What you want in a netbook: Price and size

Astute readers may have noticed that I’ve been running a series of polls as part of the Liliputing Birthday Bash contests. I find that it’s often easier to get people to respond to a poll than to leave comments on a blog, so while I already had a sense of what the most vocal Liliputing readers thought about some of these topics, it’s interesting to see how a larger group responds.

So without further ado, here are the results so far. When I asked what the best size for a netbook display was, you overwhelmingly picked 10.2 inches:

poll-size

When I asked how much money was too much for a netbook, there was no clear winner. A handful of respondents don’t want to pay more than $300. But it seems a fair number of you are willing to pay $400 or $500. Some of you are even willing to pay up to $600, although with most netbooks selling for much less than that, I assume you’ll want some nifty features like high resolution displays, touchscreens, or maybe even GPS devices or TV tuners to go with that higher price tag.

poll-price Thanks for playing, and keep checking out the Liliputing Birthday Bash landing page for information about upcoming contests.

Posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009, 3:53 pm by Brad Linder

TrackSmart

A minor change or two and these graphs would be dramatically easier to read!

If you could put the values of each wedge next to the wedge, or on top of the wedge, it would allow us to understand what wedge goes with what value.

Alternatively, show a box with the appropriate color next to each value in your legend.

As it stands, it takes a lot of work to interpret (you have to read the text, rather than reading the chart directly).
TrackSmart

By the way, I forgot to say great polls and very interesting results!

As a secondary computer, smaller is better, so long as you can still type on it easily. I think the opinion poll bears this out.

However, I think there is a large, untapped market for people who want a cheap “normal size” laptop that gets really good battery life. Long lasting laptops don't exist under $500! So, while it will offend netbook purists, I can see the appeal of a “giant netbook” for many casual computer users.

I think Acer and Samsung know what they are doing in making giant-size netbooks. Although, they will likely cannibalize even more of the budget laptop market.
Linc (MonkeykIng)

I think you are right…the giant netbook is a real market. But I would call that a notebook. (I'm sure that would make everyone except the manufactures happy.

Like it or not the whole industry needs to downshift by $200. I mean what was sold for $800, $1,000, $1,200, $1,400, and $1,600 need to be trimmed to $600, $800…etc. Cut the sh_t and give people more logical choices.

Also as consumers we should be using Linux at this point. MS dictates the terms of what you CAN buy people!!! MS is the reason why you can't have a netbook shipped with 2GB of RAM when it has XP as the OS. People need to shake Microsoft up and they might as well do it now while the economy is crap. The OEMs need to see that and Microsoft needs to see that happen.
Keith

I'd qualify my vote that 10″ is ideal by saying that the form factor of 8.9″ is actually ideal, but both the keyboard and the screen (on a Mini 9) would be better-served stretching to the edges of the case as much as possible.
nicfer

7″ netbooks would be sucessful if they were real 7″ machines, not just 8.9″ ones with smaller screens and large bezels. But that wouldn't be certainly a netbook, that would be a huge PDA with an x86 processor. And would be the ultimate mobile device.
TrackSmart

That's funny. That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw the 7-inch category. Does he mean the original EEPC, which was the size of an 8.9-inch (with huge bezel) or a REAL 7-inch netbook that you could fit in a coat pocket.

I do think a true 7-inch machine would have to have tablet functionality OR some kind of Butterfly Keyboard, like the old IBM ThinkPads: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_keyboard
REMF

Screen = 11.6″ @ 1366×768
CPU = AMD Conesus or Via Nano
GPU = AMD 780G or Nvidia Ion
Battery = 6 cell @ 6400 v/h
Weight = <1.5kg

That is what I want
REMF

oh yes, and i'd be willing to pay up to £450 for such a device.
REMF

p.s. you can add a 64GB ssd supporting the TRIM command to that list.
Shawn

For me, the screen size doesn't make a huge difference; it's the keyboard size. With a 10 inch screen, you can fit a very comfortable keyboard.
Shawn

Exactly!!!
jiltedcitizen

It's not about screen size, it's about resolution. A 10 in screen with a 576 vertical resolution? WTF. At least do 768 or even 800. And price? $500 really? Why would I want a netbook when I could get a laptop? Especially if the battery life is the same?
http://www.pot.tv trey

I paid 329$ for one netbook and 279$ for the other one (i bought 2GB ram for 29$ for the latter) so let me laugh at the majority of people who would pay 500$ for one.

Low end 9inch models should be starting at 200$.
http://www.pot.tv trey

I paid 329$ for one netbook and 279$ for the other one (i bought 2GB ram for 29$ for the latter) so let me laugh at the majority of people who would pay 500$ for one.

Low end 9inch models should be starting at 200$.

What you want in a netbook: Price and size

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