Acer is scaling back its expectations for tablet and notebook shipments this year. The Wall Street Journal reports that the world’s second largest PC maker (behind HP) has slashed its estimates for tablet shipments by more than half, with hopes of shipping 2.5 million to 3 million tablets this year. Notebook shipments are also expected to drop this year. DigiTimes…

Read more »

Netbooks have been one of the only areas of the PC industry to see increased sales over the last year or so. That has a lot to do with their low cost. You may not have noticed, but there’s a global recession going on, and if you’re worried about losing your job, watching your stock portfolio plummet, or tightening your…

Read more »

While some computer makers were reluctant to offer netbooks in 2008, fearing that low cost computers could eat into the sales of higher priced notebooks, Acer jumped in with both feet. And the strategy appears to have paid off. Not a lot of companies came out ahead in 2008 (There’s a global recession going on, in case you missed it),…

Read more »

I get asked all the time why netbooks are suddenly so popular. My usual response is this: Once upon a time if you wanted a light weight, ultraportable laptop, you had to pay a premium price and you’d still wind up with a machine that wasn’t as powerful as a cheaper full sized laptop. Now, instead of paying $1500, you…

Read more »

[/caption] Cheap laptops may (or may not) be helping spur computer sales during a recession. But that doesn’t mean the companies making low cost mini-laptops aren’t feeling the pinch. DigiTimes reports that Asus and MSI, the makers of the Eee PC and Wind netbook lines, are both planning to reduce their workforces by around 10%. Asus will reportedly layoff about…

Read more »

There’s good news and bad news for computer chipmakers. Research firm IDC reports that overall microprocessor shipments were down 11.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008 when compared with the same period in 2007. In case you couldn’t guess, that’s the bad news. The good news is that Intel Atom processors are shipping like there’s no tomorrow. In fact, the…

Read more »

[/caption] It appears the popularity of netbooks is having an effect on low end computer prices. DigiTimes reports that computer vendors in Taiwan are cutting prices of full sized laptops to make them more competitive with netbooks. Now, we’re not talking about high end gaming rigs here. We’re talking about computers with Celeron or Pentium Dual-Core chips. But companies including…

Read more »

The state of the netbook is apparently pretty strong. Not only are the tiny laptops taking over the Amazon Sales charts, and hitting the top 10 list at Notebook Review, but they’re generally selling like hotcakes. According to DigiTimes, Asus shipped 1.7 million netbooks in the third quarter of 2008, with 700,000 shipped in September alone. There are a few…

Read more »