Apple Updates Plastic (White) MacBooks

Apple has kept what amounts to two lines of 13.3″ MacBooks available for purchase – one, the new aluminum-clad MacBook (October 2008) that amounts to a budget version of the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. The other is based on the last of the “plastic” … Read more

Intel to Push CULV Platform – 2Q 2009

DigiTimes is reporting on a new platform that Intel is developing, to be rolled out sometime in the second quarter of 2009. Their sources believe that it’s targeted at AMD’s Yukon platform. This Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) platform is a good indicator of Intel’s … Read more

Acer Aspire One 10.1 – Soon

The highly anticipated 10″ version of the 8.9″ Intel Atom-powered Acer Aspire One could be just around the corner – it could start showing up in people’s hands next month. TechRadar UK managed to spot the 10″ device at BETT 2009, which wrapped up last … Read more

Sony VAIO GS at the FCC

This came out of nowhere – a new ultraportable laptop from Sony has shown up at the FCC to undergo various tests before it’s allowed to be sold in the US (most having to do with wireless networking). The reason why I said it came … Read more

Netbook Marketing – Costco and Office Max, HP Mini and Acer Aspire One

Netbook When Asus began selling the Eee PC line of netbooks/sub-notebooks, whatever you prefer to call them, they (and later Acer and MSI) seemed to have problems defining who they were for, or at least the message wasn’t clear. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Best Buy and other physical retailers (along with the online retailers) weren’t sure where they fit into the laptop family. Many of us had no problem defining where they fit in – basic internet use and mainly as a second machine.

That’s been changing over the past several months. I saw this in action twice today.

The first was at Office Max – they had an 8.9 Acer Aspire One AOA150-1635 on display, along with a placard below it describing why you would buy this. Their message for who should buy this and why is quoted directly below (as you can see from the photo below this):
Why Buy:
* Netbooks may look like regular laptops, but they do not have the full capabilities of one.
* Great for basic tasks such as email and internet use or a secondary unit.
* Netbooks are light weight and great for mobility at a great price.

Acer Aspire One

Costco had a rather prominent large and prominently placed display – an endcap, that was selling a 10.2″ HP Mini 1033CL from the HP Mini 1000 line for consumers. Their description was “Take Me With You” and “The small, light mobile companion keeps your friends, family, social networks, and websites close – wherever you go.

They then included a large comparison titled “IS A NETBOOK RIGHT FOR ME?” with a point-by-point comparison between the “HP Mini 1033CL Netbook” and a “Typical notebook” (typical = 14″ display, 5+ pounds, 2GB RAM, 250GB+ drive space, optical drive, etc.).

HP Mini 1033CL

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