Netbook Demand Winding Down?

[WiCKeD]

With all the hype about netbooks, it looks like the market may finally be nearing saturation...

Is the netbook fad coming to an end? Among all the talk of tightening chip supplies comes a separate report by way of DigiTimes that demand for Atom processors is slowing down.

The industry insiders who make the claim point to falling prices of notebooks based on Intel's ultra-low voltage Core 2 processors - punters can pick up machines that can do more than netbooks can but aren't radically larger or heavier, all for not much more money than a netbook will cost.

The moles also suggested buyers are waiting for Intel to release its second-generation Atom N-series chips, which it's expected to do in H2.

Full Article @ The Register

[thread]

I guess, when no-one has a netbook, there are plenty of buyers in the market. And now that a lot of the people that wante them have them, they're only going to get the slower conversion rate of people who weren't really keen.

And it's just too early for the "upgrade cycle" for netbooks to kick in.

[AruisDante]

I agree. Most people that were willing to take the sacrifices of a netbook already took them. Those that want them, but aren't quite willing to give up that much for the size, are probably waiting for Ion like platforms and the next gen Atoms.

[MrObvious]

I think netbooks have enough horsepower for me, but my problem lies in that they are too tiny for my liking. My laptop is a nice desktop replacement for me.

[leprechanmonkie]

I love my 10 inch hp mini, but it is what it is. The atom is painfully slow when you get down to it, the whole thing uses less power than turning on my other 22 inch screen, and i can just sit on the couch and browse.

I threw 2gb ram in it, cant tell a lick of difference. Even extracting fairly small .zips is SLOW.

Still handy as hell when you go to fix a spyware ridden pc and you cant even get online with their computers crap, this thing has saved me countless hours when i am out working.

That said, some netbooks keyboards are ridiculous, i think the hp i got has about the most tolerable setup. I can actually type decent on it, 9 and smaller seemed to be tough. If only the atom didnt perform like an old celeron, this thing would be alot better.

I think when the chips get faster and smaller, and better chipsets, along with some innovation like the folding netbook things
http://eeepc.net/asus-shows-interest...n-promo-video/

The keyboard "popping" up would be nice if they can do it in a sturdy fashion. I open and close my netbook all the time...

[onewecallgod]

Originally Posted by WiCKeD

The industry insiders who make the claim point to falling prices of notebooks based on Intel's ultra-low voltage Core 2 processors - punters can pick up machines that can do more than netbooks can but aren't radically larger or heavier, all for not much more money than a netbook will cost.

I want to know where I can find a C2DLV laptop for around $450.

[Neox69]

Honestly I believe that such netbooks as my Dell Mini9 is more than enough for the little things like browsing and media. It was a plus that I picked it up for $239 too

As far as winding down, I will probably lean towards the recession as far as why the demand has gone down. Netbooks compared to let;s say the XPS, the XPS with the right discounts and hardware win as far as price/performance when compared to netbooks. Bought my friend an XPS M1330 with discounts for $600 and it is at least 4 to 5 times more powerful than the dell mini at 2.5 times the price. Size in comparison is not as bad either.

[Diggity!]

I'm dying to get one, but I'm going to wait for the ion. I hear they should be hitting shelves around July.

-Des!

[4-n-zics]

My wife and I both have the ASUS 1000HA and love them. My wife uses hers for everything save for playing WoW and Bioshock.

[Librarian]

I got the Asus 901 the day it released and it has performed awesomely every since. I use it for almost everything, including photo editing and a tiny bit of video editing. It handles fine for what it is, improved my workflow efficiency a lot. I hope they can put a dual core atom in one, then I'd have reason to by another one.

[Ridewithme38]

Just picked up a Dell Mini 10 for the girlfriend...it'll be perfect for college papers, Checking Email and Facebook...Thats all she does....And its Pink!

I'm waiting to pick one up for me till they have Much more power, expandability and an HD Screen would be nice...i'd love a Quad core Netbook with 4gigs of ram!

[thread]

Then it's not a netbook, right?

Although, with a quad atom it could potentially be I guess.