What happened to the netbook?

[mamamia88]

Tablets are nice but there is no real replacement for having 2 windows open side by side and a real keyboard. I have arch on my netbook and it runs very nicely. Would love to upgrade to something in the same form factor but maybe with a little more video power and faster cpu. Am i the only one who will mourn the death of the netbook market? My nexus 7 is great but typing on a physical keyboard is just so much quicker and my netbook has a matte screen and i don't have to clean the screen once every half hour. I will really miss these cheap machines that do a good job once you install a lighter os on them.

[chadk5utc]

Agreed
I love mine and will continue to run it till it dies a natural death. It runs great with linux

[Bandit]

Netbooks are slowly getting replaced with just smaller laptops at a similar price but better performance. While tablets seems to be taking over the market for those just looking for a easy web and social media experience.

[BrokenKingpin]

I also love my netbook. Having a physical keyboard makes all the difference. I can basically do everything I normally do on my PC, and I can easily lug it around the house.

I do like the idea of a 13.3" ultrabook though... still small and lightweight, but a lot more powerful.

[mamamia88]

I also love my netbook. Having a physical keyboard makes all the difference. I can basically do everything I normally do on my PC, and I can easily lug it around the house.

I do like the idea of a 13.3" ultrabook though... still small and lightweight, but a lot more powerful.

i like the idea of a ultrabook too what i don't like is the price. i don't expect to be doing any hardcore work on something that is meant to be mobile. i think of mobile devices as something that i do my web browsing/video watching etc on. if i had the kind of money for a macbook air i would rather buy a $300 netbook and a $700 desktop instead of just getting the laptop

[Darksthour]

If a keyboard is what you're looking for try the Asus Pad lineup. I have a tf300t and anything mobile I can use use that. It is incredibly small lightweight and does everything I need. A great alternative to a similarly price netbook. The netbook in my opinion was someone trying to cheapen and cram a laptop into a smaller space. While in theory it's a good idea unfortunately the tablet came out at the same time. That's why they never took off and I think ultrabooks sort-of are now. I know my younger sister got a netbook for college because it was cheap and she "didn't need a huge laptop for school." Guess how much she used it? Never! Then in her second semester got a regular laptop. Ultra books are filling that niche between tablet and laptop by adding portability without sacrificing what makes it a PC but really the netbook just was a cheap option for PC makers like HP and Sony to try and make a new market but failed.

[drawkcab]

I used my 9-inch eeepc ($165) all the time until I cracked the hinge. It still works but I bought a 12-inch Lenovo thinkpad ($300) with a nicer keyboard to replace it. They're great to work on for those of us who use the keyboard all the time and need maximum portability.

It seems the 12-inch has replaced the 7-10-inch netbook which is fine. It's much easier to type on than the 9-inch model that I have.

Even more than the loss of the netbook, I bemoan the demise of the nettop which make great home theater pcs.

[Bandit]

Apples Macbook AIr series is very nice as well. They have 11 and 13.3 inch models.
I got one of the 13.3 ones for my wife and I. It has a Intel Ivy Core i5 1.7Ghz Dual Core with 4GB of DDR3-1600 and a 128GB Flash Drive (SSD) and it very fast, light weight, durable and thin. Only 1/4 inch thick with the lid shut and battery life is up to 7 hours. Screen resolution is also quiet nice for its size, has built in HD webcam, mic, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 3.0, Wireless 802.11n and 13.3 inch model has a built in Thunderbolt Port. Cost was 1199. But semi comparable Ultrabooks were $999 USD and not nearly as nice of construction.

[Sableyes]

If you have a Nexus 7 get a keyboard and mouse set with Bluetooth?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8104882687_87efa4b2aa.jpg

[mastablasta]

Am i the only one who will mourn the death of the netbook market? .
what death? there are still plenty cheap small portable laptops available.

i saw a flod of them recently in the end i went with 11.6" screen as it seemed like a better idea (though no SSD, but still low power, long battery life, max 8 GB ram...). you also have chromebook thta is just out...

netbooks as originally though out were also ruined by windows. the XP had higher demands and the win7 starter version limited their mobos to 2GB ram. if they dind't follow the guidelines they were not allowed to use it. bleh.... why oh why they followed MS in this. it was a stupid thing to do in the end. if they stuck with linux or even put android on it they would be doing better now.

[Sableyes]

if they stuck with linux or even put android on it they would be doing better now.

The problem with Linux on netbooks was the distributors and manufacturers just didnt seem too get Linux. We saw one in either Maplin or PC World (UK Shops) that had WINE too use the WiFi in the netbook. Pretty sure I saw one bundled with Norton Antivrus box as well.

Dell were the only mainstream ones that seemed too 'get' Linux on a netbook.

[mamamia88]

the only thing i dont like about the netbook is that pages load slower in chromium than the android browser on my nexus 7 otherwise with arch and xfce the thing is snappier than i could possibly expect. anyone know why pages load slower on the netbook?

[Paqman]

what death? there are still plenty cheap small portable laptops available.


Pretty much all of the manufacturers have discontinued their netbook lines. Asus just announced the end of the Eee PC line.

Basically they did what was needed though, the laptop market had been progressively bringing our bigger and bigger laptops, to the point where they were no longer really portable and had awful battery life. They seem to have forgotten that what customers actually wanted was small and light. Now, as you point out, there are more small and properly portable laptops back on the market. Those aren't strictly netbooks though.

I'm a bit sad to see the end of 9" and 10" machines. I think 9" is about perfect, I loved the size of my Eee 901 when I had it.

[lykwydchykyn]

netbooks as originally though out were also ruined by windows. the XP had higher demands and the win7 starter version limited their mobos to 2GB ram. if they dind't follow the guidelines they were not allowed to use it. bleh.... why oh why they followed MS in this. it was a stupid thing to do in the end. if they stuck with linux or even put android on it they would be doing better now.

Yeah, I think the netbook *concept* pretty much died when they started shipping with Windows. At that point they became mini-laptops, not netbooks. And let's face it, not much that people want to do on Windows works well on a 9" screen (especially if you surf in IE 6 with 500px of toolbars and browser chrome).

[Statia]

Yeah, I think the netbook *concept* pretty much died when they started shipping with Windows.

Well, the Linux distributions that they shipped with also did not do much good for the netbook. If only the good netbook friendly distro's we have now had been available when they came out!

I bought an EEEPC 701 4G in 2008, it came with Xandros. Not terrible, but not great either. (It runs Lubuntu 12.10 now and lives in a box together with an USB HDD to be my NAS). I bought an Aspire One in 2009 that came with Linpus. The OS broke within a year. It happily runs Lubuntu 12.04 now (and also has Unity, Gnome and XFCE).

If those devices originally would have shipped with an OS the same quality as Lubuntu, the netbook market might have been more successful.

[Jakin]

Really, what's the real difference between a "netbook" and an "ultrabook"? They haven't been replaced- Just renamed/restructured= made better (but unfortunatly came a premium).

[nothingspecial]

In my house, it became a digital photo frame, a multimedia box type thing connected to my TV and an emergency backup server. (This is 3 netbooks rather than one btw)

[lykwydchykyn]

If those devices originally would have shipped with an OS the same quality as Lubuntu, the netbook market might have been more successful.

I have yet to see a major OEM launch a GNU/Linux (as opposed to Android)-based device in such a way that makes any kind of sense. Take Dell for example; they shipped a few computers with Ubuntu, but always like 9.10 or something (even after 9.10 is out of support!). I don't think they ever shipped a device with an LTS release of Ubuntu. Why the heck not??

And Linpus? Xandros? gOS? Linspire? Who in the heck was using any of those??? It's not like there weren't real Linux companies in 2006 for them to work with.

[Copper Bezel]

Really, what's the real difference between a "netbook" and an "ultrabook"? They haven't been replaced- Just renamed/restructured= made better (but unfortunatly came a premium).

I didn't think that lower-cost ultraportables were ever going to really move into covering the higher end of the former netbook spectrum, but finding this (http://www.jr.com/asus/pe/ASU_X202EDH31TS/) seemed like an existence proof to the contrary. It's an Asus ultraportable with a 11.6" 1366x768 pixel display and a Core i3, and it's $550 USD, the price of a really nice 10"-11.6" ARM tablet. And that's with the bonus of a glass screen (also, quite uselessly, a touchscreen.) It's apparently ~1.5 kg overall, but it's thinner than a lot of netbooks (2cm, like an ultrabook.) It's not an exact match, but it's close enough to the price point and use case of a netbook for my preference; in any case, it's a sign that there will still be an intersection of cheap, Intel, and portable in the post-netbook PC market.

[forrestcupp]

Apples Macbook AIr series is very nice as well. They have 11 and 13.3 inch models.
That's what I was going to say. Just buy a Macbook. They call them laptops, but they're really $1500 netbooks. ;)

[mamamia88]

That's what I was going to say. Just buy a Macbook. They call them laptops, but they're really $1500 netbooks. ;)

yeah cause $999 isn't close to 4 times the price of the $300 netbook i bought in 2009 that still runs great with linux. if a $300 computer can do everything i need why would i buy a $1000 computer? i get that profit margins are really low but why even bring out the category in the first place then?

[Copper Bezel]

I didn't honestly realize how much a pain in my nether regions my netbook really was until I got my current desktop. The OS doesn't really matter - it's running Gnome with Unity, but that isn't any lighter than the Windows XP it shipped with (in 2009 for me as well.) Those Atom chips are just painfully slow. (An extra problem for me was that the SSD in my netbook is PCI or something rather than normal SATA, but there are netbooks with bloody HDDs, too, so it's not as if my case was really at floor level.)

There are still $300 notebooks that are roughly the size of a large netbook (this one's actually branded as one) (http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model-features/NU.SGPAA.015), and they're fat and have bigger chips in them now, but that seems to me like a fair tradeoff in a device that's already the living spirit of compromise.

Obviously, the Macbook Air does a lot of things the cut-rate netbook doesn't, and equally obviously, probably not enough things to justify being three times the price. forrestcupp was invoking it sarcastically. But again, there are machines for less than twice the price of a netbook that are almost comparable in form factor - or at least falling somewhere within the range between netbooks and Macbooks - without being limited to an Atom processor, and I think that's a fair deal.

But then, the entry-level price and attitude toward design were always my least favorite things about netbooks, so it's probably natural that I'm happy to see them left aside.

[Bandit]

yeah cause $999 isn't close to 4 times the price of the $300 netbook i bought in 2009 that still runs great with linux. if a $300 computer can do everything i need why would i buy a $1000 computer? i get that profit margins are really low but why even bring out the category in the first place then?

Macbook Airs may cost more, but you get more.

My Dell Netbook had:
Atom N450 1.6Ghz (single core)
1 GB RAM
250GB 5400 RPM HDD
10.1" LCD (1366 x 768)

$400 USD

- No Bluetooth
- No Thunderbolt Port
- Plastic Body
- No Backlit Keys
- Breakable PSU Cable Plug
- 10.6 x 7.7 x 1.3 Inches @ 3.3 LBS
- Came with Windows Starter, had to upgrade to Home. ($100)
- Shutters to bad to play HULU or HD home movies..
- Runs warm to hot on normal use, always has..

-VS-

11" Macbook Air
Intel i5 1.7GHz (dual core, turbo 2.6GHz)
4GB RAM
128GB SSD
11" LCD (1366x768)

$1,099

- Aluminum Body
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Thunderbolt Port
- Mag Safe PSU Plug
- Backlit Keyboard
- 11.8 x 7.56 x .68 Inches @ 2.38 LBS
- Comes with OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, dont have to upgrade anything.
- Has the power to play any movie any format, plus more..
- Runs cold to warm on heavy use.


Now clearly yes the Macbook Air does cost more, but you get more. The Quality is so much higher on Apple products then Dell products. You get what you pay for.. Also later on if they come out with a newer version of OSX you dont have to spend 100 to 200 dollars. Upgrades are always around 20USD.

[0rigie]

HP Mini 110
Intel® Atom™ CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz × 2
13.6 GB SSD
2 GB MEM

Precise Pangolin

$60 and some change from police auction house


Traveling around, am not worried if lost, or stolen. I'll be sad the day comes am no longer able to pick one up.

[mamamia88]

Macbook Airs may cost more, but you get more.

My Dell Netbook had:
Atom N450 1.6Ghz (single core)
1 GB RAM
250GB 5400 RPM HDD
10.1" LCD (1366 x 768)

$400 USD

- No Bluetooth
- No Thunderbolt Port
- Plastic Body
- No Backlit Keys
- Breakable PSU Cable Plug
- 10.6 x 7.7 x 1.3 Inches @ 3.3 LBS
- Came with Windows Starter, had to upgrade to Home. ($100)
- Shutters to bad to play HULU or HD home movies..
- Runs warm to hot on normal use, always has..

-VS-

11" Macbook Air
Intel i5 1.7GHz (dual core, turbo 2.6GHz)
4GB RAM
128GB SSD
11" LCD (1366x768)

$1,099

- Aluminum Body
- Bluetooth 4.0
- Thunderbolt Port
- Mag Safe PSU Plug
- Backlit Keyboard
- 11.8 x 7.56 x .68 Inches @ 2.38 LBS
- Comes with OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, dont have to upgrade anything.
- Has the power to play any movie any format, plus more..
- Runs cold to warm on heavy use.


Bolded is stuff i couldn't care less about.Now clearly yes the Macbook Air does cost more, but you get more. The Quality is so much higher on Apple products then Dell products. You get what you pay for.. Also later on if they come out with a newer version of OSX you dont have to spend 100 to 200 dollars. Upgrades are always around 20USD. True you get a good machine But I couldn't care less about anything to do with bluetooth or thunderbolt. The backlit keyboard is nice but i would use that maybe once in a blue moon and i would pay at max $50 more for it to be included as an option on a laptop. the power connector is also an added bonus but it's not really something i would be willing to dish out a crap load of money for. the OS itself i could take or leave and windows being installed is irrelevant if i plan on installing linux. i bought 2gb ram for my netbook that cost $20 and i upgraded my drive to an ssd for $40 after rebate. So grandtotal i'm about $380 for the netbook. my nexus 7 is nice but it's sometimes nice to have a laptop form factor. i was just hoping that they would continue to improve the netbook line of computers.

[Copper Bezel]

My netbook was $350 and included the SSD. Raising the RAM to the 2 GB required to tolerably run the full Gnome desktop (from the limit, after Windows 7's launch, of 1GB for XP devices and Windows 7 Starter machines, which somehow applied to Linux devices, too) was $40, because a 2GB stick of DDR2 RAM in early 2009 was $40. I've gone through two replacement batteries (one from an alternate vendor and then back to Asus, so the first one doesn't really count) and it's on the second AC adapter, which was another $40 and two days of not having the computer running. That's still all a bit below $500, but I think it's fair to say that owning cheap junk costs money in the long run.

I like my Nexus 7, too, and yet I do often find myself using it for tasks I'd really prefer to perform with a keyboard and a screen I can lean back from. But if I wanted to imagine my Nexus 7 into the device I'd like to use for those tasks, I'd rather pay more for more inches of screen and a keyboard than compromise the portability, UI responsiveness, and screen quality that the Nexus 7 has me utterly spoiled on. That adds up to a small ultraportable, not a netbook.

So as the very happy owner of a netbook, I'm rather glad that they've passed on.

[Primefalcon]

happily using a netbook right now

[forrestcupp]

yeah cause $999 isn't close to 4 times the price of the $300 netbook i bought in 2009 that still runs great with linux. if a $300 computer can do everything i need why would i buy a $1000 computer? i get that profit margins are really low but why even bring out the category in the first place then?

Like Copper Bezel said, I was being facetious and "invoking it sarcastically". ;)

I do agree with Bandit that a Macbook Air is much, much better hardware than your run of the mill netbook. But there's no way I'm paying that kind of money for a laptop like that that is the same size as a little netbook.

[rg4w]

If you're going to compare a netbook to anything Apple offers, compare its capabilities to an iPad, not a Macbook Air, which is more like an "Ultrabook".

Even there, though, for reasons I have yet to figure out, none of the OEMs are delivering specs as good as Apple's for the same price.

Forget Thunderbolt and retina displays; with limited compatibility of existing hardware/software, those don't matter much to us (or arguably to anyone who ever shops outside of an Apple store).

But even on the basics like screen resolution, most 13" Ultrabooks still offer only 1366x768 while the MBA is 1440x900 for $1200. I just don't get it.

All that said, the best laptop value I've had in years isn't an Ultrabook, or a netbook, and sadly it isn't available anymore: Dell's M101z.

With a Core i3 and an 11.6" screen @ 1366x768, I got it for US$289. For $12 I added another RAM chip in its unused slot and for another hundred I swapped the HD with an SSD, and now this little gem flies - all for a little over $400.

This seems like the logical place for OEMs to go, but they're too fixated on watching their Ultrabooks sit on store shelves to figure out how to return to the value-driven systems that have always been their only strong point.

So netbooks were too cheap, Ultrabooks are too expensive, and relatively little else exists in between for 13"-and-under systems because OEMs are too shortsighted.

[Bandit]

Like Copper Bezel said, I was being facetious and "invoking it sarcastically". ;)

I do agree with Bandit that a Macbook Air is much, much better hardware than your run of the mill netbook. But there's no way I'm paying that kind of money for a laptop like that that is the same size as a little netbook.

Fair statement. I honestly think the 11" models are for those wanting a smaller size regardless of price. I myself got my wife and I the 13" model because it had much larger screen size in comparison for only 100 USD more. Of course when I got it I was comparing it to the ASUS Ultra Books at best buy which wasnt as good at the time and was priced at 999 USD. We got the 13" 1199 USD MBA instead.

But all in all, with so many of these tablets now having fold up keyboards like Microsnappys Surface Tablet. That may be the direction most netbook makers are headed in.

[mr john]

It's not really fair to compare an air to netbooks. They are completely different. It would be much fairer to compare the air to premium ultrabooks that ship at a similar price. The whole point of netbooks is that they are cheap and small. Ultrabooks are expensive and small.

Personally I think the netbook has at least a few years left in their current form. However I think in the long term they will just become more tablet-like. Think of the Asus transformer etc. People need hardware keyboards to do anything serious. They also need a suitable O/S. Android may grow into a more productive OS but we'll have to wait and see. Of course Ubuntu OS promises both a mobile and full desktop platform, but we'll have to see if that idea ever takes off. Maybe Google will steal the idea and make a phone/tablet/netbook that does Android and ChromeOS?

To me the tablet it a bit like the Nintendo Wii, ok for casual users, but not for everyone.

[Copper Bezel]

However I think in the long term they will just become more tablet-like. Think of the Asus transformer etc. People need hardware keyboards to do anything serious. They also need a suitable O/S.

Touch laptops wouldn't be shipping now if not for Windows 8.

[mamamia88]

yeah i have no desire for a touch laptop. even though touch is nice on a tablet. usb keyboards work ootbwith nexus 7 right how so tablets with keyboard docks are probably the future

[Copper Bezel]

The only use case I can see for a touchscreen on a non-convertible laptop is for quick interactions that don't require sitting down and "plugging in," like pausing media (which would be better served by media buttons) or hitting those little "continue" buttons while waiting through the stages of an installer (which are a bad design in the first place.) So far as I can tell in the store display models I've messed with, the bottom edge of the screen is ergonomically inaccessible if you're actually sitting in front of the device, which makes navigating by touch really irritating. Surface and some of the iPad keyboard cases solve this by changing some of the angles involved, but it just doesn't work with a clamshell form factor.

[malspa]

I liked the idea of a netbook, for those who want that sort of thing. For myself, an inexpensive (around $300, or less) notebook is better. Bigger screen, more comfortable for typing, etc.

[screaminj3sus]

Displaced by superior products, lightweight notebooks and ultrabooks. And there's chromebooks if you want something as cheap as a netbook for basic internet use.

[KiwiNZ]

Tablets killed the Netbooks, sort of, I believe that the convert able laptops like the Samsung Ativ and Asus transformers are netbooks but way better and what netbooks should have been. So the netbook is here just evolved into something that actually works.

A Ubuntu convert able will be very good inmho.

[neu5eeCh]

I bought an AspireOne (netbook) rather than a tablet. I've noticed that people who actually need to get work done (rather than watch movies or browse or shop), either get a netbook (if they need something small) or turn their tablets into netbooks. Just yesterday I saw someone using an iPad with a full blown keyboard and mouse in a case that turned the whole assembly into a -- wait for it -- overpriced netbook.

[Copper Bezel]

It's only "overpriced" if the features that you are considering incidental are also incidental to that user. To me, the difference between iOS or (even Android or Windows RT) and a full desktop OS would not be incidental, so the docked iPad wouldn't even be a netbook replacement. OTOH, a convertible does a lot of things that a netbook doesn't. iOS or Android runs apps that a Windows or Ubuntu netbook doesn't, and it's still a tablet when removed from the case, which is the better configuration for comfortable reading or passing document around in a conversation, for a lot of gaming, and for some media applications - mostly "play" use cases but a few significant "work" ones. It's also more portable and has a longer battery life than the netbook, and I've never seen a netbook with comparable display quality to the iPad or any decent Android tablet.

So when it's docked, it's being an unusually pretty, ultralight, absurdly expensive netbook with a restrictive OS and a display that doesn't hurt to look at. That's very much like saying that a gaming laptop is an extremely oversized, overpriced, absurdly overpowered netbook. There are a lot of use cases and a lot of form factors in the world, and different features matter to different people in different situations.

[Marzata]

Lenovo still makes netbooks and they make them best! See http://goo.gl/um2Ke and http://goo.gl/ArDIu. Just install Xubuntu 12.04 LTS on them. And run!

[VinDSL]

Heh! "What happened to the netbook?"

Still gettin' down with an ASUS Eee PC 1000HD. LoL! :D



http://vindsl.com/images/vindsl-desktop-eeepc-4-dec-2013(650x381).png (http://vindsl.com/images/vindsl-desktop-eeepc-4-dec-2013.png)


L-O-V-E this thing! Take it with me everywhere.

Whenever it wears out/breaks, I'll get another one!

Can't beat it for $250 (USD)...

[VinDSL]

i like the idea of a ultrabook too what i don't like is the price. i don't expect to be doing any hardcore work on something that is meant to be mobile...
Gotta admit...

I'm strongly attracted to this Dell/Ubuntu XPS 13 Dev Edition:


http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/xps-13-linux/pd

I've been using portables since well into the last century. I won't bore you with all the models I've had.

Suffice to say, IMO 12" displays are optimal, but I would make an exception for the one linked to (above). ;)

[mamamia88]

Gotta admit...

I'm strongly attracted to this Dell/Ubuntu XPS 13 Dev Edition:


http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/xps-13-linux/pd

I've been using portables since well into the last century. I won't bore you with all the models I've had.

Suffice to say, IMO 12" displays are optimal, but I would make an exception for the one linked to (above). ;)

kinda pricey as well. only way i see myself ever spending that much on a computer would be for a gaming rig.

[VinDSL]

kinda pricey as well...
Weighs 3 oz. less than my plastic, fantastic, Eee PC.

Gotta pay extra for aluminum & carbon fiber, you know? :)

[Bandit]

Weighs 3 oz. less than my plastic, fantastic, Eee PC.

Gotta pay extra for aluminum & carbon fiber, you know? :)

Everyone dogged me for recommending Macbook Air.. LOL :D

[VinDSL]

Everyone dogged me for recommending Macbook Air.. LOL :D
Yeah, they're very similar.

Not sure how good the Macbook is at running Linux et al.

The Dell Dev Edition is obviously optimized for Ubuntu (and, cough, winders).

The only thing that bothers me, about both of them, is the limited port selection.

Believe it or not, I prefer an ethernet port to wifi. I'm paranoid about exposing my junk to RF.

And, it's nice to hook my Eee PC up to a real monitor, without the need for a special cable.

Anyway, I think netbooks, so called will survive... except in a slightly different form...

[t0p]

In my house, it became a digital photo frame

Now why didn't I think of that? My eeepc 701 has been in a drawer since I got my laptop. Yes, I could have it on the side table running through a slide show of photos, visitors will be able to see more of my pics than the few I've printed and framed on the walls.

[VinDSL]

Tablets killed the Netbooks, sort of, I believe that the convert able laptops like the Samsung Ativ and Asus transformers are netbooks but way better and what netbooks should have been.

So the netbook is here just evolved into something that actually works.
You've chrystalized my thoughts exactly. :)

Here's the latest and greatest:


http://shop.lenovo.com/us/laptops/ideapad/yoga/yoga11

They made a 13" version of this convertible, but it was too unweildy, in "tent" mode.

This 11" version will put it into netbook territory...

[mastablasta]

And Linpus? Xandros? gOS? Linspire? Who in the heck was using any of those??? It's not like there weren't real Linux companies in 2006 for them to work with.

last year i saw a 10 " netbook i think asus or acer. it's was a propper one and everythign was good but one thing. well two actually. it had 1.3Ghz atom cpu that lagged even with some basic movie viewing tasks. but let's say movie in HD is not what you do on netbook anyway. the thing was super light 0.7kg. keyboard relatively nice.

anyway OS was Meego Linux. now i played with it a bit in the hsop and to me it worked fast and responded relatively fast. but i suspect i would sooner or later bump into meegos limitation. among others (software?!!?) the development for it has stopped. Lubuntu apparently worked well on this little thinkgy. in the end due to poor processor i decided not to get one. what we have now is better, but also weighs 1.6 kg. and i am not impressed with the build. it looked solid at first but already the lower part of screen frame is moving..... ARGH! is it so hard to make a propper casing? though the thingy stays cool, fast, responsive and it can't wait for linux (running 7 starter at the moment).... and i can upgrade ram to 8GB (though starter can't handle it Kubuntu could).

[forrestcupp]

Tablets killed the Netbooks, sort of, I believe that the convert able laptops like the Samsung Ativ and Asus transformers are netbooks but way better and what netbooks should have been. So the netbook is here just evolved into something that actually works.

A Ubuntu convert able will be very good inmho.

Right. I think the new Surface convertibles are the evolution of the netbook. I don't have any experience with them, so I can't speak about how heavy they are. But I think it's a good move. Aside from the OS, I like how Surface convertibles work more than the Transformer attachment.