Netbooks are Not Laptops

Elliot: Did you know that netbooks are not laptops?
Cathie: What a keen sense for the obvious. Yes, you are right. And?
Elliot: When will I learn…
Cathie: Probably never.
Elliot: As I was TRYING to say, a recent study by the NPD Group, a market research company, found that nearly 60% of the people buying netbooks are feeling dissatisfied with their purchase because they were expecting the performance of a laptop.
Cathie: Let’s see: someone pays $300 for a netbook expecting it to perform like an $800 laptop.
Elliot: It does sound a little naive…
Cathie: A laptop has, say, an Intel Dual Core 2 CPU, 2 gigs of main memory, a separate graphics processor and someone expects a netbook with Celeron-level CPU, 1 gig of main memory with integrated graphics processing to perform like that laptop? I have a bridge out back that I might want to to sell, too.
Elliot: The PC industry is not helping the situation with their advertisements either. The ads make those netbooks sound very enticing.
Cathie:  They are enticing, but the ads downplay the fact that the lower priced netbooks have 2 hour batteries, at best, when connected to the Internet using WiFi.
Elliot: I am not sure schools, too, realize that netbooks are not laptops. Besides performance, the build quality of some of the netbooks leaves lots to be desired. No way are those devices going to last 3 or 4 years.
Cathie: But netbooks ARE like laptops in one respect – netbooks still have a TCO – a total cost of ownership. Netbooks still have moving parts that break and those 10” screened netbooks demand bigger batteries which in turn will need to be replaced, etc. etc. etc.
Elliot: I was talking with one school district that literally thought that all they had to do was buy the netbooks and that was the end of it; no more costs would be incurred.
Cathie: Netbooks require maintenance, for which schools had better budget!
Elliot: Great, another opportunity for schools to be disappointed with technology.
Cathie: So what is the best technology option for schools these days Elliot?
Elliot:  Well, it depends.  I’m not sure there is “the best option”.  There will always be a range of devices for a range of activities.  I got out of that one didn’t I?
Cathie:  I still haven’t learned that I can’t ask you a simple question and expect to get a simple answer!

Comments

[Matt Federoff]

No offense guys...but you missed it entirely. It's not about printed vs digital...it's about the entire metaphor of a "textbook" that's essentially out of gas.

You have to see what comes after...but once you see it...then you'll know why we say that we're "Beyond Textbooks".

Matt Federoff
Chief Information Officer
Vail School District

[ThomasFox]

Netbooks are now coming with much better specs than last year, sporting spacious 160GB hard drives. Battery life is no longer around 2 hours, but an average of 3-5 hours with some boasting 8 hour battery life like the Toshiba NB205. Invariably the netbooks have much smaller screens than regular 15 inch netbooks, but you can always plug them into external monitors when at home or at the office. Don't knock the netbook! :)

http://www.cheaperlaptop.com