Windows 8 and the Future of Netbooks
Netbooks have long been an impulse buy. Heck, a new one is less than $250. I can barely buy my boys a sushi dinner for that amount.
So far I've resisted the impulse. The keyboards are too small and most of the people I ask say they are flakier than a week-old croissant. And that low price is a tease. If you want to keep them from freezing you need more than the standard 1 GB of RAM.
Part of me was hoping for a fire sale on these puppies when Windows 8 shipped, but that was probably just a pipe dream. I'd sure scoop one for $100 though at this point I have no clue what I'd actually do with it.
The iPad pretty much killed netbooks. Now Windows 8 tablets may be the final bullet. Or will they? There is no certainty that Win 8 will succeed (or at least succeed quickly). Win 8 tablets, I doubt, will come close to less than $250. We may look at the new world of Win 8 tablets and their cost and fall back in love with netbooks.
And what could OEMs do with Win 8 and this form factor? You have a real keyboard and let's say you add touch to the display? Could that be a winner and could the price indeed by less than $250. Hmmm...
Will netbooks go the way of the dodo or can Win 8 breathe new life into them? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 12/06/2012 at 1:19 PM