What next for the netbook?

Netbooks are getting smaller, lighter and faster - where will it end?
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Netbooks exploded onto the scene 12 months ago and rapidly evolved from the cute but impractical 7 inch Eee PC to fully-blown computers such as HP's Mini 2133, Dell's Mini 9 and Asus' S101. Is this rapid evolution about to plateau?

Size-wise, I'd say 9 to 10 inches is the sweet spot for a netbook - any bigger and it's too cumbersome but any smaller and it's too difficult to use. Some netbooks could still shed a little weight - for example the 1000Hx range of Eee PCs weigh in at a mere 1.5 kg, but they still seem frumpy alongside the sleek and slim new S101 Eee PC which tips the scales at around 1 kg.

Feature-wise I'd say the latest generation of netbooks offer just about everything you'd want from a secondary computer for using on the road. You'll find almost all the connectivity options you'd ever want, while under the bonnet the latest Atom processors offer more than enough grunt for day to day tasks.

The main features that are still missing from many netbooks is GPS and a slot for a 3G SIM card. I suspect 3G will soon become standard on the high-end models, but GPS will probably remain the domain of smartphones. This aside, I think you'll only see incremental improvements on netbooks for a while as the capacity of solid state hard drives increases, battery and LCD technology gradually improves and processor speeds continue to creep up. Eventually netbooks might stagnate, just as desktops and notebooks did before them.

There's even a rumour kicking around that Asus is working on a netbook with a DVD drive. What do you think, step forward or step backwards?

Price-wise I'd say that high-end netbooks are perhaps getting too far away from the initial premise of a small, cheap companion. These days the high-end models cost at least $900. Kogan Technologies is set to shake things up with its $499 10-inch netbook running gOS - a flavour of Linux designed to play nicely with Google services. I'm wondering if this will put pressure on other netbook makers to get back to basics and release a stripped-down 10 inch netbook to compete at around the $500 mark. Such a price war would certainly see netbooks take off again.

The evolution of the netbook has been fascinating to watch. Where do you think it will go next?

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BY aturner
Source：smh.com.au

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