[PCWorld]

Post your comments for R.I.P. Netbook: Mobile Computing Evolves here

[miketoasty]

I am the proud owner of a netbook and really hate when you guys talk down on it. I work in IT so I put my netbook through hell and back and it works fine. A Tablet or this Atrix dock this is wonderful for people who don't need a full fledged OS. But for the rest of us, who need portability and usability go for a netbook. There are so many things I could never do with a tablet. I love that its easy to carry around and such but I can't take that kind of hit in usability. Other people may but the netbook is in no way dead as there are still plenty of people who need a full OS with portability.

Also isnt this like the third "The netbook is dead" article to come up on your site in the last year?

[Ucat]

It's in the title of the article "Mobile computing evolves" but what is really dying is the ability for the user to choose what is useful for him, use his hardware as desired with open choices for printing, installing software and run it at will. ( even choose an install a new OS )

I doesn't matter how smart is a phone or a pad they are bounded to a carrier, application store or branded OS. So saying they have a powerful hardware may be true but at the same time they are limited.

If netbooks are dying so is the freedom of choice for the users.

[PietroTeodosioGandra]

don't go off killing the net-book use rate just yet, their processing power is still vastly superior to a "mere" tablet.

[happajay]

Is the tablet "better" than the netbook? For some people yes, for others no. I think many people were disappointed with the netbook. I for sure was. It has a very cramped and extremely difficult to use feel about it. Cramped keyboard, can only see 1/3 of top of webpage at once, horrible trackpad that is ridiculously small. My small laptop can do everything better than my netbook. Even my 11 year old daughter with small hands thinks the keyboard is too small. They looked useful in the store, but laptops are better in everyway. The tablet is better for people with consumption in mind....read newspapers, play games, portability, thousands of specifically written games requiring, etc. How many games can you use on a netbook without hooking up an external mouse? I mean what really can you do except maybe takes notes with out using a external mouse on a netbook? Why again would anyone buy a netbook instead of a cheap small laptop? I can list tons of reason why someone might buy a tablet instead of a laptop. The netbook tries to be two devices but does inferior to each in those respects. Maybe some people just want one device.

[happajay]

"don't go off killing the net-book use rate just yet, their processing power is still vastly superior to a "mere" tablet."

Ummm...in functionality the tablet kicks ass over the netbook. Netbook = relatively slow processor running Big OS.
Tablet (ipad or xoom)= dual core, highly efficient processor running small OS.
End result for consumer is Netbook "feels" slow whereas pad feels "snappy". The processing power of a netbook would be great if it did not have a full OS that was made for superior hardware to run. Once again people spouting off specs without any real world meaning to them

[LewisMalonesgcf]

Small fast OS is pretty much useless if it can not run the programs you need it to run. I had an android tablet and a full laptop and switched to a Dell Duo which is a netbook with a touch screen that can convert to a tablet and it does everything I want or need it to.

[KyleBurch]

@Ucat --- I agree. Sometimes the tech industry seems like its becoming such a pop culture joke. Seriously..."exodus".. "R.I.P."... articles like these are ridiculous. These devices are TOOLS to do things, why are we as a society so gullible as to let the likes of apple, or google, or this guy writing this article, or WHOEVER to decide whats useful for us? form factors ARE (not "used to be") a personal preference. Apple says its a post-pc world and all about the end user experience now... well i have to say, my experience with my traditional PC, laptop, netbook, and home server is GREAT. Computing technology is the greatest thing to happen to humanity, and we as a society are letting companies control our experiences, dictate to us what we need, and turn our computers into such ambiguous bland crap that we wont hold them in any higher distinction than we do a microwave oven.

[WinTard]

PCWorld, on 04 March 2011 - 05:57 AM, said:

Post your comments for R.I.P. Netbook: Mobile Computing Evolves here

You must be kidding!

Netbooks are lightweight Notebooks which are lightweight Laptops which are lightweight Desktops which are lightweight Servers... They are all real PCs.

Current smartphones and tablets hand-held devices today are something lighter than Netbooks, and are not fully functional PCs.

RIP Netbook? LMAO! Such a shortsighted and uneducated view...

Mobile Computing Evolves? When the true mobile PC arrives. In the meantime, it's basically only limited hand-held glorified toy computer devices.

First let me ask how many tablets were sold in the entire segment to date? Then compare with today's reality:
http://www.worldomet...info/computers/
http://www.planetdmc...%2013-59-07.png

This is the number of new computers sold to date since Jan 1^st 2011, and does not include handhelds.

In one single quarter of 2011, more real PCs will be sold than the entire population segment of tablets from all manufacturers combined! And you call that RIP? That number is only for 63 days into a 90 or so days/quarter...

Now at least a Netbook (or Ultra Portable) will run all standard software, Windows, Linux, and even Hackintosh, plus much, much more... It already has access to hundreds of millions of apps built over the last 20+ years. It has access to all of the Open Source efforts and developments. And it also has some level of access to smartphone / tablet development simulators through virtualization... Meaning one can run (some) apps designed for smartphones/tablets under any PC. Today!

Q.How do you think these mobile apps are developed under?
A. Real PCs via simulators and virtual machines.

You just can't compare a real mobile PC to what some neophytes call mobile computing evolution today.

Speaking of true mobile PC scope and future:

The Coffee Desk said:

http://thecoffeedesk...n-arm-netbooks/

With all of the recent discussion about utilizing very low-power ARM chips as an alternative to IA-32/IA-64 as a choice CPU of the rising netbook scene, Microsoft’s Windows family of operating systems is sure to find a tough time fitting in thanks in part to the long-standing Wintel relationship between Windows and the IA-32 architecture. A key design decision of the .NET framework, however, could be the saving grace for running Windows on ARM/MIPS-based netbooks.

The History
Microsoft Windows has historically supported more than just x86: a quick look at past versions of Windows will reveal that Windows NT 3.0 – 4.0 supported not only the i386 architecture, but also MIPS, DEC Alpha and PowerPC (although Windows NT 3 did not support PowerPC until the release of version 3.51). Other ventures into the embedded market by Microsoft include the successful Windows CE line, and the lesser-known (x86-only) Windows XP Embedded operating system.

So despite a time when Windows supported many architectures, Microsoft has always been bound to the Intel architecture. However, Windows CE has been very successful in getting what can be considered a port of Microsoft’s flagship product running on alternative processor architectures as a modern product.

{Snipped}

.NET on netbooks
If I worked for Microsoft Marketing, I would go ahead and coin the phrase “.NETbook”, and there’s a very good reason why: no matter how Microsoft plans to put Windows on ARM-based netbooks at the operating system level, if they wish to keep the platform as open to developers as they have with other embedded ports of Windows and ease their own developmental efforts, the .NET framework’s design freely permits this.

.NET was designed, like Java (and in fact based off the MSJVM code following the Sun lawsuit) to be fully abstracted, that is, able to run on any underlying platform as long as the CIL (Common Intermediate Language) JIT compiler can interpret the .NET bytecode into native processor instructions.

Whether or not .NET was designed for this as a feature or not, the option is certainly there, and stares Microsoft in the face as a means of remaining application compatible on newer and increasingly-popular IA-32 alternatives. Windows CE already support the .NET Compact Framework, a largely-compatible subset of the .NET framework for Windows CE capable of running most (but not all) precompiled .NET programs and assemblies, and the Windows CE Visual Studio package supports building applications to target the Compact Framework specifically.

What this means for developers, is that if Microsoft ports the .NET framework (or at least the .NET Compact Framework) to whatever platform they choose to deploy on ARM netbooks, then not only are existing .NET applications guarenteed to run on this new platform, but without recompilation or any other tweaks that require separate builds.

Windows Mobile already utilizes this for allowing apps to run on mobile phones, but unless a Windows Mobile deployment is intended to not be as compatible with mainstream versions of Windows, the existing .NET package for Windows mobile would require significant application changes for netbook (and, inherently, phone) compatibillity unless yet another .NET package is designed just for netbooks, although this seems very unnecessary given the options discussed here.
{Snipped}

You do know that all toy hand-held devices of today (that includes smartphones whether Android based, or iPhone/iPod, and tablets such as iPad, iPad2 and Xoom and even WP7 phones) are running on ARM devices such as Cortex-A8, Cortex-A9 and even the Cortex-A15 all uses ARM7 assembly code?

Proof of Microsoft .NET runs ARM7 code, today:

WinTard, on 06 January 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

Where does all this BS comes from? Marketing shills? Why is this insidious and nefarious message being repeated over and over as the truth, when it is the complete opposite?

Don't people know anything? NT was designed as a portable OS from the ground up by the Father of VMS, David Cutler of Digital Equipment Corporation and now Microsoft fame. Arguably the most sophisticated OS in the world. And yet in its simplicity, modularity, and architecture, can be lightened (aka lightweight processes) to run in embedded devices that are not x86 compatible, such as ARM and MIPS.Way back then in the 1990's. Just look at all these scanners, cash registers, ATMs or Debit Interact terminals? Or these displays in elevators? What do you think they run? Perhaps not Windows 7, but certainly some form of Windows Embedded.

Case point: Here's an ARM7 hardware and software open-source device running .NET with completely free development tools such as Visual Studio.
http://www.netduino.com/netduino/
http://www.planetdmc...%2023-43-40.png

You want Ethernet + MicroSD with that?



Or do you want mini-dip platform that plugs into a breadboard for prototyping?


As a matter of fact, the first generation Xbox was based on a lightweight NT4 and only 64MB RAM. And the full Windows 7 Ultimate runs in as little as 96MB RAM. Most mobile processors nowadays have at least 1GB RAM to spare.

And who says Windows 7 isn't designed for touch? I'm not talking about two or three finger primitive swipes, but a full 20+ simultaneous sophisticated gestures. Free download here if you have a multi-touchscreen such as this.

I just can't stand BS and those who dispense it freely through ignorance, or worse, willful stupidity.

~~~~~~~~~~~
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
{Chinese Proverb}

There is nothing more tedious than a stupid person trying to be clever.
~ William J. Rogers, Jr.

[dragon7777]

I really don't get why so many "tech experts" are saying that netbooks are dead. I purchased a netbook just a couple of months ago and I wouldn't trade it for any tablet I've seen yet. The simple fact of the matter is that tablets and netbooks each have their strengths and weaknesses. I would think that "experts" would know better than anyone that the two classes of devices have different niches. Life evolves to fill every available ecological niche. Similarly, the best why for mobile computing to evolve is for netbooks and tablets to coexist and both keep improving so that neither is forced on everyone.

[ConstableOdo]

Absolutely no iOS or Android tablet will ever tear netbooks from the loving Wintard fanbois' hands.

[crosswordbob]

I have no interest in declaring the demise of the netbook, or any other format for that matter. But I do take issue with those who declare how "limited" tablets are, or how much they can do with their netbooks that they couldn't with a tablet. A tablet in isolation is certainly limited, but by integrating it into a multi-device system those limitations start to dissolve. That's how I use my tablet (which happens to be an iPad, but I'm not closed to moving to a different platform), and how most enterprises I've read about who are adopting tablets are talking about using theirs. It works well for me, at any rate.

[Phi11ips]

As far as I'm concerned the only difference between a Tablet device and a Netbook is a physical keyboard.

Perhaps we are truly entering a post-literate society where people have little or no keyboarding and writing skills. In a world where the common mobile web user has no interest in actually interacting and communicating more complex thoughts with others, and the mobile internet is used solely to play silly games like angrybirds and incessantly check their facebook status, the extremely limited interface of a virtual keyboard might be sufficient.

This is NOT my world. I like to type. I like to write. I like to do it often and even while mobile. A virtual keyboard will never EVER have the kind of tactile feedback required to input text at 100WPM. Heck, you are lucky to get 15WPM hunting and pecking while staring at the keyboard and not the screen -with a net result of having your text come out looking like iBonics.

Sure, someday the guttural vernacular utterings of the unwashed illiterate neoneanderthals will be readily translated directly to text through modern voice-recognition technology. I just can't wait until all the internet discussion forums embrace the filthy sub-literate masses who will be able to finally participate. We really need their sage input. In the future all internet forumz are utoob!

Yes, the netbook with it's nearly full-sized usable keyboard is dead. Long live Angrybirds, LOLcatTwitards, and Facebook shout-outs. Idiocracy is nearly here.

[crosswordbob]

Phi11ips, on 05 March 2011 - 05:03 AM, said:

This is NOT my world. I like to type. I like to write. I like to do it often and even while mobile. A virtual keyboard will never EVER have the kind of tactile feedback required to input text at 100WPM. Heck, you are lucky to get 15WPM hunting and pecking while staring at the keyboard and not the screen -with a net result of having your text come out looking like iBonics.

Nonsense. Look at the number to the left of this post. See that post count? Virtually every post I've made on this forum was typed on an iPad. Now feel free to look back at my post history; if you want to call it illiterate, be ready to defend that accusation.

Before you declare what can or can't be done with a tablet, try actually doing it, or asking someone who has. In the meantime, keep your self-righteous witterings to yourself.

[WinTard]

ConstableOdo, on 04 March 2011 - 10:31 PM, said:

Absolutely no iOS or Android tablet will ever tear netbooks from the loving Wintard fanbois' hands.

And what are your contributions to our PCWorld Community? Other than bigotry, negativity and criticism? Oh, that was it? Thanks for your feedback.

~~~~~~~~~~
Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both.
~ Thomas Jefferson (American 3rd US President. Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826)

Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.
~ Thomas Gray

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.
~ Confucius

[ozrkmtndd]

I got one so that I could write, grade papers, and other academic activities while away from home. I found out that hate texting, tweeting, or doing anything that uses the keyboard on a smartphone. I find them tedious, and time consuming, and certainly not worth the effort. I had my texting functions turned off and use my smartphone strictly as a cellphone. To be honest, I turn my smartphone off most of the time so that I can work instead of wasting time with meaningless conversation. As far as I am concerned, a total waste of money. A netbook could probably do what I need, but I would rather lug my notebook around, and get some real work done. Good luck with all of those gadgets that cost a lot and do not really deliver.