The Werewolf

Netbooks: Not if, But What Will Replace PCs

I keep seeing this 'netbooks are ok for really basic things' argument.

Do any of you actually OWN one?

I own a first gen Aspire One, the most popular netbook on the planet. I can run pretty much any productivity application I have on it. Heck I can run Photoshop, Poser and StrataStudio on it quite well.

Small screen and small keyboard? Hi - it was designed to be ultraportable. I carry mine in a small shoulderbag. But when I need a big screen and a full sized keyboard (usually at home), I plug in an external monitor and USB keyboard. It can handle a 22" monitor no problem.

Is it a gaming computer? God no.

Is it a high end rendering system? Nope.

But is it good enough for almost everything else? You bet.

But is the iPhone? NO. I have one and after a few months, the limitations of this overhyped piece of bling finally have me desperate to get a serious smartphone (which will probably be an HTC Touch Diamond). The iPhone is great if you really don't do much on your phone, but as you try to move up to serious stuff, it quickly starts to become impossible to use.

Ironically, Tom B's comments are more accurate when applied to the iPhone than to Windows.

Netbooks: Not if, But What Will Replace PCs

Oh please. Do you really believe that more Apple users do 'creative' things than Windows users? Adobe sells more copies of Photoshop to Windows users than Mac uses even when you take into account the market shares.

The fact is that Windows reaches a far larger and more diverse range of people, and it's on low and high end computers - while MacOS is only on a relatively premium computer fhat means you get a highly skewed market, so yeah, you're comparing apples to oranges.


On Apr 27 08:55 AM Tom B wrote:

> MSFT is being bitten by the fact that 99% of Windows PC users do
> little more than read E-mail and prepare simple documents. It used
> to be that some were serious gamers, but they now use game consoles,
> largely.
>
> In contrast, many Mac users do creative things with music, videos,
> etc. And, as you point out, if you want a REALLY small device that
> does what a netbook does (I would argue MORE), one can buy an iPhone/Touch.

Apple's Mysterious New Portable Device?

"Apple’s rival product to the Intel Ultra Mobile PC [UMPC] initiative which has unsuccessfully tried to marry Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows OS to a highly portable computing platform."

I'm going to assume you've never used a UMPC. I own one and it's become an indispensible device. I literally carry it with me everywhere. Vista's handwriting reco is scary accurate and the ability to run off the shelf apps in a device the size of a small book (not to mention, using it AS a small book) makes it insanely powerful.

It's definitely not for everyone - just like PDAs or Smartphones (or even laptops) aren't for everyone. Different people have different needs - but given that the number of UMPCs being offered is going up and that Intel and Microsoft are still improving and planning new versions of the formfactor suggests that it's actually doing well.

I think Apple could turn out a very nice UMPC, but they'll be new to the market and copying Redmond this time.