The underground war between laptops

The reason for netbook competition with affordable, ultra-thin laptops is mainly price.

Previously, affordable laptops had to sacrifice design and features to get cheap prices. But the popular concept immediately turned into a mini laptop, also known as a netbook, with the Asus Eee PC 701 model priced at $ 589. At the time of launch, two years ago, that price made the market have a different perspective on laptop prices. In turn, 7-11.6-inch screen netbooks are constantly appearing at cheaper and cheaper prices.

Netbooks quickly affect traditional laptops, forcing manufacturers to lower prices to about $ 700 for the basic configuration. Although consumers or manufacturers see the drawbacks of netbooks, there is no denying the strong, somewhat threatening impact on the traditional ultraportable laptop segment.

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Mini laptop - Asus Eee PC 701 netbook appears, significantly impacting the laptop market.(Photo: Ebay)

The emergence of Intel CULV processor or AMD Neo platform creates a new wave of laptops, including products such as HP Pavilion dv2 and Acer Timeline with prices ranging from 950 to 1,250 USD. These machines are classified as ultra-thin laptops with portability and performance in between netbooks and traditional ultraportable laptops (ultraportable laptops).

These ultra-thin models are popular with 13.3 and 14.1-inch screens and their main drawback is to remove the optical drive. In addition, Intel CULV and AMD Neo laptops are also limited in multi-tasking, HD video playback and running Adobe Flash applications. Overall, the power of the above processors is just a bit more than the Intel Atom CPU used for netbooks.

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Acer Timeline ultra-thin, located between netbooks and traditional ultraportable laptops.(Photo: Gadgetophilia)

New models on the market like Dell Inspiron 11z, Acer Aspire AS1410 and Gateway EC1403 all have 11.6-inch screens with HD-Ready resolution. Instead of equipped with SU CULV Core 2 Solo or Core 2 Duo CPU - series or Intel Atom, they use Intel Celeron or Intel Pentium Dual-Core processors and Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics chip for only 660 USD. Along with the ability to play HD video, these 3 laptops all have HDMI video output. Despite maintaining high mobility and affordable prices, the limitations of these new laptops are about 5 hours of battery life compared to 8 to 11 hours of ultra-thin laptops and netbooks.

These models are not included in netbooks and are not in the ultra-thin laptop segment. Firms have yet to come up with a common term to correctly identify them. Cnet Technology magazine has temporarily called an ultra-thin mobile laptop (portable ultrathin laptop).

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Dell Inspiron 11z is not a netbook, but an ultra-thin mobile laptop.(Photo: Buzzcritic)

At least four of the low-cost laptop categories mentioned above include netbooks, budget laptops, ultra-thin laptops (ultrathin) and ultra-thin portable laptops (portable ultrathin). Cnet predicted that netbook performance would be improved with configuration upgrades to play HD video and run Adobe Flash, while selling prices would fall below $ 370. Meanwhile, ultra-thin mobile laptops are more suitable for users who often have to move, and ultra-thin laptops are the right choice for those who need large screens but do not require high performance.

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Sony Vaio TT costs over 1500 USD, a " victim " of traditional ultraportable laptops. (Photo: Laptopsarena)

But the main " victims " of these battles are traditional ultraportables and manufacturers. With so many options for a low-cost laptop, spending $ 1,500 for a 12.1-inch laptop like the Sony Vaio TT, Toshiba Portege R600 or Lenovo ThinkPad X200 is too wasteful to just add the drive. Optical and high-end design, more rugged. In addition, the profit from each product sold is declining, making the manufacturers gradually go into the " natural selection " process, only those companies that produce the most suitable product can survive. at and growing. A prominent example is the Japanese electronics company, NEC has pulled out of the international laptop market, and in the near future will likely have more firms.