It was inevitable that "crossover" laptops would make their debut.
Netbooks are wildly popular these days and are no doubt here to stay,
but the criticisms leveled at them by their detractors, including Steve
Jobs and Apple COO Tim Cook, while missing the central point somewhat,
aren't entirely groundless.
Netbook keyboards are mostly uncomfortably undersized, their
displays likewise (although much better on both counts than the iPhone
and iPod touch, which Mssrs. Jobs and Cook have proposed as netbook
alternatives). Netbooks have traditionally been underpowered, with not
a whole lot of RAM or data storage capacity, and battery life hasn't
necessarily always been up to much.
Netbook Popularity
However, many folks have decided that the netbook virtues - compact,
convenient size and light weight, quick boot time, cool running, and,
of course, low prices make the compromises livable - no match for a
full-sized and featured notebook, but as someone observed last week,
providing "good-enough" computing for folks who don't need or want a
Core 2 Duo powered portable workstation.
IDC research analyst Jay Chou
reported on Friday that netbook shipments worldwide increased
sevenfold to roughly 4.5 million during Q1 2009, year over year, and
now account for approximately 8% of all PC shipments during the first
quarter.
A new iSuppli report, Netbooks
and Emerging Form Factors: PC Saviors?", by Principal Analyst
Matthew Wilkins, and Senior Analyst Peter Lin focuses on netbooks as
the fastest-growing segment of the PC market today and projects the
category reporting 2009 unit growth in excess of three times the size
of any other segment in the notebook market.
Netbook Drawbacks
However, as popular as netbooks are, some folks would prefer to have
just a bit more power and storage capacity, a keyboard large enough for
comfortable typing, and a display that doesn't make you squint in a
smaller-than-traditional subcompact and relatively inexpensive notebook
package.
The MacBook Air would
meet those criteria were it not for its punishingly inflated price, but
several PC vendors are stepping up with much less expensive laptops
that do likewise.
Samsung
In his report, IDC's Jay Chou also notes that Samsung, a relative
latecomer to the netbook fray, is offering users a better overall
netbook experience with its NC10 netbook (from
US$415) - thanks to its larger than typical 10.2" 1024 x 600 pixel
screen and decent-sized keyboard - but Samsung is also just out of the
gate with a couple of even more powerful and capable machines that are
arguably more than netbooks but still short of full-fledged notebooks,
ergo "crossover" 'books - their new enterprise-targeted N110 and N120
models, which J.H. Kim, President of Samsung Electronics America's
Information Technology Division, says offer enhanced battery life,
multimedia speakers, and a larger keyboard and touchpad to satisfy the
needs of users looking for audio video capabilities while also
supporting the road warriors needing extended battery life.
The Samsung N110 mini notebook measures 10.27'' (W) x 1.19''
(H) x 7.3'' (D), weighs in at 2.78 lb., comes with a 93% full-size
keyboard and a 10.1" LED SuperBright glossy display, and a 6-cell
(5900mAh) lithium battery that provides battery life up to 9 hours of
continuous use. There is a 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1 GB of RAM,
and a decent-sized 160 GB hard drive (the latter is 40 GB larger than
Apple ships with the $999 entry-level MacBook) with prices from US$445
and widely sold out.
The slightly larger and heavier Samsung N120 mini notebook has
a 10.1" 1024 x 600 display and is 10.71'' (W) x 1.71'' (H) x 7.4'' (D),
weighs 2.8 lb., and offers more multimedia support as well as a 97%
full-size keyboard with trackpad, 6-cell (5200mAh) lithium battery
providing battery life up to 6 hours of continuous use, plus a SRS 2.1
channel system featuring two 1.5 watt stereo speakers and a dedicated
subwoofer and an integrated 1.3 megapixel digital motion camera
provides videoconferencing capabilities.
Prices are around US$460.
The N110 and N120 are available through Samsung resellers and
distribution channels, which can be located by calling 1-800-SAMSUNG or
by visiting samsung.com.
MSI
Micro-Star International (MSI), whose netbooks have been one of the
most popular platform for "Hackintosh" installs of OS X, has just
announced its colorful new
Wind U100 PLUS laptop - another machine that further blurs the
netbook/notebook dichotomy into crossover territory.
The Wind U100 PLUS comes in several attractive colors -
including two new ones, rose champagne and metallic blue - in addition
to continued availability of Imperial Black, Angelic White and Regal
Red, giving Wind purchasers an enticing palette of color choices.
Based on the established
Wind U100 netbook, MSI's U100 PLUS is powered by the Intel's latest and
most powerful yet Atom processor, the 1.66 GHz N280, which accomplishes
the neat trick of enhanced performance combined with smaller physical
size and lower power consumption, drawing a minuscule 2.5 watts, plus
Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics, and supports up to 2 GB of RAM.
The featherweight (1
kg/2.54 lb.) Wind U100 PLUS features a 10" widescreen LED backlight
display with 1024 x 600 resolution, three USB 2.0 ports, 802.11n WLAN
and 1.3MP built-in webcam, two channel stereo speakers, a microphone, a
4-in-1 Card Reader (supports SD. MMC, MS, and MS Pro), and an optional
external DVD burner may be added.
The Wind U100 measures approximately 26 cm in length and 18 cm in
width, and its thinnest part measures 1.9cm thick. Even so, the
keyboard and touchpad are more generously-sized than is typical with
netbook computers, with key-spacing increased to to 17.5mm.
Another notebook feature of the Wind U100 PLUS is that it comes with
a real, notebook-sized 2.5" 160 GB hard drive, and MSI claims up to six
hours runtime with the standard battery package.
Of course, the Wind U100 PLUS comes with poky Genuine Windows XP
Home, but folks looking for a crossover netbook/notebook might find the
new, free Ubuntu Linux
9.04 more congenial, or, if so inclined a hacked, EULA-busting
install of OS X 10.5 "Leopard".
Also new from MSI is the
X340 X-Slim Series ultra-slim notebook, which is clearly inspired
by the MacBook Air, but offers more connectivity and expandability than
the Air at a more reasonable price.
The X340 is only 6 mm at its thinnest, 19.8 mm at its thickest,
and the entire notebook weighs 1.3 kilograms (MacBook Air - 1.36 kg),
making it the world's lightest and slimmest 13" notebook, and the first
equipped with 16:9 LED backlight widescreen - ideal for watching movies
and HD videos.
X340 is also equipped with MSI's ECO Engine power management system
providing a selection of five different modes: office, gaming, movies,
presentation, and turbo battery.
The X340 comes with Intel's new ultra-low power Core 2 Solo consumer
ultra-low voltage.(CULV ) processor and Intel GS45 + ICH9M-SFF graphics
chipset, and integrated WiFi+ optional WiMax, up to 450mbps 802.11
b/g/n), an HDMI Digital Terminal Interface offers more than 5 GB of
transmitting bandwidth, a 1.3 M webcam, 10/100/1000 GB Ethernet, two
USB ports, IEEE 802.16e WiMax iWorldwide, 802.11b /g/n WiFi wireless
Internet access, Bluetooth, a 2 in 1 card reader (supports
SD/SDHC/MMC), a microphone, mic-in / headphone out audio ports,
supports up to 2 GB DDR2 667/800 MHz RAM, a full notebook-sized 2.5"
250 GB HDD, a 4-cell battery good for up to a claimed seven hours'
runtime, with an 8-cell battery available, and can be had with an
optional external DVD Super-Multi optical drive or Blu-ray DVD
Drive.
Left and right sides of the MSI X340 X-Slim Series.
The X-Slim X340 comes in three colors - pearl white, midnight
black, and sci-fi silver. Pricing has not been announced yet, but is
anticipated to be in the $500 neighborhood.
Other Contenders
Other crossover 'book candidates include the 10.9 x 7.6 x 1.1 inch,
3.2 lb. ASUS Eee PC 1004DN;
Dell's $499
Inspiron 13, which has a non-Atom CPU and a 160 GB hard drive, and
supports up to 2 GB of RAM, but is a bit hefty for this category
at just under five pounds; Samsung's $550, 11.5" x 8.5" x 1.2",
three-pound, 12.1" display
NC20 with its VIA Nano processor and VX800 chipset, 18.5mm key
pitch keyboard impregnated with germicidal silver ion powder.
Aside from the too-expensive MacBook Air, which does have a Core 2
Duo processor, a full-size keyboard, a 13" 1280 x 800 display (higher
resolution than netbooks and most crossover notebooks), but only a 1.8"
iPod-type hard drive (or optional SSD), is matched or put to shame by
these much cheaper units in terms of connectivity and expandability,
Apple is absent from crossover 'book space - and arguably losing sales
to netbooks, with Mac notebooks down sharply in Apple most recent
financial report.
We may never see a sub-$500 Apple netbook, but I'm convinced that
they won't be able to stonewall crossover 'books forever.
