When Asus entered, nay, started the netbook market, the device didn’t have a named category to fall under. Mini laptop, UMPC, ultra portable were some of the names given to it. Hell even on this blog I’d tag posts posts as ultraportable until recently. It’s been about a year and the market is now saturated; much credit blame directed towards Asus. However there still lies a sense of disconnect between consumers and manufacturers. Why is it that most of them find it so difficult to produce a decent product which covers all bases.

The HP Mini note was a very well received piece and got one thing right which was absolutely essential to any netbook owner; the keyboard. At 92% of a full keyboard, all reviews doled out praises for the little rascal. The build quality was judged to be nothing but excellent and despite the extra heating of the VIA processor, the verdict was a buy, except for one single but extremely important details; price. The 1.6GHz machine costabout 750$ and was in fact more expensive than a few full sized laptops. I myself was almost convinced to buy the machine for a long time, but realised that a netbook is only complimentary to a bigger, full featured machine and the cost should line up proportionately.

Acer has always bested competition on price and it continued to do so with it’s Aspire One line. The 6 cell, Windows XP version now costs about 400$ (after recent price drop). In addition, Acer had another trick up it’s sleeve - including two memory card readers, one of which could be used to increase memory or as Readyboost - which has helped it edge out competition. In the last two years Acer has really paid more attention to it’s build quality and this is reflected in it’s netbook offering too. However what the device lacks severely is the inclusion of Bluetooth which is especially important to people like me who often find ourselves tethering our unlimited 3G package of our mobile phones. I refuse to carry a bluetooth adaptor or USB cable everywhere I go.

The Dell Mini Inspirons look good but it’s shaping up to be Dell’s Vista to the netbook market as far as time is concerned. Not delayed, but still extremely late (the latest estimate was 22 Aug but it has clearly missed that. Besides the lack of an option of a regular HDD instead of a SSD is a dealbreaker for some, including me. Gigabyte was wise enough to include a touchscreen but that obviously came at the cost of battery life. The keyboard didn’t win any awards either. Focusing only on one method of input now are we ?

Lenovo machines are built well and at prices of 439$, they are looking to be quite the deal. However the details on Bluetooth remain sketchy so we’ll probably have to wait closer towards shipping date which according to the website is about 4 weeks away. Surprisingly, Asus have done a good job at making available netbooks for users with varied requirements. Their extremely wide product line makes sure most users find a netbook that best suits their needs and with the recent introduction of the N10, Asus only seems to be getting stronger.

However the winner on top of it all remains the MSI Wind. Brilliant screen, great keyboard, bluetooth included, choice of colours and HDD and bluetooth adaptor included priced at 550$ with a 6 cell battery. It’s no wonder it’s getting difficult to find these machines in stock anywhere. The MSI Wind has received excellent reviews and has also been declared a winner in a matchup against it’s closest competitor, the ASUS 1000HD.

Why is it that then the netbook manufacturers cannot take a queue? Is it that hard to see that the Wind stocks empty up as they’re filled while some other netbooks remain untouched. Or is it intentional ignorance towards consumer feedback portals that results in a product which is less than satisfactory. I can understand that companies with a wide line of products often do not include everything in one single product, but here we’re talking about losing market share to competition who is offering just about everything. I would love to own a decently priced HP because I have an inexplicale affinity towards the brand; but my wallet stays closer to my ass than it does to my heart and my ass refuses to pay an undeserving high price the same way it refuses to pay a low price for an undeserving product (Aspire one).

Would it really be too much to ask for the netbook manufacturers to get their act together and give the Wind some competition so we consumers can start benefiting ?

Related posts

• Dell Mini boasts impressive keyboard. (0)
• HP Ultraportable revealed (2)
• Acer jumps into the UMPC game too. (1)
• Netbooks: Not a question of ‘Either, or’ but instead ‘Whether, not’. (2)
• Dell Global Mobility Event : Live Blogging (2)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.