Apple isn't exactly known for catering to the lower end of the market, but so far, it doesn't really seem to have slowed them down much. They are selling more Macs than ever, and especially in the ever-growing notebook market, Apple is very successful. However, with people all worried about possible economic downturn, and with the success of cheap, small laptops (netbooks), people are starting to speculate if Apple will enter the netbook market.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Plenty of things. Web, mail and word processing being the most obvious. What do you need to run?
Sure, unless you've created some sort of monster presentation with embedded interactive 3d graphics and 1080p video.
I don't know about you tube HD, but most netbooks are certainly capable of HD playback.
Member since:2007-02-17
I have got Linux Mint 6 RC1 running on my netbook currently. It has a full suite of desktop applications, including OpenOffice, all included in the purchase price, no more to pay.
So you can run a full desktop if you like. Office suite, web browser, email, IM, Skype ... the works. Yes you can give a presentation. I plugged in an external USB drive ... yes you can play videos. Yes you can play Youtube videos ... why not?
Given the low purchase price of the hardware, you would definitely have to re-think buying commercial software to do all this and thereby tripling (or worse) the all-up price ... but if you get the Linux version all of the requisite software is included out of the box.
Member since:2006-01-03
Not all netbooks are limted to 4GB SSD (many have 12GB SSD, some have 60GB HDD). Yet as a software engineer, no, I don't find netbooks very attractive for any type of work that I do. As far as I can tell, it's too inconvenient for the average business people as well (they do a lot of typing).
The main reason for a netbook is to bridge the gap between the iPhone (pocket device) and the 12" portable notebook. That is, when extreme portability is the most important requirement, but you still need a full-blown computer. It's a huge compromise for sure. I personally don't mind carrying a slightly larger 12" tablet PC, which can do almost everything, and is only twice as heavy as a netbook (much more expensive, though).
As a hobby photographer, I used to consider buying a netbook, mainly to use it as a beautiful 9" portable display. It's fairly limited, however. The resolution is way too low. They're not powerful enough to handle 12mp RAW images, over 6MB each (let alone photo editing). They don't have compact flash readers built in. The latest cameras have very high pixel density displays with fast zoom, scroll and RGB histogram, so I decided I couldn't justify a netbook. The traveling photographers buy very light notebooks with a more capable processor -- for the cost many times higher than a netbook.
However, a netbook tablet PC would change the situation. What I'd like Apple to release is a tablet that actually works. I have seen videos of the ModBook, and Vista wins hands down when it comes to the usability of the tablet features (I'm talking about inking here, not about OS X in general). But apparently even this market is too limited for Apple to concentrate on.
Member since:2006-03-20
Well for a start you can copy paste on a netbook.
but reasonably the main purpose of the iphone is making call, and optionally be a handy gadget . While the netbooks are targeted to cheap ass like me, that don't need extensive computing or graphics capabilities ( main culprit : photoshop UI and games, flash ). That can get apps for free, devellop apps for free, run java and a little of flash for little effects or because some web dev made flash the standard of the web.
I'm not trying to bash the iphone as it has the most capable browser for the device size (forcing web designer to adapt their page to not so mush screen real estate), made touch screen popular ( while it was struggling with other devices ).
But on the same time I could say the iphone don't appeal me as netbook does with you.
Member since:2008-08-19
That would be an unusually low-spec machine even for a netbook - most are 1GB ram, and either 8GB or 16GB SSD, or a decent-sized hard disk. Processor is a little slow, but otherwise perfectly adequate for a lot of things. Good for travelling - they're big enough to be useful, while small and light enough to carry comfortably. Fine for web browsing, blogging, mail, photo editing (although the screen is a little small for that). Useful for students - easy to take to class, take notes, record audio, etc.
Really, consider that although the specs are weaker than a modern full-size laptop, they're not actually bad. I'd not buy one as a primary machine - I use a desktop for that - but they make a great secondary machine for someone who wants portability.
Member since:2005-12-31
I have to disagree my friend, those are the specs of the Eeepc 701 that I happily own.
To answer the questions, yes it can, everything you said.
I just suspend the "Youtube HD" thing. I found out just yesterday that this existed.
Will try and report
Member since:2008-08-19
Oh, and my problem with the iPhone is that it's the wrong size for me. At nearly twice the size of my current phone (an old Alcatel), it's too big to comfortably keep in a pocket. So for all it's undeniably cool features, it's not actually useful to me as a cellphone.
Given that, I think the iPod Touch makes more sense, in that it doesn't try to be a phone. Something like that, I can chuck in a bag, and not worry about when I'm not actively using it.
Member since:2005-07-17
That's the reason Apple won't do a netbook. The Touch is their low end computing and it has a definite identity.. it's a real iPod and plays real music, real movies, real games out of the box. I think they need some kind of keyboard accessory because that part is awkward, but there's no reason for a netbook from Apple. The current netbook has no identity. The only real company pushing for a netbook identity is Canonical with the netbook release of Ubuntu. All the other players see it as a "laptop computer" -lite. Microsoft successfully sold full-size windows on these and that's it.
I see decent netbooks about $350 like the Aspire at Walmart, it would make a great baby-mac but would be more limited than the current macbook with no firewire and no gpu. But an iPod Touch is cheaper, and will do better at most of the aspects. Windows has no functions in place to deal with such an accessory in terms of syncing or applications that have improved usability. The macs at least have stricter HIG so such a thing might be usable. A netbook should be for purses or briefcases as something for a travel bag with a camera to edit content, to make posts at wi-fi spots. Apple's touch and iPhone fall down because they have no input for managing things like pictures from cameras and content creation is painful at best. Linux based netbooks could do the job, but codex support is spotty... after all the camera and other manufactures of input or content creation want to deal only with full size Windows installs. The adware and nagware alone will kill these little machines when every accessory expects 100MB drivers. Something with a distinct identity like the Ubuntu remix is what's needed but OEMs have no interest in something new and better when most of the customers want cheap XP clones.
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
Member since:
2005-07-11
Acer ONE? Eee PC?
I think they are expensive. Eventho they have tiny screens and all that crappy hardware. I think they are expensive. If the netbook apple creates has comparable hardware then I would buy one. Otherwise I am not interested at all in the netbook market. I have monitored all netbooks out there for a possible purchase but all the one's I saw are expensive compared to the hardware provided. Why would I pay 350 US dollars for a netbook that has 512MB ram and 4GB hard drive? What can you run on these specs? Can you give a presentation? can you play youtube HD videos?
What is the purpose of buying a netbook if you can do similar things using an iPhone for example?