There’s very little software that can take advantage of these powerful computers, Enderle said. That means there’s no “killer app,” the program that’s so cool or so useful it persuades everyday PC users to trade up.
While the microprocessors that act as the brains inside netbooks are less powerful than even those found in inexpensive full-sized laptops, they are sufficient for most web browsing, eMailing, and word processing. And these computers are getting bigger hard drives, which users need for storing digital photos, music, and video. Overall, they’re good enough that to people replacing three- and four-year-old PCs, netbooks feel downright fast.
Netbooks are gaining more popularity in education, too, where computers often are used primarily for creating documents, browsing the web, and collaborating online.
“The need for the higher-performance machines just isn’t there,” said Enderle, adding that netbooks’ lighter weight can help students who develop back problems as a result of backpacks overstuffed with heavy textbooks and other course materials.
School technology buyers, and consumers in general, should go for more power only if their machines will be used to edit high-definition video, play graphics-intensive games, or process large data sets. Those tasks would require beefier machines.
• Everything’s getting carried away.
People want internet access all the time, and PC makers are betting that “smart” phones–even the iPhone–aren’t big or ergonomic enough for anything more complex or time-consuming than a quick eMail reply.
But already the line between phones and PCs is blurring: PC makers are teaming with mobile carriers to sell netbooks that cost as little as $99 as long as the buyer subscribes to a wireless data service. A new buzzword, “smartbooks,” is emerging to describe a device that runs a smart-phone operating system such as Google Inc.’s Android, but on bigger hardware that is more like a PC than a phone.
And while cell phones and smart phones might become distractions in the classroom if students use them to Twitter or send text messages, Enderle said students will begin using smart phones like laptops in the not-too-distant future.
Most course materials don’t yet lend themselves to cell phones, he added, but the devices are on the rise and will probably replace laptops at some point.
To get students and others to carry their laptops to the corner coffee shop, PC companies are treating their wares as fashion accessories, not just tools. You’ll see more colors and patterns, more design-conscious shapes, and more use of upscale materials.
“Thin and light is sort of the new black,” said Forrester Research analyst Paul Jackson.
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