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The note(net)book of the year is...

by on30 December 2008

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Summary of 08:
It was all about the Atom


When we
decided to take a look back at some of the computing milestones of 2008, the task of choosing the best notebooks and biggest notebook flops of the year looked like a straightforward one. After all, we've seen loads of interesting, innovative products across the board, and we've seen the netbook concept prove itself in its baptism of fire.

So which notebooks marked the year? Well, it gets a bit tricky here, as no particular model really sticks out, but some concepts and market trends do; and that's what we'll talk about instead.

I'll take the liberty of placing netbooks based on Intel's Atom platform on top of our list. There's not much point in talking about actual models, as they all look, feel and smell alike. After Intel overcame supply issues this Summer, the market took off like a hyper powered ballistic missile. Six months on there's more than a hundred SKUs from various vendors to choose from, ranging in price from just over €200 to €600. What's more, vendors like Acer feel the netbook market will not be seriously affected by the economic crisis. The outlook for 2009 looks even better, and we hope AMD will enter the market, driving prices down and giving us a bit more choice. Netbooks have shown a lot of potential and the market reacted positively to their introduction, but there's still a long way to go. In spite of some serious shortcomings, such as relatively high prices and Intel's 945 chipset, netbooks are the most innovative and promising concept of 2008 which has made a mark on the market.

Asus and MSI models are the ones that made the most impact in the geek world, but Acer and HP managed to grab a lot of attention due to their strong and recognizable brands.

In Q3 2008 notebooks managed to outsell desktop PCs for the first time in history. This brings us to the question of pricing and demand. You can get an entry-level 15.4-inch desktop replacement at just over €300, while 17-inch units cost €400+, and many consumers are opting for these cheap machines in lieu of desktops. The availability of powerful dual-cores and discrete mobile GPUs assure users won't be looking for upgrades any time soon, and when the time for a new notebooks eventually comes, it won't cost a fortune, as was the case just a few years back. Mobile quad-cores are also becoming a lot cheaper, and bigger notebooks will greatly benefit from this fact. The trend of migrating to mobile platforms is slowly changing the way mainstream consumers perceive PCs, and some vendors and AIB partners will have to do more to adapt. Enthusiasts will stick to their desktop rigs for years to come, but the mainstream is where the money is. We are coming to the tricky times, when the color will be the key sales point.

Now for some actual products. At the start of the year Apple generated a lot of hype over its MacBook Air. We reviewed it and we liked it, and considering our stance on Apple, this means a lot. Lenovo and Samsung entered the fray with the ThinkPad X300/301 and Samsung's X360. Thin and light 13.3-inch machines seem like the way to go, albeit they're currently too pricey for most consumers. Dell is also planning to enter the thin and light 13.3-inch market with its rumored Adamo notebook. This is also the market niche AMD plans to enter in 2H of 2009 with its Atom-esque mobile platform. If they don't make a mess of it, they stand a pretty good chance to turn the market upside down. Cheap and light 13.3-inch machines could attract a lot of consumers, including those who find netbooks or even 12.1-inch units too small, businesspeople, the smug and many others.

In 2009 we can look forward to more netbooks, as if we didn't have too much hype already, but vendors will be forced to innovate, as plain netbooks just won't cut it anymore. The market is already becoming oversaturated and prices are coming down. Deals with telcos should play a big role in further lowering netbook prices. You can also expect a lot more fashionable models, or at least more stylish iterations of existing models. In terms of hardware, don't expect miracles. Cheaper HDDs will help drive prices down, and hybrid storage is also an interesting technology. You should also expect more power efficient Atom Z series CPUs to start appearing in more models, but we'll be stuck without a proper CPU until Intel allows vendors to use dual-core Atoms in netbooks. AMD will join the fray one way or another, with single and dual core sub-20W platforms which will have superior IGPs. They will probably be reserved for slightly larger machines, and AMD apparently wants to use them in thin and light designs, ranging from 12 all the way to 16 inches.

All in all, 2009 could be even more exciting than 2008, as Atom-based netbooks mature and drop in price, and AMD tries to regain some ground. Affordable quad-cores are also coming, as well as powerful IGPs and discrete graphics, and reasonably priced desktop replacements will slowly become a match for mainstream desktops.

Also read:

Why you shouldn't buy a netbook for Christmas

Notebook holiday shopping guide, part 1

Notebook holiday shopping guide, part 2

Last modified on 31 December 2008
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