Have netbooks hit their peak? That is the stance some articles have taken recently, due to the slow down in sales. But I think that, more than anything, those who need to buy them have. We own one Eee running Windows 7 and will be picking up another one for myself tomorrow, which will run Ubuntu 10.04. The specific model I am buying tomorrow will have about a nine-hour battery life. Seriously, to get this kind of battery life with the decent performance of the Intel Atom CPU, it’s a no brainer for those of us looking to leave the oversized notebooks at home.
Now the speculation out there is that the Atom CPU is plateauing. Fair enough — perhaps it is. But the point that the iPad has slowed down the sales of netbooks is, at best, unlikely. Those looking for netbooks are looking at a completely different price point, different experience, and different needs.
The iPad is very cool — I make no qualms about that. But for my humble needs, a well built netbook running with lots of memory and a serious battery life is plenty. Besides, we’re still in a financial “recovery,” so if I can replace the stuff I need from my notebook, for a better price, that is the approach that I’m taking.
[awsbullet:netbook Windows 7]
