Netbooks dead? Yes, in the student market at least
Summary: Netbooks and students don't go together, and with IDC's predictions that netbooks have hit a sales growth wall, perhaps we should write off the netbook altogether?
The netbook is dead, according to my editor-in-chief Larry Dignan. I'm inclined to agree with him frankly; as Gartner and IDC project that netbooks will not sell as many as they have done before, or even ever.
Chris Dawson, education enthusiast, to some extent disagrees and sees the wide opportunity for younger users to easily get themselves into technology. Plus, on a strange level, netbooks are mini-laptops for smaller people - children in particular. Still, Chris hopes netbooks won't go away any time soon. Again, I'm inclined to agree but for the student market, there is not much place for netbooks.
I could walk into any lecture theater on campus and pick out from the 200 students in there around 50 of them are using laptops, and only 1 or 2 are using a netbook. Students don't see a benefit in getting a netbook, with the exception of the compact size and lighter weight.
Netbooks are smaller, thinner, more "lightweight" (in more ways than the obvious) laptops. The screens are tiny, the keyboard is - well, the same size - but there isn't much room for error, the memory capacity is low and there's nothing more than an on-board graphics and sound card. They're not meant to be fantastic, but should bridge the gap somewhat between a smartphone and a laptop.
But Steve Jobs says that's what the iPad will do. And though I hate to admit it, he has a point when he said, "...but netbooks aren't good at anything". Maybe battery life - I'll give you that one - but nothing else.
Instead, I see more and more students opting for the middle ground between a fully fledged laptop and a netbook - the 'in-between area' which hasn't been defined properly yet; not slate PC's and not necessarily touch-screen computers, but small and powerful laptops like the HP Touchsmart tx2 to throw in a random example.
It's small, it's light, it's powerful and it's flexible. It isn't the greatest student laptop in the world, but it surely won't be outweighed by the netbook in any case. But even taking the tx2 out of the equation, I'd prefer my BlackBerry to a netbook. At least you can fit it in your pocket...
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
wrong students
sector.. for schools (read aged 5 - 16) looking to
roll out 1:1 devices netbooks are perfect.
You got it
Even at Universities
Psychology, Liberal arts, Biology, Chemistry.
Of course a Computer Science or a Graphic design major may require serious CPU but I think that the author of the blog considered a narrow sample.
Exactly what I was thinking...
These assumptions of "sales growth will plateau" in the netbook market are completely moronic; remember, this time a year ago they were GROWING in market share at 10-25% a month. Not KEEPING a 10-25% market share, but GROWING at that rate. That rate of growth is simply unsustainable; it is an entrepreneur's wet dream, but it simply CANNOT continue.
Why? because the product WAS BRAND NEW; and here's how this applies to today's college students:
While there are some who can afford the newest and greatest out there, by and large, your average college student will get their computer kicked down by an older sibling or by a parent. This product is TOO NEW to have made it through that process; THAT is why you see so many fullsize notebooks out there, NOT because netbooks aren't useful.
Most college students keep EVERYTHING they need on a thumbdrive nowadays (my wife is a perfect example) because they often HAVE to work on school hardware at some times and their own at others. NOBODY NEEDS an optical drive anymore; all they NEED is a Browser, an Office Suite, Network/WiFi, and a USB port.
Netbooks have that IN SPADES, and they offer the portability and battery life students NEED. If it weren't for the fact that I built my wife a refurbished HP 12" ultralight over 2 years ago, she would be ALL OVER the new Dell & HP Netbooks.
Manufacturers have heard the call as well; this last year's models have high resolution (though STILL compact) brilliant screens, nearly full-size (HP's 92% scale version is SWEET) keyboards, and are even sporting multi-touch pointing devices with full version OS on a 160GB HDD.
All for less than $300, with refurb units available at the major online chains right around $220, shipping included.
Bottom line:
It's not that students don't WANT or NEED a Netbook; it's just that they haven't had time to trickle down the supply chain yet.
Personally, I think you're wrong.
including college [i]needs[/i], it is not all that they [i]want.[/i] Most
students want the best possible computer they can get for their
money--at least a fair proportion of these use MacBooks and MacBook
Pros. The rest want something they can view and web browse easily
and, if possible, do some gaming. These factors alone require a
significantly larger screen than any netbook carries, and more video
power, too.
Netbooks are cheap enough that any student can afford one with only a
week or two's pay from working at the nearest fast-food joint. About
the only time you'll see a student buy a netbook is if the full-sized
notebook their parents gave them dies for whatever reason, then they'll
buy the cheapest they can get away with. It also doesn't help when
many colleges have minimum hardware specifications that go far
beyond a netbook's capabilities.
Bottom line, they've already trickled down--sales have to plateau,
especially when you consider that for most of last year, Acer and
Toshiba both were seeing a full 50% sales growth of netbooks year
over year while almost all other PC platforms (not including Apple) were
seeing only 5% growth or less. And this, by no means, takes into
consideration the new generation of slate-type touch tablet machines
that should provide all the capabilities of a netbook in a much more
usable form factor.
I don't see what you're taking issue with...
Except for the part about WANTING more capability, that is.
Sure, everybody WANTS the full-bling every extra goodies in anything they buy. Who wouldn't?
Oh, wait... maybe the guy who has to carry it around on his back along with a dozen textbooks any two of which cost more than a modern NetBook. Or the girl who doesn't use their portable that much anyways, so why carry around the desktop-replacement model at 4 times the size & weight just to type out an eMail at lunch which, BTW, the NetBook actually FITS on the table...
Or maybe... the person who knows EXACTLY what s/he needs in a portable computer and realizes that s/he can get it all in a package the size of a paperback novel, and still have money left over to fill it up with eBooks and movies & music off of iTunes...
Naaah... no student would ever WANT what a NetBook has to offer.
Are you actually a student, yourself?
Most students I've encountered are NOT looking for the "full bling" in a portable computer at all. In fact, they usually have an "under $1000" price limit they're willing to spend on one. That means at the high-end, they can barely squeeze in a purchase of an Apple Macbook (NOT a Pro or Air). And if they go for PC/Windows notebooks, they tend to buy those $400-600 models from Toshiba, Gateway, Lenovo or HP that offer "middle of the road" processor and video capabilities. What they're usually concerned about, however, is screen real-estate and comfort in use. Netbooks, for lack of a better word, suck - because their screens don't even draw enough vertical pixels to conform to one of the monitor display standards that's been around forever. (Instead of 800x600, or even the lowly 640x480, you tend to get an oddball resolution with them like 640x400.) You're forced to scroll your application window up and down to see/access all of it. HIGHLY annoying and counter-productive!
Their keyboards are improving, but again, they're rather cramped compared to a standard notebook. They throw off your typing speed if you switch often between one of them and a regular desktop or laptop.
Point
Of those four fields ...
The more important issue than raw computing power is screen size. College students spend far more hours per say behind a backlit screen than so K-12 students. They also need to work on multiple assignments throughout the day.
Typical college students might have their e-mail open all day long, as well as their facebook pages, and their iTunes player. Oh, and they are likely surfing other web pages as well.
Their computing needs (or should I say WANTS) are just not as baseline as the K-12 student whose computing environment is tightly controlled.
Students - or pupils ?
students in [i]tertiary[/i] education.
Students in primary and secondary schools, including 21-year-old kids at
Sixth Form College, are called [i]pupils[/i].
Why?
Apart from weight, what have NetBooks got over the new wave of
"cheap" laptops?
Once you start looking at a NetBook you'd actually want to use, there
is no price differential.
The iPad at least won't cost as much to support (and its restricted
nature will actually help quite often - not to mention Apple have some
damn good tools for supporting "Enterprise" iPhone's - I see no
reason why the iPad will be any different.
I know the "fanboys" will see it differently, but the iPad has some
serious chops as an educational computer. It is far cheaper to support
than a traditional laptop, and that's a lot more important than initial
purchase cost (which isn't too horrific - assuming you stay away from
the 3G version).
Before you praise iPods and iPads...
damn good tools for supporting "Enterprise" iPhone's - I see no
reason why the iPad will be any different.[/i]
You're kidding, right?
I'm taking it you haven't attempted to manage a cartload of these in a classroom. ...or attempted to deploy them.
Apple's configuration tool is little more than a 1:1 interface for pushing a profile -- there are no initial image based tools and absolutely no method nor mechanism for simultaneously touching 5, 10 or twenty of these units in sync.
Don't even get me started with the lackluster, 'on or off' nature of many of the features. Until you can at least get more granular with editing profile restrictions or Apple provides an educational gateway to the iTMS, these devices have some pretty serious pitfalls in the "my kid saw what?!? in the classroom!"
While I do not disagree that there is a great amount of potential for both the iPod Touch (and, ostensibly, the iPad) in a learning environment; the ability to properly fine tune content for age level and the deplorable management tools are a serious hindrance.
On a personal side; I'm looking forward to an iPad. On the professional side, I really hope I wrap my Mac deployment contract up before the school district attempts to deploy a couple hundred of them...
The weight factor
The weight factor is very important, as university students generally have to carry a lot of heavy books with them.
The small screen size is no problem, als long as the netbook is running on an operating system with a specially adapted user interface, like Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
Don't get me wrong - I agree
The cost factor, too.
And for others, a netbook is perfect.
And on the go everyday, a smartphone works just fine.
So which do you give up if you can't afford all three?
That's an easy one ... the netbook! (nt)
Try an 11.6" netbook for a weight/screen size compromise
Contrary to some opinions posted here, not all netbooks are powerless "toys." Mine has a 160GB hard drive and 1 GB of memory (which I plan to upgrade to 2 GB), an Nvidia Ion LE graphics card, and an HDMI interface. Netbooks may not be the solution for those who need or prefer heavy-duty hardware like multi-core CPU's, powerful graphics cards and sound cards, etc. for serious gaming, graphics work, drafting, video/music editing, etc. However, they are perfect for many students and travelers. The price point is also great for the poor college student, low-income person, family that wants an inexpensive first computer for their kids, or anyone else with simple computing needs.
I, for one, hope netbooks will be around for awhile, or at least that tablet PC's will become more affordable and less bulky. From what I've read about the iPad, it wouldn't meet MY needs, at least not at an affordable price. Can't speak for others; and I am NOT criticizing the iPad--it just wouldn't work for me.
I second that - 11.6 is ideal for netbook
*Cough*SubNotebook*Cough*
Don't get me wrong; The "A4" size machines have a lot to offer - that's why I built one for my wife. But once you get in that range, you're really not talking NetBook platform and you're NOT paying NetBook prices, either.
It's a Notebook, not a NetBook.
Sales figures say otherwise. nt