Netbooks hurting Laptop Sales?
August 11, 2008
Are netbooks hurting laptop sales? It’s certainly an interesting question to ponder. There is definitely a segment of the existing “mainstream” (I hate that word these days, but it’s appropriate here) laptop market that would either benefit from a netbook / sub-notebook, or at the least not be impacted if they moved to a netbook type of device. That is, the work they do does not require 4GB of memory and the latest graphics and dual-core CPUs.
PC World has written an article that looks into this, as well as AMD’s on-again/off-again netbook CPU offering:
“We haven’t announced anything for this type of cheap mini-notebook and we’re still taking this wait-and-see attitude,” said Pat Moorhead, AMD’s vice president of advanced marketing.
“The fact that there are a number of models coming out might give the indication that [the market is] growing and everybody wants to do this, but what’s interesting is you pull back the covers and talk to people in the industry and they’re kind of scared,” he said.
That fear stems from a concern that netbook sales will undermine sales of more powerful machines.
Of course, with the success of Intel’s Atom CPU, Intel is looking it from a different perspective (i.e. good for the market, as long as they limit the hardware).
It’s a good article and brings up a lot of valid points.
Read: PC World
ThinkPad SL Series - Where it Fits in
July 27, 2008
Over on the Design Matters blog, an official Lenovo blog / website, David Hill, one of the members of the Lenovo ThinkPad team, has posted an article / commentary that has attracted a lot of attention and debate.
It concerns the recently announced ThinkPad SL series (of interest to us, the 13.3-inch ThinkPad SL300) and just where it fits in to the ThinkPad lineup. In the user comments, some of the criticism it has attracted from certain quarters (namely that it dilutes the ThinkPad line and brand or that it really has no place even having the ThinkPad name on it) has been brought up.
David addresses what the team wanted to do with the SL series:
We just announced a new ThinkPad line optimized for small business called the SL series. Quality, affordability, service and support are critical factors to small business notebook users, and Lenovo’s ThinkPad SL series combines all of those. We designed the notebooks for the unique way these users work – whether at home, the office, the park or a coffee shop. The notebooks also excel with their enhanced multimedia capabilities. Nice speakers, high quality microphones and an optional webcam provide excellent support for internet voice and video conferencing. The keyboard continues the quality tradition with the legendary ThinkPad feel. Last but not least, the stripes are back.
The SL designs also include a black mirror finish top not seen since we retired the S30 ultraportable. You may remember this one from 2001.
My personal view…I think the SL series probably has a place. As another team member, Mark Hopkins, points out - the SL series is going to have some unique features geared towards small businesses - see this Lenovo site for one example. Yes, it maybe missing things like a rollcage that other ThinkPads have, but it’s going to have some business oriented offerings that those ThinkPads don’t have.
If you want to see what it looks like (or at least the few images that have been released), we have some listed in our ThinkPad SL300 Photo Gallery.
Read: Design Matters (Lenovo)
A Mac Tablet This Fall?
July 22, 2008
So is Apple going to finally produce some form of touchscreen Tablet PC? AppleInsider and MacDailyNews both have some interesting news, one in the form of Apple’s quarterly finance call yesterday, and the other in the form of rumors.
AppleInsider reported that Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, was planning an important “product transition” sometime between July and September of this year, a transition that will have ramifications going into next year, at least as far as Apple’s profit margains.
This mysterious product will have “technologies and features that others can’t match,” according to Oppenheimer.
Read more
Intel CEO on Netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)
May 29, 2008
Peter Svensson with the Associated Press, published an article today where Paul Otellini, Intel’s CEO, discussed the upcoming Intel Atom CPU, as well as how Intel Corp. is reacting to the rising popularity of sub-notebooks / netbooks.
In the past, Intel was clearly about producing faster and faster CPUs. Recently they began to push power efficiency (which has helped give us incredibly powerful mainstream laptops), and now they are looking at making CPUs small, cheap and with an emphasis more on power efficiency rather than performance.
Otellini discussed the new trend and mentioned that he’s not too worried about cannibalization of higher-priced laptops (because he wants Intel to be the company who picks up the sale regardless of the level):
“I’ve not seen energy like this from our customers in a long, long time….. Everyone views this as being sort of hyperexpansive to the existing market.”
“If a higher-priced notebook isn’t substantially better and doesn’t offer more utility, shame on us… If there’s cannibalization, I’d rather be the cannibal than someone else.”
Read: AP/Austin-American Statesman
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 - Notes, Reviews, Video
May 12, 2008
Over the weekend, several articles about the 11.1-inch Lenovo IdeaPad U110 went up on a couple of websites.
First, JerryJ over at NotebookReview.com posted his review of the U110. Like others, they had complaints about the display and the overall glossy look and feel, as well as the price.
Rob Bushway over at GottaBeMobile posted a video using the U110’s built-in webcam and Lenovo’s Easy Capture application (and encountered voice/video sync problems).
He also posted an article and photos about typing on the U110 and some of the problems he encountered (getting caught under the corners of surrounding keys).
James Kendrick over at jkOnTheRun posted a response, and mentioned that he had the same problems that Rob did and posted a video of him using ArcSoft Webcam Companion that didn’t have the same issues.
OQO Model 02 and Netbooks
April 22, 2008
Couple of interesting articles on the OQO Model 02 and the impact that the “netbooks” and other smaller laptops/subnotebooks such as the Asus Eee PC could have on it.
The OQO Model is a unique ultraportable - it’s more of a tablet with a slide-out keyboard than a traditional laptop (whereas most of the netbooks/subnotebooks resemble miniature versions of the 10 - 12″ small laptops we are used to seeing). It is what I would consider to be a nearly full-featured ultraportable with a 5″ display while most of the netbooks/subnotebooks start at 7″ displays.
Ironically enough, it’s using a CPU, from the same VIA/C7 line that some of the netbooks such as the HP 2133 Mini-Note are using, however the price for the OQO is quite a bit higher (two, nearly three times as high in some cases) than netbooks that are currently available or will soon be available (although you can find it for $999 in the OQO Outlet Store).
In comments to the San Francisco Chronicle, OQO’s co-founder, Joe Betts-LaCroix admits that interesting (and crucial) times are ahead for OQO:
“We had the ability to step back from the six-month-at-a-time trend of the computer industry and create a new category…..Now the market is starting to catch up.”
Articles:
- San Francisco Chronicle
- CNET News.com
- GottaBeMobile
