The battle between budget laptops
Make no mistake. There is a war going on in the budget notebook segment, and the results won't be pretty.
In the beginning, there were budget laptops that sacrificed style and feature set in a bid for affordability. Then the very definition of affordability took a drastic turn when the first Asus Eee PC 701 came out. At under S$800 (US$589), it changed the price point perspective for the entire laptop market and subsequent models (with screen sizes ranging from 7 to 11.6 inches) just served to drive costs lower and lower. This even affected the traditional budget range as vendors were forced to bring costs to sub-S$1,000 (US$736.25) levels. However, as consumers understood the limitations of the ubiquitous Atom chipset, Netbooks proved to be little threat to traditional ultraportables. Enter the ultrathins Just when the dust was almost settled, Intel and AMD added a new twist by introducing CULV and Neo platforms, respectively. These chipsets are made for a new category of laptops which include models such as the Acer Timeline series and HP Pavilion dv2, which sit in the S$1,299 (US$956.39) and S$1,700 (US$1,251.63) price bracket. AMD coined these ultrathin laptops as the performance, price point and portability sit between Netbooks and traditional ultraportables. While Netbooks were aiming for the traditional ultraportable's jugular, the ultrathin range was making a beeline for the thin-and-light portables. With displays ranging from 13.3 to 14.1 inches, the main drawback of ultrathin machines was the removal of an integrated optical drive. Moreover, the CULV and Neo platforms were hardly prime candidates for tasks such as multimedia encoding, though with HD video decoding and smooth Adobe Flash performance, they still run rings around the Atom chipset. New players in town Remember the old Western films when a small group of good guys blaze into a lawless community and take on all comers? Three such cowboys have ridden into town in the form of the Dell Inspiron 11z, Acer Aspire AS1410 and Gateway EC1403, all sporting 11.6-inch HD-ready displays. Instead of Core 2 Solo or Core 2 Duo SU series chips used in ultrathins or the anemic Atom processor in Netbooks, these new machines run off single-core Celeron or dual-core Pentium processors with Intel's latest GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics. With a S$899 (US$661.89) starting price, HD video capability and HDMI output, these laptops are as capable as the larger ultrathin series, while maintaining the portability and affordability of Netbooks. The drawback? These laptops have shorter 5-hour runtimes compared with 8 to 11-hour battery life on some Netbooks and ultrathins. Though the industry has yet to consider these new models as belonging to a new category and puts them as powerful Netbooks or ultrathins with smaller screens, we feel differently. As tech journalists, we not only have to carefully consider how we review notebooks, but also which range of laptops to compare them with. For example, pitting the Gateway EC1403 against the Acer Timeline 3810T puts the latter at a disadvantage, as the former is significantly cheaper while offering a similar feature set and performance. However, the Gateway's capabilities trash Atom-based Netbooks, yet remain competitively priced. So, for now we will consider them as portable ultrathins until such time as vendors or chipmakers come up with a new moniker. We know it can get a little confusing with all these competing categories so we have a nifty table below for reference.
The future of low-cost laptops So where does this leave us with the four low-cost categories (budget, Netbook, ultrathin and portable ultrathin)? Here's our prediction. Netbooks will get a bump in performance and some Adobe Flash and HD video lovin', while slowly head toward the sub-S$500 (US$368.13) price line. Portable ultrathins will appeal to frequent travelers, and the ultrathin machines will be appreciated by those with low computing needs but who want larger screens. The real casualties of this war will be the traditional ultraportables and manufacturers. With so many choices for low-cost yet portable laptops, it's already becoming impossible to justify paying over S$2,000 (US$1,472.50) for a 12.1-inch laptop unless you need one with an internal optical drive (Toshiba Portege R600) or one with a tough chassis and full-powered dual-core processor (Lenovo ThinkPad X200). In the US, the Sony Vaio TT series was one of the first fallen soldiers, having been withdrawn from the Japanese maker's stable. Moreover, with margins going even lower, we believe laptop makers are heading for a natural attrition process where only the fittest will survive. One such company, NEC, has already retreated from the international notebook market and may soon be joined by others. To end off, the above are only opinions and, for all we know, another game-changing category may pop up and throw off all predictions. Still, we are interested in what you think the portable market will look like come 2010, so drop some comments below. Tags: Netbook, Intel Core 2 Duo, Laptop Computer, Gateway Inc., processor
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