Breaking away from the mantra of Netbooks?

*This blog has be re-posted- due to formatting errors and Blogger just being a pain to me all day today*

Netbooks, Notebooks and Laptops...oh my!

I just recently started following a new Twitter friend @light3r of http://www.light3r.com/. A Tweet popped up that really peaked my interest-

"Asus to further blur lines between netbooks and notebooks http://tinyurl.com/5cxtf6"

The post reads...

Asus to further blur lines between netbooks and notebooks
"Asus may be best known for making netbooks and motherboards. But the company also sells full sized laptop computers. And soon it will sell… I don’t know what to call a 12 inch noetbook, maybe three quarters sized laptops? DigiTimes reports that Asus plans to launch a notebook with a 12 inch..." Full Article @ Liliputing

The Liliputing article is referencing a DigiTimes report on Asus planning to release a (similar model to the Eee S101) 12" Netbook for approximately $900.

"Now, Asus won’t be the first company to introduce a 12 inch notebook. And I’m sure it won’t be the last" (Liliputing Article)

That quote quickly flashed me back to the days of the 12" Apple iBooks. Those notebooks were (and if you ask some Apple fanboys- still are) troopers. A bit small on screen real estate as they were not widescreen, but this grad student would not call them 'three quarter size' in physical size or in the hardware they sported.

If you remember a previous Tales From The Grad Student, I did a review on the Asus Eee PC after the release of the MacBook Air. It was small and cramped for this grad student- yet I could see possible application for this Netbook. Now, with Asus making a 12" Netbook with a price point of $900- I question the application. In the opinion of this grad student, why wouldn't someone splurge the extra $100 and buy one of the baseline white (previous generation) 13" MacBook*? Good power and portability and you have a full size computer with more ability to be flexible while being mobile. By NO means am I saying that the MacBook is a Netbook- but saying I thought the mantra of a Netbook was fast-light-affordable?

*Disclosure (big shock here): Granted also- this grad student is positively biased towards Apple.

An Aside of the Grad Student
I would love to see these Netbooks as a study companion to students in the K-12/20 system. Something that would give student instant access to the Internet and also provide a way for student to read/research (perhaps double as an e-book reader). Notes, research and reading- seems to be a trend we are teaching in the K-12 system and the Net-Gen and Net-Gen 2.0 are consuming mobile technologies faster and faster. On the bus the other day, I saw a student thumbing through some research on his iPhone. The mobile-education trend has hold on the Net-Gen (1.0 & 2.0), what is the next evolution going to look like?

Twitter me @ajbarse

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