It appears that it is inevitable that apple will come out with a netbook to compete in the lower end price margin of the netbook market... so is it true?! Any takes? any ideas?
I think they should... not only to compete with the lower end market... and take its shares but I could for sure use a smaller, tiny-ier apple notebook?!
I'm thinking about buying a netbook (Samsung NC10)... I currenlty own Sony Vaio, Powerbook G4 12 inch and 17 inch... and I LOVE macs... but i want something smaller and lighter than that of the powerbook 12 inch which weighs about 5 pounds? current netbooks weigh like 2.5 pounds... smaller... its lighter than textbooks and some notebooks (a bit of a stretch lol). Idk if apple comes out with it i would definitely buy it...
Opinions on this? Also, Is it worth for me to drop 400$ to get netbook (samsung nc10 or Acer Aspire one)?
i just purchased a samsung nc10 the first of this month and love it so far. i was hoping apple would jump into this arena, but couldn't wait. i'm thinking about hacking it to put leopard on it, but not sure if it'll be worth my time. if this is something that apple does i hope they don't price themselves out of their competition.
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I find the logic of 'I could use a smaller Apple notebook' a bit odd really. I have the macbook, a white one, 2.1 GHz blah blah blah, we all know the specs. And my mate has an Acer netbook, that is a 10.1" screen (or whatever the 10" widescreen ones are). It seems to get a relatively good spec you have to have 10"s of screen. Now, my reasoning behind what I say, is that my MB is marginally bigger than this guy's netbook, and its performance is so much better. I really don't believe Apple need to get *more* portable than the Macbook. Especially with the new unibody enclosures, the size/weight aspect is again taken care of (IMO), and for this you get a *real* computer. Personally, I would like to see a very basic unibody macbook at the £719 ($999) tag, maybe 2Ghz 1GB Ram 120GB HD no backlit keyboard etc, then maybe the current 2GHz price point being something like 2.2Ghz 2GB RAM 250GB HD backlit keyboard, or something like that. As was before with the 2 white macbooks and then the blackbook being top spec - have 3 levels of macbook. As there are essentially (as far as I can see) 3 levels of macbook pro - the 2 different 15"s and the 17"er.
im in your shoes!!! i want a netbook... for school and everything... but i don't wanna wait till the end of the year to MAYBE see apple come out with one... considering they are just rumors...
hows the battery life on the nc10? how long can you use it for in one charge? is it TOO SLOW (considering its an ATOM processor)?
LOL do you play starcraft? it could run that on it right?
yeh but i do hope something more concrete comes out about the apple's netbook interests
Stef Andrews.. you make a good point...
but what is the main point of having a portable computer i.e. notebook or netbook for that matter? --- it is primarily used to perform simple tasks...
me for instance... I am a student. I use my powerbook for EVERYTHING! lol but when i bring it to school... it is primarily to take notes, play music in my friends room, watch movies... etc. when i use it at home, i do other stuff...it weights 5 pounds... so for the sake of portability, and what I will do while its "on the go" you don't need a stronger machine... thus i think the weight though its only two pounds, matters...
your MB is 4.5 pounds... thats almost double the netbooks weight
hmmm, Audman, I get what you're saying. But I'm a uni student, and take my macbook everywhere. Into lectures, seminars, use it on the train home, have even used it in bus stops etc! The weight to me is nothing! I hardly notice is in my bag on my back most of the time.
My honest opinion is that people who want a small Mac netbook should and in 99% of the cases would be happy with the macbook. For those that aren't there's the macbook air. It IS a lot lighter, and a lovely machine, but for me (as a musician, music production student) has too many downfalls to even consider. I don't feel Apple need to enter the netbook market. I just don't see it necessary for them to 'keep' customers. I for one know my next computer will be a mac, most probably an iMac, and that probably won't be for 3 years or so. And I know I'm not the only one that pretty much as soon as they buy a mac, wants another one. Apple don't need to enter what I see as almost a 'trivial' market.
Also,
Quote:
Originally Posted by the8thark
To me the current Macbooks are netbooks in everything bar price.
I agree, I think this is the point I was trying to make in my last post. I think that Apple is effectively pricing a lot of people out of buying a Macbook, mainly on pricepoint alone. But that said, those that want to "go Mac", always have, and always will.
agreed... i too love macs... and my next REAL computer will be a mac...
you see thats why i would be happy if apple came out with a netbook... since i love the platform better than that of a windows... i know a person who hacked their windows to act like a mac lol thought that is stupid.
what attracts me to a netbook is its size, portability, and weight. I do just fine with my powerbook right now... but was thinking in terms of "as an extra" lol idk i got more thinking to do... cuz i can't take my 17 inch powerbook that things too **** heavy and too big... same for sony vaio... and my powerbook 12 inch is great, no complaints.. guess im just getting bored with it
but woudln't you agree that apple is a company that likes to dominate in market shares? I personally think if they don't enter, because they can... marginally speaking... lower the specs... its a mistake. JUST like the iPhone contract with AT&T
Mac Specs: Mac Pro 2 x 2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS 10.5.2
Why does anyone think Apple needs to get into netbooks to compete at the low end? For starters... Apple doesn't compete on the low end, and NEVER WILL! As Steve Jobs once said: "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." Profit margins on netbooks are razor-thin as it is, and Apple isn't desperate for income, judging from how they are out-performing the industry financially. Besides, the iPhone and iPod Touch are already more functional than any netbook out there and at comparable prices.
Now this is not to say Apple isn't going to introduce something that may compete with netbooks more closely, but it won't resemble anything like what we think of as a netbook. Rumors are pretty hot that a sub-13" tablet-like Mac is coming... something that is more iPod Touch-like than MacBook-like, but big enough to watch movies or read books without squinting. And without a keyboard... all multi-touch. There's no question in my mind that it's coming. I'd buy one over a regular MacBook myself just because the multi-touch interface Apple has developed is just that well suited to something that size and for my needs. A netbook would never do. Tablet devices have never taken off in the past because the user interface was never developed and adapted adequately to replace a keyboard and mouse.
Mac Specs: Mac Pro 2 x 2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS 10.5.2
Just read this article comparing typing on an iPhone vs a netbook under extreme conditions. The results make the notion that Apple is destined to develop a netbook even more laughable.
Quote:
Our challenge was pretty simple: hop into the passenger seat alongside 14-time European Rallycross champion Kenneth Hansen, hurtle around Lydden racetrack in Dover, England, and attempt to type, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"--a pangram, or holoalphabetic sentence containing every letter of the alphabet--onto each device.
It might sound easy enough, but Ken's Citroen C4 does 0-60mph in 2.39 seconds --quicker than some Formula 1 cars--on gravel. Then there's the fact the car can generate three times the force of gravity in a corner, and has a passenger cabin so hot and so inhospitable it could put Texas to shame.
So what'll it be? The Netbook with its full Qwerty keyboard, or the iPhone with its touch screen and clever auto-correction feature? There's only one way to find out!
im in your shoes!!! i want a netbook... for school and everything... but i don't wanna wait till the end of the year to MAYBE see apple come out with one... considering they are just rumors...
hows the battery life on the nc10? how long can you use it for in one charge? is it TOO SLOW (considering its an ATOM processor)?
LOL do you play starcraft? it could run that on it right?
yeh but i do hope something more concrete comes out about the apple's netbook interests
i bought the netbook for taking it to work. it weighs 2lbs and is very fun to use on the couch for surfing the web. the battery life on the samsung for me averages around 5 1/2-6 hours, but i'm mostly using it with firefox and maybe Word for reading my assignments if i need to. after using my MBP it is way slow...but considering its just a little 1.6 atom processor with 2gb of ramm i wouldn't expect it to compete with my MBP at all. i'm not sure if it will run Starcraft and what not, but there is a list floating around of games that have been tested. its over 10 year old so i don't see why it wouldn't run on it.
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My List of Toys: Samsung 50" DLP, 360 Elite, PS3 500GB, MacBook Pro (2.5ghz,6gb,500gb), 3G Iphone, 60gb Ipod, Samsung NC10 (1.6atom, 2GBramm, 120GB).
i just purchased a samsung nc10 the first of this month and love it so far. i was hoping apple would jump into this arena, but couldn't wait. i'm thinking about hacking it to put leopard on it, but not sure if it'll be worth my time. if this is something that apple does i hope they don't price themselves out of their competition.
So far the rumor is that it would be between $600 to $700.
About the same as the Mac Mini, I believe.
But I can't see Apple being stupid enough to over price it because if they did come out with a touchscreen media pad and/or netbook, I think it would dominate the market.
Well they tried something like this with the newton a long time ago. And we all know how it went. So as long as they fix on it's mistakes, including in the marketing department, then ti should sell reasonably well. Market dominating? I don't think so. Well call me strange, but if I has an ipod touch like device I could use pages, numbers, firefox, and a host of other apps on, it'd be really cool. But would not feel like a computer to me.
When I talk about doing the above tasks on the road I and many others think of netbook and not pda. I think Apple need a lot of marketing to think of PDA on the road and not netbook.
I hope Apple do, do cheaper. I have imac core duo 17" 1.83ghz and 500gb sata in it which i dropped in. which cost me only £270 ( before hd upgrade ) with Full retail version of lastest os Only cheap as the screen bezel was broke. from ebay trader, And I have just got a ibook g4 1.33, which i find i am using more than my Philips x67.
Both laptops have over 3 hours battery life.
I understand the claim that there is so much more to OS X, but I cannot understand how apple can charge around twice as much from the hardware side of things.
I know they look good etc etc. If they was really bothered about more market share I think £500 would be a good starting point for a laptop and again 6-700 for a imac with 19" would do me.
If they did do small the spec on the philips x67 would be more than enough for most people.
even at £500-£600 with OS X it would be a good buy.
Core duo 1.06 ghz
11.1" @ 1366*768
120gb sata
wifi
2gb ram ddr2 667
Mini 4 pin firewire
modem
lan
dvd rewriter
4400mah battery that gets over 3 hours with power saving etc etc
It is not about what seems like a good idea - it is about numbers. Think about iPod and iPhone, they were not about joining in with others for a share. These were a quantum leap forward and i cannot see a Netbook being a quatum leap forward.
