitsu Lifebooks – all fully featured machines.
Is it where the computer can access the net? That includes pretty much everything!
I've been wanting a small, lightweight ultraportable for years. It helps if it's cheap too. Ultimately a £2000 high end laptop is never going to be truly portable because the sheer price of the laptop means you have to wrap it up in cotton wool, be overly protective of it, and don't take it anywhere where it might get lost or damaged.
People want their portable equipment to be genuinely portable. Imagine that.
Yup - when I was showing the Asus 700s around last year, just about every student wanted one. This year, they are coming in with their own Aspires & MSIs. Don't forget the education market, just about every LEA and College in the UK will be buying some of these. Most will have XP but some have the Linux variants. Ubuntu runs fine on my Asus 1000.
That's why Microsoft is scared. Hadn't the "resurrected" and given away XP, these would all be Linux computers. Then some (non-mutually exclusive) things would have happened:
- not as many netbooks would not have been sold;
- netbooks would have had the OS replaced by an "unofficial" copy of XP or whatever;
- some people would stick to Linux anyway and end up noticing they actually do not need MS for the vast majority of what they do.
MS does not mind the first two. But they are scared shitless by the last possibility, as they seem to have indirectly acknowledged in some presentations (not to speak of actions) recently.
Either way, I guess this netbook success is bad news. At least to people who make and sell expensive, over-spec'ed systems. Economy is bad and all that.
.. but I'm NOT a Microsoft fan. The problem I had with Linux (Ubuntu, and give me a break for the next comment) was it just didn't do what I wanted it to do with the ease of XP on a fully functional multimedia/Home Office/Surfing/Email box, i.e. an "over spec'ed system". But I need to think again.
I like simplicity and I like ease of use. Linux (Ubuntu maybe) on a platform such as a netbook, just might be exactly what I'm looking for in a very portable box. Mostly I use it as a portable storage system for photographs since my wife and I are rather proficient amateur photographers and we have post retirement travel in the near future. Specifically, travel with a Windows laptop for use as an email station and as a storage depot for pic files. But the idea of a smaller, simplier netbook with Linux is beginning to make great sense.
I'm really very familiar with the capabilities of Ubuntu and, quite frankly, a netbook with Linux and a BIG external hard drive has all of a sudden become very appealing.
We'll always use Windows, its just too embedded to dump (tried it) but the idea of moving away from a Windows laptop is an idea I need to really consider. Maybe eventually other platforms too. One success usually breeds others and I like that idea.
Many people choose a netbook having realised that unless you pay megabucks, the alternative is a big, heavy machine with an underpowered processor, brought to its knees by pre-installed Vista.
I say the netbook's killer feature is not more room in your backpack for sandwiches, it's XP.
and have been absolutely delighted. We used to take our 13" MacBooks everywhere, but now the Aspire Ones travel instead.
The Wife is happy with Linpus and Acer's consumer friendly front end, but I dropped Ubuntu's Netbook Remix on mine. All the hardware worked out of the box, it boots in one minute and no Microsoft software on it at all.
Best thing - we got two of the 8GB SSD, linux models for the same price we would have paid for of one XP 120GB models. I've never seen clearer evidence of the Microsoft tax.
These are very, very sweet - and economical - little computers. In fact we like them so much we're purchasing a third as it seems Acer is moving to the 10" screen.